Q: Can I build my Appathon project in my employer-owned Quickbase account? 

We HIGHLY encourage all Appathon participants to create their solution in a free Builder Account. If you would like to build in your employer-owned account, you should get permission from the realm admin, understanding that any usage of entitlements by your solution may result in increased account fees. Also, any solution created in a paid account is the IP of the account owner. If you do create a solution in a Builder Account that your employer or clients love - don't worry! Quickbase is happy to help you transition the application(s) to a paid account after the competition ends.

Q: I’d like to solve for a real-world use case. Can I use real data? 

We highly discourage the use of any real data or names of companies/individuals. The rules also prohibit the use of any information under NDA or material which is not the IP of the submitter.

Q: Can my submission video be longer than five minutes? 

While a video exceeding five minutes will not be disqualified, judges are not required or encouraged to watch content beyond the five-minute mark. Keep it short and to the point! Your submission description and images can help provide more details. 

Q: Will my submission materials be public? 

A: After the submission period ends, we will open the Project Gallery to display your demo video, text description, and your name. The fields on the Additional Information step of your submission will NOT be shown publicly.

Q: What database system does Quickbase run on? MS-SQL? Oracle? How do I write queries for Quickbase applications?

A: The Quickbase platform runs on a proprietary database engine which is optimized for performance and complexity. You do not need to write any SQL queries to build a Quickbase application. Instead, you can use our point-and-click report builder to slice and dice your data any way you want.

Q: How do relationships / database joins work in Quickbase?

A: In Quickbase, we would call a 1-to-many relationship a parent-to-child relationship. The key field on your parent table acts as the primary key. The child records are keyed to the parent using a reference field, which acts like a foreign key would in other database systems. Related records communicate with each other in Quickbase using lookup and summary fields. Lookup fields are virtual fields which pull a piece of info from the parent record and display it on the related child records. Summary fields aggregate data from child records and display them on the parent record. NOTE: Reference fields may only link to a key field and cannot link to other unique fields. Key fields and reference fields must equal each other exactly and be the same field type for the relationship to work correctly. Ad-hoc joins can be accomplished using formula fields, aggregating data across unrelated records. This streamlines app schema for certain build patterns, such as cumulative statistics.

Q: How can I calculate data between different fields on the same record? Between fields across records?

A: Use formula fields to perform calculations on data within a single record. If you need to make calculations across records, there are two options. You can create a relationship and use a summary field to perform the calculation (combine text, sum, avg, etc). Or you can use a formula to perform an ad-hoc join. Learn more here.

Q: How can I deploy a Quickbase app once I’ve finished designing it?

A: Quickbase applications are automatically deployed live as you build them, so you can simply start inviting other users as soon as you want to start testing or using your app. Subsequent schema changes to your app are also published automatically. Quickbase also offers a sandbox to test changes before publishing them. The sandbox is helpful for larger or more complex applications, or applications which must follow stricter regulatory guidelines.