Switching the reference column in a databases for entry link in a separate database

Question

I've got two databases (call them A and B) . I'd like to use the "entry link" field type in B to reference an entry in A. This works, though the column that confluence seems to default to in A is not the one I'd like to use. How can I change the reference column in A?

ex//

DB A has two columns (column 1, column 2).

Id like B to reference Column 2 (which has values like foo, bar, blah) but the default option is link column 1 (which has data like some data, more data, and and more). 
Ive tried reordering the columns in A and that doesn't seem to change the reference column.

Drew Cox · Answer

FYI, there is a technique to pull in *any* field from a referenced CDB.

Create first a "dummy" field linking to the target CDB.  It will show you the first column in the target CDB (and that is how you make selections of rows), not the one you really want.

I usually name this "XXX (Hide)", and then hide it in all your custom views, except a dedicated view where you actually maintain the data entries (I created one called "Maintenance" for that).

Then you can add another column using the "Entry Details" type, nominate the reference field from above as the source and then pick the field you really what to display for your CDB readers.

This technique also works for the Back References field type.  Between these you can do a lot of combining of DBs, though it still falls very short of full RDBMS functionality.

Jessica_j1vjtw · Answer

Thanks, @Jacob Guggenheim

I tried a large database based on your rows and columns and added a few more, but I still could drag and drop the columns and make the first one the data entry link information every time I changed the first column.

That said, I'm not sure what could be affecting your database with the workaround, that would only work after recreating the database or recreating the entry link.

If you would like to investigate this further, please feel free to let us know so we can create a support ticket for you or you can also create one at any time at https://support.atlassian.com/contact/.

Cheers,
Jessica

Jacob Guggenheim · Answer

55 rows, 15 columns. Not sure if its the size or something else (the creation date - have yall pushed any updates since I created it a couple months ago?).