Odd behavior - Automation process triggered as action

[Koichi_Tsuji]

@prithpal

We keep testing Automation.

Under simple scenario.

Change the column value for number, just increment by 1

When we run this as bot, it works as expected. Once we meet the condition (change in another column in the same row) the number fields is going to be incremented by Automation bot.

However, we run this process from action.

Then problem comes in.

For instance, now we see 1 in this number field and the backend cell holds 1 as well.

Hit action to run process.

Yes, the spreadsheet cell is change to 2. but this change is not pushed back to users device. So keep hitting the same action, nothing happen. Stay 2. It looks like process is running, but our device hold previous value of 1 on our screen, so hitting action to increment 1 is resulting 2 all the time UNLESS we manually sync the app.

Once we maually hit the sync, we will see the number hold in the backend. 2.
Then hit the action. THe number is refreshed to 3.

My understanding was the automation and process is happening on the backend. But on this scenario, the number being captured on the clients seem to be respected to run the process which causes unexpected issues.

When we run and fire the process by action button, we have to be careful.

But i think this should be reviewed and corrected, so that the proess will do the job, being triggered by Data Change event under the bot setting and the appsheet actions.

More strangely, as Appsheet long users, it looks strange as we will not see sync orange marks at the upper right corner. Yes, no data change is not initiated by action coupled with process…

@Takuya_Miyai

[Koichi_Tsuji]

@prithpal

I m not physically testing this.
But just wondererd what is going to happen if user hit the action button to initiate process DURING THEY ARE OFFLINE.

Once they come back to ON line, then the previously executed actions will be started to be pushed ? Is it going to behaive like a “PENDING SYNC” ?

Or once the action is fired and they are offline, this operation will die out at that time?

At the end of the day, I wondered when we will use this Process firing by Action … rather than Data Change Event. What would be the practical use case? I yet dont have answer to my own question.

@Takuya_Miyai

[Dan_Bahir]

Thanks for raising this up. The Trigger Process Action introduces a new paradigm as all of the other actions that can manipulate data are executed on the client.

We will work on ensuring that the client is synced when this action is executed.

Thanks.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

Thank you Dan.

Current sync indicator (orange) upper right corner tell us Appsheet is doing something for us.
Possibly we need same sort of indicator for action to fire Process otherwise we dont know if the jobs are pending or finished.

thank you for listening to me.

[Steve]

Dan_Bahir:

The Trigger Process Action introduces a new paradigm as all of the other actions that can manipulate data are executed on the client.

@prithpal, this type of language is why I question your “no-code” assertion.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

To learn the basic of Automation, need to read 100 pages docs.
This fact is telling me enough, not intuitive?

Have a think. One chap come to the office, yes i m new to Appsheet.

I m a boss. Pass docs to him. Read it. Then i would say, “Hey, by the way, it is just about one of the module”

[Rafael_ANEIC-PY]

tsuji_koichi:

To learn the basic of Automation, need to read 100 pages docs.
This fact is telling me enough, not intuitive?

I haven’t looked into automation yet for that exact reason, it feels like i have to relearn most of what i have been studying and practicing these past months, as i’m only 111 days old according to the forum haha.

But the fear of impending obsolence is there.

Automation is watching

[Former Community Member]

@tsuji_koichi there is no pre-requisite to read the entire primer. It’s a guide which can help you if you have questions as there are some new concepts which we feel are important to cover.

Additionally it’s built in a tutorial style setting as we have heard from others in the past that having examples (simple to complex) to follow along helps them in their learning.

[Former Community Member]

I think @praveen has already done a good job of addressing the no-code question, so not sure we need to spend additional time deliberating on it.

Let’s talk about Process Action. It’s a new feature that allows you to directly invoke processes through an application action. By making it as an action, it becomes super easy for app creators to invoke processes in the background. Previously with workflow rules, app creators had to use a data change action as an indirect way of triggering a workflow. We believe it’s a powerful feature. That being said it’s early and we may not have gotten everything right the first time, but like always we will iterate on it.

[Austin]

The fact that it’s not 100% new seems to add to this confusion too. This vague sense of familiarity is essentially lying to you.