Using no-code airtable and Netlify to quickly build a machine log application

A friend asked me to create a tool for logging when one of his staff enters a room to turn on and off machine jobs. It needed to be on the cloud and run on an ipad. He wanted it to be simple and have an MVP fast.

I wanted to see if I could build the tool using no-code or similar. I got it built in around 2 hours using airtable! Though I found that I needed a tiny bit of code to make it more professional by having it on its own url.

The solution steps

• Setup an airtable account
• Setup a new base
• Add a new table
• Add a new form
• Test the form
• Add the site template
• Add a github repository
• Add a netlify site
• Deploy your site
• Add a password on airtable
• Add a domain

Setting up the basic air table account

First step is to go to air table and open an account. For our purposes you will have to purchase a Pro level account. This gives you custom branding on the form and a password restriction so you can keep it private.

Go here to sign up: https://airtable.com

Setting up a new base

In air table there is this concept of a base. This is like a single database or an app. We need a new one of these for our app.

Click add a base (the + symbol) and then "from scratch". Call it "Machine Log".

Open the new base. This will show you a grid view where we can edit the columns (they are called "fields" in air table). Airtable adds some default columns and sample data for us. For our app we need to customise these columns. You can remove all the fields to the right of "Name" that airtable adds by default.

We need to add a column that records when the person enters the log. For this we add Name: "DateOfAction", Type: "Created time", Date format: ISO, Include time, 24-Hour clock and use GMT time.

Next we add the name of the machine job that we're logging. This is a fixed list of options for this application so we add a column called "Job Name". Type: "Single select", add some options.

Add the action that the operator is recording. We will call this the "Event". Another single select field with "Start", "Stop" and "Pause" options.

We add a field that the operator can use to indicate why they are pausing the job. This will only be shown to the operator in our form if they have selected "Pause" in the event field.

The last column change we need is to make the Name column automatically filled when a new record is created. To do this we will use a formula column. The formula is DateOfAction & "-" & {Job Name} & "-"&Event. This combination should be unique for a single log entry.

Rename the table to "Machine Job Logs"

Adding a form

So now that we have a table to store the data. We need to create the form for our machine operators to enter the data with a better ui than the grid view / excel view. To do this click on Add form. The form should already have all of our fields. You can add a logo if you like here.

Change the title and description to help our machine operator. You can edit the form field properties by clicking on the title of the form field.

Change the Job name field properties to look like this. It should be required and because there aren't many options right now I change it to show the list of options.

Same for event - required, show list