Dynamic text isn't updating based on time?

Need help App Organization
1

My app makes some API calls to provide the most recent information to the users. When you click the “update” button (see below), it updates a user filed called “last_updated” to the current time.

Screenshot 2021-08-17 at 07.46.41

I have a text box with a simple current time minus last_updated time formula to show the user when their data was last refreshed.

Screenshot 2021-08-17 at 07.47.36

I was hoping this would mean the calculated value would change automatically based on the current time - i.e. it would change from “updated 2 minutes ago” to “updated 5 minutes ago” as time passes.

However, it appears to only update when the user refreshes the page. Is there any way I can get the values to update in real time without the user having to refresh?

2

Heya,

I am currently not sure how setting intervals works with existing elements (recurring calls) as I think this is necessary as you want to check the current time every second/minute to be updated. Creating a plugin would help I guess.
Do you know how to create plugins? With that you should be able to use “setInterval” and check for timedifferences which will then be reflected in the state of a plugin field.

Let me know if you need support.

3

As far as I can tell, the built in Current Date/Time expression only loads a static date/time whenever the expression is used, but doesn’t update in real time.

For ‘real-time’ current date/time try the Current Date/Time plugin by Mintflow - it will let you refer to the current date time which will update in real time.

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4

This worked perfectly @adamhholmes - thanks!

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5

Hey guys. I figured out how to do this without a plugin.

  1. Set a custom state of type “date”.

Mine is called “Now”. I set it on the text element itself, but you could set it in the header to be accessible from anywhere.

  1. Create a workflow to continually update the Now state.

My workflow runs every 5 seconds, with just one step: Set the Now state to current date/time.

  1. Modify your text element to use the Now state (instead of the current date/time).

  2. Enjoy your continually-updated text field :slight_smile:

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