Add New Row To Another Table - Automation vs. Grouped Action

[Ryan_Wagner]

Hi everyone.

I’m back with another basic question they may imply another basic misunderstanding. But maybe it will help someone else that stumbles on this post.

I am working with two tables. One is like an inventory of items, the other is a history of actions done to those items. When I first started using AppSheet, I used automation to add a new row to the history table instead of using a grouped action, which I now see that I can do.

Is one better than the other in the long run? I understand there to be a limit on automated actions. Functionally, the two ways are accomplishing the same thing. I was just late to the idea of grouped actions…

Hopefully the question makes sense. I will rephrase if needed.

Thanks!

[Marc_Dillon · Accepted solution]

Good question.

The main difference to me is:

• with Actions, the data changes are available to the user right away,
• but with Bots, the user would have to wait a minute, then manually sync, in order to see the changes.

It all depends on the importance of seeing those data changes right away, and also on how much you want to train your users on the usage of your app.

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Another consideration: if you’re talking about a large amount of data changes,

• doing them with an Action may cause a large number of syncs that the user must make sure to sync. This could be bad. User-training also matters here.
• doing it with a Bot could remove the reliance on the user having to sync everything.

[Ryan_Wagner]

Thank you for the quick and thorough response!

It would, in my case, definitely be a big data source with about 10-12 simultaneous users.

So far, both ways have seemed to work fine. I just wanted to lock in one path and keep it that way…

Thank you again.