Split by? Parse array?

[randyw]

I really would like to solve this in Bubble and not externally but I keep bumping into issues here and hoping someone can help.

I’m sourcing data from an external open API and storing that response as a thing in “Data Type A”. The entirety of the response is stored in a comma delimited array as a single record. I need to be able to parse/break this array and create them as individual things in “Data Type B”.

I originally had hope for the “split by” function however that didn’t produce the results I wanted and appears to be useful more as a front end solution. Basically I need a way to iterate through the entire array but I am coming up short. I’ve captured the steps in my solution below along with a flowchart and would love to hear if you’ve come up with a solution to this.

Steps:

• External API call
• Create a thing in Data Type A
• Parse newly created array from the record in Data Type A and create many things in Data Type B
• Delete thing from Data Type A

[exception-rambler]

So i the response is a single string that contains comma separated values?

There’s no reason that :split by wouldn’t work for that on the backend - I store a lot of lists as single strings and use it like this all the time.

What’s the problem you’re having?

[randyw]

Yes. How in the world do you get it from that single string into separate records then?

Here is what my data looks like right now.

[randyw]

@exception-rambler - When I use split by I simply get a duplicated record. I’m hoping it’s something simple that I am missing. This is my workflow right now.

[exception-rambler]

What’s the result that you’re looking for?
Is it a separate database Thing for every destination within the string-array that you receive from Theme Parks Wiki? Or are you trying to store a list of destinations inside a single database Thing?

[randyw]

Great question and I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear. Yes, a separate Thing for each destination as shown below.

[exception-rambler]

Ok - there’s several ways you can do this.
The simplest is to create a 2nd endpoint - create_destination or similar that you’ll use to process every individual item on the list.

Set it up something like this:

The endpoint

The new Workflow

The original workflow
Then call this endpoint for every item on the list by adding this in the original workflow:

Whilst this is the easiest, it’s not necessarily the most performant - you need to space out your calls that endpoint to avoid jamming it, 5 seconds is good practice. If you need to go fast then you can look at recursive workflows, or use the dedicated Bulk endpoint.

[randyw]

This is great @edwardbutcher! I’m one step closer. THANK YOU. Now…how would I handle multiple elements across the record? For instance the new records should have both a Name and Source ID. I truly appreciate your help and feel like as soon as I solve these things then many doors will open for me to complete this and other projects. [now I just jinxed myself]

Current

Desired