Bot to add rows to tables on a schedule

[Robbo]

I have been using bots to send emails on regular schedule without trouble. I now need to work out how to add a few rows to a few tables on a schedule,  before I send an email. I know how to start building the Bot and schedule an event. But I am lost when I try to add a step and select Run a Data Action. Can anyone tell me what to do when I get to the following step? It doesn't seem to allow me to configure a New step. 

[Bethel_Vasto]

You should be able to configure the action in the right side sidebar . If you don't see it, look for a tiny arrow on the right hand side of your screen and click on it, it should make the sidebar visible.

[Robbo]

That's what I thought but the screen below shows the sidebar is blank. Whereas when I select Run a Task it shows the options

[krupan-google · Accepted solution]

The Task View for Data action is disabled as there is no data change table associated with a scheduled bot. We plan to address this in the upcoming release. You could instead use the "Data Change Trigger" to configure "Data Action" task and then switch the bot to a scheduled event.

[Robbo]

Sorry, but I don't understand what you're suggesting.

I tried creating a Bot with an Event that should respond to any changes to the Invoice table and a step that runs a data action to add a record to my table. When I saved it, I had no errors. Then I changed the Event to a schedule and got the following error message. 

"The event and process of the 'New bot' Bot are not compatible. The output of event 'New event' and the input of the process 'Process for New bot - 1' must be the same table or 'None' in the case of a scheduled event that is not 'For Each Row'. No "Call Process for each row" step is allowed in the process when using scheduled event"

[Robbo]

Got it. Figured it out. Thanks

[TedM]

@ Robbo
Could you explain how you did this as I am in the same situation.

🙄

[Giane_Mosquera]

Hello @krupan-google . Is the upcoming release due soon? 

[Robbo]

Hi TedM,

I struggled with that one a while and ended up finding a solution that works, but I wouldn’t call it elegant. However since I only need it to run once a month, and need it to do very little work, I didn’t spend a lot of time making it elegant.

My solution was to use a table called Monthly Invoices that has details of the charges I need to raise monthly.

I then created a Bot with an event that is triggered monthly, in my case on the 21st of the month at 1:00 AM For Each Row in my Monthly Invoices table

The Bot runs a Data Action that adds 1 row rows to my Invoices table for each row in the Monthly Invoices table. This becomes the invoice header. These invoice records have a column called [Monthly Invoice Id] which I use in the next bot to identify monthly invoices that need Line Items added.

I then run a second Bot an hour later, 2:00AM, against the Invoices table using a filter: AND(ISNOTBLANK([Monthly Invoice Id]) ,[Invoice Date]=TODAY()). It adds the Line Items, then triggers a recalculation of totals, and emails the invoices

It works for me. Hope I've explained adequately