Unit 10: Advanced Actions
Questions Covered
•
What other action types are available?
•
How can we communicate with users without sending an email?
•
How can we clone a record, mapping just the fields we want?
•
How do we automatically generate records related to other
records, for instance tasks needed for a certain project type, or for
a type of service in the Service Request table?
•
Can we generate standard documents based on the information in
a record, and attach them to file fields?
•
Is there a way for us to regularly clean-up and remove old,
irrelevant records?
2
Available Action Types
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
If-Then-Else
Email/SMS
Update Fields
Validate
Data Conversion
Import
Export
Delete
Browser Pop-up
Sync
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
These are all the action types
Script
available in Agiloft. We will only
cover the most commonly used
WMI
actions in this unit.
Linked Record
Print Payment
Document Comparison
OCR
Merge PDF Document
Convert Document Format
Bomgar Support Session Key
DocuSign Envelope
3
Advanced Actions Unit Overview
•
In this unit, we will be learning about the following action types:

Data Conversion *

Import

Export

Delete *

Browser Pop-up *

Sync

Script

WMI

Linked Record *

Attached File
As a part of this unit’s handson exercises, we will practice
creating the actions listed
with a red asterisk*
4
Additional Potential Actions
•
There are some other actions that only appear if certain features are
enabled. We will not be covering these actions in this unit - they will be
discussed in later units related to those features.

Create DocuSign Envelope – defines the characteristics of a DocuSign envelope
and its recipients and creates the envelope when it is run. It is visible only if
DocuSign is deployed (from Setup > System > Deploy DocuSign Extension).

Payment – available if Payment Processing is configured - used to initiate a
payment transaction.

Document Comparison – available only if Agiloft is installed on a system
configured with the necessary packages (Windows, MS Word 2007+, and
others described in the installation guide). This action takes two file fields as
inputs and outputs a file to a 3rd field with Word redlining showing the
differences between the two files.
5
Data Conversion Actions
•
Data conversion is one of the most powerful features of Agiloft.
We use it to accomplish some of our most impressive automation.
•
Data Conversion actions take data from one record and map that
data to:

Create one or more new records.

Update one or more existing records.
•
Data Conversion actions can create/update records in the same
table or in another table.
•
They can run in the background (silently or with a confirmation
screen), or can bring up the new record for the user to
edit/complete prior to saving.
6
Data Conversion Actions (continued)
•
•
Examples:

In a change request, create a record in the Time Entries table that maps the time spent
and work description fields from the change request.

Convert some task templates selected in a project into new task records that are linked
to the project.

In a contract, click an action button to create a renewal contract record and bring up the
new contract form to fill out additional fields.
A single record can be converted into new records in multiple other tables.

For instance, a sales order might be converted to create new records in the Company,
Contract, Consulting Project, External User, and PO tables, and those records can be
linked to each other automatically.
It is not possible to bring up multiple new records on the screen for completion, but it is
possible to add information to each before creation by using the conversion dialogue.
7
Where is Conversion Configured
•
The saved table/field mappings for conversion are stored in the Table wizard.
•
The Conversion tab shows all the conversion mappings that have been
configured from that table to any other table. For instance, here companies
have been configured to create records in the Project and KB tables:
8
Where is Conversion Configured (continued)
•
The conversion mappings can also be created, edited, and displayed
within the Data Conversion action wizard, on the Conversion tab:
•
So if you need to create a Conversion action and haven’t yet created the
mappings, you can do it as part of creating the action.
9
How is Conversion Run?
•
•
Like other action types, Conversion actions:

Can be run in the background by a rule.

