Duplicating bot step

[matthewmoran]

Is there a way to duplicate a bot step?

I have a but that runs across every record of a user's table and creates a series of admin tracking records in another table. I have it running using one "Add new records". I need it to create 3 records (and that may become four records). It sets 12 default fields and across each step, only two will change.

I can duplicate an entire bot but can't see a way to duplicate a step in a bot. Any advice or trick for this?

Thanks.

[TeeSee1]

This may not be exactly duplicating a step but can't you just add more steps with the same action within the bot?

[matthewmoran]

Yes.. but that's not the challenge. Each step will be setting 9 values in a new record. Three of those values change for each of the records I create. If I could duplicate a step, I could create the first, duplicate it twice, and adjust those 3 fields for the subsequent records.

For now, what I did is duplicate the entire bot two times (so there are three) and adjust the appropriate fields in the subsequent bots.

As a matter of precaution, I staggered the run times for each bot by 2 minutes. I tested it and it worked fine. Appsheet really needs to make automation more modular and also allow more flexible form development. 

I'm in charge of helping our organization migrate from PowerApps/Power Automate, Sharepoint, and other tools to Appsheet and Google Sheets. And while I love the simplicity of sharing with Google products and Apps Script versus Microsoft automation tools, PowerApps provides SO MUCH MORE power and flexibility for dynamic form development.

I often find it faster/more flexible for me to call Apps Script rather than wrestle with Appsheet's automation limitations. 

I'm curious to see what kind of features get added to Appsheet over the next few months.

[Aurelien]

Hi @matthewmoran 

I would suggest using the "linking component" feature.

Here is an example:

then:

For reference:

Reuse automation components - AppSheet Help

[matthewmoran]

Unless I'm missing something, this doesn't really solve the issue. I have a step that creates a record, setting 9 different values. 6 of those are the same but three will be different. 

If I could re-use a component and pass it different values for some columns, this might work.