Possibility to "run" scripting blocks via API ∨ time scheduled?

[Onur]

Hey Community,
Is there the possibility to
A. Let a script run via API?
B. Give scripts a(n absolute) “time reference” in order to let them run in some kind of scheduled time frame?
Feedback appreciated &
Thanks in advance

[Bill_French]

Onur:

Is there the possibility to
A. Let a script run via API?
B. Give scripts a(n absolute) “time reference” in order to let them run in some kind of scheduled time frame?

Nope. Lots of folks looking for this functionality, but presently not possible.

This is why - years ago - I adopted a general strategy for automation that leans on near-free infrastructure such as Google Apps Script.

[Onur]

Hey Bill,
Thanks for the super fast response.
The answer is really disappointing (the 2nd one in the last 48h while starting diving deeper to airtable :sneezing_face: ).

But now I more understand the insight you gave here : Create weekly snapshots of totals from other tables -
talking about the Google Apps Script - I read this in their restrictions:

"[…]Because simple triggers fire automatically, without asking the user for authorization, they are subject to several restrictions:

• The script must be bound to a Google Sheets, Slides, Docs, or Forms file, or else be an add-on that extends one of those applications.
• They do not run if a file is opened in read-only (view or comment) mode.
• Script executions and API requests do not cause triggers to run. For example, calling Range.setValue() to edit a cell does not cause the spreadsheet’s onEdit trigger to run. […]"

=> seems like my use case(s) won’t work as I am not allowed to get it started from “outside” or in a scheudled manner. So kind of same - same here (regarding the time/trigger control of actions inside from outside) - or am I missing something?

[Bill_French]

Onur:

=> seems like my use case(s) won’t work as I am not allowed to get it started from “outside” or in a scheudled manner.

It might seem that way, but you’d be wrong to believe what you think it seems. :winking_face:

Currently, I have more than 80 clients running Google Apps Script across more than 500 automation processes every five minutes. Some, every 60 seconds. Every one of them are script trigger processes created and managed in Google Apps Script.

The restrictions you cite are actually advantages in most automation process requirements. You must also understand that every Google Document (spreadsheet, presentation, word processing document) is a serverless container - a persistent web process that is capable of being a server in and of itself as well as an automated (and manual) scripting engine.

You can call a spreadsheet “server” from Script Blocks, and you can run any and all API processes against Airtable as well as anything else. Literally, Google Apps Script is a [javascript] server-side platform for building very complex and fully lights-out automated processes.

Moving any sort of data process to an external environment provides you with almost every imaginable data-centric pathway to create solutions where the core platform fail to provide the integrated features. Google Apps Script is simply a good one to investigate.

[Olpy_Acaflo]

Bill.French:

Onur:

Is there the possibility to

A. Let a script run via API?
B. Give scripts a(n absolute) “time reference” in order to let them run in some kind of scheduled time frame?

Nope. Lots of folks looking for this functionality, but presently not possible.

Yes , I confirm, I’m one of these Folks, as @Kasra is knowing it.
As scripting represents for me a part time activity to serve the particular needs of my main job, I deeply regret having to start searching on another platform for services as elementary as external triggers, timer or calendar driven actions that I found on an embedded microcontroller (interrupts, timers)!
This is my biggest regret about airtable and especially scriptable airtable.
(My second and last regret is the impossibility to process VIEWS by macro or by script but it’s still possible to get around that with a lot more work).
Thanks to @Bill.French (and Expert Developers Scripters) for teaching the Community, for their time and energy!
Best,
oLπ

[Bill_French]

Olpy_Acaflo:

I deeply regret having to start searching on another platform for services as elementary as external triggers, timer or calendar driven actions that I found on an embedded microcontroller (interrupts, timers)!

LOL! Yes - this is a very good point. We have little tiny IoT sensors attached to bridges that are 1" square and run for ten years on a single battery and even they support events and webhooks effortlessly.