Integromat TEXT update when update value is empty

Platform discussions monday apps & integrations
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1

I’m using Integromat to Create, Read, Update, and Delete items across boards.

Mostly this is working well.

However, where an item includes a Text column, Integromat does not delete its value when attempting to overwrite it with empty.

eg.
Board ‘A’ has various columns including a text column with an item containing a text value of “xxxxx”
Board ‘B’ has a corresponding item that includes a text column with no value

When reading the item the item from Board B, the column value shows as being empty.

In the Integromat recipe, I can update various column values that are populated, but a text value that is empty does not overwrite an existing text value on board A.

Any suggestions on how this can be achieved?

2

This should work without any issues. I would start by looking input bundles of the update module. Compare an operation that worked with one that didn’t.

They should look something like this:

[
{
    "itemId": "123456789",
    "boardId": "987654321",
    "columnValuesToChange": [
        {
            "columnId": "text",
            "columnValue": null
        }
    ]
}
]
3

Thanks Jim.

It appears to only be an issue for columns that are type Text. Long Text column types overwrite fine with blank values.

I’ve think that I’ve finally sorted out a workaround by using the ifempty function in Integromat along with the Text Parser module to replace quote characters.

However, I’m sure that there is a neater way of achieving this result. For now I’ll have to run with this fix until I have some more time, maybe in the coming week.

1 Like
4

Hey there @snicho :wave:

I’m glad @JCorrell was able to help you out here, he’s awesome on many levels :slight_smile:

This does seem a little odd to me and I would love to understand the end goal here. Just to confirm my understanding, is this what you are trying to accomplish:

If Board B item’s text column has no value (empty), then clear the relevant item’s Text column on Board A? I’d love to try playing around with that a little further to see if there are any other solutions to achieve this effect, but I do think using the ifempty feature on Integromat would be your best bet here.

-Alex

6

Hey @AlexSavchuk

Yes, that’s exactly what I am doing.

When a value in a text column exists in both boards, I can readily update that value.

However, if the updating value on Board B is blank (empty/null), then it doesn’t clear the existing value on Board A.

The workaround that I’ve put in place for now is to use the ifempty in Integromat to check if the value is empty, and if so, replace it with a hyphen. That way I’m never trying to write null values.

It’s not ideal, but it is workable.

1 Like
7

I finally got a chance to test this.

Try using a formula in this format (like you are doing) in the Value of the column that your are updating:

ifempty(1.mappable_column_values.text; "")

Basically, just use empty quotes in place of the hyphen.

I’m surprised that I haven’t run into this issue before.

1 Like
8

@JCorrell

Wow, that’s a very interesting solution! Actually, this is very similar to how you’d create IF formulas in Monday.com for empty values as well in some cases :slight_smile: What a cool catch.

-Alex

9

Thanks Jim.

That worked.

I’m sure that I tried that previously and ended up with something like nullxxxxxxnull

However, that’s working fine now. Thanks!

1 Like