Events: The Essentials

Manage an event in a bot as described in the following sections:

• What is an event?
• Add an event to a bot
• Configure an app event
• Configure an AppSheet database event
• Configure a scheduled event
• Configure a Chat event
• Configure a Forms event
• Copy an existing event
• View events
• Edit an event
• Delete an event
• Example: Trigger a schedule event on a specific date

What is an event?

An event defines the activity or schedule that triggers a process. You can configure the following types of events:

Event type	What triggers this event type?
App	Data is added, modified, or deleted through the app. For example, the status of a service ticket is changed through the app. See Configure an app event.
AppSheet database	Data is added, modified, or deleted in one or more columns in an AppSheet database. For example, the status of a service ticket is changed directly in the AppSheet database. See Configure an AppSheet database event.
Scheduled	Set to occur periodically at a specific time. For example, every Monday morning at 9 AM. See Configure a scheduled event.
Google Chat app	Chat interactions, including interacting with a slash command in a Chat space, or adding or removing a Chat app in a Chat space. See Configure a Chat event.
Google Forms	Response for a form from Google Forms is received. For example, a travel request is sent for approval. See Configure a Google Forms event.

App events generated due to an app action or as a result of an app data change from an AppSheet API call will fire without any external configuration.

 

Data change events that are triggered externally in Sheets or Salesforce data sources: If you want events to fire based on manual or direct updates to the underlying Sheets or Salesforce data sources, external configuration is necessary. See Sheets and Salesforce, respectively.

 

Add an event to a bot

To add an event to a bot:

1. Create a bot.

2. Perform one of the following:

   • To reuse an existing event, select an event under From this App.
     For more information, see Reuse automation components.
   • To create a new event, do one of the following:
     • Click Create a custom event.
     • Select an event from the list of Suggestions.
       AppSheet Automation is an intent-aware platform. The platform understands user intent and recommends configuration options that align with what you are trying to achieve. For example, selecting the following suggestion would configure a process and Send an email task for you:
       When Available record is updated, send an email
3. Select and configure one of the following event sources:
   • App event
   • AppSheet database event
   • Scheduled event
   • Google Chat event
   • Google Forms event 

4. Save the app.

Configure an app event

To add an app event, configure the following settings:

Setting	Description
Event name	Name of the event.
Event source	Select App.
Data change type	Select the data change types made through the app that trigger the event. Select one or more of the following options: Adds, Deletes, Updates.
Table	Select the table whose data changes trigger the event. To view or edit the structure of the selected table, position your cursor in the field and click  . See Tables: The Essentials for more information.
Condition	Condition to check before triggering the event.
Bypass Security Filters?	Toggle to indicates whether to execute as though there are no security filters on the data sources. This setting allows automated tasks (that run as the app owner ID) to continue working. It is useful for generating reports or performing other tasks that require more information.
Event icon	Expand the Display section and select an icon for the event.
Descriptive comment	Expand the Documentation section and enter a comment that describes the purpose of the event.
Linking	Enable or disable reuse of this component by expanding the Linking panel and toggling the Linking setting. See Reuse automation components.

 

The following shows an example of an App change event that is triggered by any change (add, delete, or update) to the Inventory table.

 Configure an AppSheet database event

Before you can add an AppSheet database event, you must:

1. Create an AppSheet database. See Create and copy databases.
2. Add the AppSheet database to your app by creating an app from the AppSheet database or adding the AppSheet database to an existing app. In each case, select AppSheet databases as the data source and then navigate to the database.

App concepts or table settings defined in the app editor (such as making a column non-editable or required) won't effect how the bot gets triggered for event sources that are external to the app. For example, even if a column is marked as non-editable for apps, it can still be selected in the Column to watch for setting in the event.

