Overview
A loop is a powerful tool in Tines that allows you to go through each item in an array and apply changes or actions to each one. This is useful when you have a collection of items (like a list of users or events) and you need to process each item in a specific way. The loop helps you to:
Iterate over every item in an array
Restructure the data
Perform a specific task on each item
In Tines, a loop action allows you to run through an array of data step by step and apply a transformation to each item. Each iteration of the loop processes a single element of the array at a time. Think of it as a way to break down larger chunks of data into smaller, manageable tasks that Tines processes sequentially. The loop action is particularly useful when the array has multiple objects or entries and you need to apply changes to each one.
Tines references
Before getting started, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the surrounding functionality this article covers:
Make it happen
Scenario
Loop through an array of fruits to insert each array value into a message.
Copy (
CMD + c) the JSON block provided below and paste (CMD + v) it onto the storyboard (these are action tiles and will auto-populate!).Click the “Fruits” action tile.
Review the JSON structure of this action via the Payload Builder in the right config panel to familiarize yourself with the data it will pass.
Click the “Loop” action tile. Notice how the Loop option is enabled and is pointing to the “Fruit” action’s array.
LOOP.valueis the current iteration of the “Fruit” array (iteration one would be “{“name”: “banana”, “color”: “yellow”}” and so on). We are asking it to print the “name” and the “color” of each fruit.Click back to the “Fruit” action tile.
Click Run.
Once the flow has finished, compare the Events of both actions and see how the upstream data in “Fruit” is being referenced in the “Loop” action.
Actions
{"standardLibVersion":"81","actionRuntimeVersion":"32","agents":[{"disabled":false,"name":"Fruit","description":null,"options":"{\"mode\":\"message_only\",\"loop\":false,\"payload\":[{\"name\":\"banana\",\"color\":\"yellow\"},{\"name\":\"strawberry\",\"color\":\"red\"},{\"name\":\"orange\",\"color\":\"orange\"}]}","position":{"x":1230,"y":420},"type":"eventTransformation","timeSavedUnit":"minutes","timeSavedValue":0,"monitorAllEvents":false,"monitorFailures":false,"monitorNoEventsEmitted":null,"caseConfiguration":{"subStatus":null,"tags":[]},"recordType":null,"recordWriters":[],"form":null,"createdFromTemplateGuid":null,"createdFromTemplateVersion":null,"templateTags":[],"originStoryIdentifier":"cloud:0a13dfc5dbb71212cab0ad314b7fe531:f0064f807ac02bf877a6ff31d9b76916"},{"disabled":false,"name":"Loop","description":null,"options":"{\"mode\":\"message_only\",\"loop\":\"=fruit\",\"payload\":\"The <<LOOP.value.name>> is <<LOOP.value.color>>.\"}","position":{"x":1230,"y":495},"type":"eventTransformation","timeSavedUnit":"minutes","timeSavedValue":0,"monitorAllEvents":false,"monitorFailures":false,"monitorNoEventsEmitted":null,"caseConfiguration":{"subStatus":null,"tags":[]},"recordType":null,"recordWriters":[],"form":null,"createdFromTemplateGuid":null,"createdFromTemplateVersion":null,"templateTags":[],"originStoryIdentifier":"cloud:0a13dfc5dbb71212cab0ad314b7fe531:f0064f807ac02bf877a6ff31d9b76916"}],"links":[{"sourceIdentifier":"0","receiverIdentifier":"1"}],"diagramNotes":[]}