Recording the date a form was last Saved: I ...

Michael2 · 09-13-2018 05:00 PM

Recording the date a form was last Saved:

I currently have a field, [LastVerification] using ‘TODAY()’ as an app formula. When the row is initially created and then saved, this formula records the current date. If this row is saved again in the future, the then current date over-writes the previous date. Seems to work as expected.

HOWEVER…

I also have a DateTime field, [ManualReport]. This field is part of an action that allows the user to email themselves a PDF report of the data. When the user clicks the action button the current date & time is recorded.

It seems that action buttons cause all formulas within the ROW to be run which causes the [LastVerification] field to be updated which is not the desired action.

What might be the best method to record ONLY when a ROW is first created or updated via manual means but not when an action is run against a single field in the row?

Sdfaheemuddin

Try changeTimestamp. https://help.appsheet.com/ux/capturing-information-in-forms/tracking-changes-using-change-column-typ...

I am not sure if it changes with action.

Michael2

@Sdfaheemuddin Thanks for the response but, that won’t work because: ChangeTimestamp will either watch specified fields for changes or all fields if none are specified.

What I did was create an action to update the [LastVerification] field. I then used this action within the form under ‘Form Saved’ option.

Now, the [LastVerification] is only updated when the user actually clicks Save and is not updated by other actions.

Harry2

@Michael Hi Michael, the change timestamp column has a setting called “Change Columns”. This setting is used to force the change timestamp column to only track changes in certain columns. Changes made to any other column will be ignored. If the “Change Columns” setting is not used, all columns in the row will be checked.

Which columns are changed when the action is clicked? Is it possible for you to restrict the changes made by the action to a few specific columns? If this is possible, you can include all other columns in the row except for these columns in the list of columns to be tracked by the change timestamp. This means that when the action is clicked, the change timestamp will not be triggered.