Display Fields

What You'll Learn

This guide explains how display fields work, why they're important, and how to configure them for your tables. You'll discover how to choose the most effective display fields to make connecting records intuitive for both builders and users.

Understanding Display Fields

When selecting options in a connection field, you will find the records from the connected table displayed in a dropdown menu, showing the value from that single field. This is known as the display field, and each table has a designated display field.

The default Display field is the first field on the table that was created.

How Display Fields Work

Display fields serve as the visible representation of records when connecting tables. They determine what appears in:

• Connection field dropdowns in the Builder
• Connection selection dropdowns in forms
• Record picker interfaces in your Live App

In the images below, we see that the Product Info connection field pulls in values from the Display field in the Product table.

Changing the Display Field

To update the display field for a table:

1. Navigate to that table's fields tab
2. Select the ellipses (⋮) on the field you want to use as the display field
3. Click "Make this the Display Field"

Note that some fields, like calculation columns, cannot be used as Display Fields.

Before and After Example

In the Products table, if we change the display field from Product Name to SKU, then navigate back to the Sales table and examine the connection field, the values that were previously the Product names have been replaced with the SKU for those records.

Best Practices for Display Fields

• Choose fields that make records easily identifiable, like names instead of IDs
• Select fields that contain unique values to avoid confusion
• Consider using fields that are most meaningful in the context of how connections will be made
• For complex records, consider creating a text formula field that combines multiple fields (e.g., "CustomerID: LastName, FirstName")

Tip: When connecting records, you can choose the most recognizable field as your display field. For example, you may want to use Product Name rather than Product ID - this makes it much easier to select the right record when making connections.