I posted this on Dicord but require a reply soon so I’m posting here as well:
I’m looking at asking a client to purchase their own Activepieces account and train them how to duplicate and manage flows which I first create and configure for them. This is to reduce costs for them using me for the duplication and management. I have a few related questions:
With the flow I had in mind to train the client, I was using the IMAP piece which didn’t work properly at first and was updated to v0.2.6 which did work.
But to use v0.2.6 I had to totally re-create the flow from scratch because the IMAP piece did not self update to v0.2.6, and I couldn’t disconnect it being the trigger and replace it.
I just checked the flow and IMAP piece has now self updated to v0.2.8.
a) Are pieces supposed to self update and if so why didn’t the IMAP piece self update to v0.2.6, but did to v0.2.8?
b) Is there a way to detach parts of a flow so that new or replacement parts of the flow can be easily managed and added without having to re-create the whole flow?
Is there an Activepieces affiliate program for referrals?
Hi @BharatKaravadra - if you need someone to debug your flows and see why it did/didn’t update automatically, you can send more details to support@activepieces.com.
However, I’ll explain how this works in general:
When the last part of the version changes, as in the Z in X.Y.Z, the version of the piece will auto pump only in draft flows.
If the flow is published or if the X or Y changed, it will not auto upgrade. Here is the full documentation from the developer point of view.
I kind of don’t understand why you had to rebuild the flow only to upgrade the step to a newer version, can you tell me more about this? You can typically just upgrade the step by removing it and adding a new one, or by replacing it if it was the trigger step.
We don’t have an affiliate program at this point, but our Agency plan is built for that. Did you check out the features in this plan?
Re: changes in Z auto updating Pieces in drafts, I have an IMAP piece using v0.2.6 and it’s not published (but I don’t know if this is classed as a draft because it was published and then switched off). When I copy the flow, the IMAP piece auto updates to v0.2.8
See screen recording with my audio description here: Screen Recording 2024-03-16...
So, how do I update an existing piece in a flow whether it’s published or not (whether it’s an X, Y, or Z upgrade)?
Re: having to rebuild the flow when updating a piece, as above, the piece only updates when I duplicate the flow (but see notein bold below). To explain why I have to rebuild the flow, I’ve duplicated the working flow to demonstrate my point, and there is no way to update the piece or delete that piece only keeping the remianing flow becuase the IMAP piece is a trigger. See screen recording with my audio description here: Screen Recording 2024-03-16...(Note: whilst recording this, the IMAP piece on the original flow self updated as you will see in the video and I have no idea how or why - Can you please explain?).
I mentioned a 3rd point in the last recording - ignore this for now as it may be that once the above have been resolved, the 3rd point may not be an issue.
The aim is to understand how Pieces are/can-be updated so that I can train and handover the management of the flow to a client. At the moment with Pieces not previously updating but on creating this reply, the Piece has self updated, I can’t work out what’s going on and I’d like your help to clarify.
Hi @BharatKaravadra I reviewed the video and your feedback and I have to mention the following points:
You’re right there is no button to upgrade the version of the trigger. To do this, click on Replace next to the trigger, change it to any other random trigger (like Webhook or Schedule) then replace it again and choose the old trigger, it will come in with the new version!
To know if you’re on a Draft or Published version, check out the little dot next to “Versions” in the builder. If it’s orange, that’s a Draft version. If it’s Green, that’s a Published version of the flow.
Again, only X.Y.Z (The Z) changes will upgrade automatically AND only in Draft versions. This is a protection so we don’t break your running flows.
Does all this make sense to you?
On a side note: I find it a bit hard to understand your questions from the first sight, please consider simplifying the post in the future and post clear bullets on what exactly is needed to help us reply faster!
When I replace the trigger with a different one, and then replace that with the original trigger, the settings of the trigger disappear as if adding a new trigger. I wanted to keep the settings so that the client doesn’t have to configure the Piece. Is there any way to achieve this?
If you watch the 1st video ( this Updating a Flow in Google A... ) I duplicate the flow and the IMAP Piece updates from v0.2.6 to v0.2.8. That’s understandable. However, the 2nd video ( this Rebuilding the Flow Updatin... ) was created immediately after the 1st without making any changes to the flow and you will see the IMAP Piece updated to v0.2.8 without me doing anything. Why is this?
We still don’t have a streamlined way to upgrade piece versions in the flow other than the automatic one I explained previously. If you feel this is something you need, please open it in the Feature Requests so we can gauge interest.
I watched the video again, since these all are Draft versions (see the orange dot next to the Versions button), and since the piece got a new “patch” release X.Y.Z as in Z changed, they will update automatically because since the change is minor, we can safely upgrade the steps for you without asking you about it. It looks like you only ran into the normal behavior I described earlier.
However I wasn’t clear re: the 2nd point. I get the point about orange drafts uppdating automatically, but it was orange for at least 5 days (because I created the screen capture then). So, I was wondering why the piece didn’t autmotically update for at least those 5 days even though the new version of the piece was released before the 5 days, and it only updated when I was clicking around (but not making any changes)?
Yeah so this is a good question that needs a more technical expert answer. @abuaboud what do you think? What triggers the update and when should users expect their piece to upgrade?
@abuaboud yes that’s what I noticed as I mentioned above, but I was asking why it did not update for at least 5 days when it was a draft and when the update was available (as @ashrafsam described it shouel have updated)?
I’m trying to create a proposal for a client, but Pieces updating inconsistently is preventing me from putting together a proposal and is creating a concern about managin Flows and Pieces updates for any project.
@ashrafsam asked me to send an email to support to help debug this issue, which I did days ago and I haven’t had a reply and with no disrespect intended, your reply suggests you haven’t read what I was specifically referring to… the piece not updating for at least 5 days in a draft flow when it should have.
Hi @BharatKaravadra Since the issue doesn’t show in your account now, we can’t debug it.
In order for us to help fix something, please provide us the STRs (Steps To Reproduce) the issue. So if you can send a video with the issue showing we can add it to our backlog as a bug.
Meanwhile, we unfortunately can’t do nothing specific to help with your proposal to the customer. If the existing setup works for you/them, you should proceed with it. If it doesn’t, you can report the bugs and we’ll prioritize them within our backlog according to their importance to our user base, but we need the STRs.
@ashrafsam thanks for the quick reply. It’s appreciated, and yes if the non-updating for a few days doesn’t happen again then all IS OK, but I hope you can understand why it’s a concern with client projects, proposals and management when I actually experienced it.
In the meantime, I just realised the 1st version of the flow is from 26th Feb which has v0.2.6 of the IMAP plugin (current is v0.2.8).
I’m not using the Flow at the moment, and I can create a copy if required.
Can you use the Versions in the Flow to do any debugging, or would you like me to revert to a flow with v0.2.6 of the IMAP piece and see if I can create STRs?
