Stuck: Workflow to create multiple records from custom state

Need help
1

Hi, hoping this is quite simple and I am missing the obvious somewhere.

Goal: Create a group, where each group member is created as a entry in my database connected to the group.

Current Implementation:

  • User selects to create a group, (think WhatsApp groups), they name the group and then search and add other users. This is held in a custom state “GroupMembers”
  • Have a database for the “Group” and “GroupMembers”
  • When user clicks create group CTA run workflow:
    • Create a new thing = Group
    • Create a new thing = GroupMember (for current user as they default set to Admin role)
      • Group = Result of Step 1
      • User = User etc.
      • Role = Admin
    • I am then trying to schedule an API workflow to iterate through the users in the Custom State and create a record for each of this, with the same parameters as above but role = member.

The problem: I cannot seem to access the custom state list. Is the “Schedule API workflow on list of things” the correct one to use here? as it cannot access the custom state in “List to run on” field.

Any help on how I can create these records from the Custom State? Thanks in advance.

2

Hi @nickwork91 You’re not doing anything wrong, backend workflows simply can’t read page custom states. That’s why the list isn’t showing up.

The usual fix is to save that custom state list somewhere first (for example, on the Group as a list of Users), then schedule the API workflow on that list. Or, even simpler, don’t use a backend workflow at all and run “Schedule API workflow on a list” directly from the page, passing the custom state as a parameter.

Once the list is coming from a thing or a workflow parameter, it’ll work as expected.

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