Registration table
Write structured data straight into a workspace environment from a document.
A registration table is a grid inside a document that writes the rows you fill into a workspace data environment table. It's the cleanest way to register samples, animals, or compounds without leaving your protocol notebook.
When to use it
Use a registration table when:
- You're authoring a protocol or study document and the document itself is the natural place to capture the entities (animals, samples, compounds).
- You want the row IDs (e.g.
ANM-001) to land in the workspace's animals table, ready to be referenced from a result batch later. - You want the audit trail to show the document as the source of registration.
Don't use it when:
- The data is one-off scratch work, use a Spreadsheet instead.
- The data already exists in the environment and you just want to display it, use a Lookup table.
How it differs from a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is document-local: rows live only inside the document. A registration table is a write-through view: every synced row creates or updates an object in the underlying data environment table. The grid shows the target table's columns, reference and enum fields included, minus naming-scheme columns, which the server fills in. An entity table also gets an extra ID column in front.
| Spreadsheet | Registration table | |
|---|---|---|
| Row storage | In the document | In a workspace environment table |
| Schema | Headers you type | Inherited from the target table |
| Validation | None, cells are untyped | Inherited: column types, enum options, naming schemes |
| Survives document delete | No | Yes, registered objects stay |
| Query-able from elsewhere | No | Yes, queries, charts and the AI assistant all see them |
Authoring one
- Insert the block
Type
/in an empty line, pick Registration Table from the Data category. - Pick the target table
The config panel shows one searchable Data Table picker with the placeholder Find a table across environments…. Pick the table directly; the environment is filled in for you. The block then instantiates with that table's column definitions.
- Size the grid
The block starts at five rows. The gear popover has a Grid Size control with −, +, and +10 buttons. All of the target table's columns are shown except naming-scheme columns, which the server fills in.
- Fill in rows
Type values cell by cell. A value that isn't one of an enum column's allowed options is outlined in red with a tooltip listing the allowed values.
- Sync
Nothing is written until you press the footer button. On an entity table it reads Sync, or Sync N changes once some rows are already registered. On a result table it reads Record Results, and Re-record Results afterwards, which supersedes the previous batch rather than editing it.
On an entity table, a small dot in the ID column carries each row's state: an outlined dot for not registered yet, emerald for registered, amber for edited since registered and not yet saved, and the block header shows the same tally as a pill. A result table has no ID column and no per-row dots: its header carries the batch ID instead.
A realistic example
In a study protocol document for DLA-7, a registration table targets the
Animals table. The user fills in 24 rows during pre-study briefing:
| sex | strain | baseline_weight_g | study_group |
|---|---|---|---|
| F | C57BL/6 | 23.4 | GRP-1 (vehicle) |
| F | C57BL/6 | 22.8 | GRP-1 (vehicle) |
| F | C57BL/6 | 24.1 | GRP-2 (3 mg/kg) |
| … | … | … | … |
On Sync, Dalea generates ANM-001 through ANM-024 from the table's naming scheme.
The 24 animals are now queryable from any chart, lookup table, or saved query in the
workspace.
In templates
A registration table can be wired to its target table while you author a template. It does not write anything there: pressing Sync in the template editor tells you that rows are registered when a document is created from the template. Every document spawned from that template then arrives with the target table already chosen, so each run captures fresh data into the same place.
Tips
An IACUC submission template can include a registration table for animals. Reviewers see the exact same form every submission; investigators fill it in and press Sync, and the entities land in the institutional animal-tracking environment.
Once a row has been synced it is protected from the block's row controls, and the gear popover says so. To archive or delete the underlying objects, do it from the data browser. Editing a synced row and syncing again updates the object it created.