Zapier empty values + using same autograf on multiple satellites
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Hi,
Due to the Google sheet issues I’ve moved most workflows to QUE, but I have a few issues that I couldn’t find answer to in the documentation or in the forum:
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When using Google Sheets and Zapier, empty values was respected as such (passed on with a space or similar). The issue I have now is that with Que, the data field doesn’t get to the api/json if it is empty, and then the last saved value in the aep file is showing instead. So for example I’m creating some “virtual viewing” videos for real estate based on data from clients. Client A sends all the data, for example number of floors, Client B sends most of the data, but the number of floors isn’t relevant in their case, so then since the last saved value in the aep file was from client A, this will also show for client B. All is done programmatically and with some data as optional. Are there any settings or tips you can give me, was thinking about making the autograf file read only with all empty values waiting to get filled by Templater, but that might trigger some errors when AE is switching files?
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What is the best practice to use the same autograf on multiple satellites. I assume I have to register it on all satellites, but then it will show up multiple times in the dashboard? Is there a way to let que use multiple satellites, switching between them automatically?
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Before we get too far into the weeds, it should be noted that we may have a temporary fix available for the issue with Google Sheets and Templater Bot. If you open a support ticket with us or contact us at support@dataclay.com we can discuss those options further.
As far as the questions about QUE go, I’d like to address the second one first since it’s a more straightforward “fix”. To use an Autograf on multiple Satellites, you should only need to add a “bot” key to the Job to specify which system should process the data. Usually, each Job will be assigned to the default Satellite specified in the Campaign settings. However, this can be overridden with a value assigned via the “bot” reserved key. Additionally, it shouldn’t be necessary to register the same Autograf multiple times. As long as the Autograf data is present in the QUE account that the system is connecting to, it should be possible to use the same registration data on multiple systems.
As for the first question, this has to do with a fundamental difference in how data is handled in QUE as opposed to Google Sheets. In a Google Sheet, each cell either has data or doesn’t, but the cell is always present for Templater to read, even if it’s empty. In a JSON format, like the one QUE uses, a value may disappear entirely. When this happens, Templater keeps the previously loaded data since it’s not getting any information to use to determine how to handle the associated layer.
I can think of a couple of ways to get around this, but the easiest would be to pass through a “blank” or “empty” value rather than omit the property entirely. This will likely depend on how the Zap is set up that’s passing data over from Google Sheets to QUE, but that would definitely be the most basic and straightforward fix.
The other solution would be to create multiple Autografs to swap between using an aep value from the Data Source. Using this method, you should be able to create versions of the project that simply excise the layers that won’t be getting values. This would likely take more work, depending on how many assets might need to be customized, but it would result in a cleaner final product since Templater wouldn’t have to process the missing layers.
Hopefully, that gets us on the right track, but please feel free to contact us at support@dataclay.com for more assistance.
Thanks,
Jeff