Add an event to a bot, and configure the settings for an AppSheet database event, as follows:

Setting	Description
Event name	Name of the event.
Event source	Select AppSheet database.
Table	Select the table whose data changes trigger the event. To view or edit the structure of the selected table, position your cursor in the field and click  . See Tables: The Essentials for more information.
Data change type	Select the data change types made to the AppSheet database that trigger the event. Select one or more of the following options: Adds, Deletes, Updates.
Columns to watch for updates	Note: This field is displayed only when Updates is selected for Data change type. Columns from the selected table whose data updates trigger the event. Open the drop-down and select one or more columns.  For example: Make sure you select only those columns that you want to trigger the event. For example, you might want to be notified when the status or due date is changed, but not for other changes. In this example, you'd select only the Status and Due Date columns, but not the other column to avoid excessive or unnecessary notifications.
Condition	Condition that must be true to trigger the event. Note: To trigger an event based on the time that any data is updated in a row of the AppSheet database, do one of the following: Select all columns in the Column to watch for updates field. Add a column of type Update row timestamp to track updates made to any row. For more information, see Track changes made through an AppSheet database or the app.
Event icon	Expand the Display section and select an icon for the event.
Descriptive comment	Expand the Documentation section and enter a comment that describes the purpose of the event.
Linking	Enable or disable reuse of this component by expanding the Linking panel and toggling the Linking setting. See Reuse automation components.

 

Configure a scheduled event

A subset of features, such as sending emails or triggering bots with schedule events using AppSheet automation, are not fully supported until you purchase a subscription. That is, you can configure these features, but they won't execute as expected.

Add an event to a bot, and configure the settings for a scheduled event, as follows

Note: To reference columns in a table, you must turn on the For Each Row In Table settings.

Setting	Description
Event name	Name of the event.
Event source	Select Scheduled.
Schedule	Set the schedule and time for the event.
Time zone	Set the time zone for the schedule event.
For Each Row In Table	Flag that specifies whether to operate on each row in the specified table. Turn on For Each Row In Table if you want to run a process for each row of data in the table. When turned on, the option to specify a filter condition appears.    Turn off For Each Row In Table if your process doesn't rely on data in a table. When turned off, you can select any event except Run a data action as a valid step type in the process. Only turn off this setting if your process doesn’t rely on data in any table.
Table	Notes: This field only displays if For Each Row In Table is enabled. If you have partitioned the data, only one partition will be evaluated, based on the Filter Condition. Table referenced by the event. Select an existing table in the list. Click View definition to view the structure of the selected table. See Tables: The Essentials for more information about adding tables.
Filter Condition	Note: This field only displays if For Each Row In Table is enabled. Filter condition to use to identify which rows in table are impacted.
Condition	Condition that must be true to trigger the event.
Bypass Security Filters?	Toggle to indicates whether to execute as though there are no security filters on the data sources.
Event icon	Expand the Display section and select an icon for the event.
Descriptive comment	Expand the Documentation section and enter a comment that describes the purpose of the event.
Linking	Enable or disable reuse of this component by expanding the Linking panel and toggling the Linking setting. See Reuse automation components.

 The following shows an example of a Scheduled event that is triggered every day at 12:00 PM UTC.

Configure a Chat event

You must be a Google Workspace user to create Chat apps with AppSheet. See Add AppSheet to Google Workspace.

Before you can configure a Chat event, you must configure your Chat app with AppSheet.

Add an event to a bot, and configure the settings for a Chat event, as follows

Setting	Description
Event name	Name of the event. Note: The name will be displayed in Chat.
Event source	Select Chat.
Chat interaction	Chat interaction that triggers the event: Slash command - Slash command is issued in the Chat space. Added to space - Chat app is added to a Chat space. Removed from space - Chat app is removed from the Chat space.
Name	Note: Valid only if Slash command is selected as the Chat interaction. Slash command that triggers the event.
Description	Note: Valid only if Slash command is selected as the Chat interaction. Description of the slash command that triggers the event.
Event icon	Expand the Display section and select an icon for the event.
Descriptive comment	Expand the Documentation section and enter a comment that describes the purpose of the event.

The following shows an example of a Chat event.

Configure a Google Forms event

You must be a Google Workspace user to build AppSheet automations with Google Forms. See Add AppSheet to Google Workspace.

If you are using your Google Workspace account, the Google Workspace Terms of Service govern your use of Google Forms. Otherwise, refer to the Google Terms of Service.

Actions that are triggered by a Google Forms event can rely only on read-only data.

