Attendance Tracker Automatically Create Record for Present

Carrie_Moy · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Is it possible to create an automation that will create a record at the end of the day if a student is not marked absent they will be counted as present.

I have a form for teachers to fill out when a student is absent. However, I want to create something that will also count when a student is present, not just the change to present. For example, if there is a class of 4 students and everyone is in attendance then I would get a record at the end of the day where 4 different records were created saying that all students were present.

Is there a script that is possible for this? Currently, my automation is grouping all four “present” students into a single record and I want a different record for each.

Mohamed_Swella1 · ‎Aug 23, 2022

Hi @Carrie_Moy ,

Sorry for the late reply.

IF(OR(AND(DATETIME_FORMAT(NOW(),'H')>=13,DATETIME_FORMAT(NOW(),'H')<=24),AND(DATETIME_FORMAT(NOW(),'H')>=0,DATETIME_FORMAT(NOW(),'H')<=1)),"Trigger")

This formula only works on GMT timezone (we can change it to whatever timezone you need). So this basically triggers at 1 PM GMT up to 1 AM GMT. You can change the numbers as needed.

You can then put an extra filter in the view you made that has the present students to include this new formula field and set it as Not Empty.

The automation will then work on this new view as a trigger to create whatever records you need in the attendance table.

See Solution in Thread

ScottWorld · ‎Aug 22, 2022

I don’t know JavaScript, so for me personally, the easiest way to do this would be to use Make to create an automation that does a search once a day for the students that you’re looking for, and then creates new records for those students.

Your Make scenario could be as simple as these 2 steps:

Screen Shot 2022-08-22 at 11.27.10 AM

Other people might have other ideas for you as well. There are also workarounds to do this sort of thing with Airtable’s native automation steps, which I describe in more detail in this BuiltOnAir podcast episode:

Mohamed_Swella1 · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Hi @Carrie_Moy ,

Welcome to Airtable Community !

If you are creating a record for absent, this means you are linking the absent to the student, correct? Or is it a separate record without any linking?

If so, then you can create a view in the Student table where there is no record created today which means they are Present. Please this view you can send the daily email or you can create the records you need

Carrie_Moy · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Thank you! I have a form that can be filled out allowing the teacher to change the status from present to absent. That then links the form submission to the student table. I want present to do the same kind of linkage. The student table already has students and new records will not be created each day. I want a new record in my form table for each student when the student status does not change to absent. Is this possible?

Carrie_Moy · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Hi Scott,
I would prefer to use a native automation in AirTable if possible. Do you know where in the video I should focus?
~Carrie

Carrie_Moy · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Hi Scott,
I would prefer to use an airtable native automation is possible rather than investing in a third-party application. Do you know where in the video I should focus?
~Carrie

Mohamed_Swella1 · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Yes, that is possible with the automations.

If I understand correctly, you already have an automation but it creates one record only, we can start from there, share a screenshot of it if you like.

What I would do is:

There must be a Date field in the form table
Using the linked field in the student table, create a Rollup field with ArrayJoin (anything actually would work) with the conditional filter Absent and Date is Today
Create a new view in the student field (you can call it Present - Automation Trigger) where this new field is Empty
Using this new view create an automation to create records in the form field with the status Present.

ScottWorld · ‎Aug 22, 2022

I don’t know if my trick will specifically apply to your scenario, but it might! I start my demo around 29:12 in the video.

Carrie_Moy · ‎Aug 22, 2022

Here’s the automation I have so far…
If a teacher marks the student in the form as absent, this will update the record in students table to be absent and the session attendance table will be linked to the student record.
Screen Shot 2022-08-22 at 11.05.04 AM

There must be a Date field in the form table
YES, I HAVE A DATE FIELD IN THE FORM
Using the linked field in the student table, create a Rollup field with ArrayJoin (anything actually would work) with the conditional filter Absent and Date is Today
Create a new view in the student field (you can call it Present - Automation Trigger) where this new field is Empty
I DID THIS AND HAVE RECORDS IN THIS VIEW
Using this new view create an automation to create records in the form field with the status Present.
COULD YOU PROVIDE A BIT MORE DETAILS ON THIS?

Mohamed_Swella1 · ‎Aug 22, 2022

That is great. Im assuming the records you have in this view are the correct records? i.e. students whom were present?

We might need to add a formula field since you want to trigger this at a specific time I assume?

You can start a new automation that looks for records in this view and creates new records based on those records. Im currently not on my computer but I can do it later tonight if you want

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