Collections

What are Collections?

Deta Collections is pre-installed on Space as a system app and can be used to store all kinds of data that can be managed and used together as part of a “collection” in your Space. You can connect a collection to other Space apps or even services outside of Space.

There are two kinds of data you can store in a collection: structured data using Deta Base or files using Deta Drive. You can create any number of Bases and Drives in a collection and all of them are accessible through a single interface in Deta Collections.

Creating a Collection

To create your first collection, open the “Collection” app on your Canvas and click “New Collection”. Give your collection a memorable name and create it. The newly created collection should automatically be opened and you’ll see the collection interface:

Empty Collection

The first row of items shows you your collection name and links to open the Collections documentation or Collection settings. Below that in a big grey box you’ll see two buttons:

  • New Base: Create a new Base to store structured table like data
  • New Drive: Create a new Drive to store files

Depending on what kind of data you want to store you can create a Base or a Drive.

Opening a Resource

If you are viewing a collection that has no resource open, you’ll see a screen that prompts you to open a Base or Drive in a new tab:

Nothing Open

Clicking “Open Resource” will present you with a list of all the Bases and Drives that belong to that collection. You can select one or more of them to open them in a new tab:

Select Resource

Tabs are part of the Collections UI and allow you to quickly jump between resources:

Tabs
  • To create a new tab, click the small “+” next to the open tabs.
  • To switch to a different tab, just click on the tab’s name.
  • To close a tab, click on the small “x” next to the active tab’s name.

Viewing a Base

When you open a Base you’ll see Base UI, which you can use to add items to your Base and modify or delete existing items.

Empty Base

You can use the search field to search for items in your Base. It also supports searching with more advanced queries.

Click “Add Item” to create a new Base item. You’ll see a draft of the new item which you can now edit using the small pencil icon or save using the “Save Item” button:

Unsaved Base Item

Viewing a Drive

When you open a Drive you’ll see the Drive UI which you can use to upload and manage files:

Empty Drive

Just drag a file onto the grey box and it will be uploaded to your Drive.

Uploaded File

Connecting to your Collection

To connect to a collection from another app or service to access its data, generate a new “data key” in the Collections settings:

Data Keys

The key can then be used with the Deta SDK or HTTP API to view and manipulate Bases and Drives linked to that data key.

More information on this can be found in the developer documentation.