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Whether it's the holiday season or another special occasion, have you ever had trouble
coming up with gift ideas, remembering the gift you've given, or tracking your gifting?
Then this is the app for you!
It's available for free in the Google Play Store but if you wondered how I created it, this
guide walks you through my process.
How I Created This App
By Madeline Clarke, AppSheet

What you need:
A Google account and a blank
Google Sheets spreadsheet
…that’s all!
Got everything? Let’s get started!
&
• Build an app that helps you plan and list
gifts you’ve given for special occasions
• Design the app data structure
• Create different UX views and automate
data
• Deploy the app for personal use
What you’ll do:

Add the following columns:
1. PersonID: Will contain an auto-generated .
xxxxxdistinct ID for each recipient
2. First Name: Recipient’s first name
3. Last Name: Recipient’s last name
4. Email: Recipient’s preferred email address
Create a new Google Sheet named “Recipients”
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5. Phone Num: Recipient’s phone number
6. Address: Recipient’s street address
7. Birthday: Recipient’s birthday
8. Image: Upload a picture of the person
9. Potential Gift: A gift idea for this person

1. StoreID: Will contain an auto-generated
distinct ID for each store
2. Store Name: Write the name of stores where
you like to shop, in person or online
3. Website: Add the store’s website
4. Location: Add the store’s location if it’s a
physical store
5. Notes: Anything about the store that you want
to remember
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Create a new Google Sheet named “Store”

1. GiftID: Will contain an auto-generated distinct
xxxxxID for each gift
2. Recipient: The person you’ve given this gift to
3. Gift: The name of the gift
4. Date: The date on which you’ve given the gift
5. Price: How much you spent on the gift
6. Bought Already?: Whether you’ve purchased
xxxxxthe gift yet
7. Sent/given?: Whether you’ve given the gift to a
xxxxxrecipient
8. Purchase Location: Where you bought it
9. Occasion/Holiday: When you gave this gift
10. Image: Add a picture of the gift
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Create a new Google Sheet named “Gift”

1. GiftIdeaID: Will contain an auto-generated
distinct ID for each gift idea
2. Gift: The name of the gift idea
3. Description: An optional, brief description of the
gift idea
4. Price: The price of the gift
5. StoreID: The ID number of the store where you
can purchase the gift
6. Image: A picture of the gift
7. Potential Recipients: People you might want to
give this to
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Create a new Google Sheet named “Gift Ideas”
Next: Install AppSheet Adds-on

With an AppSheet add-on, building a functional app
takes less than 5 minutes.
To install the add-on:
1. Go to: Add-ons > Get add-ons
2. Search for “AppSheet”
3. Install AppSheet add-on
4. Go to Add-ons > AppSheet > Launch
5. Press GO
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Install an AppSheet add-on
Next: Configure App Definitions

Next: Configure App Definitions
Configure App Definitions
You may access these settings via the side navigation
1. Data
To create a Gift Planning App, you need to configure three main components.
2. UX 3. Behavior

Add Your Tables
Toggle to Data and add your tables in the Tables tab

If you had questions about the process
of adding your data, catch up by seeing
our version of the app here:
Version 1 Gift Planning App
Tip: Make sure each of your tables
allows updates, adds, and deletes.
Checkpoint 1: Tables Added

To save time, automatically fill in the data in the ID
fields using AppSheet’s column expressions.
To make these changes, go to:
1. Data > Columns
2. Click Show for the table you want
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Editing Column Structure

You can start with the Gift table.
[GiftID] is a text type unique label for each gift. Instead of typing
“123456” or “1234567”, set up this column to generate a random
combination of number and letters:
1. Click Show under “Gift”
2. Find [GiftID] and click on:
3. Scroll down to the Initial Value field
4. In the text box, write: UNIQUEID()
5. Click OK and Save
6. Repeat this process for RecipientID, GiftIdeaID, and StoreID
*UNIQUEID() is an expression that generates a unique combination of number
and letters
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Edit the ID columns

You may have noticed that in the sheets you’ve created, the Gift table has columns
for recipients, and a store where you can buy the item.
You can use the unique IDs you just added to your column structure to link your
Recipients to your Gift Ideas in the Gift table.
This is because there is a many-to-many relationship between people and gifts. Each
person can receive many gifts and multiple gifts can go to each person.
The next step is to create these references in your column structure. You can learn
more about References Between Tables.
References between tables

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1. Select “Show” under Gift
2. Select the edit icon
3. Select “Ref” in the Type dropdown
4. Select Gift Ideas in the referenced
table dropdown
Now the Gift table is getting the gift value
from the Gift Idea table!
Adding references to Gift table: Gift Idea

Follow the same steps as the previous slide
to create a reference in the Gift table to the
Recipients table.
Adding references to Gift table: Recipients
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For this part, you’ll follow the same steps you just completed to create additional references.
Gift Ideas Table
1. Make the [Store] column a Ref type, referencing the Store table
2. Make the [Potential Recipient] column a Ref type, referencing the Recipients table
Now your gift ideas correspond with a list of potential recipients and a list of stores where you
can buy them! Yay!
Recipients Table
1. Make the [Potential Gift] column a Ref type, referencing the Gift Ideas table
Adding the rest of your references

