You can create a pipeline to connect Quickbase data to another cloud-based software, or to connect data between two third-party software tools. Your work is saved automatically in Pipelines.
How to create a pipeline
To begin creating your pipeline:
- Select Create Pipeline on the My Pipelines page.
- In the Create a pipeline dialog, give your pipeline a name, a description, and a tags.
- Click Create Pipeline to save your entries. The pipeline builder displays:
- From the builder you choose the connections for the first steps of your pipeline. When you choose a type, you'll add the channels and steps for your first steps. You can always add more steps later. A Triggered pipeline is started by a specific event in real-time. A Scheduled pipeline will start according to a schedule. A Manual pipeline only starts manually. Once you've completed the wizard, you'll be prompted for connection detail, if necessary. If you are an experienced builder, click the Start from scratch button and then from the right side of the page, choose the All to list all available channels.
Creating a pipeline from scratch
Your pipeline can include trigger, action, and query steps.
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Scroll or search to find the software tool you want to connect to under Channels on the right-hand side. You can view your channels list one of two ways: Your favorite channels under the Starred tabAll channels in the All tab. Your search will return only those channels in the tab you are currently viewing.
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Select a channel.
If the selected channel is in the all channels tab and you haven’t yet connected that software to Quickbase Pipelines, a Connect button will appear. Select Connect and follow the steps to connect Pipelines to this channel. Once connected, this channel will automatically appear in the tab of your favorite channels.
If you have already connected, click the caret icon and you will see the categories. -
Expand a category to view the list of steps.
Trigger, action, and query steps are labeled and color-coded. If you want your pipeline to start based on a data or other change in this channel, you’ll need to select a trigger step as your first step.Note: For both the categories in the channels and the individual steps in these categories, the terminology used relates to that particular channel. For example, in Quickbase, your categories are Tables and Records and a trigger step could be Record created, but in Salesforce a similar trigger could be labeled Object created.
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Add the step by dragging it from the right into the empty box on the left.
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Fill in the required information for that step. The information needed is specific to that channel and that step.
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If needed, add filters to this step.
You can view the data a step will return by hovering over the box under it, such as this output from a Quickbase query step:
Adding more steps
You can add as many steps as you need, however, you can only have one trigger step. Subsequent steps can be action or query steps.
To add your next step:
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Select another step in the same channel or select a different channel and open a category.
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Drag the step into the next empty box at the left.
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Fill in the required information for that new step.
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If even more detail is required, you can drag the names of items from the box that appears in the middle of the screen. The placeholders in this box represent the values in the source channel that will be copied.
You can both type and drag placeholders to copy values in the same box in your step.
For example, if you have a pipeline that posts a message to Slack when you create a new location record in your Quickbase project management app, you can copy a value from a field in a Quickbase app into a Slack message.
The Slack message will read “The new task location is: Cambridge” if the value in the location field of your Quickbase record starts with Cambridge.
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If needed, add a filter or add conditional logic.
Adding filters
You add filters to your steps to set specific criteria that narrows the results.
For example, you could have a query step that searches your Quickbase contacts and returns all the contacts added in the past week or all the contacts from a specific region.
To add a filter:
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Select Add filters
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Select the field you want to use for your filter. For example, Location Name.
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From the drop-down, select the filter you want to apply to the selected field, such as “starts with.”
Note: The filters available will vary based on the type of field you choose.
Note: Is set means that a value has been entered (aka set) in the field (or not null/empty). -
Enter the value to test against. For example, if the Quickbase record’s name starts with Cambridge. You can add as many conditions as you need.