We are trying to troubleshoot an issue, and I think I have come to the root cause -
We have an app that keeps track of the number of shots the machine does while the operator is filling out a form (just a normal step, not a form step) so when we go back to the main app, the number of completed parts can be updated.
What we are seeing
Very often we are getting reports of the count being off after the form is completed.
What I think is going on
Tulip locks down triggers running while an input field is selected. Including the trigger that updates the variable tracking shots outside of the main app. a maybe important note - we use the onscreen keyboard, not a physical one to enter these input fields Why I think you do this
App logic that triggers transitions could be very confusing if it executed while the user was still inputting values. I dont know a good solution to support both of these usecases.
I don’t have any sort of bandaid for this issue. Any ideas?
I just want to make sure I understand your app correctly -
You have machine triggers that are increasing a count, and that’s happening in tandem with input boxes being filled in?
Could you please elaborate on the types of triggers you’re using, and how you app is setup? If possible, screenshots would be great!
You’re spot on. We have an app variable cycles_outside_app that is updated every time the machine output a specific variable (corresponding with the completion of a cycle)
What we are seeing, is often that counter attribute isnt updating correctly. This cooresponds with the operator spending time entering a note on this step (along with some others that are effectivly the same thing, inputs)
When the operator returns to the main app this placeholde variable is added back to the machine shot counter.
You said “when the operator returns to the main app” - is the machine trigger happening in a separate app from the added notes? Or are they just different steps within the same app?
I haven’t seen behavior like this before where a machine trigger would stop executing or have an issue because a separate variable was being updated/changed.
To test this could you add this action after your Data Manipulation action in your “Count Shots Outside App” trigger:
Show Message - Variable - Num Outside Press Dashboard
With this, every time the machine outputs, and the variable is incremented, it will display as a message. I’m curious to see if the messages show up while an operator is entering notes into the text input, and other input boxes.