Can be triggered by an action button.
In addition, they can be run manually by a user selecting a record in the table
view and clicking the Convert menu button on the action bar above the table.
This brings up a special Conversion Dialogue that then completes the conversion.
10
Special Permissions for Conversion
•
The ability to run conversion interactively is controlled by two special group
permission options.
•
These are found on the Record Permissions tab of the Table Permissions wizard near
the bottom right (under the view permissions):
•
Show conversion button on menu action bar controls whether the Convert button
shown on the previous slide (on the action bar) is visible to this group or not.
•
Allow interaction with conversion rules defines whether a conversion action that is
supposed to bring up the new record screen will actually do that. If the permission is
not granted, the action will just run in the background and create the record without
showing it to the user.
11
Setting Up Conversion Mapping—Table Tab
•
The Conversion Mapping wizard is launched from either the Table wizard
or the Data Conversion action’s Conversion tab, when a user clicks the
New menu or the Edit icon next to an existing mapping.
•
The wizard contains three tabs:

On the Table tab, select the table the data will be copied into and define the
Creation Order.

Creation Order is used when multiple conversions are run from a single action.
12
Setting Up Conversion Mapping—Field Mapping Tab
•
The Field Mapping tab brings up all the fields in the current table on the left and
brings up drop-down lists on the right showing the valid fields to which they
could be mapped in the target table.
•
The available target fields depend on the data type of the source table fields –
choice fields can only be mapped into choice or multi-choice fields, date fields
into date fields, append only fields into append only fields, and so on.
Conversion mapping can be a bit tricky. When mapping fields from one linked set
to another linked set , if the target set is a strict link (it does not allow non-source
values), it is always best to map only a single unique field, such as ID, and let the
other fields auto-populate from the link.
It is useful to have the Convert button on the action bar so that you can test your
conversion mapping by running it manually. If there are any errors in field
mapping, this will usually result in a clear error message.
13
Setting Up Conversion Mapping—Field Mapping Tab 2
•
The Field Mapping tab also defines which field(s), if any, should be used
to identify matching records.
•
There is a checkbox next to each field, and you can select multiple
checkboxes to identify a match. For instance you might be mapping to
create a new company and want to include both the Company Name and
the City to be sure you have a real match.
•
If a matching record is found, it will generally be updated based on the
field mappings, instead of a new record being created.
By turning on matching, conversion can be used to update existing
records with new data as well as to create new records.
14
Setting Up Conversion Mapping—Options Tab
•
The Options tab contains some important options:

Allow user to reject creation only applies when using the Convert button. The button
uses all conversion mappings available for the table by default. This option shows the
user a checkbox for each target table, allowing her to choose not to run some of the
mappings.

Create record required for linked relationship if a matching record does not already exist
does as it says. For instance, when creating a new person record, if the Company Name
field is part of a strict linked set to the Company table, but the company does not yet
exist, Agiloft will create a new company record and link the person to that company.

This is useful for circular relationships: suppose you are converting to create first a
company and then a person. The company record has a link to the Main Contact and the
person has a link to the Company Name and both are strict links. With this option
selected, as the Company is created, a “shell” person record is created for the
company’s Main Contact, but then when the person is created, the system is smart
enough to realize it is the same person, so it updates that person record with the rest of
the mapped fields instead of creating another person.
15
Setting Up Conversion Mapping—Options Tab 2
•
Allow editing of these fields applies only when the Convert button is used. It
brings up the selected fields for editing in the Conversion Dialogue before
creating the new records.
•
Only allow records to be converted if they meet saved search prevents conversion
of records that should not be converted (for instance to prevent the same record
from being converted multiple times).
•
Create one record for each value in this field is particularly useful for handling
attached files. It can also be used for a multi-choice field to create one record per
choice in the target table.

Example: An inbound email is received for a contract with 3 attached files. A Conversion
rule runs to create a separate document record for each attached file. Usually when
storing attachments in a table we limit the attached file field to hold only one attached
file. This option allows conversion from a record that might have more than one file in
the mapped file field.
16
Practice
Conversion Permissions
•
Before we practice, we must enable a permission
setting for the admin group.
•
We will cover group permissions in more detail in
Unit 14, but in order to completely cover data
conversion, we must make a change.
•
Navigate to Setup > Access > Manage Groups.
•
Locate the admin group and click the Edit icon.
•
On the Tables tab, edit the Task table.
•
On the Record Permissions tab, scroll down to the
bottom of the screen.
•
Make sure the options shown to the right
are selected.
•
Click Finish to save your settings.
17
Tabs of the Data Conversion Action Wizard
•
General: Define the Action Name and Action Description
•
Conversion: Create and/or select the conversion mapping to use.
•
Options: Select how the conversion should run:

Silently, with no confirmation – used for background conversion performed by rules.