The editor automatically generates some columns when you make these
references between tables, but they’re probably named something
meaningless like “Related Gift Ideas [ Potential Recipients]”.
To rename them:
1. Select the edit icon
2. Scroll down to the Display Name
3. Write the expression CONCATENATE(“What you want to say
”,[Column Name])
4. Example: CONCATENATE(“Gifts I’ve Given ”,[First Name]) will
show up as “Gifts I’ve Given Anna” or “Gifts I’ve Given Joel”
depending on the person’s first name
Making computed columns useful

If you had questions about the process of adding references and virtual columns or changing
column names, catch up by seeing our version of the app here:
Checkpoint 2: Column Structure

Your App’s UX
Now that you’ve defined your data, it’s time to make your
app easily usable and visually appealing.
Next: Customize Your User Experience

You may notice that there are multiple views for the
Gift Ideas table.
To edit or delete a view, select it.
1. Toggle to the UX tab
2. Select one of the views for the Gift Ideas table
3. Rename view to “Gift Ideas”
4. Select the Gallery view button
5. Assign it the position of center
6. You can select a more interesting icon, like a
lightbulb
7. Save your changes
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The Gift Ideas View

Follow the same pattern as the Gift Ideas
view to create views for the Recipient and
Store tables. Make the recipient view a deck
view and name it “People” and make the
view for stores a table.
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The People View and Store View

1. Follow the first six steps from the previous
slides.
2. Group by Gift Ascending
a. Leave the group aggregate = NONE
b. This will allow you to see the gifts
you’ve given sorted by gift
3. Save your changes
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The Gifts Given View

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1. Follow the same steps as on
slides 18-20 to create another
view for the Store table.
2. Make it a Map view this time
and position it in the menu.
Creating a Map View of Stores

1. Go to the UX tab
2. Add a new view as you would normally
3. Name it “Add a Gift”
4. Choose the Gift table as its source
5. Make it a form view
6. Select “ref” for its position
7. Create another view just like it
a. This view should be exactly the same,
but named “Add a Gift from Gift Idea”
Now you’re ready to change your app’s
behavior!
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Creating ref views to use for actions

If you had questions about the process of adding views, catch up by seeing our version of the app here:
Checkpoint 3: UX Views Added

Next: Customize your app’s behavior
Your app’s behavior
Now that your data is defined and you’ve created views for your gift ideas, gifts,
and people, it’s time to make everything work together smoothly.
Next up: add some actions!

1. Toggle to the Behavior tab
2. Make sure you’re on the Actions section
3. Scroll down to the bottom and select “Hide
System Actions”. This will make it easier to see
the changes you want to make.
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Creating actions to link your views

1. Toggle to Behavior > Actions
2. Add a new action
3. Name the action “Gift”
4. Select Gift Ideas for the table
5. Make sure the condition is set to true
6. Select “Go to another view or app”
7. Enter the expression: LINKTOFORM("Add a Gift from
Gift Idea", "Gift", [GiftIdeaID])
8. Make a present icon
9. Select “Display Overlay”
Now you can choose a gift idea and add a gift!
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1. Create another action and call it “Gift!”
2. Choose Recipients for the table
3. Use expression for the target: LINKTOFORM("Add a
Gift from Recipient", "Recipient", [PersonID])
4. Make the rest of the action exactly the same as the one
you created on the previous slide.
Now you have an action that will let you add a gift for a
certain person from your list of people.

You may have noticed that there a lot of icons in
various places in your app. If you don’t want them to
be visible, you can hide their display.
On the right, there is an email icon for people that you
may not want to appear.
To fix this:
1. Toggle to Behavior > Actions
2. Select “Show System Actions”
3. Select “Do not display” for the action icon you’d
like to hide
Hiding system actions (optional)

If you had questions about the process of adding actions, catch up by seeing our version of the app here:
Checkpoint 4: Actions Added

Next: Deploy Your App
Time to deploy your app!
You just finished the entire app definition for your gift planning app! *give
yourself a pat on the back*
What’s next? Deploy your app!

To deploy your app:
1. Go to Info > Documentation > Turn on
“Personal Use Only > Save
2. 2. Security > Require Sign-In > Turn on “Require
user authentication” > Save
Third Step:
Manage > Deploy >
Deployment Check > Click
“Move app to Deployed State”
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Deploy your personal use app

If you had questions about the process of deploying your app, catch up by seeing our version of the app here:
Checkpoint 5: App Deployed

Congratulations, App Creator!
You’ve just made an app without any coding!
With this gift organization app, giving gifts to your friends
and family will be so much easier.

If you have any questions about your Gift Planning app,
please feel free to reach out to us at any of our channels.
Enjoy.

CONCATENATE(“Gifts I’ve Given ”,[First Name])
The CONCATENATE() function takes in two values and puts them together so that they appear to be a single
value. Here, it’s useful to concatenate so that we can have the column [First Name] or the column [Gift] be
unique to whichever gift or person is being referenced.
The part in quotes is customizable. It doesn’t change from person to person, in the example above. The value of
the person’s first name is obtained for the second part, so it depends on which person is being referenced.
Therefore, the column name can change dynamically: it can be “Gifts I’ve Given Ben” for Ben and “Gifts I’ve
Given Heather” for Heather.
Expression Breakdown
Back to App Building

LINKTOFORM("Add a Gift from Gift Idea", "Gift", [GiftIdeaID])
The LINKTOFORM() expression used in the actions takes three things. The first is the ref view that was created
in the UX > Views section. The second is the name of the column that will be filled in. The final piece is the ID of
the table that the action is pointing from.
Expression Breakdown
Back to App Building

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