Large number of objects? Better way to structure?

Hey team, would love to get your input on whether Knack can handle this type of app structure, or whether there’s a better way to structure this app so it requires less objects.

The app is a client portal where we would share patient data collected via a third-party tool (and would import via Zapier) on behalf of our clients. Our clients run research studies. Normally we would have a Study Object and a Patient Object. The challenge is that each study collects both standard information which is always the same plus other information that is unique to each study. There are approximately 300 studies, with perhaps 20 unique fields per study, which is a total of 6,000 fields (and we would expect this number to grow).

So having 6,000+ fields in the patient object doesn’t seem realistic. But I’m not sure if Knack can handle having 300+ Study Objects, a new object for each study. I’ve contacted Knack support about this but they’re not getting back to me.

I wonder if anyone has created an app with a similar number of objects? If so, did it work?

Or I’m also wondering if there’s a more streamlined way to structure the app that would keep the number of required Objects and Fields manageable?

Thanks!

Hi Nick3,

The forum is an excellent option for seeking ideas, suggestions, and advice! Maybe someone will offer some additional advice, however, I believe both Ro and I have communicated our thoughts on these questions. Take another look in your inbox if you don’t mind as Ro had reached out on Monday.

I can tell you I have been on the app for 7+ years and continue to grow my structure and userbase. I am a Physiologist with a lot of technical experience. Our app is in the health field and we do track health, fitness and some medical style of data. Currently we have about 3000 fields spread among about 120 objects and all of them interconnected to about 300 users and multiple objects. We have approximately 1250 different views among about 720 scenes/pages. The system is password protected, multi-tenant with multiple user roles. We also have close to 4000 lines of CSS and Javascript on the backend plus externally loaded CSS and Javascript codes as well. We are currently at close to 4000 records and the system is as responsive as many other apps I use. If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer.

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Thanks Steve. I did receive the response from Ro but I also sent a reply with some follow-up questions, and a follow-up email a few days later, but never heard back. It would be great to get some clarification on those follow-up questions.

Thanks Dean, this is really confidence-inspiring!

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Thanks for this detailed response Dean: I’m on the verge of moving some large-ish databases from FileMaker to Knack and your excellent comment provides exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

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