Object/Row Linking & Data Display

ZjHagens

Purpose: Allow users to quickly view multiple data points from other cross-sheet rows without having to clutter up sheets and create data duplication by using cell links/lookups.

Idea: New column type where you can link to another specific row either inter or intra sheet. Think of the row like an "Object" data type or related record. When clicked, a popup (or new window) would display the column values from that row in a form-like view.

Think of this like cell linking on steroids. Instead of linking a single data point from elsewhere, you can link to an entire row, and quickly reference the related row(s). This would be similar to creating relationships in a database, though it could be a bit less rigid than that.

Example Use Case: A Rental Unit Tracker sheet has a renter's name as a data point. A Renter Information sheet contains data about all of my renters. I link the renter's name to their associated row in the Renter Information sheet. Now, when I click on the renter's name in the Rental Unit Tracker, a popup displays specified column values for the row I've linked to in the Renter Information sheet, giving me a quick view of pertinent information without having to navigate to another sheet.

Bonus points if:

• You can customize what fields are displayed
• You can specify if it should open in view-only or edit mode
• You can specify the desired behavior when clicked: Display popup, open in new window, or navigate to row/sheet
• Hovering over the link displays select information in a tool-tip format
• You can customize the display text just like hyperlinks work
• You can link to multiple objects within one cell (1:* relationship)
• The functionality could be applied to any cell/column type
• If applied to a number, date, etc... type column, that data would retain its functionality (i.e. could still be used in calculations if needed)
• Assuming it is a column type, in that columns settings, the Admin/Owner specifies the target column in the source sheet. The column options in the destination sheet are then provided in a drop down menu, based on the values available in the source sheet. This would make quicker to link to related objects than the cell-link workflow.
• Extra bonus points if you can define filters for the available values

I think this would really open up a lot of use cases to Smartsheet.

What other features could make this useful?