With FeedHive's automation feature, we can build advanced, custom workflows that integrates with the many automation services out there.
In this article, we will learn how to set up a trigger.
A trigger is a URL that we can call in order to make FeedHive do something.
This
is also known as an API endpoint - in FeedHive, we simply call this a
Trigger URL.
When setting up a trigger, we can pre-configure FeedHive to take certain actions which will happen when we call the URL that FeedHive creates for us.
Let's take a look at which actions we can make FeedHive take.
Here is a short technical overview of triggers:
GET
The trigger URL may take the following (optional) query parameters
text
- the text for the postscheduled
- a time for when the post should be scheduled
media_urls
- a comma-separated list of media URLs that will be
included in the post
A trigger may be configured to use a template. The template can include variables which may be accessed as additional query parameters. We
Let's set up a trigger to publish a draft that we have already created.
The first thing we'll do, is to create a new draft.
Let's do that by writing a
post on the Compose page, but without scheduling it.
Next, let's go to the Automation page and create a new Trigger.
FeedHive will create a draft trigger for us.Under "Trigger URL", you can see that FeedHive already created the URL we will be using.
We want to pick Publish draft under the field "What happens when
triggered?"
Then we click Select a draft under the field "Which
draft should be published".
Once you have selected the draft you created, you will see a draft preview on the
right side.
Finally, click "Save & Publish" to publish this trigger.
Now you can use the Trigger URL in any workflow service that allows sending GET requests - or you can incorporate it into a custom workflow that you have developed yourself.
Here is an example of how you can use it with Zapier.
This will publish your
draft when a Zapier run is triggered by some event.
Next, let's set up a trigger to create a new draft from scratch.
Just like before, we go to the Automation page and create a
new Trigger.
This time, we will pick Create draft under "What
happens when triggered".
When we use this setting, we also get the option to pick a label and choose which social accounts should be selected for this draft.
Notice how we get something extra added to the Trigger URL.
This is called a
query parameter, and we will use this to tell FeedHive which text
should be added to the draft through the trigger.
FeedHive create a query parameter with the name
text.
You can use this query parameter to pass in any text you
want from where the Trigger is called.
In the example above, we're using Zapier to react to a new to-do item created in the app Any.do. It will then call the FeedHive trigger and use the title of the to-do item as the text of the draft.
Of course, this is just one example.
The options are almost endless.
Sometimes adding the entire text through the text query parameter
gets a bit tedious and repetitive.
Fortunately, FeedHive also allows you to use
a post template, which can contain images, video and inline
Trigger Variables as well.
Go the Assets → User Templates and let's create a new template.
Notice that we are using 3 Trigger Variables in this template: title-of-blogpost, excerpt-of-blogpost, and link-to-blogpost.
A variable can be anything you want, all you need to do is to wrap it in two square
brackets: [[name-of-variable]].
When you're done, click
Create to save this template.
Now, let's go back to the Automation page and set up a new
trigger.
This time, we pick a template under the field "Pick a post template".
Notice how FeedHive automatically adds the Trigger Variables from the
template as query parameters.
We can now use this trigger to automatically
create a new draft every time a blog post is published.
For instance, we could use Zapier to listen to an RSS feed and automatically create a draft when a new blog post is live.
When this Zapier runs, a draft will be created in FeedHive, and all the variables will be substituted with the values from the query parameters.
Finally, you can also create and publish a post directly using a Trigger.
For
this, pick Create & Publish post under the "What happens
when triggered?" field.
This works in exactly the same way as with a draft.
The only difference is that
this draft will be created and then scheduled to go out immediately.
Check out how Pete uses FeedHive Triggers and Make to sync draft posts between FeedHive and a Google Sheet document.