Interactively, showing the conversion dialogue and results – used primarily when
converting to multiple new records to allow edits of certain fields for each record (this is
similar to clicking the Convert button).

Interactively, showing the new record – usually used when triggered by an action button
to bring up the new record for completion.

Automatically, but showing the confirmation screen – used mainly for action buttons
that convert in the background but report the results.
18
Let’s Create a Data Conversion Action
•
We will be creating a Data Conversion action which will create a time entry
record from time values entered into a task record. The time entries will then be
displayed and totaled within the task record.
•
We will run this Data Conversion action with an action button that will run two
actions.

Data Conversion action: Create Time Entry.

Update Fields action: Blank Time Entry Fields.
•
Before we can move forward, however, we need to add some fields to our system
so that they can be used by our actions.
•
Because you should already know how to create most data types, we will no
longer walk you through the process step by step.
•
Instead, we will provide a concise description of the field requirements.
•
As always, if you get stuck, please refer to your Sample KB.
19
Specifying New Fields
•
When new fields must be created, we will use a table like the one below.
•
These fields should look familiar if you completed Unit 3: Local Fields.
•
The Data Type column identifies the data type and certain attributes of the field, while
the Comments column provides any additional details needed to complete the field.
For example, Task Description is a Text field, with a maximum of 10,000 characters, and an
input box 115 characters wide and 5 rows tall.
•
On the next two slides you will find field requirements for the Task and Time Entries
tables. Once those fields have been added, we can create our action button.
20
Practice
Time Entries Table—Fields and Rule Updates
Field Label
Data Type
Comments
Task Assigned Person, Task ID, Task
Summary
Link to selected fields
1. Table: Tasks
2. Fields: Assigned Person, ID, Task Summary
3. Visible only if related to = Task
•
Navigate to the Table wizard for the Time Entries table.
•
After adding the above fields to the layout on the Related Record tab, navigate to the Rules
tab, and edit the rule titled: Create: Set Related to Field when Empty.
•
Navigate to the Action tab of the Rule wizard.
•
We will be adding a clause to the existing If-Then-Else action titled I: Set Related to based
on content to cover scenarios where the Related to equals Task.
•
The purpose of this action is to set the Related to field to the right value when records are
created in the background via conversion from other tables. That field controls which linked
record’s fields are visible on the layout for a given Time Entry.
•
Edit the If-Then-Else action and on the Details tab of the action wizard, insert an ElseIf that
applies the condition if the Task ID field is not empty and runs a new Update Fields action
called Set Related to Task (this sets the Related to field to the value: Task).
21
Practice
Tasks Table New Fields
•
Now we are going to add some fields to the Tasks table. Navigate to the Table wizard and
add the fields shown below:
Field Label
Time Spent
Data Type
Elapsed time
Time Description
Text 1000 maximum,
95 x 2rows
Related Table: Time
Entries
Time Entries
Total Time Spent
Comments
No default value, Show time units as
Multiple time units, show Hours and
minutes boxes and choose display of input
box for each time unit.
Calculation on multiple
linked records: Time
Entries
Use the “View in other tables” view and
the Related Table action bar and left justify
the field.
Sum of the Hours Spent field (not Time
Spent). Round to 3 digits, and do not pad
with zeros for the display,
Now add these fields to the layout – add a new tab called Time to the right of Task Details,
and put the fields on that tab.
•
Preview your layout to see how it looks.
•
Navigate back to the Fields tab.
22
Practice
Creating a Conversion Action
•
From the Fields tab, create a new action button called Add Time. The
requirements are listed below.
•
Click Add Action to navigate to the Actions wizard.
•
Click Create Data Conversion Action.
•
On the General tab, name the action Create Time Entry.
•
On the Conversion tab, we see that there are no conversions set up yet on
our Tasks table.
•
Click New.
23
Practice
Data Conversion Wizard
•
On the Table tab, select the Time Entries table from the table tree.
•
On the Field Mapping tab, you see all of the available Task fields on the left and drop-downs for
the fields they can be mapped into on the right. Note that not all fields are available in the dropdowns. Each data type can only be mapped into fields of certain other data types.
•
Map ID to Task ID, Time Description to Work Description, and Time Spent to Time Spent. Time
Entries set the Done By to the Creator and the Done On to the current date by default, so we
don’t need to map those fields.
•
We do not want to update any existing Time Entries, so leave all Match checkboxes unchecked.
•
On the Options tab, leave all of the defaults, and click Finish.
24
Practice
Data Conversion Wizard (continued)
•
This will return you to the Conversion tab of the previous wizard.
•
Note that the conversion you just set up is now listed in the table.
•
In order to make this conversion run as a part of this action, you must select the
check box to the left. Forgetting to check the box is a common mistake!
•
Note that it is possible to select multiple
conversions to run as part of a single
Data Conversion action.
•
Click Next to navigate to the Options tab.
•
Select the option to convert silently with no
confirmation.
•
Click Finish to return to the Actions screen.
•
We have one more action to add to this button.
25
Practice
Create an Update Fields Action
•
Click Create Update Fields Action and on the General tab name your action: Blank Time
Entry Fields.
•
On the Fields tab select Time Description and Time Spent as the fields to modify.
•
On the Values tab, leave both fields blank and treat both as standard text.

