Option to run extension in background

[peace2103]

We have been using Airtable as our internal database and have built some simple scripting extensions to update data from our backend. Every row has an Update button and clicking on it runs the scripting extension showing a dialog box which somewhat creates a bad experience when editing multiple records quickly.

Would love a feature to set the extension to run in background or to show a small toast showing whether the run was successful or not, rather than showing the entire dialog box again and again.

[kuovonne · Accepted solution]

You posted this in the "Other questions" section versus the section for feature requests, so I'm guessing that you are hoping for a workaround.

You cannot run Scripting Extension in the background. However, there are a few alternatives.

• In most cases you can convert the script to run as an automation script. You can then use a different trigger (such as a single-select) to trigger the automation script. You will not get a toast and the automation script will take much longer to run than scripting extension, but it can be more visually appealing.
• Use an automation script within a Interface. Trigger the automation with a button element. You will get a toast saying that the automation is started. The toast will not say whether or not the script was successful. 
• Get used to always having the right side-bar open. This is not ideal, but this is the route I have picked because I find scripts so very useful (and I use them so often).
• If you are clicking the same button for multiple records, consider reworking the script to process all the records in the view with one click.