Using an Interface
If you don’t require login features or linking users to records, our Interface extension would be a great fit for your use case. This is ideal if you want a simple setup similar to Airtable's shared views, but with the option for record updates/creation and the ability to add multiple tables and views to one link. Interfaces do not require any login, so everybody using an Interface will see the same data, but you can create multiple instances of an Interface for different people by duplicating it and changing which view is used for filtering. This can make sense if you only have a few users. When you're dealing with many users, a portal is usually much easier to set up and maintain.
Here's how to set up an Interface:
1. Go to the Create Extension section.
2. You’ll see several layout options for the interface. Feel free to select any layout that works best with your data.
3. If you want to change the layout later, you can easily do so in the extension settings.
Note: A miniExtensions dummy table will be generated, featuring a linked records field connecting to all the tables within your base. We strongly recommend against altering or deleting this table, as it is crucial for the continued functionality of the view editor. Please note that this table is designed not to host any records since the view editor's login capability has been disabled for it.
Magic Link Login to bypass the Portal Login
If you have already created and configured a portal, you can bypass the login screen by using the Get Magic Link button found in the Share menu.
Create a formula field in your users table with the login formula. Using the resulting link for each record will log in as that user.
If you're using email or phone number verification to validate login credentials, the magic link will still work, but users will need to enter the one-time code sent to them first in order to access the portal.
The generated magic-link formula creates a unique link for each record in your Portal's Users table. The link identifies the user by the Airtable record ID, so it does not depend on the names or values of your login fields.
Example:
https://web.miniextensions.com/xyz?loginRecordId=recXXXXXXXXXX
Previously generated magic links may use login field values to bypass the login page. These links still work, but if the login fields are changed (e.g. a different field is used to identify users), these magic links you have shared previously will no longer work. You will need to generate and share new magic links by following the steps in this section again. Any magic links generated now will use the Airtable record ID to identify users, so any subsequent changes to the login fields will not cause any issues with existing links. When using an out-dated magic link, users might see the following error message or simply see the login page:
The login information you provided contains more fields than expected.
Note: If your goal is to skip the login page and take a user directly to a specific record, it might make sense to use our form's editing formula instead. It generates a direct editing URL for each record.