This will blank out the time entry fields after they have been converted so that the task record is
ready for the next time a user would like to add time.
•
Click Finish to return to the Actions screen.
•
Select both actions we just created and click Finish to return to the Action Button
wizard.
•
Check the order the actions appear in the Execute Actions box. By default, the actions
will be in the same order here as they were in the Actions screen.
Remember that order matters. It is important that the Conversion action takes place
before the Update Fields action, otherwise we would be converting blank fields.
•
Complete your action button (Do nothing after running actions) and add it to the layout.
26
Practice
Test Your Action Button
•
Navigate to the Tasks table and Edit a task record.
•
Navigate to the Time tab that you added to the layout and enter values for both the
Time Spent and Time Description. Click your Add Time button.
•
When the screen refreshes, you should see the new time entry in the table below, the
time entry fields should be empty, and the total time should be updated.
27
Practice
More Conversion Options
•
As you saw in the Data Conversion action, there are more options for how a conversion can
run.
•
Let’s look at an example from the Leads table to see how the Convert button works.
•
Find and click on the Leads table in the left pane and click New to create a lead.
•
Fill out all of the information on the Contact Information tab and Save your lead record.
Be sure to use an email address that has not been used already.

Do not use the lookups in order to choose the Company, State, or Country; we want to enter a
Company Name that does not already exist in the system.
•
When you are returned to the Leads table view, check the box to the left of the lead you
created.
•
Hover over Actions in the action bar, and select Convert.
•
The Leads table has conversion mappings to create/update a
person, location, company, and opportunity record.
•
Let’s look at how the conversion dialogue works.
28
Practice
More Conversion Options (continued)
•
The first thing you will notice is that we are presented with a dialogue box. This is what
we refer to as the Conversion Dialogue.

•
•
Because of the options selected in these conversion mappings, we have the
opportunity to:

Decide to not convert the lead record into a person, location, company, or opportunity
record.

Edit fields from the lead prior to the new records being created.
Edit a few of the fields.

•
This is the same screen you would see if you ran a Data Conversion action with the
option: Interactively, showing user the conversion dialogue and the results.
Note that you are required to fill out the Opportunity Name field, even though this was
not a required field in the lead record. This is because it was made editable in this
dialogue, and it is required in the opportunity record.
Click Convert to complete the Conversion action. A confirmation screen will appear.
29
Practice
Conversion Confirmation Screen
•
•
If all went well, you can see that even though the conversion to a person is first in the
creation order, a company record was created first.

