Get the forecast with US Weather Service

You can use this template to gather jobs to be done at a geographical location on a specific date in a sheet. The workflow will update the sheet with coordinates for the address specified and then collect the weather forecast for that day, on the day of the job. This template includes three Bridge workflows.

• Systems Used:
  • Smartsheet
  • Google Geocode
• Workflow Trigger:
  • Smartsheet - When Column Values Are Changed
• Templates Used:
  • Bridge Workflow - Weather Forecast - US Weather Service - Todays Date
  • Bridge Workflow - Weather Forecast - US Weather Service - Get Coordinates
  • Bridge Workflow - Weather Forecast - US Weather Service - Get Forecast

Create a sheet

You will need to have a sheet created in Smartsheet with relevant columns before working with this template.

1. Set up your sheet to have the following column names and types:

   NOTE: TheWeather Forecastcolumn can either be your Primary Column or a regular Text column.

   You will also need to set up a formula in theTodaycolumn to check a box if theDatecolumn for that row is today’s date.

   • Date (Column Type: Date)
   • Today (Column Type: Checkbox)
   • Longitude (Column Type: Text)
   • Latitude (Column Type: Text)
   • Weather Forecast (Column Type: Text)

2. In the first cell of theTodaycolumn, paste the following formula:

3. =IF(Date@row = TODAY(), true, false)
   
4. Right-click the cell to open the context menu and selectConvert to Column Formula. This applies the formula to all cells in the column. (Learn more aboutcolumn formulas.)

Deploy the template

In the Solution Center in Bridge, find the templateWeather Forecast - US Weather Servicein the list and click on it.

Give your workflow a name and clickDeploy. This template contains three workflows and they are now available in the list of workflows.

Click onWeather Forecast - US Weather Service - Get Forecastto open it.

Authenticate Google GeoCode

1. Click on the trigger element at the start of the workflow to reveal the trigger panel on the right side of the designer.
2. Under the sectionIntegration Triggers, click on the link to theIntegrations Page.
3. Find the icon for Google Geocode and click on it.
4. In the pop-up clickContinueto open theSettingstab.
5. In the field paste in theAPI keyfrom your Google Cloud Platform account.
6. ClickSave.

Authenticate Smartsheet and set up the triggers

You will be setting up two triggers: one starts the workflowWeather Forecast - US Weather Service - Get Coordinateswhen a new address is entered so the sheet can be updated with coordinates for the location, and one starts the workflowWeather Forecast - US Weather Service - Todays Datewhen the scheduled date is today's date so the forecast can be fetched.

1. Find the Smartsheet integration and click on the logo.
   
2. Once authenticated, click on theTriggerstab and expand the sectionTriggers.

Trigger One:

1. Click onAdd to Triggers.
   
2. In theSheet ID的惟一的ID字段中,输入表,或者如果you know the sheet name is unique, simply type in the name.
   
   NOTE: You can find the sheet ID by navigating to your sheet and selectingFile > Properties.
   
3. Next, select the event typeWhen Column Values Are Changed.
   
4. This reveals another field,Column Name or ID. Type in the column nameAddress.
   
5. In theWorkflowdropdown, select the workflowWeather Forecast - US Weather Service - Get Coordinates.
   
6. ClickSave.

Trigger Two:

1. Click onAdd to Triggersagain.
   
2. Enter the same sheet ID or unique sheet name.
   
3. Select the same Event Type,When Column Values Are Changed, but this time type in the column nameTodayin theColumn NameorIDfield.
   
4. In the workflow dropdown, select the workflowWeather Forecast - US Weather Service - Todays Date.
   
5. ClickSaveand close the pop-up.
   
6. Close the integrations tab and go back to the designer.

Set Contact Info to US Weather Service

The US Weather Service doesn't require authentication to use, but they ask that you include contact information in the HTTP Call.

1. To do this, click on the first of the HTTP Call modules to open the setup panel and expand theHeaderssection.
   
2. The field Key #1 is already set. In theValue #1field, enter your company name and email address separated by a comma.
   
   e.g. MBF Corp.,john.doe@mbf.com
   
3. Repeat the same steps for the second HTTP Call module and save your workflow.

How the workflows work

Both workflows can result in returning a forecast to your sheet; which one depends on if a job was added for a future date, if a job was added for today's date, or if today is now the date of a previously scheduled job.

Option One:Get Coordinatestriggering Get Forecast

When a job is added, the Get Coordinates workflow will run to update the Longitude and Latitude of the address entered. The workflow will stop there if the date entered is in the future.

If the date entered is today's date, then theGet Forecastworkflow will run to get the weather forecast for today.

Option Two: Todays Date triggering Get Forecast

If a job that was added previously with a future date now has today’s date, a checkbox will become checked on your sheet (due to the formula you created earlier) and trigger the workflow calledTodays Date. This workflow will first get the row data and then call theGet Forecastworkflow to update the row with the weather forecast for the day.

If a new job is scheduled on the same day it’s entered, both theGet Coordinatesworkflow and theTodays Dateworkflow will trigger, resulting in theGet Forecastworkflow to be triggered twice.

However,Todays Daterequires theLatitude, so if that field is currently blank this workflow will stop as it won’t have all of the data needed. TheGet Coordinatesworkflow will first update the row with the right coordinates and then the forecast will be collected, as outlined in Option One above.