Timestamp Not Static

[aidacuk]

Hi,

I’m fairly new to AppSheet so I may be doing this the wrong way, but I have a Status column, and when the “Completed” status is selected, my Date Completed column gets populated with a timestamp. I’m currently doing this with a formula in the Date Completed column, which is basically If Status = Completed then Date Completed = Now().

This works as expected, however every time I go in to the entry, the timestamp updates to the time I went in to it. Should I be using a Workflow to do the same action instead of a formula? Or am I missing something in the column settings?

TIA.

[Suvrutt_Gurjar · Accepted solution]

Hi @aidacuk

You may want to consider using column type "Change Timestamp " to achieve the desired functionality.

Please take a look at the sample app
https://www.appsheet.com/samples/Keep-track-of-when-columns-change?appGuidString=8a1572da-c548-418c-...

A corresponding help article is available at

help.appsheet.com

Tracking Changes Using "Change" Column Types

How to keep track of when and where data is changed in your app.

[aidacuk]

Thanks @Suvrutt_Gurjar, looks like that’ll do the trick!

[Steve]

If you’re using the App formula to set the timestamp, you probably aren’t aware the app formula expression is evaluated every time the row is loaded into a form. So every time you view the row in a form and save it, the new value produced by your expression will also be saved.

You can avoid updating an already-present timestamp with a change to your logic: If Status = Completed and Date Completed isn’t already set then Date Completed = Now() else use what’s already there

IF(
  AND(
    ISBLANK([Date Completed]),
    ISNOTBLANK([Status]),
    ([Status] = "Completed"),
  ),
  NOW(),
  [Date Completed]
)

Note too my use of ISNOTBLANK([Status]). AppSheet’s is-equal-to operator is unconventional in that it isn’t a strict check for equality: if the left-hand operand has no value (is “blank”), the test will return TRUE regardless of the right-hand operand. This behavior also affects the is-not-equal-to operator.

[aidacuk]

Thanks @Steve. I wasn’t aware of that before using it, but had come to that conclusion since.