Find Records automation - Need help with strange error: "No valid nested options"

[b_cummings]

I'm setting up an automation to find records from webhook data. The field I need to match appears grayed out by Airtable with an error, "No valid nested options". Please see image.

I've never seen this error message before, and a google search was of little help.

Can you help explain what this error message means and how to resolve it?

Thanks!

[Sho · Accepted solution]

Find records can only be compared between common variable types.
Only strings can be selected for string fields and numbers for numeric fields.

[b_cummings]

Thanks, @Sho, such an obvious solution. I don't know that I would have figured that out.

[Support_IT]

Hello @b_cummings - if you're able to run scripts with your plan, you can implement this workaround that convert a "non nested field" into a string that can then be used : 

Declare 'variable-name' as input of the script, then copy this

let myinput = input.config();
console.log(myinput);

// Assuming myinput is an array, access the first item (index 0) from the list
let myvariable = myinput['variable-name'][0];
console.log(myvariable);

// Convert myvariable to a string
myvariable = String(myvariable);
console.log(myvariable);

// Set the string value in the 'myvariable' output
output.set('myvariable', myvariable);

[JBJ]

@b_cummings 

I have a solution to suggest that's easier to implement, in my opinion, than the one offered by @Support_IT. I'm late in the game, but this might help you guys out for future automations.

If you’re getting the tooltip ‘No valid nested option’ when trying to select a field as a condition in an automation, that's because the data type of the selected field and the data type of the populated value do not match.

To understand why this happens, it’s useful to know that Airtable processes linked records and lookups as arrays, even when the cell contains only 1 element (in that case, Airtable treats it as a 1-item array). This means you’re trying to have [string = array] as a condition, which Airtable considers as impossible.

The workaround to that is to create a formula field that references the linked record or lookup. This new field will display the original value, but will convert the array into a string. You can select this newly created field as a condition in your Find Records module.

Hope it helps.

JBJ
🌊 Keep the Flow