Row Id in email

bcromie
bcromie
edited 12/09/19 in API & Developers

Hi!

I'm trying to generate custom PDFs with a specific template from a smartsheet row. The workflow currently uses an automation to send an email when the row is "done". Right now, that email contains the "Row Number" which is the only way to identify the row through the API (all the rest of the columns can be duplicate data, and thus not uniquely identifiable, etc.) in order to access the row's data.

This is problematic, insofar as the row number can change, especially if a user edits the sheet, or if the form that generates the rows adds rows to the top of the sheet, instead of the bottom.

Ideally, it would be tremendously valuable if the row id, which is unique to the row no matter its location on the sheet, were to be added to the body of the update email. I understand how a long, unfamiliar integer in an email could be confusing, but it doesn't need to be visible, just present somewhere so that it can be pulled out with a regex.

 

Thanks!

Bill

Comments

  • L_123
    L_123 ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    You could add an autonumber column. this will create a different id for each row, but it will be a unique unchanging list of values that is row dependent, and un-editable

    If you want to show a column in an alert/email from your workflow the syntax is 

    {{Column Name}}

    This can be added to the title or message of any alerts.

  • The goal is to enable a form to add a row to the top of a smart sheet, so that it's clear that's the next thing we need to edit. I tried adding an auto-numbering column to my pre-existing smartsheet, and it turned out empty.

    The row id, which is a smartsheet API concept, would solve this problem and adding it to every email, even if hidden, would both be trivial and tremendously valuable:

    <div style='display:none' id='row-id'>{{SMARTSHEET_ROW_ID}}</div>
    

    And would effectively turn the email into the equivalent of a row-level web hook, which is a feature that smartsheet lacks and likely would be a much, much larger development lift.