Nested Loops in a BOT Using Parent and Child Processes

[JeeHill]

Hi everyone,

Is it possible to create a BOT in AppSheet that uses a parent process to call child processes, enabling nested loops like in traditional programming?

I’d appreciate any insights or experiences on how to set this up effectively and manage it within AppSheet's limitations.

Thanks in advance! 😊

[Steve]

Mostly yes, but not easily.

[JeeHill]

Thank you, Steve! Could you elaborate on the challenges or limitations and suggest any best practices to make it work effectively?

[Steve]

The biggest challenge is understanding the mess that is bots and Automation, just getting comfortable enough with it.

There is no inherent support for traditional iteration, so "looping" is done with recursion. I've posted several guides on this in the Tips & Tricks section.

You can also use a Data: execute an action on a set of rows action to perform an action (not a process) on a set of rows, but know that each row is processed concurrently, not in sequence.

AppSheet is definitely going to force you to think differently to apply the models you're used to.

[JeeHill]

Thanks, Steve! I appreciate the detailed explanation and the pointer to your guides in the Tips & Tricks section—I'll check those out. The idea of using recursion and adapting to AppSheet's parallel processing is definitely a shift, but it's good to know it's possible. Thanks again for the insights!