Tips for Dealing with Data
Cheat sheet for Makers 💁♂️

Math.floor(Math.random()*100)
parseFloat('{{decimal_value}}').toFixed(2) // 2 digits after the point
//
// e.g.
// parseFloat('12.438324').toFixed(2) returns 12.43
For instance, if you receive a
{{text}}
field (type: string) from a Telegram bot in multiple lines and want to process each line separately, here's how you can do it:'{{text}}'.replace(/\n/g, ',')
// this is string with lines, separated by commas (you may use any other character)
// in this way arrays in the platform are stored
// e.g.
// {{text}} =
// Good fortune? The fact is
// The more that you practise
// The harder you sweat
// The luckier you get
//
// result will be:
// Good fortune? The fact is,The more that you practise,The harder you sweat,The luckier you get
'{{text}}'.replace(/\n/g, ',').split(',') // this returns js-array
'{{text}}'.replace(/\n/g, ',').split(',')[0] // this returns the first line
'{{text}}'.replace(/\n/g, ',').split(',')[1] // this returns the second line
$D.md5('{{string}}')
//$D.md5('12345') returns 827ccb0eea8a706c4c34a16891f84e7b
Math.random().toString(36).slice(-12) // 12 characters string
Directual stores array and arrayLink types as strings
'{{array}}'.split(',')
// {{array}} is a field with Directual type array
//
// e.g. {{array}} = 1,-2,a
// '{{array}}'.split(',') returns [1,-2,a]
const array = ["a","b","c"] // standard JS array
// if you want to save it to Directual array, you need:
array.join(",")
// as soon as Directual stores array and arrayLink types as strings
// basically, the expression is
'{{array}}'.split(',').length
// {{array}} is a field with Directual type array
// BUT! if {{array}} is empty, the expression above returns 1,
// so the expression should be the following:
'{{array}}' ? '{{array}}'.split(',').length : 0
'{{array}}'.split(',')[N]
// {{array}} is a field with type Array.
//
// e.g. {{a}} = a,b,c
// '{{a}}'.split(',')[1] returns b
'{{array}}'.split(',')[Math.floor(Math.random()*'{{array}}'.split(',').length)]
// here we counts N = number of elements in array,
// get the random number [0–N] and pick the random element
$D.concat('{{array}}', 'new element')
// or
$D.concat('{{array}}', '{{other_field}}')
// even or
$D.concat('{{array}}', '{{other_field_1}},{{other_field_2}}')
//
// e.g.
// $D.concat('', '3') returns 3
// $D.concat('1,2', '1,2,3') returns 1,2,3
// $D.concat('1,2,3', '3,4') returns 1,2,3,4
// $D.concat('1,2,3', '3') returns 1,2,3

