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Pipelines and Sandboxes

  • 1.  Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-03-2021 12:25
    We're switching to using pipelines and need to be able to create a sandbox where pipelines will work in the same way as the live application so that changes can be tested before implementation.

    I've read that 'A sandbox does not support tracking or publishing changes to automations, actions and webhooks' (see Sandbox limitations and details). Does that mean when a sandbox is created, automations, actions and webhooks won't work on the sandbox? Pipelines aren't mentioned here, but I guess they are likely affected in the same way. 

    If pipelines won't work in the sandbox (which I guess is the likely situation) could we create copies of our pipelines and search/replace DBIDs between the export and import to point them to the sandbox?

    We're likely to make changes in several iterations and I wondered if the DBIDs from the second sandbox would be different from those in the first sandbox (meaning we'd need to repeat this exercise every time we created a sandbox). 

    Has anyone tried this (or have a better suggestion) before we try it out?

    Thanks.


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    Jeremy Anson
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  • 2.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-03-2021 13:45
    I'm  quite sure that Pipelines won't automatically copy when an application is copied but you can export the pipeline in a format called YAML.  You can then edit the DBIDs and upload the YAML to make a new Pipeline. 

     But I actually have no idea whether that will work for an application that is in the sandbox.

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    Mark Shnier (YQC)
    Quick Base Solution Provider
    Your Quick Base Coach
    http://QuickBaseCoach.com
    mark.shnier@gmail.com
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  • 3.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-03-2021 16:10
    Thanks Mark.

    Having carried out some brief testing it looks like pipelines don't work for the sandboxed application.

    Each time a sandbox is created a new set of DBIDs are generated, so testing in the sandbox with pipelines active would seem to involve:
    1. Creating a token for the sandbox (as the token for the live application doesn't provide access to the sandbox).
    2. For every table referenced in pipelines, retrieving the new DBIDs from the sandbox.
    3. Mapping these to the DBIDs in the live application.
    4. Exporting the YAML for the pipelines.
    5. Replacing DBIDs.
    6. Replacing references to the token.
    7. Modifying the name of the pipeline to distinguish it from the original.
    8. Importing the YAML.

    I'm not sure if it's possible to derive the 7 character alphanumeric reference to the token that appears in the YAML without - as I did - creating another pipeline and exported the YAML from that, so there's possibly another step to add. 




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    Jeremy Anson
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  • 4.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-03-2021 16:12
    I have never actually done it myself. You may need to get some help from Support. It's a whole New World of YAML and Slugs.

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    Mark Shnier (YQC)
    Quick Base Solution Provider
    Your Quick Base Coach
    http://QuickBaseCoach.com
    mark.shnier@gmail.com
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-06-2021 09:12
    Edited by Steven Shweky 07-06-2021 09:12


  • 6.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-06-2021 09:15
    If anyone is wondering what a Slug is, it's not a snail that eats the lettuce in your garden

    https://community.quickbase.com/blogs/bree-mackey1/2020/04/27/importing-pipeline-yaml

    ------------------------------
    Mark Shnier (YQC)
    Quick Base Solution Provider
    Your Quick Base Coach
    http://QuickBaseCoach.com
    mark.shnier@gmail.com
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-07-2021 15:16
    I use Sandboxes and Pipelines, and the process you described above is pretty much how I've had to migrate Pipelines from a Sandbox to Live (or to another Sandbox). Because of this, I tend to avoid creating new sandboxes at all costs (I have a lot of Pipelines!). Let me know if support is able to come up with an easier way so that I can contact them also! Otherwise, I am hopeful that someday this process gets streamlined!

    Brian Petzold



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    Brian Petzold
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  • 8.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-08-2021 11:03
    The best way to do this, imo, is to not use the sandbox feature. Sandbox is nice for many things but it has some big limitations like this. Create a copy of your app and test on that and then when you are sure it is working as intended change the app the Pipeline is sending information to to the production version. This is how we have been doing it because of the issues you mentioned.


  • 9.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 07-08-2021 13:44
    Thanks Austin. This is the approach we've decided on for now and it's good to see that others have reached the same conclusion.

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    Jeremy Anson
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  • 10.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 02-13-2023 16:47

    Anything I should take into consideration before creating the copy of an app? Do all the automations get copied when I create the copy of an app or do I have to recreate all of them?



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    Bibhav Rimal
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  • 11.  RE: Pipelines and Sandboxes

    Posted 02-13-2023 19:13

    Pipelines do not copy.

    Automations do not copy.

    Saved table to table imports do not copy properly because the source table will be from the old app. 

    Your URL formula buttons will work if you have properly constructed them, but if you constructed any URL formula buttons where the table references hardcoded, then it will fail because it will refer to the old app.



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    Mark Shnier (Your Quickbase Coach)
    mark.shnier@gmail.com
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