When integrating external services with Glide through the Call API action, you may encounter situations where the API call appears successful, but the data isn't being updated or returned to your Glide app as expected. Understanding why this occurs, particularly in the context of edit screens, can help you implement more effective solutions and workflows.
Understanding the Edit Screen and Data Flow
In Glide, an edit screen is used when you need to modify existing data records. When you initiate actions from an edit screen, it's important to note that you are not directly working with the original data. Instead, you're interacting with a temporary copy of the data. This temporary copy is used to stage changes before they're committed. This mechanism ensures that changes aren't prematurely applied until you finalize your edits.
Why Data Isn't Updated from Call API
Temporary Data Copy:
When you perform a Call API action from an edit screen, the request successfully interacts with the external service and potentially returns data. However, if you expect this data to update your Glide app directly, you'll find it doesn't. This is because the returned data is trying to update the temporary copy, which isn't synchronized back to the main data set until you finalize the edit.
Synchronization Issue:
Since the edit screen holds a temporary state of your data, any data returned via API won't reflect in your main data table. Hence, you might perceive the API call as not returning any data back to Glide.
Recommended Solution for Handling API Data Return
To ensure that data returned from your API calls is incorporated into your Glide app, consider restructuring your workflow:
Utilize a New Screen for Action:
After the API call, rather than expecting data to update directly within the edit screen, create a secondary action that opens a new screen. This screen should be configured to show "This item" for its data settings.
Refresh the View:
By transitioning to a new screen, you prompt Glide to refresh its view and pull in the latest data state. This step helps bypass the limitation imposed by the temporary data in the edit screen.
Confirm Data Sync:
Ensure that after executing the secondary action, you confirm that the updated data is now visible in your app, reflecting any changes returned by the API call.
This approach allows you to effectively work around the constraints of the edit screen and ensure data synchronization within your Glide app using the Call API action. By clearly understanding the operations of the edit screen and how it interacts with temporary data, you can better manage data return from API integrations.