# Recommendations on population form vs table/tables

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/recommendations-on-population-form-vs-table-tables/60319>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition78, scripting, vision\
**Created:** [June 2, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/recommendations-on-population-form-vs-table-tables/60319 "2022-06-02T19:45:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![andrews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@andrews](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/andrews)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/recommendations-on-population-form-vs-table-tables/60319/1 "2022-06-02T19:45:34Z")

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Hello,

So currently we have a shift report form I am trying automate in Ignition. Currently users fill out an excel form which gets emailed out.

I know I can create a form with some tags and do a transaction group into the database then clear my tags for the form.

What I have trouble with is how to display the data. It’s a lot of info and I don’t think I can fit all the cols on the screen with it being visually pleasing.

Right now, I could break it up into 3 separate vertical tables, making it more condensable.

Or, I could possibly have a read only version of the form which can be filtered by date and line. Which sounds good. Just not sure how I’d populate roughly 20 components off a query. And refresh as date/line params are changed by user.

I might be overthinking this, but liked to see if anyone has any helpful tips, ideas, or tricks.

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**Author:** ![LCao](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lcao/32/35341_2.png) [@LCao](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/LCao)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/recommendations-on-population-form-vs-table-tables/60319/2 "2022-06-06T16:54:31Z")

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Hi Andrew,

In your case, you can set up a window using components like text fields/dropdown components to make your form more condensed and implement an “apply” button with script on the bottom of the page. So once users finish filling out the form and click the button, the script can take all input values from users and insert them into the database.  
See more information on how to do that in our User Manual:  
[https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/Button](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/Button)  
[https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/Event+Object](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/Event+Object)  
[https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/system.db.runPrepUpdate](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/system.db.runPrepUpdate)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andrews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@andrews](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/andrews)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/recommendations-on-population-form-vs-table-tables/60319/3 "2022-06-06T16:59:02Z")

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How would I go about populating the other way?

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**Author:** ![LCao](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lcao/32/35341_2.png) [@LCao](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/LCao)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/recommendations-on-population-form-vs-table-tables/60319/4 "2022-06-07T15:37:56Z")

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Hi Andrew,

You can call support to open a how-to ticket if you need an in-depth example. [Support Home Page | Inductive Automation](https://inductiveautomation.com/support/home/)