Add a delay step in a process

[Steven_Aung]

It will be nice to have a delay step within a process.

For my use case, after creating a file via a task, it takes few seconds before we can access to the file. I like to put some delay, and then proceed other steps.

Please also put “Automation”, “Task”, “Process” tags for topic creations.

Thanks

[Steven_Aung]

I am not sure how frequent AppSheet will check for the condition in “Wait for a condition” step. Can anyone provide that information?

I can record a timestamp in a previous step. And then, use that timestamp in a “Wait for a condition” step to delay for next step but I like to know how frequent the condition will be check. Will it be checked indefinitely until the condition is met?

Thanks

[Lusha_Wang1]

Hi Steven, when a data change happens, and the wait step will be triggered immediately. We are not using polling mechanism to query for condition result.

[Steven_Aung]

Hm, in that case, the description for the condition checker is misleading. It said “Wait until this condition is true”.

So is “Wait for a condition” the same as using “Branch on a condition → Yes” flow?

[Lusha_Wang1]

Hi Steven, sorry for not being clear. “wait step” and “branch on a condition” is different. For wait step, assume the condition is column [Approve] = true, and right now the [Approve] = false, then it will keep waiting. But we don’t have any polling mechanism. Once [Approve] because true, then process will keep executing immediately.

[Steven_Aung]

Got it. Thanks. So we will need some kind of a delay mechanism in a process

[Zhifeng_Lin]

Hi Steven,

We are planning to release a new feature on the wait step where you can simply wait a period of time.

The new Wait step type allows the process to pause execution and before resuming:

• [Wait for a condition] to evaluate to TRUE or a timeout period to be reached
  And here you can add steps in case the timeout period has be reached
• [Wait for a period of time] (min allowed is 10 mins and max allowed is 30 days)

Note: Process execution will not resume at the exact time that time period is met. There may be a delay of up to 10 minutes. Therefore, the Wait step does not support use cases where accurate timing is required.

Would you be interested in getting early access? If yes, just let me know your appsheet user id.

Thanks!

[Steven_Aung]

Sounds great. My ID is 540843.

Is there any chance that the minimum allowed time can be lower when this go live?

[Zhifeng_Lin]

Hi Steven,

You user account has been added to the rollout for the new feature now.
As for lowering the minimum period, the Wait Step is targeting human-in-the-loop interactions for long running processes, so 10 minutes would be a reasonable minimum interval and we will stick with this in the initial release of the feature.

Thanks!

[Anthony_Nel]

Please add me in ID 255473 Thanks

[anonymous]

Please add me ID: 1949277 thanks

[Zhifeng_Lin]

Anthony_Nel:

255473

Hi Anthony, you have been added to the rollout for the new wait step feature.

Thanks!

[Zhifeng_Lin]

Hi Fredy,

You have been added to the early access now.

Thanks!

[Anthony_Nel]

Thanks - found a small issue with it - I sent a Notification after a Wait step and it ignored my app’s time zone (UTC +2) - it used UTC when formatting the time using <<_NOW>>

[Zhifeng_Lin]

Hi Anthony,

Can you share the expression you used for the “Period” field?

Thanks!

[Anthony_Nel]

“000:10:00”

[Zhifeng_Lin]

With this static period expression, the process will be paused for 10 minutes (or another data change event that satisfies the “condition” field) once it hits the wait step.

So you meant in the Notification body, you used <<_NOW>>, which should honor your app’s time zone, but instead generated a UTC timestamp?

Thanks!

[Anthony_Nel]

yes that’s the issue. - the exact same notification formats correctly when i remove the delay step

[Zhifeng_Lin]

got it.

Thanks for the detailed explanation!
Will look into fixing the issue.

[Anthony_Nel]

Welcome! thanks for the useful function