Google Sheets - QUERY, adding a cell to hide a row - sorting

Question

I'm hoping to use a Google Form to have my students sign up for activities. I added a column to the right of the form data where I can put an "x" once I have met with them. I have a separate tab called "Ordered" where I use QUERY to sort and show only the entries without an x. Once I meet with a student, I can put an x on the original data tab, and the entry will hide from the Ordered tab (kind of a queue for my students).
I would love to not have to switch between the 2 tabs every time I have to check someone off. Is there a way to add a similar column on the Ordered tab that will hide the finished entry?
Here is the sheet I'm referring to:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fQHF0EoGLk5NEI6GvyRk4InBl-uEq0jq7qqmyOmFjy8/edit#gid=379798836
I'm sharing this sheet with other teachers who aren't familiar with spreadsheets, so the solution has to be ludite friendly.

Answer 1

As #Aerials said, you are likely to run into circular dependency issues here. Because of this, I'd suggest using Apps Script and get rid of the QUERY formula. You want to do the following:
Every time someone submits the form, the Ordered sheet gets updated with the new submission data.
Every time an x is added to the Form Responses 1 sheet, the corresponding row in Ordered gets removed.
Every time an x is added to the Ordered sheet, the corresponding row in Ordered gets removed, and an x gets added to the corresponding row in Form Responses 1.
A possible way to go would be something along the following lines (open the script bound to your spreadsheet by clicking Tools > Script editor):
Install an onFormSubmit trigger so that Ordered gets updated with new data every time the form is submitted. The trigger can be installed manually or programmatically, copying this function to your script and running it once:
function onFormSubmit(e) {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
ScriptApp.newTrigger("copyAndFilterData")
.forSpreadsheet(ss)
.onFormSubmit()
.create();
}
Once the trigger is installed, the function copyAndFilterData will execute every time the form is submitted. This function should updated Ordered based on the data in Form Responses 1, removing all the submission that have been marked as complete x. This function could be the following:
function copyAndFilterData() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
var sheet1 = ss.getSheetByName("Form Responses 1");
var sheet2 = ss.getSheetByName("Ordered");
var sourceData = sheet1.getDataRange().getValues();
var filteredData = sourceData.filter(sourceRow => sourceRow[5] !== "x")
.sort((a, b) => a - b)
.map(sourceRow => {
sourceRow.pop();
sourceRow.splice(1, 1);
return sourceRow;
});
sheet2.getRange(1, 1, sheet2.getLastRow(), 4).clear({contentsOnly: true});
var destRange = sheet2.getRange(1, 1, filteredData.length, filteredData[0].length)
destRange.setValues(filteredData);
}
At this point, another piece of functionality would be needed: update the spreadsheet based on the addition or removal of x on any of both sheets. For this, an onEdit trigger would be needed, like this:
function onEdit(e) {
var editedSheet = e.range.getSheet();
if (editedSheet.getName() === "Form Responses 1") copyAndFilterData();
else if (editedSheet.getName() === "Ordered") removeRows(e, editedSheet);
}
Once this function is copied and the project saved, every time Form Responses 1 is edited, the Ordered sheets gets updated (function copyAndFilterData), and every time Ordered is edited, the function removeRows is fired. This function should do two things: (1) remove the row which was marked as complete in Ordered (x added) and (2) add the corresponding x to Form Responses 1. The submission dates can be compared to identify the row:
function removeRows(e, editedSheet) {
var range = e.range;
var column = range.getColumn();
var row = range.getRow();
var value = range.getValue();
if (column == 5 && row > 1 && value == "x") {
var date = editedSheet.getRange(row, 1).getValue();
var formSheet = e.source.getSheetByName("Form Responses 1")
var values = formSheet.getRange(2, 1, formSheet.getLastRow() - 1).getValues();
var markedRow = values.findIndex(value => value[0].getTime() === date.getTime());
formSheet.getRange(markedRow + 2, 6).setValue("x");
editedSheet.deleteRow(row);
}
}
Reference:
Overview of Google Apps Script
Simple Triggers
Installable Triggers