This is because the company you entered in the lead record did not already exist in the
Company table, and the Company Name field in the person record is a strict link.

The conversion mapping was set to Create record required for field relationship if a matching
record does not already exist.
When the conversion got to the Company table, it updated the record it previously
created.
30
Practice
Further Conversion Practice
•
If you want to explore the other conversion options, change the Data
Conversion action you created for the Add Time button to use a different
option and see the different result.
•
For instance if you choose the option run: Interactively, showing user the
new record page, it will bring up a new time entry record to be filled out.
See the impact this has on the next action run by the action button and
on the refresh of the task record after the time entry is created.

•
Does the total time get updated?
To cause an error in the conversion dialogue, go back to edit your lead
and use an email address you have already used for another user. Since
the Email field requires a unique value, that will cause the conversion to
a person to fail, which will roll back the entire conversion.
31
Import Actions
•
Import actions are used for automating imports/updates from another system.

For instance, a company may hold vendor company information or its employee information in
a separate database and want to keep that database in sync with Agiloft user records.

If real-time sync is not needed, a nightly export of changed data can be automatically
imported into Agiloft using an import action to update/create the relevant records in Agiloft.
•
They are typically run by a Time-based rule that runs
after hours. The Condition tab of the rule uses the option:
•
In the Import action wizard, the file name and location are defined and a sample
file is mapped to fields in Agiloft. Subsequent imports then run at the specified
time and frequency.
•
We will be covering Data Import and the Import action in an upcoming unit.
32
Export Actions
•
Export actions run in the opposite direction from Import actions.
•
They are also typically run in a Time-based rule.
•
In an Export action, a table, fields, data format and file location are
defined, and the export is run at the frequency and time defined in the
rule settings.

•
Allowable file types include Excel 2003/2007/2010, ASCII, XML, and JSON.

•
The export file can include attached files for the records that are exported.
If attached files are included, a zip file is created.
We will be covering data exports in more detail in an upcoming unit.
33
Delete Actions
•
Delete actions are used to automatically delete table records or history entries.
•
They can be run by a Time-based or Event-specific rule.
•
They are particularly useful for deleting excess history records that might be
created by other Time-based rules or records that are very old.
•
Examples:

Every month, delete records older than three years and not published.

Automatically delete records that have been marked as spam by staff members, without
actually giving staff users permission to delete the records themselves.

Automatically delete the history records generated by a particular time-based rule that
are older than one week (for instance a rule that updates a count every hour).
34
Delete Action Wizard
•
The Delete action wizard has only a single tab.
•
Here, we define the Name and Description of our action, and decide
whether to delete the record itself or to delete history entries within
records.
•
If the action is defined
to delete the history
records, we are given
additional options, as
seen in the screenshot
to the right.
35
Practice
Example of a Delete Action Needed
•
Navigate to the Support Cases table, and click the ID link of the
oldest support case record.
•
Click on the History tab. See that there are entries on the first of
each month, since the creation of this record, which were created
by a monthly Time-based rule.

•
While keeping recent entries is useful to verify that the rule is working,
keeping the entire history of the monthly updates just clutters up the
history record and makes it harder to find meaningful entries.
Let’s create a rule to delete all history entries created by the
monthly Time-based rule, for support cases older than three
months.
36
Practice
Let’s Create a Delete Action
•
Click on Setup Support Cases in the left pane, navigate to the Rules tab, and
create a new rule titled TB: Monthly - Delete History Entries Created by TB: Demo
Data Update.
•
On the Rule Type tab, select the option to apply this rule at selected intervals.
•
On the Condition tab, create a new saved search that will find only Support Cases
whose Date Created is more than three months old (no point running the
deletion on newer cases). Be sure to select the new search.
•
On the Schedule tab, select the option to apply the rule Monthly on the 7th day
of the month at 1 AM.
•
This will give us seven days to confirm that the monthly rule ran before the
history entry is deleted.
•
On the Action tab, click Create Delete Action.
37
Practice
Let’s Create a Delete Action (continued)
•
Name your Action Delete TB: Demo Data Update History.
•
Give your action a description.
•
Select the option to Delete history entries.

