What is a Record?

Records are the information your app uses, much like individual rows in a spreadsheet.

These records are stored in your database and are grouped by objects.

For example, here’s a few records stored in a Customer object:

Each column specifies a field, which is a specific type of information in that record, and each row is an individual record.

Add Records

There are multiple ways to add records to your database:

Import records

The fastest way to add records is to import them from a spreadsheet. Click the "Import" link from the Records toolbar:

You’ll then want to match each column from your spreadsheet with one of the fields of your object. If the field doesn’t exist yet you can use the import to create new ones.

Knack Tip Click here to learn more about importing records

Add records one at a time directly in the Knack Builder

You can use a form to add records one at a time directly in your Knack Builder. Just click the "Add Record" button from the Records toolbar:

This will bring up a form to add a new record:

Add records through the live application

You’ll most likely want to create pages in your live application for users to add records to your database. For example, you could add a survey that you want to embed in your website for your clients to fill out.

Click here to learn more about building your live application

The form view is used to add records in a live application. Each form view is completely customizable: you can choose which fields to include in the form, as well as update the labels, instructions and order of each individual field. These forms also come loaded with great workflow features like custom emails, logic, multi-step, and more.

Click here to learn more about form views

Update records

Once records are added to your database, there are a variety of ways to update those records.

Update records directly in the database

You can click directly on any value in your database to update a record one field at a time:

You can also update the entire record at once by clicking on the pencil "edit" icon at the beginning of the record:

Batch update multiple records at once

You can update multiple records at once in batches either by using the checkbox or creating a query. Use the "update" link in the Records toolbar:

Update records through the live application

Much like adding records (see above), you’ll likely want to design certain pages in your live application to update records. You’ll still use the form, but typically you’ll first select the record you want to update from another view, like a list or calendar. Table views also have an "inline edit" option available where you can edit each field in the view individually.

Delete records

Delete records directly from the database

You can delete any record directly from your database by first selecting the checkbox of the record you wish to delete. The records toolbar will update and present a "delete" button to delete any checked records.

Batch delete multiple records at once

You can delete multiple records at once in batches by creating a query. Use the "Delete" menu in the records toolbar.

Delete records through the live application

Most views in your live application can include special links for your app users to delete specific records.

For example, you can add a delete link as a table column to delete any record that is listed in the table:

Export records

Your data, so you can export it any time.

Exporting directly from the database.

At this time we don’t have an option for exporting an entire application at once, but this is something we hope to be adding soon. You can still export each object individually by navigating to the Records tab and clicking the "Export" menu in the toolbar.

Exporting from a live application

Most views like tables and lists have options for adding an export link so your users can export records directly from the live application.

Each export will only include the fields that were added to that view and will also follow any filters and queries added to that view, so these exports allow you to control which data would be included.

Find specific records

Storing your data is only step 1 - you also need to query your data so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Find records directly in your database

You can search your records by both keyword and individual fields to find the records you need.

The keyword search is located above the table of records. You can also click the "add filters" link to add more precise filters by a specific field.

Multiple filters can be combined with "and" or “or” to indicate whether all the filters (“and”) should be true or any of the filters (“or”) should be true to return a matched record.

Find records in your live application

Each view has similar options for your users to search by keyword or filter. You can also control the data source of a view to add additional filters that the user can’t change. That way you can define exactly which records your users are meant to see.

Additionally, views like searches and reports provide additional functionality that can be added to your live applications. A search view can let you filter by fields from both the main object and any connected objects.

For example, you could search orders by any order field, but also by any of fields from customers that are connected to each order.

Up next, learn more about building your live app.