Processes: The Essentials

Run a set of activities in your bot using a process as described in the following sections:

• What is a process?
• Add a process to a bot
• Create a process
• View processes
• Edit a process
• Delete a process

What is a process?

A process combines tasks into composite activities. A process represents a typical business process, such as an order approval.

A process may run a simple set of tasks sequentially, such as send an email or create a file. A more complex process might take hours or days to complete if it includes more time-consuming activities, such as:

• Loop over many records and call a task for each of them
• Call other processes
• Wait for a human to respond to something

A process contains the following elements:

• An input (a row in a table this process will work on)
• A sequence of steps

For example, in the screenshot below you can see a sample Confirmed appointment process that contains the following elements:

• Table: A row in the Appointments table.
• Step: Send an email

Add a process to a bot

Add a process to a bot using AppSheet in one of the following ways:

• Create a new process
  See Create a new process.
• Reuse an existing process (if a linkable process is available)
  In the Then run... drop-down select a linkable process. See Reuse automation components.

Create a new process

AppSheet Automation enables you to build processes once and reuse them in various automations to save time and accelerate development. See also About component reusability with AppSheet Automation.

To create a new process:

• To create a new process within a bot, simply add steps to the process in the Then run... section.
• To create a reusable process, select Automation  > Processes and click + in the Processes panel.

If you are using the legacy editor

To create a new process:

• When creating or editing a bot, select Create new process in the Run this Process drop-down list.
• Select Automation > Processes and click New Process.

To copy an existing process:

1. Select Automation  > Processes.
2. Select the process you want to copy in the Processes panel.
3. Click More   > Duplicate in the process heading.

The existing process is copied. The name of the new process defaults to the name of the current process followed by a unique number (starting with 1 and incrementing), such as Onboard new employees 1.

If you are using the legacy editor

To copy an existing process:

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

The existing process is copied. The name of the new process defaults to the name of the current process followed by a unique number (starting with 1 and incrementing), such as Onboard new employees 1.

View processes

To view all processes, select Automation  > Processes. Processes are organized by their table association or under Other if there is no table association.

By default, only reusable (linkable) processes are shown. To view all processes, turn on Show all automation components, as described in Configure app editor settings.

If a reusable process is used by one or more bots, it displays a reusability indicator (number in the process header) to indicate the number of bots using the process. Click the number to view the list of bots that are using the process. For more information, see Reuse automation components.

Edit a process

Note: If a process is reused, consider the impact to all bots before editing the process.

To edit a process, view the process in the editor, edit the steps, and save your changes.

Delete a process

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

To delete a reusable process:

1. Select Automation  > Processes.
2. Select the process you want to delete in the Processes panel.
3. Click More   > Delete in the process heading.

 

If you are using the legacy editor

 

To delete a process:

1. Select Automation > Processes.
2. Select the process you want to delete.
3. Click Delete in the process heading.
4. To delete a process used in a bot:
5. Select Automation > Bots.
6. Select Remove from the Then run... process drop-down.