Select the checkbox next to All history entries created by rule: and select the rule titled
TB: Demo Data Update….

All other checkboxes should be de-selected.

Click Finish to save your action and click Finish again to save your rule.

When returned to the Rules tab, edit the rule you just created, and on the General tab,
click Run the rule now.

Navigate back to the Support Cases table and view the oldest record (the same record
that you view before), then navigate to the History tab to see the difference.

If you don’t see a difference, check the Date Created field – remember we are only
updating those more than three months old.
38
Browser Pop-up Actions
•
Browser Pop-up actions trigger a popup window in a logged in user’s browser
that provides a custom message.
•
The pop-up appears to all users specified in the action as long as they are logged
in to the system.

•
Pop-ups generated by the action can be displayed to a set of hard-coded users or to
users held in a user linked field in the record, such as Assigned Person, the team in the
Assigned Team field, the person who did the action that resulted in the pop-up, etc.
Pop-ups can be run from a Time-based or Event-specific rule or an action button.
39
The Browser Pop-up Action Wizard
•
The Browser Pop-up action wizard has only a single tab.
•
Here, we define the Name and Description of the action.
•
We define the recipients of the Browser Pop-up, the text, and any variables for
the pop-up.

The message can be HTML or Plain Text and can be populated with values of the record via the
Formula Help button.
40
Practice
Let’s Create a Browser Pop-up Action
•
Let’s add a browser pop-up for the Assigned Team members when a task
is created that is not assigned to a person.
•
Click on Setup Tasks in the left pane and navigate to the Rules tab.
•
Click on the Comments heading to sort the rules, then edit the rule titled
Create: All Create Actions.
•
We’re going to add the new action to the If-Then-Else action that we
already created.
•
Navigate to the Action tab, select the I: All create actions in the right
hand box and click the Edit button below to bring the action up for
editing.
•
Click on the Details tab.
41
Practice
Let’s Create a Browser Pop-up Action (continued)
•
Select the action Email Assigned Team of New Task and click the Add Action button.
•
Click Create Browser Pop-up Action.
•
Name your action New Task Created Pop-up and give the action a description.
•
Under recipients, select Only these people: then check the box next to Team (not Teams) and
select the Assigned Team.
•
Use the Formula Help to insert the variables to create a message
reading something like this:
A $task_type task titled $task_summary has been created by
$_1880_full_name (created by) and has been assigned to the
$assigned_team
•
Click Finish to save your action, and Finish again to add it to the
If-Then screen – move it up if needed, then save the action and
the rule.
•
Test the action by creating a new task assigned to one of your
teams.
42
Sync Actions
•
Sync actions identify a sync rule to be run. The sync rule itself must
be set up in the Setup > Sync screen first.
•
Syncing is enabled for Asset Discovery, QuickBooks, Exchange, MS
Excel, and various other systems and third-party system adapters.
•
We will not be looking at Sync actions since there are no out-ofthe-box sync rules set up.
43
Script Actions
•
Script actions can be executed under any set of conditions.
•
The action simply defines the file name and location of a script; the condition under
which the script will be run is defined by the rule’s search criteria or by an Action
Button being pressed.

As an example, a Script action runs on creation of the Training Signup record used to sign a
new person up for our training. The script goes out and copies two master KBs to create the
Training KBs for the trainee, populates their passwords and login information, and then comes
back and updates the KB record and Training Signup record with the information needed for a
trainee to login.

