BRIDGE/API: Add Users to Group from Sheet?

Hey Y'all! I'M STUCK on the next step for my Bridge solution.

I'm simply trying to add members to a group named "GroupTest" if the [Approval Status] in this sheet (image below) gets marked as "Approved", but only if it's not already in the group. Eventually, I also need to have the status of "REJECT" remove them from the same group.

{63EDBF73-DDE3-4C52-9FC5-89276104C352}.png

Here's what I have so far:

Trigger is whenever column [Approval Status] Changes to any value.
Get Sheet to find needed values
API to get list of users in the group
Here's the run log from the API Call

Can anyone tell me where to go from here?

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Accepted answers

SSFeatures

Hi @NeilKY, I'm definitely not a bridge expert yet, but I think I can still help.

You mentioned that you only want to add users to the group, if they aren't already in the group. My first thought is that you probably don't need to check if they are in the group. I assume that Smartsheet won't add the same user to the same group multiple times.

I would hope that if you tried to add a user to a group that they were already in, Smartsheet would either ignore trying to add them, or they would return a response that indicates that the user already exists.

I would do the following:

Update your "Get Sheet" to also include the email address. You should be able to use the Filters to only include the Row ID for the row that was Triggered. This way you will have the exact email address for the row that was triggered.
Perform an "Add Group Members" API call, and include the email address in the payload.

For example:

Then to remove the user from the group, I would do the same exact thing but I would use the Delete Group Members API call. Again, I wouldn't even check if the user exists or doesn't exist in the group. If the user doesn't exist in the group, and I tried to remove it, Smartsheet should handle that and just ignore the call.

I hope this helps!

SSFeatures

@NeilKY You're welcome! Glad we're making good progress on this one!

For this next step, I would try setting up a Junction: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2481998-route-workflows-with-junctions

The junction should look at the value in the "Approval Status" column. Then underneath the junction, there will be 2 paths. One that performs the Add Group Members call, and another that performs the Remove Group Delete call.

Let me know if this works!

SSFeatures

Hey @NeilKY! Yea ChatGPT is pretty good with Smartsheet, but it still makes a lot of bad mistakes.

I believe that you'll want a MATCH Junction:

And underneath the Junction, there will be 2 states. One state for if the value is "Approved" and another state for if the value is "REJECT".

You mentioned two possible data references:

{{states.startstate.smartsheet.get_row.row.cells.Approval Status.value}})
or
{{states.Get_Row.row.cells.[Approval Status].value}

Instead of writing it out yourself, you should be able to right click here:

And then click Copy Data Reference.

This way you don't have to type it out yourself. I don't think that the value that Smartsheet gave you was correct.

SSFeatures

@NeilKY this is awesome, glad it's working out so well! I've never personally used Bridge so I'm just going off all of the documentation lol!

Okay, since "Delete Group Members" requires an ID, we'll need to retrieve that one. Currently we only have the user's Email Address, but we can use this email address to get the ID.

We'll need to add a step before the API call. And we can use the Get User Bridge module. This will return the user's ID, and you can then use this ID to perform the API call to delete that user from the group.

All comments

SSFeatures

Hi @NeilKY, I'm definitely not a bridge expert yet, but I think I can still help.

I would do the following:

Update your "Get Sheet" to also include the email address. You should be able to use the Filters to only include the Row ID for the row that was Triggered. This way you will have the exact email address for the row that was triggered.
Perform an "Add Group Members" API call, and include the email address in the payload.

For example:

I hope this helps!

NeilKY

@SSFeatures Nathan, Thanks for the fast response! Per your instructions I was able to get it working! However, I'm not quite sure how to only run if the value is "Approved". can you help me tweak that final setting? (Plus how to remove it if it's changed to "REJECT")

SSFeatures

@NeilKY You're welcome! Glad we're making good progress on this one!

For this next step, I would try setting up a Junction: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2481998-route-workflows-with-junctions

Let me know if this works!

