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Discussion on: How to massively update records through a Web UI?

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tcchau profile image
tcchau

There are a couple approaches we have used in the past:

  • Provide a custom-built grid-based view into the data that the client wants to update. This bypasses the very slow and cumbersome action of repeatedly opening up a CRUD form that allows editing one database entry at a time.

Challenges: just like with using spreadsheets, it's common to make accidental changes to the data that are not detected when it happens. You can deploy various helper strategies to mitigate this, such as making the user click on a cell before allowing it to be editable.

  • Provide a library of special-built functions for making the most frequent types of edits to the data. So for example, a function to increase all unit prices by 10%. These functions can have varying degrees of customize-ability.

Challenges: it requires more upfront cost in analyzing the business and figuring out which functions will yield the best cost-to-benefit ratios.

Hope that provides you with a couple more ideas, and good luck!

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paulasantamaria profile image
Paula Santamaría • Edited

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Provide a library of special-built functions for making the most frequent types of edits

This ☝️ is the solution I always think of whenever I see this issue. It's simple and manageable. Sometimes users want/need more freedom, but even if that's the case, this solution might be good enough for an MVP.