I think I know the answer, but I figured I’ll double check.
I had gotten myself under the impression (I think by misreading this post from GreenFlux) that calling the AppSheet API to do an Edit would cause a client to sync. (I guess, how would it know… fair enough.)
Am I correct that if I use the Appsheet API to make edits, the app will still not sync until another action of some kind causes the sync?
Assuming I am correct, I’m not sure why I should use the API to do the edits instead of making them directly to the backend. Is there any practical distinction to me editing some records directly in my google sheet, rather than via the API, since even if I update via the API, the client will be out-of-sync until some other activity forces it?
Apologies for wrapping myself a bit around the axle. I know it’s pretty common for people to want to make external updates and come up empty. Just trying to understand the decisions/tradeoffs I need to make.
(I know it’s not ideal to make edits externally and all that – but I can’t reasonably recreate [and subsequently maintain] the logic to do the updates inside of AppSheet, even if it were theoretically possible, which I’m not sure it is.)
[quote=“billyfw”]
Assuming I am correct, I’m not sure why I should use the API to do the edits instead of making them directly to the backend. Is there any practical distinction to me editing some records directly in my google sheet, rather than via the API, since even if I update via the API, the client will be out-of-sync until some other activity forces it?
[/quote]##### Sync: Between the app and the backend - AppSheet Help Errors and warnings during Sync - AppSheet Help
This was just me testing a modification on this table. For my test, I had a Table view open for APP_PUSH_NOTIFICATION_LOG, which is a listing of notifications.
The table has a key and a field NotificationText.
The value of the row for this key started with NotificationText “foo”, and I then made this API call to change it to “1234”.
Obviously (in retrospect), the table just sat there until I clicked into some other rows and made modifications, at which point the 1234 synced in as the new value.
I think, based on your reply, perhaps the specifics of the sync matter to try to predict when and how the app will sync itself after the API call?
In general, my question was really: when I directly update the sheet (without the API), I find that the values I update still sync when some user action causes a sync. So I don’t see too much resulting difference in making the edit directly vs. using the API.
Does that make sense? Sorry I wasn’t clear before.
Using the API will apply all of the configuration you’ve given your app: default values, data validation, access control, actions, bot triggers, etc. Manual changes offer none of that–unless you use External Eventing (which only triggers bots).
