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Timesheet Approval

This automation features a workflow that collects input from a form in Slack and saves the results to a Google Sheet.

timesheet.mov

Guide Outline:

Included Workflows

  • Collect billable hours: Gather and save timesheet info to a Google sheet

Setup

Before getting started, first make sure you have a development workspace where you have permission to install apps. Please note that the features in this project require that the workspace be part of a Slack paid plan.

Install the Slack CLI

To use this sample, you first need to install and configure the Slack CLI. Step-by-step instructions can be found in our Quickstart Guide.

Clone the Sample

Start by cloning this repository:

# Clone this project onto your machine
$ slack create my-app -t slack-samples/deno-timesheet-approval

# Change into the project directory
$ cd my-app

Prepare Google Services

With external authentication you can programmatically interact with Google services and APIs from your app, as though you're the authorized user.

The client credentials needed for these interactions can be collected from a Google Cloud project with OAuth enabled and with access to the appropriate services.

Create a Google Cloud Project

Begin by creating a new project from the Google Cloud resource manager, then enabling the Google Sheets API for this project.

Next, create an OAuth consent screen for your app. The "User Type" and other required app information can be configured as you wish. No additional scopes need to be added here, and you can add test users for development if you want.

Client credentials can be collected by creating an OAuth client ID with an application type of "Web application". Under the "Authorized redirect URIs" section, add https://oauth2.slack.com/external/auth/callback then click "Create".

You'll use these newly created client credentials in the next steps.

Set the Client ID

Start by renaming the .env.example file at the top level of your project to .env, being sure not to commit this file to version control. This file will store sensitive, app-specific variables that are determined by the environment being used.

Now take your client ID and add it as the value for GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID in the .env file. This value will be used in external_auth/google_provider.ts - the custom OAuth2 provider definition for your Google project.

Once complete, update your local or hosted app with slack run or slack deploy to create an environment for storing your external authentication client secret and access token.

Note: Unlike environment variables used at runtime, this variable is only used when generating your app manifest. Therefore, you do not need to use the slack env add command to set this value for deployed apps.

Save the Client Secret

With your client secret ready, run the following command, replacing GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET with your own secret:

$ slack external-auth add-secret --provider google --secret GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET

When prompted to select an app, choose the (local) app only if you're running the app locally.

Initiate the OAuth2 Flow

With your Google project created and the Client ID and secret set, you're ready to initate the OAuth flow!

If all the right values are in place, the following command will prompt you to choose an app, select a provider (hint: choose the google one), then pick the Google account you want to authenticate with:

$ slack external-auth add

Once you've successfully authenticated your account, you're almost ready to configure your Google Sheet and create a link into your workflow!

Assign Authentication to the Workflow

To complete the connection process, you need to let your app know which authenticated account you'll be using for specific workflows.

Specify that the "Collect billable hours" workflow should use your recently authenticated account when making API calls using the following command:

$ slack external-auth select-auth

Select the workspace and app environment for your app, then select the #/workflows/collect_hours workflow and the google provider to choose the external account to use.

With this, you're ready to make API calls from your workflow!

Create a Google Sheet

In this app, the inputs of submitted forms are stored in a Google Sheet.

To prepare this external datastore, start by creating a blank spreadsheet using your authenticated account, then add the following headers to Row 1:

Name | Employee | Time in | Time out | Breaks (min) | Hours

Designate this spreadsheet as the desired datastore through environment variables, which allows for different spreadsheets to be used across your local and hosted app instances.

Copy your spreadsheet's ID (the random-ish string found in the URL). Now, you're ready to set up your environment!

Development Environment Variables

When developing locally, environment variables found in the .env file at the root of your project are used. For local development, add your spreadsheet ID to the .env file (replacing YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID with your spreadsheet ID):

# .env
GOOGLE_SPREADSHEET_ID=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID

Production Environment Variables

Deployed apps use environment variables that are added using slack env. To add your access token to a Workspace where your deployed app is installed, use the following command (once again, replacing YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID with your spreadsheet ID):

$ slack env add GOOGLE_SPREADSHEET_ID YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID

Running Your Project Locally

While building your app, you can see your changes appear in your workspace in real-time with slack run. You'll know an app is the development version if the name has the string (local) appended.

# Run app locally
$ slack run

Connected, awaiting events

To stop running locally, press <CTRL> + C to end the process.

Creating Triggers

Triggers are what cause workflows to run. These triggers can be invoked by a user, or automatically as a response to an event within Slack.

When you run or deploy your project for the first time, the CLI will prompt you to create a trigger if one is found in the triggers/ directory. For any subsequent triggers added to the application, each must be manually added using the trigger create command.

When creating triggers, you must select the workspace and environment that you'd like to create the trigger in. Each workspace can have a local development version (denoted by (local)), as well as a deployed version. Triggers created in a local environment will only be available to use when running the application locally.

Link Triggers

A link trigger is a type of trigger that generates a Shortcut URL which, when posted in a channel or added as a bookmark, becomes a link. When clicked, the link trigger will run the associated workflow.

Link triggers are unique to each installed version of your app. This means that Shortcut URLs will be different across each workspace, as well as between locally run and deployed apps.

With link triggers, after selecting a workspace and environment, the output provided will include a Shortcut URL. Copy and paste this URL into a channel as a message, or add it as a bookmark in a channel of the workspace you selected. Interacting with this link will run the associated workflow.

Note: triggers won't run the workflow unless the app is either running locally or deployed!

Manual Trigger Creation

To manually create a trigger, use the following command:

$ slack trigger create --trigger-def triggers/collect_hours_trigger.ts

Datastores

For storing data related to your app, datastores offer secure storage on Slack infrastructure. The use of a datastore requires the datastore:write/datastore:read scopes to be present in your manifest.

Testing

For an example of how to test a function, see functions/save_hours_test.ts. Test filenames should be suffixed with _test.

Run all tests with deno test:

$ deno test

Deploying Your App

Once development is complete, deploy the app to Slack infrastructure using slack deploy:

$ slack deploy

When deploying for the first time, you'll be prompted to create a new link trigger for the deployed version of your app. When that trigger is invoked, the workflow should run just as it did when developing locally (but without requiring your server to be running).

Viewing Activity Logs

Activity logs of your application can be viewed live and as they occur with the following command:

$ slack activity --tail

Project Structure

.slack/

Contains apps.dev.json and apps.json, which include installation details for development and deployed apps.

datastores/

Datastores securely store data for your application on Slack infrastructure. Required scopes to use datastores include datastore:write and datastore:read.

external_auth/

External authentication enables connections to external services using OAuth2. Once connected, you can perform actions as the authorized user on these services using custom functions.

functions/

Functions are reusable building blocks of automation that accept inputs, perform calculations, and provide outputs. Functions can be used independently or as steps in workflows.

triggers/

Triggers determine when workflows are run. A trigger file describes the scenario in which a workflow should be run, such as a user pressing a button or when a specific event occurs.

workflows/

A workflow is a set of steps (functions) that are executed in order.

Workflows can be configured to run without user input or they can collect input by beginning with a form before continuing to the next step.

manifest.ts

The app manifest contains the app's configuration. This file defines attributes like app name and description.

slack.json

Used by the CLI to interact with the project's SDK dependencies. It contains script hooks that are executed by the CLI and implemented by the SDK.

Resources

To learn more about developing automations on Slack, visit the following: