Pre-processing Field entry

[David Schwane]

How do I implement field data scripting wihout looping? I understand field scripts and fields are watched via adding the field id. But how do I watch a field, change its value, and not cause a loop? I’m used to event driven functions where I could choose pre or post save, etc.

Example:
URL Field; If someone enters a URL with a query string, I want to strip out everything after the question mark. Where do i put this script?
var web_site = record.getFieldValue('fld-xyz');
var new_web_site = web_site.split('?')[0];
record.setFieldValue('fld-xyz', new_web_site);

[Daniel Leu]

Create a field with the type script and put it there. It will only be executed when the field web_site changes. At the end of the script, add a form.saveAllChanges().

[Brendan]

As Daniel said, and you can also hide the Script Field from displaying on the form. It will still activate when the field is changed in the UI.

[David Schwane]

Thank you and I understood that is the current mechanic, but for me, the script fires twice because I suppose I’m changing the field that I’m watching. While this looping doesn’t cause an issue with this example, I have some other situations where the script firing twice is problematic.

Example attached.
import
open console
copy into website field a URL with query string, i.e https://example.com/movies?si=zyH0Aqaaa

console shows
Script Excecuted 6/8/2022, 7:32:50 PM for https://example.com/movies
Script Excecuted 6/8/2022, 7:32:50 PM for https://example.com/movies

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[Daniel Leu]

Yeah, the script is triggered again if you update it with your script. In situations like this, I use two fields, one with the raw data and one with the processed data.

[David Schwane]

do you have an example of a two field system?

I have a scenario where I have Last Used (Date field) and Times Used (Number field). Each time Date Used is changed, Times Used increments 1. However, I need the Times Used to be editable for one off edits. Right now it increments twice (and 4 times if I use the date picker).

var last_used = record.getFieldValue('fld-1b7192ecbe934a678e07a7db55b1cd3e');
var times_used = record.getFieldValue('fld-83fc43975985438780e4344d310933b1');
console.log("Process Excecuted "+ new Date().toLocaleString() + " times used = " + times_used);
record.setFieldValue('fld-83fc43975985438780e4344d310933b1', times_used + 1);
form.saveAllChanges();

example attached.

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[Daniel Leu]

Something like this:

const fieldWebSite = 'fld-...'
const fieldWebSiteClean = 'fld-...'

var web_site = record.getFieldValue(fieldWebSite);
var new_web_site = web_site.split('?')[0];
record.setFieldValue(fieldWebSiteClean, new_web_site);

Re Times Used:
I’m not certain that this works, but I think to remember that the field trigger code parses the script for fld-... patterns. So when using const fieldTimesUsed = form.getFieldNamed('Times Used').getId(), you might avoid the trigger. Certainly @Brendan will chime in on this.

[David Schwane]

thank you, getId() worked to bypass the trigger

[Daniel Leu]

Perfect!

[David Schwane]

one last related question. I notice if I refresh all records, the script is getting fired and incrementing the field by 1 each time. Is there a way to bypass the script trigger from record refresh?

[Author]

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