Skip to main content
Question

Improving form building with large tables in Interfaces


PaddlingPuppy

I’m using Interfaces and Tables to build an application form for a scholarship. As part of the scholarship, we are collecting CV/resume data. Our plan is to use a form with fields for the CV/resume information versus having them upload a PDF resume. We want a consistent data structure for the information so we can use a rubric to score it.

I’ve built a big table to support this with a bunch of fields like “Educational Institution 1 Name”, “Educational Institution 1 Location”, etc. The idea was to build a form or a series of forms that applicants could use to enter their data. However, working with a large table in the form builder function is challenging. If I create a form linked to the table, it pulls over ALL the table fields, which means I need to go through and delete the ones I don’t need.

In addition to being tedious, I keep getting database errors as I delete the form fields. Everything seems like it is working correctly but it makes me nervous.

I went with one big table versus a number of linked smaller ones based on a suggestion from ChatGPT (:shakes fist at ChatGPT:) - it seemed easier.

Is there a better way to work with a large Table in the form builder for Interfaces, or should I bite the bullet and break it up into smaller linked Tables? I’m still early enough in the project that now would be the time to do it.

Did this topic help you find an answer to your question?

2 replies

Mistryer
Forum|alt.badge.img
  • New
  • 17 replies
  • February 5, 2025

Hi ​@PaddlingPuppy - have you considered using the AI by Zapier tool to parse an uploaded resume? It might remove a ton of work for both you and the applicants. You could even go one step further and have a Zap that takes the criteria you’ve laid out in your rubric to generate scores. (If doing that, definitely incorporate some human review into the process to audit the accuracy, especially with final candidates. 

 

If that won’t work, I personally like using smaller, specific forms if I can; it makes moving the pieces around easier. 


PaddlingPuppy

Thanks - this is the level 2 screening, so it won’t be for a large number of candidates, and I am not sure that using AI in that way is acceptable per our corporate usage policy, since there would be some PII in the uploaded resumes.

My gut is the right answer is breaking up my monster table into smaller linked Tables but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overlooking an obvious other solution.