NeilKY

@SSFeatures Nathan, Even after reviewing the help article, I'm having a hard time determining how to setup the junction, primarily because i can't decide WHICH junction to use. ChatGPT says i shouldn't use "New Junction" because it's restricted on its features and being phased out? I've learned that ChatGPT isn't the source of all truth, and when it comes to Bridge it's not often the source of ANY truth.

Once I find the right junction, I presume this is how it should go?

Condition: {{states.startstate.smartsheet.get_row.row.cells.Approval Status.value}}

ChatGPT says to use {{states.Get_Row.row.cells.[Approval Status].value}

State 1: Approved

State 2: REJECT

Right?

PS. here's an updated image of my flow. I added a GET ROW just for fun…

NeilKY

…and thinking ahead, regarding the "REJECT" branch. In order to delete someone from a group, the API documentation says i need to use "delete/groups/{groupId}/members/{userId}" command.

How do I get the userId? Is there something in the current workflow that I can use as a reference?

Or, do I need to use another API?:

Get Group first to identify the users.
Somehow search for the email address to identify that user's ID?

I considered using "List Users" API to find the userId but what if that group member is not a member of my organization's Smartsheet instance?

SSFeatures

Hey @NeilKY! Yea ChatGPT is pretty good with Smartsheet, but it still makes a lot of bad mistakes.

I believe that you'll want a MATCH Junction:

And underneath the Junction, there will be 2 states. One state for if the value is "Approved" and another state for if the value is "REJECT".

You mentioned two possible data references:

{{states.startstate.smartsheet.get_row.row.cells.Approval Status.value}})
or
{{states.Get_Row.row.cells.[Approval Status].value}

Instead of writing it out yourself, you should be able to right click here:

And then click Copy Data Reference.

This way you don't have to type it out yourself. I don't think that the value that Smartsheet gave you was correct.

NeilKY

@SSFeatures Awesome! That worked! I had to create a few branches to get it done using MATCH but it appears to be working! (See layout in image below). Thank you!

The FINAL and equally as confusing (to me) step is figuring out how to find the userId, so I can delete the user from the group because the API documentation says i need to use "DELETE /groups/{groupId}/members/{userId}" command.

Is there something in the current workflow that I can use as a reference? Or, do I need to use another API such as Get Group first to identify the users, then search for the email address to identify that user's ID? If so, can you walk me through how to do that?

THIS IS THE LAST PIECE I'M MISSING! I'm so excited to have this working!

SSFeatures

@NeilKY this is awesome, glad it's working out so well! I've never personally used Bridge so I'm just going off all of the documentation lol!

Okay, since "Delete Group Members" requires an ID, we'll need to retrieve that one. Currently we only have the user's Email Address, but we can use this email address to get the ID.

NeilKY

@SSFeatures

I've never personally used Bridge so I'm just going off all of the documentation lol!

WHHHHAAATTT????!!! That has to be the biggest compliment for you, showcasing your ability to understand documentation AND the biggest revelation about my inability to understand it. LOL. I PROMISE I read the documentation at each step, I just couldn't figure it out. I even looked at community posts with similar issues. It just flew in one ear and out the other until you explained it in my use-case. :)

Speaking of which, your last post got it all working! Phew! Pat yourself on the back, that's very impressive considering you've never used Bridge! Thanks so much!!!

PS. For those reading this at a later date, one small weakness about this solution above is that it requires the User's ID to remove the name from the group but it does NOT require one to ADD them. Hence, the system will allow you to add ANY email address. If that email is not associated with an actual user, the solution above won't be able to find a userId and automatically remove them for you. So you just have to manually remove them from the group when that happens.

NeilKY

Here's what my end-result looks like.

SSFeatures

@NeilKY Hahah thanks a lot! I've been writing software for ~20 years, doing a lot of API work, and I'm familiar with Zapier. If I wasn't familiar with Zapier then I probably wouldn't have been able to help out much here!

I'm really glad it's all working now!

Also thanks for posting your finished solution, I'm sure it will help lots of other people in the future.

Best!

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