Automation: Trigger on Summary Field Change
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 definiti...
Forum Discussion
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
------------------------------
------------------------------
Matthew Witzgall
------------------------------
MarkShnier__You
Qrew Legend
Qrew LegendNo 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
------------------------------
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
------------------------------
- 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
------------------------------- I tried this, and it did not work.
------------------------------
Matthew Witzgall
------------------------------
- MarkShnier__YouWell it sounds easy. Lookup those summary fields down to the lines table and trigger the Automation off a change on the lines.
The other approach is to have the status on the PO be a formula field based on those summary fields or a combination of a manual status field and those summary fields.
For example, you might have a manual status of Order Placed or Order Cancelled, but then have a calculated Status fields that would say that the Status is "Closed" if all lines have been received else, fall back to use the manual status.
------------------------------
Mark Shnier (YQC)
Quick Base Solution Provider
Your Quick Base Coach
http://QuickBaseCoach.com
mark.shnier@gmail.com
------------------------------- I have not yet tried this option.
------------------------------
Matthew Witzgall
------------------------------
