Automatically create a record in one form when another record is added in another

This article describes how to set up an automation that creates a new record in one form whenever a record is added to another, including when the two forms belong to different databases.

We assume the role of an administrator supporting two teams that share a referral process. The Health team registers referrals in a Referral form. When a referral is marked for the Nutrition program, the Nutrition team should see a matching record appear in their own Nutrition Intake form, without anyone retyping the details.

ActivityInfo's built-in webhook step can send the referral's details to another system, but it cannot itself authenticate the request it sends, and creating a record through ActivityInfo's API requires authentication. This tutorial routes the request through Pipedream, a free workflow platform that receives the webhook and then sends an authenticated request back to ActivityInfo.

Before you begin

• A Referral form to watch, with these fields (any form will do, adjust the field references to yours):

• A Nutrition Intake form to receive the copied records, in the same database or a different one, with these fields:

• "Add records" permission on the Nutrition Intake form, for whichever account's token you use below.
• The Referral and Nutrition Intake forms' IDs. Open each form and check the browser's address bar, or select Form Settings, then Export fields, which downloads a spreadsheet listing the form ID alongside every field's ID and code.
• A Personal API Token with "Read & Write" scope.
• A free Pipedream account.

Step 1: Create a Pipedream workflow to receive the webhook

1. Sign in to Pipedream and create a new, blank workflow.

   

2. Give your new project a name, click "Create project and continue", enter a workflow name and click "Create Workflow".

   

   

   

3. Click "Add Trigger" and select New HTTP / Webhook Requests. Set the Authorization to "None". Click "Save and continue". Pipedream generates a unique URL for the workflow.

   

   

   

4. Copy this URL. You will paste it into ActivityInfo in Step 5.

Step 2: Add the automation in ActivityInfo

1. Open the database that contains the Referral form and select "Database Settings".

2. Select the "Referral" form.

3. Select Automations in the form's detail pane and select Add automation. Name the automation "Create nutrition intake record".

   

Step 3: Choose the trigger

1. Select Click here to get started.

   

2. From the list of trigger types, choose On record added.

   

3. Give the trigger a label, for example "Referral added", then select Select form.

   

4. Choose the Referral form, and confirm with Select form.

   

5. Select Done.

   

Step 4: New step to Filter "Nutrition" program records

1. Select Add a new step, then Filter.

   

   

2. Give the step a label, for example "Nutrition referrals only".

3. Enter the condition:

PROGRAM == "Nutrition"

4. Select Done.

   

Only referrals that pass this condition continue to the next step. See the filter step reference.

Step 5: Send the referral to Pipedream

1. Select Add a new step.

   

2. Select Action.

   

3. Select Fire webhook.

   

4. Give the step a label, for example "Send to Pipedream".

5. Paste the Pipedream workflow URL from Step 1 into the Webhook URL field.

6. Leave the Payload format set to "Standard". The request carries every field of the referral, keyed by code. See the webhook step reference for the other formats.

7. Select Done.

   

8. Select Save. The automation is now active.

   

Step 6: Create the intake record in Pipedream

Pipedream's built-in HTTP Request action can call ActivityInfo's API directly, with the record's fields filled in from the trigger.

1. In the Pipedream workflow, select + to add step, search for "HTTP", and add the Send any HTTP Request action.

   

   

   

2. Set Method to POST and URL to:

https://www.activityinfo.org/resources/update

3. Set Authorization Type to "Basic Auth", enter any value as the Username (for example activityinfo), and your Personal API Token as the Password. Pipedream stores this securely.

   

4. Under Headers, add Content-Type with the value application/json.

   

5. In the Body, enter the request as raw JSON, inserting the referral's fields from the trigger. Find the Nutrition Intake form's ID by opening the form and checking the browser's address bar.

   

   

{
  "changes": [
    {
      "formId": "c753uwsmu3y7lzvb",
      "recordId": "{{steps.trigger.event.body._id}}",
      "deleted": false,
      "fields": {
        "NAME": "{{steps.trigger.event.body.NAME}}",
        "INTAKE_DATE": "{{steps.trigger.event.body.REFDATE}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

6. Click "Test" to confirm the request works.

   

7. After a successful test, deploy the workflow.

   

The recordId above reuses the referral's own _id as the intake record's ID. Since record IDs are unique across the whole platform, not just within one form, this is a safe value to reuse in the Nutrition Intake form, and it means the same referral always maps to the same intake record instead of creating a new one on every retry.

The update records endpoint authenticates the same way as any other ActivityInfo API request: HTTP Basic Authentication, with any value as the username and the Personal API Token as the password. A single-selection field like PROGRAM accepts the option's label or its ID; a multiple-selection field accepts an array of labels or IDs.

Step 7: Test

1. Add a test record to the Referral form with Program set to "Nutrition".

   

2. Open the Nutrition Intake form and check that a new record was created, with the name and date carried over from the referral.

   

3. In Pipedream, check the workflow's run history by clicking on the live events. A new event should appear with the exact time the workflow ran, and the HTTP request step should complete successfully.

   

4. Add a second test record with a different Program. No event should reach Pipedream, and no intake record should be created. The filter step stops the run before the webhook fires.

   

5. Go to your database settings, select your automation, and view its history.

   

Troubleshooting

• ActivityInfo responds with 401 Unauthorized. Confirm the HTTP Request step's Authorization Type is "Basic Auth", with any value as the Username and your Personal API Token as the Password, and that the token has "Read & Write" scope.
• No event reaches Pipedream. Confirm the workflow is deployed (Step 6), and that the Webhook URL pasted into the Fire webhook step (Step 5) matches Pipedream's trigger URL exactly. Also check the automation history to see the status.
• The webhook never fires, even for a "Nutrition" referral. Check the filter condition for an exact match: PROGRAM == "Nutrition" compares against the option's label (or code, if the field has one) exactly as it appears in the form, including capitalization and spacing.

Going further

• Keep the two records in sync on edits, not just on creation: add a second automation using the On record edited trigger, pointing at the same Pipedream workflow. Since the intake record's ID is always derived from the referral's ID, the same HTTP Request action updates the existing intake record instead of creating a new one.

Related articles

• Understanding Automations in ActivityInfo
• Filter step
• Webhook step
• Update records
• Import records from one ActivityInfo Form to another
• Personal API Tokens