Actions

An Action is a code-based operation that runs where that Action is mounted. Actions run when a user clicks the corresponding user prompt in Flatfile. Additional Actions can be mounted on a Sheet, a Workbook, or a file by a developer.

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Types of Actions

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Built-in Actions

Workbooks, Sheets and files come with five default built-in actions:

1. Mapping data from one workbook to another (moving data from a workbook to a Workbook)
2. Deleting data from a Workbook (or the entire file)
3. Exporting (downloading) data from a Workbook (or a file)
4. Find and Replacing data in a Sheet
5. Applying a Mutate function to data in a Sheet

When these built-in actions are clicked, they create Jobs. You can listen for these events and take appropriate actions if required. Learn more about Jobs.

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Developer-Created Actions

Additional Actions can be mounted on a Sheet, a Workbook, or a file. When an action is clicked, it will create a job operation on the domain it is mounted.

For example, an Action with the property operation: 'my-action' placed on a Workbook would spawn a job called: workbook:my-action. This is the job you’d listen for to respond accordingly.

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The Anatomy of an Action

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Required Parameters

All Actions contain the the information needed to let a user run the Action. This includes:

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Optional Parameters

Optionally, an Action can also contain extra details about how it appears in the UI. These include:

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Usage

An Action with all of the above properties would look like this:

{
  operation: 'my-action',
  label: 'My Action',
  primary: true,
  confirm: true,
  description: 'Are you sure you want to run this action?',
  constraints: [{ type: 'hasAllValid' }, { type: 'hasSelection' }],
  mode: 'foreground'
  tooltip: 'Click to run action'
}

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inputForm

When initiating an action, there may be instances where additional information is required from the end user to successfully complete the intended task. For example, you might want to enable users to specify the name of the file they intend to export.

In such cases, if you configure input fields for your action, a secondary dialog will be presented to the end user, prompting them to provide the necessary information. Once the user has entered the required details, they can proceed with the action seamlessly

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fields

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config

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constraints

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Usage

An Action that requests input from the end user using inputForm would look like this. Your listener would then grab this data from the Job and take action on it. Learn more about Using Actions with Inputs.

actions: [
  {
    operation: "submitActionFg",
    mode: "foreground",
    label: "Submit data elsewhere",
    type: "string",
    description: "Submit this data to a webhook.",
    primary: true,
    inputForm: {
      type: "simple",
      fields: [
        {
          key: "priority",
          label: "Priority level",
          description: "Set the priority level.",
          type: "enum",
          defaultValue: "80ce8718a21c",
          config: {
            options: [
              {
                value: "80ce8718a21c",
                label: "High Priority",
                description:
                  "Setting a value to High Priority means it will be prioritized over other values",
              },
            ],
          },
          constraints: [
            {
              type: "required",
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
  },
];

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Learn more

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Guides

Learn more about Workbook, Sheet, and File Actions.

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Example Projects

Find an Actions example in the Flatfile GitHub repository.