Re: Automation Monitor or Audit History ? Which on...

Rifad · 02-12-2023 11:03 PM

I am just frustrated spending few hours to figure out the issue.

Everything is working fine with BOT: Soft Delete | Product Transactions From Products Stock Adjustments | Execute Still SHOWS ERROR in automation monitor.

1/2 Action in process inside bot: Soft Delete | Product Transactions From Products Stock Transfer | Execute is working and 2/2 action which is setup exactly like above bot does not complete the second action to return value to parent table. SHOWS ERROR in automation monitor and Success in audit history

Show error in Automation Monitor	Shows success in AUDIT History

Not sure how to fix this now because both have same setup but in different table and I spent hours wasting time on it. Contacted support and no solutions till now.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

There maybe or may not be solution and it could be an inherent bug between automation monitor and audit history.

However, if could share more details on your bot set up and relevant columns of the underlying table(s), there maybe a chance someone could suggest a workaround.

Rifad

Thanks @Suvrutt_Gurjar. I have a bot that triggers two tables on delete.

ACTION 01: To run an action on table Product Transaction when row is deleted in Product Transfer table

Result of action 01: Works fine✅

Action 02: Call process that updates back Product Table to update available quantity. This process is used by multiple bots from different table to update back product table.

Does CALL PROCESS Trigger on DELETE?

This CALL process does not work for this table but works for other tables. But monitor still shows error.

Shows success here when I test it

I couldn’t find much detail about CALL A PROCESS anywhere

Rifad

Spent around two hours with Appsheet support and they don’t have any answer to this but told me to wait for 24 hours. I have to see if they find whats wrong.

Rifad

BOT NAME: Soft Delete | Product Transactions From Products Stock Transfer | Execute

In app: ACTION 01 works.✅ ACTION 02 Fails.❌

In automation monitor: Shows Error❌

In Audit History: Shows success✅

BOT NAME: Soft Delete | Product Transactions From Products Stock Adjustments | Execute

In app: ACTION 01 works.✅ ACTION 02 Works. ✅

In automation monitor: Shows Error

In Audit History: Shows success✅

Both Uses Same process to return value in product table. But only for second bot it returns value.

Rifad

This definitely a bug

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Thank you for all the details. Could you mention the entire bot process, meaning how the bot is invoked" .

On which table the bot event gets invoked? Something like below.

Edit: Sorry, I missed that you have already posted the screenshot of the evenyt

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Could you update step details of the process "Call | Update Available Quantity"

And (parent-child ) relationship between Product, Product Stock Transfer and Product Transactions tables?

Also you may want to share why you mention below?

@Rifad wrote:

In Audit History: Shows success

You may want to share the expansion of the following step?

Rifad

Here is the expansion

Rifad

The bot that triggers on delete record of table Product Stock Transfer
Product Stock Transfer has columns PRODUCT ID and PRODUCT TRANSACTION ID on each row when creating the record. Product transactions rows are already created in PRODUCT TRANSACTION table for each row
Here is the first action that triggers and updates as "DELETED" in Product Transactions table.
Here is the result of successful trigger for first action
ACTION 02- This is the action that triggers a process in PRODUCT Table using reference PRODUCT ID that is shown in PRODUCT STOCK TRANSFER TABLE
Detail of above process that updates available quantity

As per AppSheet Support he says the record is already DELETED so it is not updating AVAILABLE QUANTITY column because it is not returning the Product ID.

Then my question is how is the first action triggered and updated back in PRODUCT TRANSACTION TABLE same row has IDs and second action does not work.

Then what is the use of Automation bot with data change event DELETES ONLY ?

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Thank you very much for all details. Will go through in detail. But quickly following points to think about:

@Rifad wrote:

As per AppSheet Support he says the record is already DELETED so it is not updating AVAILABLE QUANTITY column because it is not returning the Product ID.

My current though is also exactly same. Please refer the discussion below.

Help with Grouped Action - execute a sequence of a... - Google Cloud Community

Also please refer the error displayed in the automation monitor, highlighted with orange arrow, which I believe related to deleted row?

@Rifad wrote:

Then my question is how is the first action triggered and updated back in PRODUCT TRANSACTION TABLE same row has IDs and second action does not work.

You are correct in your question. I was also wondering how other subsequent actions/automation is firing on delete. That is why requested more details. Will delve over and revert if I come across something tangible. Now that you have shared excellent details, other community colleagues may also have insights.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

If the delete action in Product Transfer table is invoked by the user through action button manually Instead of bot , then you could possibly create a group action in the sequence

1) Action 1 you described

2) Action 2 you described

3) Delete action on the Product Transfer table

The user can then invoke the sequence by tapping on the group action.

Rifad

I am aware of this but I think it appears as prominent and will not be able to have it in top bar near sync button in mobile devices.

