I want to trigger an automation in a parent table, when the number of its children changes. I am using a summary of field, basically "# of children", and I have named that field in my trigger definition "When any of the following fields change:" I can add and drop children, and the summary field (number) reflects that change, but automation does not seem to get triggered. Shouldn't this work?------------------------------Jeffrey Pierce------------------------------

Sorry, no way.Well not no way but not that way. Email Notifications and Actions and webhooks and Automations will only fire when a record is edited. They do not trigger just because of the passage of time (like at the stroke of midnight a task becomes overdue) or the # of children changes.But you have an easy answer. You can trigger when a record is added or deleted on the children table.------------------------------Mark Shnier (YQC)Quick Base Solution ProviderYour Quick Base Coachhttp://QuickBaseCoach.commark.shnier@gmail.com------------------------------

Hi Mark. In the past 8 months, has this changed? I need the same functionality, but my records are more complex than "number of children." I am looking also for a solution that may work for my problem.------------------------------Matthew Witzgall------------------------------

No this has not changed and is likely never to change. One solution may be to run an Automation which which records the value of a field at midnight when the Automation runs and detects if it has changed from what it used to be the previous midnight. ie to record the before and after values of a field every midnight and record when they change and purge the values that did not change - so making an Audit trail of the changes.Or else you just need to find a hook as to what drives the change in your summary field. The reason I offer up the suggestion above is that maybe your summary field is changing with the passage of time.------------------------------Mark Shnier (YQC)Quick Base Solution ProviderYour Quick Base Coachhttp://QuickBaseCoach.commark.shnier@gmail.com------------------------------

Hi Mark. Thank you for the quick response. Here is an overview of the problem, in detail. I have two tables, one for Purchase Orders, and one for Line Items. The Line Items are parts which are ordered. There is a checkbox on the Line Items record which denotes when the part is received. The Purchase Order record has two summary fields; one totaling Parts Outstanding, and one totaling Parts Received, derived from that checkbox. I am trying to create an automation that automatically changes the PO status to closed when Parts Outstanding =0 and Parts Received is >0. My only concern with the solution you noted above is that the data may change multiple times, as parts are not received all at once, so it may not always accurately reflect the Parts Outstanding =0.------------------------------Matthew Witzgall------------------------------

I think your automation would be when a "Part" is edited (in this case, checked) AND "Parts Oustanding" = 0, THEN change the PO status. So, if you had 5 parts, the automation would run when the last part has been checked off as received because at that point the parts outstanding value would be zero by the time the automation ran.------------------------------Jordan McAlister------------------------------

Automation: Trigger on Summary Field Change

23 Replies

MarkShnier__You
Qrew Legend
6 years ago
Sorry, no way.
Well not no way but not that way. Email Notifications and Actions and webhooks and Automations will only fire when a record is edited. They do not trigger just because of the passage of time (like at the stroke of midnight a task becomes overdue) or the # of children changes.

But you have an easy answer. You can trigger when a record is added or deleted on the children table.

------------------------------
Mark Shnier (YQC)
Quick Base Solution Provider
Your Quick Base Coach
http://QuickBaseCoach.com
mark.shnier@gmail.com
------------------------------
- MatthewWitzgall
  Qrew Member
  5 years ago
  Hi Mark. In the past 8 months, has this changed? I need the same functionality, but my records are more complex than "number of children." I am looking also for a solution that may work for my problem.
  
  ------------------------------
  Matthew Witzgall
  ------------------------------
  - MarkShnier__You
    Qrew Legend
    5 years ago
    No this has not changed and is likely never to change. One solution may be to run an Automation which which records the value of a field at midnight when the Automation runs and detects if it has changed from what it used to be the previous midnight. ie to record the before and after values of a field every midnight and record when they change and purge the values that did not change - so making an Audit trail of the changes.
    
    Or else you just need to find a hook as to what drives the change in your summary field. The reason I offer up the suggestion above is that maybe your summary field is changing with the passage of time.
    
    ------------------------------
    Mark Shnier (YQC)
    Quick Base Solution Provider
    Your Quick Base Coach
    http://QuickBaseCoach.com
    mark.shnier@gmail.com
    ------------------------------

Forum Discussion

Automation: Trigger on Summary Field Change

23 Replies

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