Before you can add a Google Forms event, you must:

1. Create a form in Google Forms. See How to use Google Forms. 

2. Do one of the following:

   • Create an app from the form
   • Add the form to an existing app

   In each case, select Google Forms as the data source, navigate to the form, and click Select.

See also Build automations using Google Forms.

Add an event to a bot, and configure the settings for a Google Forms event, as follows

Setting	Description
Event name	Name of the event.
Event source	Select Forms.
Form	Select the form from Google Forms that triggers the event.  Note: You need to ensure that the form is added as a table to your app before you use it in a Google Forms event.
Condition	Condition that must be true to trigger the event.
Bypass Security Filters?	Not supported for Google Forms events. Triggers from event sources that are external to the app can only be run as the app owner.
Event icon	Expand the Display section and select an icon for the event.
Descriptive comment	Expand the Documentation section and enter a comment that describes the purpose of the event.

The following shows an example of a Forms event that is triggered when a Travel Request form is submitted.

Copy an existing event

When you copy an event, the name of the new event defaults to the name of the current event followed by a unique number (starting with 1 and incrementing), such as My Event 1.

To copy an existing reusable event:

1. Open the app in the editor.
2. Go to Automation  > Events.
3. Select the event you want to copy in the Events panel.
4. Select More > Duplicate.

We've made some improvements to the app editor.
You are opted in to the new editor by default, but you can switch back to the legacy editor at any time.

If you are using the legacy editor

To copy an existing event:

1. Select Automation > Events.
2. Select the event you want to copy.
3. Click Copy in the event heading.

View events

To view an event in a bot, select Automation  > Bots, select the bot in the Bots panel, and click the event in the main panel.

To view all events by table, select Automation  > Events. By default, only reusable (linkable) events are shown. To view all events, turn on Show all automation components, as described in Configure app editor settings.

We've made some improvements to the app editor.
You are opted in to the new editor by default, but you can switch back to the legacy editor at any time.

 

If you are using the legacy editor

To view all events, select Automation  > Events. Events are organized based by table.

If an event is used by one or more bots, it displays a reusability indicator (number adjacent to the event name) to indicate the number of bots using the event. In the example below, the Scheduled: Every day event is a reusable component that is used in  two  bots.

Click the number to view the list of bots that are using the event. For more information, see Reuse automation components.

Edit an event

Note: If an event that is reused, consider the impact to all bots before editing the event.

To edit an event, view the event in the app editor, edit the configuration, and save your changes.

Delete an event

Note: If a reusable event is used in multiple bots, consider the impact to all bots before deleting the event. If you try to delete an event that is used by one or more bots, AppSheet will prompt you to confirm the operation, as shown:

 To remove an event from a bot in the editor, select Remove in the drop-down menu. It is removed from the bot but retained on the Events tab.

To delete a reusable event:

1. Select Automation  > Events.
2. Select the event you want to delete in the Events panel.
3. Select More > Delete.

We've made some improvements to the app editor.
You are opted in to the new editor by default, but you can switch back to the legacy editor at any time.

 If you are using the legacy editor

 To delete a reusable event:

1. Select Automation > Events.
2. Expand the event you want to delete.
3. Click Delete in the event heading.

Example: Trigger a schedule event on a specific date

Trigger a schedule event automatically at predetermined dates obtained from the app's data. This can be done using the Condition setting of the scheduled report.

For example, suppose you have a table called Tasks. Each row in this table is a task that you have to perform, and each task has a Date column that stores the date when you have to perform the task. You can set up a scheduled report that will automatically send you an alarm message to remind you of the task at 7:00 am on the day the task is supposed to be carried out.

To do this, in the app editor, configure the schedule event as follows:

Setting	Setting
Event name	Any event name
Event source	Schedule
Schedule	Daily
Time	7:00 am
Time zone	Set according to your time zone
For EachRowInTable	Enable
Table	Tasks
Filter Condition	TODAY()=[Date]

Here's how the schedule works. Every day, at 7:00 am, the schedule will go through each task in the Tasks table and check the date of the task. If the date of the task is the current date, the schedule will be triggered, and an alert message will be sent.

Note: This design will not work if you want to trigger reports at specific times (hours and minutes) obtained from the app's data.