ForEach

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ForEach

🎓 It’s important that we provide a bit of background on this formula before fully diving in. ForEach() has historically been named FormulaMap(), a piece of code that applies an action to every item on a list. However, the goal of Coda (and of no-code in general) is to make building accessible to all. Therefore, Coda elected to give FormulaMap() an alternate name that better describes its actions: ForEach(). Now, either formula can be used to accomplish the same function.

We at The Coda School strive for inclusivity—no code is for everyone! Because of this (and because, let’s be honest, “for each” is a much more straightforward), you will find that we teach and use the ForEach() version of this formula throughout our lessons.

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Formula: ForEach()

Category: Lists (Arrays)

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ForEach()

Run a formula for every item in a list

Or another way to say it...

Hey Coda, I’m going to give you a list of items - Can you do the exact same action with/to each item in the list?

ForEach() takes two parameters:

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List

ForEach(List, Formula)

A list of items that you want Coda to individually perform an action on.

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Formula

ForEach(List, Formula)

This is the formula Coda will perform on each item in the given list.

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To summarize, ForEach() takes a list and then applies a set formula to each item on that list. Let’s take a look at how that looks in the examples below:

Take this list of numbers for example:
`1234`
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First choose what you want to do to each item in the list

Add

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to

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each number

Notice how it changes EACH of our original numbers

Output:

3456

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Now let’s see what it looks like when we apply the ForEach() formula to text values:

AlaskaAlabamaArkansasArizona

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Here's some quick actions ForEach() can do to each word

ForEach() making them Upper Case:

ALASKAALABAMAARKANSASARIZONA

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ForEach() making them Lower Case:

alaskaalabamaarkansasarizona

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ForEach() finding the words length:

6787

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ForEach() checking if the words starts with “ala”:

truetruefalsefalse

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ForEach() deleting every vowel from the word:

lsklbmrknssrzn

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Don’t Forget CurrentValue!

The phrase CurrentValue has a special meaning within the ForEach() formula. It is used to access the current value within the list during a loop.

Take this list for example:

1234

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The first time ForEach() runs, the currentValue is 1

The second time ForEach() runs, the currentValue is 2

The third time ForEach() runs, the currentValue is 3

The fourth time ForEach() runs, the currentValue is 4

currentValue will be used almost every time you write a ForEach() formula

How To Use This

Let’s look at an example of how ForEach() can unlock some 🎩 magic 🐇 in your Coda docs.

You are a headmaster preparing to lead a Jedi school that teaches upcoming force users to master their powers, but you don’t discriminate between those drawn to the light-side or the dark-side.

Obviously though, depending on which side (dark or light) a student is drawn too, they will need different lessons with different foci.

Therefore, we are going to make three tables:

A template database called

Force School lessons⁠

that holds the list of lessons available

A students database called

Force School Students⁠

that holds one row per student

A lessons database called

DB Student-Force Lessons⁠

holds one row per lesson per student

Lets start with a database of lessons where each lesson is tagged either as one meant for the dark-side, the light side, or both

Force School Lessons

Lesson

Lesson is for:

Turn on a lightsaber

Dark side

Light side

Fight with a lightsaber

Dark side

Light side

Learn to Pilot an X-Wing

Light side

Learn to Pilot a Tie-Fighter

Dark side

Learn to be really cruel

Dark side

Learn to be really compassionate

Light side

There are no rows in this table

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Now that we have a set database of lessons, let’s populate these lessons for individual students depending on what side of the force they are drawn to with the click of a button.

Force School Students

View

Name

Drawn Towards

Add All Lessons

All lessons

Luke Skywalker

Light side

Added

Luke Skywalker

R2-D2

Light side

Lessons

[ ]

Darth Vader

Dark side

Lessons

[ ]

Leia Organa

Light side

Lessons

[ ]

Beru Whitesun lars

Dark side

Lessons

[ ]

Biggs Darklighter

Dark side

Lessons

[ ]

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Light side

Lessons

[ ]

Anakin Skywalker

Dark side

Lessons

[ ]

There are no rows in this table

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This table below is the database of lessons that each individual student needs to complete. Click the

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button above in each students row to see their tasks populated and mark them off as complete/incomplete.

Student-Force Lessons

Done

Student

Lesson

Luke Skywalker

Turn on a lightsaber

Luke Skywalker

Fight with a lightsaber

Luke Skywalker

Learn to Pilot an X-Wing

Luke Skywalker

Learn to be really compassionate

There are no rows in this table

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You can click into the buttons options to see the formula used to assign lessons, but written in plain english, this is what it is happening:

First

Filter the

Force School lessons⁠

database to find only the rows appropriate to the current student based on their preference for the light side or dark side.

This creates the list of all the classes that match their force preference. That is the first argument of your ForEach() formula. It is the list that we will perform an individual action on.

Second

Now that we have our target list of lessons, we define the action that we will perform on each item.

The chosen action in this case is for each applicable lesson, add a new-row for that student to the

DB Student-Force Lessons⁠

table.

Thats it! There are so many possibilities with ForEach() and the best way to find those is to start building docs of your own using this magic formula! But first, let’s start with some activities.

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Practice: Use ForEach() to +5 to every number in a list

Done

Build an automatic onboarding task tracking system

Done

Create a “Get to know the team” page for a large organization

Done

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Ready to master Coda yourself?

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Coda School Take your Coda formulas from "I can get by" to "I can do anything" with a fully interactive course designed to be taken at your own pace, with accountability and community built in. www.codaschool.io⁠

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ForEach

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Take this list of numbers for example: 1234⁠

Don’t Forget CurrentValue!

How To Use This

Force School Lessons

Force School Students

Student-Force Lessons

First

Second

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Ready to master Coda yourself?

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Take this list of numbers for example:
`1234`
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