Resolving Unintended Webhook Triggers Due to Formula Updates

kskarz

Hi Smartsheet Community,

I'm encountering an issue with my webhook setup and seeking your insights. My webhook is designed to monitor changes in two specific columns: 'Start Date' and 'End Date'. It's set up to trigger a calculation that updates certain data in Smartsheet when a change is detected in these columns.

However, I've recently observed that my web server and Smartsheet are receiving updates via the API even when there are no direct changes made to these two columns. Upon investigation, I discovered that the 'End Date' column is involved in a formula that updates multiple rows. This seems to inadvertently trigger the webhook, despite there being no manual change in the 'End Date' data itself.

My understanding was that the webhook would be activated only by actual changes in the row's data. Is there a way to refine the webhook's trigger conditions to avoid these unintended activations? Specifically, I want the webhook to respond only to manual changes in the 'Start Date' and 'End Date' columns, and not to updates caused by formula recalculations.

Any advice or suggestions on how to address this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

SteyJ

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/114257/resolving-unintended-webhook-triggers-due-to-formula-updates

Are you using a created/modified column for start / end date, or for that matter, a created/modified column in your sheet and are these system columns linked to the start/end date in any way?

kskarz

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for your reply.

No, the "Start Date" and "End Date" are not linked to the "Created" or "Modified" column.

This sheet had been created from a Project Template.

Brian_Richardson

If you have a Dependency enabled sheet (check Settings in Gantt View) then Smartsheet manages Start/End/Duration and you won't be able to identify manual changes vs backend changes.

If you turn off Dependencies, then you should result in only manual changes...but you will have lost the ability for Smartsheet to manage the schedule based on task dependencies, or recalculate durations and end dates automatically for you, so I'm not sure that's a great option.

You could get really complex by turning off dependencies, have a manual End Date entry column, have a separate formula-derived "Calculated End Date" column, and then trigger off the manual entry column only. You'd have to recreate the Start/End/Duration calculation functionality though.