Airtable Grid Integration

The Airtable Grid integration allows users to view, search, add, inline-edit, delete, and export records from any Airtable Base and Table directly inside the AppColab Grid UI.

Airtable Live Grid Preview

What’s Deployed

Component Name Purpose
Named Credential Airtable Connects to https://api.airtable.com via Airtable External Credential
External Credential Airtable Custom authentication with Bearer <Personal_Access_Token>
Apex Client AirtableClient.cls REST client supporting listRecords, createRecords, updateRecords, deleteRecords, and schema inspection
Apex Data Provider AirtableGridDataProvider.cls Implements appcg.GridDataProviderV1 and appcg.GridDataMutationProviderV1 with dynamic schema discovery and full CRUD
Permission Set Integration_Admin Grants access to Airtable → ApiKey external credential principal

One-Time Manual Setup

1. Create a Personal Access Token (PAT) in Airtable

  1. Go to the Airtable Builder Hub / Personal Access Tokens.
  2. Click Create token.
  3. Name your token (e.g., AppColab Salesforce Integration).
  4. Under Scopes, add:
    • data.records:read
    • data.records:write
    • schema.bases:read
  5. Under Access, select All current and future bases in all current and future workspaces (or choose your specific Base).
  6. Click Create token and copy the secret key (patXXXXXXXXXX...).

Airtable Token Creation

2. Configure Credentials in Salesforce Setup

2.1 Create the External Credential

  1. Go to Setup (gear icon ⚙️ → Setup).
  2. In the Quick Find box, enter Named Credentials and select Named Credentials.
  3. Click the External Credentials tab → click New:
    • Label: Airtable
    • Name: Airtable
    • Authentication Protocol: Custom
    • Click Save.
  4. In the Principals section, click New:
    • Parameter Name: ApiKey
    • Sequence: 1
    • Click Save.
  5. In the Custom Headers section, click New:
    • Name: Authorization
    • Value: Bearer YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN (paste the token copied from Step 1)
    • Sequence Number: 1
    • Click Save.

Airtable External Credential Setup

2.2 Create the Named Credential

  1. Click the Named Credentials tab (next to External Credentials) → click New:
    • Label: Airtable
    • Name: Airtable
    • URL: https://api.airtable.com
    • External Credential: Select Airtable
    • Generate Authorization Header: Leave Unchecked (handled by the custom Authorization header)
    • Allow Formulas in HTTP Header: Checked
  2. Click Save.

Airtable Named Credential Setup

3. Assign Permission Set Access

  1. Setup → Permission Sets → click Integration Admin.
  2. Click External Credential Principal Access and ensure Airtable - ApiKey is in Enabled External Credential Principals.
  3. Click Manage Assignments and assign the permission set to your user.

Creating an Airtable Grid Definition

  1. In Salesforce, open the AppColab Grid app → go to the Grid Definitions tab → click New Grid Definition.
  2. Fill in:
    • Grid Settings Name: Airtable_Grid
    • Grid Label: Airtable Live Grid
    • Is Active?: Checked
    • Data Provider Class: AirtableGridDataProvider
    • Data Provider Configuration:
      {
  "baseId": "app1XKhLDfkyTI1pp",
  "tableIdOrName": "Table 1"
}

      Tip: Extract the baseId and tableIdOrName directly from your Airtable URL: https://airtable.com/app1XKhLDfkyTI1pp/tblB6CMJzWJYLBOf9/viw...

  3. Click Save & Next → proceed to Preview.
  4. The Grid automatically discovers table columns, marks computed/formula fields as read-only, and displays your Airtable records in real time!

Airtable Grid Definition

Supported Grid Features

Feature Provider Implementation How It Works
Dynamic Columns Dynamic Schema & Field Parsing Automatically discovers all field names from Airtable table schema and records
Computed Fields Protection Automatic Filter Detects formula, collaborator, attachment, and rollup fields and marks them read-only
Search Case-Insensitive Filter Full-text client-side searching across all table columns
Inline Editing updateRecords (PATCH) Instant inline cell editing saved directly back to Airtable
Add New Records createRecords (POST) Add new rows directly into your Airtable Base from the Grid header
Delete Records deleteRecords (DELETE) Remove records with a single click
CSV Export AppColab Grid Core Download filtered or full table data as CSV

Troubleshooting

  • 401 Unauthorized / INVALID_PERMISSIONS_OR_MODEL_NOT_FOUND: Verify that your Airtable token is valid, has not expired, and contains the data.records:read, data.records:write, and schema.bases:read scopes.
  • 404 Not Found (TABLE_NOT_FOUND): Double-check your baseId and tableIdOrName in the Data Provider Configuration JSON.
  • User doesn't have access to the external credential principal: Assign the Integration Admin permission set to your Salesforce user.