How to update an Airtable Attachment field (using a file or url)

1

I managed to do this simply with Zapier, but I don’t understand why it doesn’t work with Pipedream.

With Zapier, I used the same URL in both an “Url” field (drawUpMinutesAsPDFDownloadUrl) and an “Attachment” field (drawUpMinutesAsPDF), and it works well.

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With Pipedream, I tried different variants:

Using the Google Export url

In this case, I tried using the pattern as what I did in Zapier, but it fails with:

INVALID_ATTACHMENT_OBJECT - 422 - Invalid attachment for field drawUpMinutesAsPDF: parameters must be objects, not strings

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Using an object

Tried to feed a JS object with a url property to solve the above issue.

First, I create a JS object and then use it to fill drawUpMinutesAsPDF, but it fails with:

INVALID_ATTACHMENT_OBJECT - 422 - Invalid attachment object for field drawUpMinutesAsPDF

image|690x499

None of those variants worked out. I’m stuck.

P.S : Not having the ability to put more than one image and 2 links SUCKS.

2

Hi @dna.pc.pro, thank you for the all detailed information provided.

The Airtable API expects a list of up to 10 URLs for attachments. You can use the following code below if you want to upload just one attachment URL:

{{ [ { "url": "https://www.africau.edu/images/default/sample.pdf" } ] }}

Explanation:
The prop will load the input value as a string, so we need {{ }} to actually send it as a JS object.
Then we send a list of objects { "url": "http_url" }.

I believe you correctly tried the example above, just not encapsulated the object inside an array. Please try this out and see if it works for you!

1 Like
3

Thanks! I tried using an object:

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But neither those two worked, I’m not sure what’s the proper syntax to use in such case.

:point_right: Eventually, I used my NodeJS code to return an array, and that worked, indeed:

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image1076×1056 64.9 KB

Using {{steps.get_airtable_pdf_as_attachment.$return_value}} in the input.

Unfortunately, on Airtable, the Attachment is a blank page. I looked at permissions, and the file/folder are publicly available so it’s not the issue. I’ll try to download the file first instead but I’m not sure if that’ll help.

4

I’m not sure why it was failing, but by re-testing every step in the Draft workflow it started to work.

5

Awesome, happy to hear
Nice, using the Node.js step to return the array is definitely a cleaner solution

1 Like
6

Final solution:

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// To use previous step data, pass the `steps` object to the run() function
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const docId = steps.create_file_from_template.$return_value.googleDocId;
    const pdfUrl = `https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?id=${docId}&exportFormat=pdf`

    // Return an array of attachments - See https://pipedream.com/community/t/how-to-update-an-airtable-attachment-field-using-a-file-or-url/6378/2
    return {
      drawUpMinutesAsDocUrl: `https://docs.google.com/document/d/${steps.create_file_from_template.$return_value.googleDocId}/edit`,
      drawUpMinutesAsPDF: [{
        url: pdfUrl
      }]
    }
  },
})
1 Like