Loop action doesn't work when triggered by bot

[maxumn]

I am experiencing the exact same issue as the one described in this post:

Should a bot that runs a change-data action work the same as that action triggered in-app?

I’m trying to do some looping to create grandchildren records without control columns, pretty much exactly as in this post. If I run the group of actions in-app either as the form save action or triggered by a button, it works as expected (i.e. it creates a finite number of grandchildren records). If I run the exact same group of actions in an automation bot, it results in what I presume to be an infinite loop, adding the same row over and over until I delete the target table and it errors out. …

Did anyone ever figure this out? Was it answered in another thread?

[イルカのえっちゃん]

This post might be helpful.

Is this a specification? Is it a bug?【Loop Aciton】

The table is as follows. [1.png] [2.png] [3.png] [4.png] [5.png] The actions are as follows. [タイトルなし.png] [8.png] [9.png] If Action “Loop” is set during FormSave, it will be reflected in the spreadsheet as intended. [10.png] [11.png] [12.png] Next, remove the Action on FormSave and create Automation. [13.png] [14.png] [15.png] Then, it is an endless loop. [16.png] [17.png] Is this a specification? Is it a bug?

[Steve]

In summary, actions behave differently in bots than when triggered otherwise.

[イルカのえっちゃん]

@Steve
Thank you!

[maxumn]

Thank you, both. As someone with quite a few years of experience using other no-code platforms, but new to AppSheet, I’ve found this forum invaluable.

I’m surprised by support’s response in the thread that @イルカのえっちゃん has linked to, suggesting that this is a feature and not a bug. It would be great if the documentation at least acknowledged that virtual column values are not dynamic during the execution of an automated process.

[maxumn]

FYI, I seem to have resolved this by adding a physical “loop count” column that is set by the first step in my automation bot and referenced by my looping actions. I followed the basic method laid out by MultiTech Visions in his youtube video “Looping with Actions (Do-While & For Loops in AppSheet) | BUILD VIDEO”.

After adding the physical loop count column, I updated my actions slightly so that their condition to run required the loop count to be greater than zero (rather than referencing my virtual column directly). I then updated the grouped action to subtract 1 from the loop count after executing the first action and before triggering the ‘repeater’ action.

FWIW, I almost thought this wasn’t going to work because of some odd behavior that persisted until I cleared the cache/cookies.

[Steve]

@maxumn

It would be great if the documentation at least acknowledged that virtual column values are not dynamic during the execution of an automated process.

Attn @lizlynch