Example of applying $D.concat in 'Edit object' scenario step
$D.splice('{{array}}', 'removed element')
// or
$D.splice('{{array}}', '{{other_field}}')
// even or
$D.splice('{{array}}', '{{other_field_1}},{{other_field_2}}')
//
// e.g.
// $D.splice('', '3') returns ''
// $D.splice('1,2', '1,2,3') returns 3
// $D.splice('1,2,3', '3,4') returns 1,2
// $D.splice('1,2,3', '3') returns 1,2
JS iterators are more applicable in JS SDK step. However,
.map
iterator can be useful in regular steps as well. This method adits all the elements of a given array. // e.g. we want to add ' is the best' to every element of {{array}}.
// Here is the expression for that:
'{{array}}'.split(',').map(function(element)
{return element + ' is the best'}).join(',')
// let {{array}} was "Jhon,Ivan,Anna"
// the expression will return
// Jhon is the best,Ivan is the best,Anna is the Best
JS iterators are more applicable in JS SDK step. However,
.reduce
iterator can be useful in regular steps as well."{{array}}".split(",")
.reduce(function(acc, curr)
{return parseInt(acc) + parseInt(curr)})
/ "{{array}}".split(",").length
// e.g. for {{array}} == 1,2,5,0,-4,12
// that expression returns 2.666667
_.intersection("{{array1}}".split(","), "{{array2}}".split(","));
The method
(new Date()).toISOString()
returns a JS-date-object with current time. This method is more useful than now
, because we can compose complex JS-expressions in a one step using (new Date()).toISOString()
(new Date()).toISOString()
// returns current Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
// (new Date()).toISOString() === now === moment().toISOString()
$D.date.format returns string data, so you can't save the result into a field type of date.
$D.date.format('{{date_1}}','MMMM dd, YYYY')
//
// e.g. $D.date.format('2020-05-20T18:14:11.000Z','MMMM dd, YYYY')
// returns May 20, 2020
//
$D.date.format($D.date.new(),'dd/MM/YYYY')
// returns today in a certain format e.g. 07.01.2021
Unix timestamp
format is a way to track time as a running total of seconds. This count starts at the Unix Epoch on January 1st, 1970 at UTC.((new Date('{{date}}')).getTime()/1000).toString()
//
// e.g {{date}} == 2020-11-12T00:00:00
// ((new Date('{{date}}')).getTime()/1000).toString() returns 1605139200 seconds
$D.date.parse('{{formatted_date}}',dateFormat)
//
// e.g. $D.date.parse('10-03-2020','dd-MM-YYY') returns 2020-03-10T00:00:00.000Z
You can compose an expression using both $D.date parse and $D.date.format to convert a format date from one to another:
$D.date.format($D.date.parse('10-03-2020','dd-MM-YYY'),'MMMM dd, YYYY')
// here we've converted 10-03-2020 into March 10, 2020
If you want to add minutes/hours/days/weeks to the date, here is the way
//adding {{minutes}} minutes
(new Date((new Date('{{date}}')).getTime() + ('{{minutes}}' * 60 * 1000))).toISOString()
//adding {{hours}} hours
(new Date((new Date('{{date}}')).getTime() + ('{{hours}}' * 60 * 60 * 1000))).toISOString()
//adding {{days}} days
(new Date((new Date('{{date}}')).getTime() + ('{{days}}' * 60 * 60 * 24 * 1000))).toISOString()
//adding {{weeks}} weeks
(new Date((new Date('{{date}}')).getTime() + ('{{weeks}}' * 7 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 1000))).toISOString()
You may need to aggregate statistics for the day into a single object (e.g., counting the quantity of orders or users). A straightforward approach is to create an object with an ID in the format of the date of the day. Here's an example expression for generating such a day-unique ID:
$D.date.format($D.date.new(),'dd-MM-YYYY')
// for todays object
$D.date.format('{{today_date}}','dd-MM-YYYY')
// where {{today_date}} is a type of date field

An example of 'Create object' step for creating a 'daily-unique' object
Don't forget to Save a link (write a link in the field) to the new object in order to be able to edit it. Note, that if you create an object with ID while there is an object with such an ID, nothing will be broken. You'll just create a link to that existing object.
To solve this, use the
getTime()
JS-function, which operates on the Date JS-object and returns Milliseconds since Epoch time. Here are the steps:- Getting a Date JS-object applying
new Date('{{date}}')
to the field{{date}}
type of date - Getting the value in milliseconds since Epoch time applying
.getTime()
- Calculate the difference between two dates in milliseconds
- Convert milliseconds into days, dividing the result to
(1000*60*60*24)
—1000 milliseconds in a one, second; 60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; and 24 hours in a day
Math.floor((($D.date.new().getTime() -
(new Date('{{date}}')).getTime()))/(1000*60*60*24))
// Calculating the number of days between the current moment and {{date}}
Math.floor((((new Date('{{date_1}}')).getTime() -
(new Date('{{date_2}}')).getTime()))/(1000*60*60*24))
// Calculating the number of days between {{date_1}} and {{date_2}}
Example of using MomentJS:
moment("{{date}}").add(10, 'days').format('DD-MM-YYYY')
// e.g {{date}} == 2020-11-12T00:00:00
// expression will return 22-11-2020
Directual JS-engine supports Regex-functions. Here are some widespread examples.
"{{text}}".replace(/one/gm, "two")
// repplaces all the words "one" in the text to "two"
/\+\d{11}/gm.exec("{{text}}") // returns an array of phone numbers found in text
/\+\d{11}/gm.exec("{{text}}")[0] // the first element of an array
/\+\d{11}/gm.exec("{{text}}").join(",") // converts JS-array into Directual-array
Last modified 20d ago