Rifad

Also, wanted to use in BOT instead of changes in action. The available quantity must be updated by AppSheet server instead of device side update as it can cause errors if a user does not have latest value.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

@Rifad wrote:

Also, wanted to use in BOT instead of changes in action

Oh okay. Are you able to save the product key from the Product Transfer table to the Product Transactions table in action 1 in the bot? You can then probably use that key value in action 2?

Rifad

It is passing values to product transactions table yes. And already have Product ID in transaction table. How is it used in action 02 ? This bot is triggered in Product stock transfer table. I might need another bot in product transaction table to trigger product table.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Yes, that could be the workaround.

Rifad

Yes @Suvrutt_Gurjar you are right and I feel like this is a bug in automation and can cause soo much issues if root cause is not found. Usually we do not go into automation monitor to check this on daily basis.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Yes, correct. I hope AppSheet team looks into it on proper sync between audit history and automation monitor statuses.

In the meantime, you could test your functionality by rearranging the action sequence to get it going.

Steve

Automation is junk.

Rifad

My entire day was gone trying to find issues in my setup and couldn’t find none. Also, TRYING to explain AppSheet support how it should behave when automation is used. But no hopes. Things were easy when @Aleksi was there and he used to understand issues in just couple of messages. I hope good days of AppSheet come back.

Rifad

Here is the update from support.

Thanks for reaching out to us. We understand your concern regarding the issue that you're facing and apologize for the inconvenience caused to you because of this. Following the chat conversation, your issue was escalated to our specialist, and we now have an update on the same. As far as we can tell, it is related to the fact that since the "Call a process" step is a break in the chain of direct execution of tasks inside an automation.

So, because the bot is triggered on delete, the key remains available for Task-1, which is in direct link, but as soon as it reaches "Call a Process", the link breaks and the key is lost.

We are further looking into this deeply. Also, we appreciate and thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we will thoroughly investigate to determine whether it is a bug or an intended behaviour. We would appreciate your patience until then.

In case of any further queries or concerns, feel free to reach out to us.

Rifad

Potentially a bug that is unnoticed and might cause issues to production apps that has critical data updates. Hope they fix the issue.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Thank you very much for the update and taking it up with the support team. Hope the development team looks into it on priority.

Rifad

I hope so

Rifad

Is this something new or was there before also especially this "(these deletes will not trigger workflow rules)."

Also, is a part of is not deleting any child rows anymore. Not sure what is going on.

Rifad

Then what is the point in having this event type here ? I asked support and they do not have any answer to this but instead provided me with a work around. Which I am not interested.

Rifad

Update from support- They still don’t know what is going on and investigating issue for past one week.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

@Rifad wrote:

Also, is a part of is not deleting any child rows anymore. Not sure what is going on.

If it helps, at least my quick testing showed that the child rows are getting deleted along with the parent. However I manually invoked the delete action on the parent table and not through any automation bot.

Rifad

Sorry my bad. Child records are getting deleted but grand child records are not getting deleted. Also, noticed desktop version does not delete child records also.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Oh okay. Thank you for the update.

On desktop version, at least I have planned to use it in the production apps only after AppSheet team declares it is out of preview. Even after the team declares it out of preview, I think I would allow some settling period of 3 months before using it in production apps.

Unlike say INPUT() action or Table Quick edit, which are really localized, dedicated features, desktop UI is a much larger change and hence I would prefer to use it after it truly settles down. Of course that is my personal approach.

Rifad

Another issue I noticed. I tested it with mobile app. I have table that updates same.

Purchase order > Purchase order Items (Child) > Purchase order Stock in (Grand child) ref type is a part of turned on.

I have exact same bot that updates Product transaction on Delete only for Purchase order stock In table.

If I delete Directly one single row from purchase order stock in (Grand child) table it triggers the BOT and updates Product Transaction.

Here is the issue I face. If I delete Purchase order then It automatically delete Child and Grand Child rows are deleted but it does not trigger the bot if Indirectly Grandchild rows are deleted.

Steve

@Rifad wrote:

Is this something new or was there before also especially this "(these deletes will not trigger workflow rules)."

To my knowledge, it has always been this way.

@Rifad wrote:

Then what is the point in having this event type here ?

Because not all references have an "is part of" relationship.

@Rifad wrote:

Also, noticed desktop version does not delete child records also.

Desktop mode is in active development and isn't suitable for anything important; you should expect bugs in it. Please report this bug here: In Preview: New UI design for desktop users

@Rifad wrote:

Here is the issue I face. If I delete Purchase order then It automatically delete Child and Grand Child rows are deleted but it does not trigger the bot if Indirectly Grandchild rows are deleted.

As with many/most/maybe all of AppSheet's magic features, they're best suited for simple use cases. AppSheet itself is designed for the "no-code" app creator, so sophisticated apps often exceed AppSheet's design. And, of course, the AppSheet development team itself doesn't develop AppSheet apps, so they certainly aren't considering more sophisticated use cases. Given all this, you're probably better off not using IsPartOf for this particular function of your app.

Rifad

Taking a deep breath and editing all those automations.

Automation Monitor or Audit History ? Which one should I trust ?