# How to select a field in a table as a variable from within the app **URL:** \ **Category:** Support, Troubleshooting, & Help\ **Tags:** table, apps\ **Created:** [May 12, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699 "2021-05-12T00:13:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/1 "2021-05-12T00:13:11Z")
First, select the control number as a variable from the application. Next, we want to store the data in a field whose label matches that variable. Does anyone know how to do this? The figure below shows the table. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/7/79645bb4ef5f7850bc65df316581a65d6ff65a7d.png) For example, I want to select the field “GC08I-001” from a variable on my app. ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/2 "2021-05-12T17:18:16Z")
hello @da-noguchi, that’s a great question. thanks for posting!! you could ask the User which Table Field they’d like to store the App Variable, and store it in the corresponding Field. a Trigger simialr to this should work: ![Screen Shot 1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/f/faa7840b35a98e0b1a41605aef258959f63ccc6c.jpeg) would this work as a solution for you?? let me know!! ---
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/3 "2021-05-12T22:08:33Z")
hello @gio . That’s how I’m dealing with it now. However, when the number of fields becomes huge, it is troublesome to set them one by one. Is there a way to make it easier? ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:03am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/4 "2021-05-13T07:03:02Z")
> [@da-noguchi](#): > > Is there a way to make it easier? thanks for clarifying @da-noguchi. one way to do this could be with the Tables API. you can create a generic function into which you can have inputs for the Field Names and Field Values you’d like to create and use the POST `/tables/{table_id}/records` endpoint. once that’s created, you can use that dynamically from an App. here’s an example of how this can work. Connector Function: ![Screen Shot 6](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/e/ef9ac2977c6a5000260eabf6eb3e61597f1ce2bf.jpeg) resulting Table: ![Screen Shot 7](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/1/13f5d15e13066e06066dce32731cea64a7e06458.jpeg) as you can see, you can then enter the Table Fields dynamically when using it from the App: ![Screen Shot 8](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/c/cb0aa2d84bb2cce4cae540cb251def040f9449c6.jpeg) would this work as a solution for you?? this being said, I think this is a really great idea to add the ability to variably select the Field directly from an App using a Table Record Placeholder. would you mind adding a post in [Product suggestions - Tulip Community](https://community.tulip.co/c/product-suggestions/10)?? thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:10am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/6 "2021-07-22T07:10:13Z")
Hello @gio, I apologize for the delay in replying. I am now trying to solve this problem using the Table API. However, I am thinking of using a human connector to work with multiple tables, and it will not work. There is an identifier that can be tied to the field name, making it difficult to select it with variables. Is there any way to successfully put the field ID into a variable? ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/7 "2021-07-22T13:08:42Z")
hello @da-noguchi, no problem!! have you considered creating a Table with a dictionary of the Table IDs, Column Names and Column Labels?? something like this should work: ![Screen Shot 2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/6/6bb8f662096c27f4f25778402a12903740122bff.jpeg) once it’s populated with all the columns available in your Table, it will be easy for users to select the Column they’d like to update in a human-readable list and you can use the Column ID for the Connector Function. do you think this solution could work for what you’re trying to build?? let me know!! ---
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/8 "2021-07-22T22:46:43Z")
Hello @gio , I see! I hadn’t thought of creating a dictionary table. Is there a way to stock multiple pieces of this information in a table at the same time using a connector or app? ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/9 "2021-07-22T23:16:52Z")
yes, I think a dictionary Table could work well for this use case!! you can have more than one Table Record Placeholders in each app if you want to load multiple Records simultaneously. do you think that would work?? ---
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/10 "2021-07-23T01:01:27Z")
I know that. It is very difficult to manually input the field information into each field of the dictionary table. Can you automate that manual input process? ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/11 "2021-07-23T12:38:05Z")
@da-noguchi you could use the CSV Import: [How to Import a Spreadsheet into a Table | Tulip Help Center - Support for Building Operations Apps](https://support.tulip.co/en/articles/4332503-how-to-import-a-spreadsheet-into-a-table) if you can get the dictionary elements into a spreadsheet. alternatively, you could use the Table API to read the values for all the columns in the Table and write them into the dictionary Table. let us know if you need help building this out!! ---
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 10:49pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/12 "2021-07-26T22:49:34Z")
Hello @gio , Please tell me how to do this using the table API. That seems to be a better way to avoid having to import the CSV multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/13 "2021-07-27T00:30:29Z")
hello @da-noguchi, yes we can help with this. would it be possible for you to join Office Hours so we can get a better understanding of what you’d like to build?? here’s the registration link: [https://tulip.co/office-hours-est/](https://tulip.co/office-hours-est/). in the meantime, I will share this video: [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/3/306a5454629a870c7c6f1d764e1e938d07977b27.jpeg "Subtracting BOM Line Items from Inventory Table") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50Ju1Ov8nI) that describes how you can loop through to update multiple Records. would this help what you’re building?? let me know!! ---
**Author:** ![da-noguchi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@da-noguchi](https://community.tulip.co/u/da-noguchi)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/14 "2021-07-27T23:51:06Z")
Hello @gio , I’m going to use that as a reference and try a few different methods. Thank you! If I get stuck again, I’ll ask more questions. ---
**Author:** ![gio](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/gio/32/82_2.png) [@gio](https://community.tulip.co/u/gio)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/how-to-select-a-field-in-a-table-as-a-variable-from-within-the-app/2699/15 "2021-07-28T02:04:26Z")
sounds good @da-noguchi, thanks for the update!!