In order for a script action to function, the script must be uploaded to:

Linux: /usr/local/agiloft/data/[KB]/scripts

Windows: /agiloft/scripts
The name of the Script action must match the name of the script file.
•
Script actions are not often needed, as most actions can be accomplished with
Agiloft’s default action types.
44
WMI Actions
•
WMI actions provide a method for polling and pulling configuration
information using the Microsoft WMI protocol from Windows-based
machines on a network.
•
The action defines the domain controller, machines to be included in the
polling, and where to save the data.
•
WMI fields can be added to a user record, and when that user logs in, his
machine information can be updated automatically.
•
Or they can be added to an asset record and the polling can be run in a
timed rule.
45
Linked Record actions
•
Linked Record actions are used primarily to push a value from a record in one
table into another record or records that are linked to the current record through
some linked relationship.
•
They can also push a value from that record into an email to be sent from a linked
record one or more tables downstream.
•
We use this action type when converting from multiple templates to create tasks
or approvals. For example:

In the Helpdesk Cases table, we have a link to multiple task templates. When a new case
is saved, if any task templates are selected, a Linked Record action is run to push the
new case ID into a field called Latest Helpdesk Case ID in the selected task templates. A
rule on the Task Template table, triggered by any change to the Latest Helpdesk Case ID
field, runs a Conversion action to create a task from each template and maps the Latest
Helpdesk Case ID into the tasks so they will be linked back to the correct helpdesk case.
46
Update Fields vs. Linked Record actions
Both Update Field actions and Linked Record actions can Update Fields anywhere
within a chain of records linked to the current record. There are some differences
though:
•
An Update Fields action can:

•
•
Set one or more fields to either a fixed value or a variable native to the record being updated.
A Linked Record action can:

Set a field by copying the field value from the current (Parent) record.

Run an If-Then-Else action to add other conditions before updating just a subset of the found
records.

Run an Email action from the other table to addresses held in that table that includes field
values from the parent table.
Update Fields actions are easier to configure, so we only use a Linked Record
action when we need it.
47
Example—Update Fields Action
•
While your Training KB is not set up this way, suppose we want to set all support cases
for a company to a Status of Cancelled if we set the Company’s Status to Inactive. In
the Company table, we could use an Update Fields action:
•
When we select the Support Cases Related Table, this will bring up the fields for
support cases and we can set the Status to Cancelled. We could also update the Date
Closed field to Now() in the same action.
48
Using a Chain of Relationships
•
While your Training KB is not set up this way, suppose we have time entries for billing customers
in the Support Cases table and we want to update all time entries for the support cases we just
canceled to a Status of Written Off.
•
We could trigger such an update from the support case when it is canceled, but we can also just
update those entries from the Company table at the same time as we update the support cases,
using another Update Fields action.
•
Each time you select a linked relationship in the Update Field screen, it brings up a new dropdown of linked relationships, so you can work your way down through those links to the target
table you want.
•
After selecting Support Cases in the drop-down, you will then see Time Entries as an option, and
selecting it results in the following:
•
The fields on the screen will now be those for the Time Entry table, and you can select to update
the Status field to Written Off.
49
Selecting the Right Linked Relationship
•
It can be a little bit tricky to select the right linked relationship for both an Update Fields and
Linked Record action.
•
In the Update Field wizard, the possible linked relationships are divided into two sections – those
in which the current record pulls in one or more records from another table, shown in the top half
of the drop-down list, and those in which records in another table have a link to one or more
records in this table, which are listed below the referring tables designation in the drop-down list:
Related tables are in the bottom list.
50
Selecting the Right linked Relationship (continued)
•
In the Linked Record action, the same fields are available, but they are
divided into two separate drop-downs:
•
The distinction is the same. In most cases, choosing a linked relationship
from the top section will update a single linked record, while choosing a
“referring” item such as a related table will update multiple records that
have been linked to the current record.
51
Tabs of the Linked Record action Wizard
•
General: Defines the name and description of our action.
•
Chain: Define the chain of linked records used in order to arrive at
the record(s) we wish to act upon.
•
Actions: Defines the actions to be executed on the found records.
This may include any action type but is generally limited to If-ThenElse, Update Fields, and Email actions.
52
Actions Tab in Detail
•
On the Actions tab, we first select the table where we would like to perform our action(s),
and then define the action(s).
•
You will see the table(s) you selected in the preceding screen displayed as a hyperlink.
•
When you have selected the table on
which you would like to perform the
action, the Add Action button will
become available.
•
Clicking that button will bring you to
the Actions screen for the selected
table.
•
From that Actions screen, you can select
a pre-existing action or create a new one.
53
Practice
Let’s Create a Linked Record action
•
We will be creating a Linked Record action in the Tasks table that will update a field in the Projects table
when a task related to the project is marked as Done.
•
Before we can create this action, we must first add the following fields to the Projects table:
Field Label
Data Type
Last Completed Task ID, Last Link to selected fields
Completed Task Summary,
Last Task Completion Date
Comments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Table: Tasks
Fields: Date Completed, ID, Task Summary
Strict link
No default value
Not required
Filter to tasks whose Project ID matches the parent Project ID
Default Display
•
When you have completed adding this linked set to the Projects table, add it to the project layout on the
Tasks tab and save the layout.
•
Then navigate back to Setup Tasks, and go to the Fields tab and edit the Mark as Completed action
button you created earlier.
•
When a Task is set to Done, we are going to push its Task ID into the Last completed Task ID field to
update the linked set with the latest completed task. There are other ways to accomplish this, but this
provides a simple example of a Linked Record action.
54
Practice
Creating a Linked Record action
•
Note the name of your action, and click on Add Action in
the field wizard.
•
Find the action in the Actions screen, select it and click the
Edit button.
•
Add a new If below the others with the condition:

