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Event-driven trigger framework in the UI (i.e. have one status change trigger another)

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Tommy
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A number of clients have requested a simple way to set up triggers within the Shotgun UI, rather than having to install the shotgunEvents daemon and write Python plugins to accomplish this type of automation.

The most common examples are status changes. Being able to make it so that an Asset status flips to Final when all linked Tasks are set to Final. Or changing a Task status to Final when a linked Version is approved.

Another use case is adding People to Projects. Some studios want all members of a certain Group (i.e. 'Production') automatically added to every Project that is created. A companion trigger would be to link any new users added to that Group to any existing Projects.

Some other areas where this would be useful:

  • Updating durations when start or end frames change
  • Creating Notes to certain users or groups when important things happen (for more complex criteria than Following will handle)
  • Project status change can trigger archiving/offlining processes
  • Version or Task approvals can launch QA renders
  • Asset changes update status of linked Shots/Levels, generate Notes
  • ...many, many more possibilities...

Click the 'Me Too!' button to add your support, and please leave comments to let us know about other use cases for which you would utilize this feature (even things that you currently use the shotgunEvents daemon for would be helpful).

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7 comments

  • 0
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    zhang yu

    Event-driven basic is one funcion call another one.

  • 0
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    Sung, Yun-Chen - Paramount Animation

    Just triggering status changes (especially tasks that have multiple dependencies) would go a long way of us.

     

  • 0
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    Alexey Borzykh

    That would be a real killer feature as this is what everyone is asking after a few minutes looking at the SG.
    We have a lot of triggers on our site and it save's us a TON of time but what is more important and valuable - they make us to trust our data. 'Cos there are no more "oh.. sorry, i forgot to set a status for that asset... it's final actually"

  • 0
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    Timor Kardum

    I just wanted to post this request as a separate post when i found this thread.

    I assume you know the platform IF (formerly know as IFTTT "if this then that") which gives users simple receipts to automate all sort of tasks.

    Attractive here is the fact that people without any programming skills can create a lot of efficient automation just by adding and combining receipts.

    I want the same from shotgun, but of course a bit more complex/powerful:

    Imagine I could tell shotgun to do the following:
    - IF any task of a shot is "in progress" THEN set shot status to "in progress"

    - IF there are new version of sequence X at 8pm THEN generate a playlist and mail to user XY

    - IF a version that is linked to a task is set to "master" THEN set the task to final

    - IF value of field "time logged" is > field "bid" THEN mail user XY

    ...and so on.

    These triggers could be project specific or global (IF number of project >30 THEN alert/mail admin)

    Additionally it would be great if these "SG-triggers" could be shared with the community, just like the IF receipts.

    If you look at the page filters it pretty much all there, just the triggers are missing.

  • 0
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    Jacob Medendorp

    Cool idea, Timor!

  • 0
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    Ben Hadden

    Hey everyone,

    We noticed no one from our team has responded yet, so I thought I'd weigh in with some thoughts on where this sits in our plans:

    1) Like Tommy mentioned in the description, we're aware that one of the most common use cases for this feature is to keep your Task statuses in sync with entity statuses (i.e. if all Tasks are final, flip the Asset to final). Currently, we're thinking about this feature a little differently than triggers--instead, calling it "Status Summaries". Here's an example of another feature request that deals with aggregating statuses: https://shotgunsoftware.zendesk.com/entries/93095998. It's likely we'll tackle this use case separate from Triggers, so figured I'd mention that here.

    2) Timo mentioned IFTTT. We love that app! There are a few other services (such as Zapier) that let everyday users create powerful workflows without knowing how to program. We'd love to integrate Shotgun with those services, and there's a team here who's thinking about ways to do that. Some of the work required to get there would be additional APIs and endpoints to expose our service to other services. Once we have that working, it should make it easier to create triggers based on events in Shotgun. As we make progress here, we'll update this forum.

    3) Many customers are using the Shotgun Events framework to create triggers, and we're hoping to create a community around this and make it easier for those of you who've written plugins for the framework to share them with others.

    So although we haven't implemented this yet, I figured I'd share our progress / thinking so far. Keep the use cases coming...it definitely helps to see what you'd like to do with a trigger framework.

  • 0
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    Emily

    Yes, a IFTTT feature PLEASE!

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