Bucket channel – Quickbase Help

See the Channel Catalog to see which Plans have access to this channel.

The built-in Bucket channel will create a temporary storage table, or object, in the pipeline and then access that data which will be available for all your future logics. You can use this channel to generate CSV from any other channels that do not have native CSV generation capabilities. The generated CSV can be uploaded to something like Dropbox, or imported to Snowflake directly.

You can also use the copy records step in the Quickbase. channel for simple copy tasks.

See How to Use the Bucket Channel to Schedule an Archive to Box for a use case.

Steps

The steps you can use with Buckets fall into five categories: Objects, Pipeline Objects, Pipeline Rows, Rows, and Tables.

Note: You cannot use jinja expressions in trigger conditions unless explicitly specified as possible.

Type	Name	Description
Objects
Trigger	Object Created	Triggers when a new object is created in Pipelines.
Trigger	Object Updated	Triggers when a new object is updated.
Action	Add or Update Object	Adds or updates a stored object.
Action	Delete Object	Deletes an existing object.
Action	Get Object by ID	Retrieves an object using an ID.
Query	Search Bucket Object	Searches a specific object based on search criteria entered.
Pipeline Objects
Action	Save Pipeline Object	Saves object to a specific pipeline. Object is not available to other pipelines you have created.
Action	Get Pipeline Object by ID	Retrieves the ID of a pipeline specific object.
Query	Search Pipeline Objects	Searches objects saved to this pipeline.
Pipeline Rows
Action	Add a Row	Adds a row to a table stored in Pipelines.
Action	Define Table	Defines a table with header row details.
Action	Download CSV	Downloads stored information in CSV format.
Query	Search Pipeline Rows	Searches rows based on search criteria entered.
Rows
Trigger	Row Created	Triggers when a row is created.
Trigger	Row Updated	Triggers when a row is updated.
Action	Create Row	Creates a new row.
Action	Update Row	Updates an existing row.
Action	Delete Row	Deletes an existing row.
Action	Create/Update Row	Creates and/or updates an existing row.
Query	Search Rows	Searches rows and returns a list.
Action	Fetch a Linked Row	Fetches a linked row.
Action	Look Up Row	Looks for a row and returns a single result.
Tables
Action	Create a Table	Creates a new table.
Action	Delete Table	Deletes a table.
Action	Update Table	Updates an existing table.
Query	Search Tables	Searches a table and returns a list.
Action	Look Up Table	Looks up a table and returns a single result.

Limits

We store the file as chunks in Google Cloud Storage Buckets. Every chunk can be accessed for 24 hours, which means that your download link is active for 24 hours.

There is no hard limit on the file size that can be generated. The focus
is on downloading or uploading the file to another platform. If downloaded with the generated link the file can be a maximum of 32 mb - the download time should not be more than a minute. There are different limits for different channels (for example, if the file is uploaded to Google Drive)

Note: The download URL is randomly generated and everyone with the URL can download the file. There is no way to make the download URL more secure.

Alternatives to the Bucket channel for CSVs

Alternatives to using the temporary file-storage in Bucket for CSVs are to:

Store the CSV in the File Attachment field in a Qucikbase app
Use a file storage-specific system like Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, or SharePoint

How to Use the Bucket Channel to Schedule an Archive to Box

You may be wondering what the Bucket Channel is now that you've started to utilize our newest feature, Pipelines. The Bucket channel is a built in channel that allows you to create temporary storage tables, or objects, in the pipeline and then access that data which will be available for all your future logics. In this tutorial we will utilize this method to create a temporary CSV table to archive data from Quickbase to Box on a monthly schedule.

Before we start the tutorial you will first want to access pipelines and connect to the Box Channel. For step by step information on connecting to Box,click here.

Now that you have connected to the Box Channel we can start creating our Pipeline!

Step A: Define Your Table Using the Bucket Channel

Locate the Bucket Channel > Pipelines Rows > Define Table. Drag this Action to the first step of your Pipeline.
Determine your table Header Separator. In this example, I'm using Comma.
Define your header rows.NOTE: These will correspond to fields in Quickbase in later steps.
For my example, I'm archiving Time Cards. I want a Date, Employee, Hours, and Related Time Card as my headers. Which should look as follows... Date,Employee,Hours,Related Time Card
Determine the Date and DateTime Formats.
Define the type of field needed for each column. In this example it is fine to leave all columns as "String".

Step B: Search Your Quickbase table

Go to the Quickbase Channel > Records > Search Record. Drag this Step below Step A.
Select the Table you want to search your records for.
Select all the fields from the table that will be needed in upcoming steps. e.g. Date, Employee, Hours, Related Time Card.
I also created a formula check box for "Previous Month" to use as a query.
(optional) Create a query for your records so we're only archiving the data you need. In my example, I'm saying when the "Previous Month" is "Yes"(true/checked).

Step C: Add a Row for each record returned from Step B.

Locate the Bucket Channel > Pipelines Rows > Add a Row, drag this step under where it says "For each Record Do" for Step B.
Select Step A where it says "Pipeline Row". This will then populate your fields defined for each column in your spreadsheet. e.g. Date, Employee, Hours, Related Time Card.
Drag the appropriate fields from Step B to their Corresponding columns.

Step D: Download CSV

Locate the Bucket Channel > Pipeline Rows > Download CSV. Drag this step below Step B.
Select Step A, in the area for "Pipeline Row".

Step E: Upload File in Box

Locate the Box channel > Files > Upload File In. Drag this step below Step D.
Determine the Folder Path needed. In this example I will be uploading to a folder I titled "QB". Your folder path should look as follows...All Files/QB
Name your file. In this example I want the File name to be the date the upload was made. To do this I'm using a date/time conversion to return todays date and append with .csv. e.g. {{time.now|date_mdy}}.csv
For more information on working with date and time in pipelines,click here.
Drag the download URL object from Step D to the URL in Step E.

Final Step: Schedule your Pipeline!

In the upper right corner of your screen locate where it says "Schedule pipeline" (just to the right of "Run Pipeline"). From here you can set the pipeline to run on the 1st of every Month.
NOTE: the timezone is in UTC.

Our pipeline is now complete! Below is what the final product should look like.