Related to equals Project.
•
Click Add Action and select Create Linked Record action.
•
On the General tab, name your action “Set Project Last
Completed Task ID” and give the action a description.
•
On the Chain tab, in the top drop-down, select Project ID
links to Project.
When there are several fields in the linked set, always try to
choose one with a unique value in the target table.
55
Practice
Creating a Linked Record action (continued)
•
On the Actions tab, click on the Project hyperlink, and then click the Add Action
button.
•
From here we will be creating an Update Fields action.
•
Name the new action “Set Last Completed Task ID.”
•
On the Fields tab, select the Last Completed Task ID field, as this is the field we will
be updating.
When updating a strict linked set via an action, it is cleanest to just choose one unique field.
That will populate the remainder of the linked set.
•
On the Values tab, select the option to Treat the above as a formula and click
Formula Help.
•
In the resulting window, navigate to the Parent Fields tab, select $task.id and save.
The result will be to populate the Last Completed Task ID field in the Project record with the
value in the ID field of the Task record the project is related to.
56
Practice
Creating a Linked Record action (continued)
•
Completing the Update Fields action will return you to the Project Actions screen.
•
Ensure that the action is selected, and click Finish.
•
Doing so will return you to the Linked Record action wizard.
•
Ensure that the Update Fields action is listed, and click Finish to complete the
Linked Record action.
•
This will return you to the Actions
screen for the If-Then-Else action.
•
Ensure that the new action
is selected, and click Finish to be
returned to the Details tab.
•
Note that the action has been added to the new clause, and click Finish to save
the If-Then-Else action.
•
This will return you to the action button, which you can cancel out of.
57
Test the Action Button
•
Once you have completed the action, test it.
•
In a task that is related to a project, use the Mark as Completed action
button to mark it as Done (pick a task that was not already done).
•
Then check the linked project to see if it was updated by the action you
just created.
•
If you did everything correctly, it should now have the Last Completed
Task ID and the other fields in the linked set populated with a link to the
task you just updated.
58
Attached File Actions
•
Attached File actions create custom-built Word or PDF attachments by using
templates that hold a combination of field variables and hard-coded/fixed text.
•
Examples:

Generate a contract document from a stored, approved template with all the necessary
legal language.

Generate a weekly status report for a project based on the latest updates, milestones,
due dates, and so on.

Generate a purchase order document showing all the line items and amounts to be sent
to a vendor.
•
The action wizard defines the print template to use, the naming convention for
the generated file, and the attached file field in which to store it.
•
We will revisit this action type in detail in the upcoming unit on print templates.
59
Advanced Actions Unit Summary and Conclusion
•
In this unit we learned about most of the more advanced Action Types.
•
We practiced creating Data Conversion, Delete, Browser Pop-up, and
Linked Record actions.
•
We learned how to add fields based on concise field specifications.
60