Set a Variable Block Video Tutorial

The set-a-variable block allows us to create, establish a format, and set a value to a variable.

This video will be structured into 2 parts:
First of all, we will see how to set up variables and I’ll show you how useful they can be.

And secondly, we will see the set variable block in-depth and its settings.


What is the Set Variable block and what is it used for?
So, What’s a variable you might be asking? Think of it as a box that we can name and start storing different “things”, “things” being values as numbers, texts, dates, etc...


For Example, a price that might be changing through the course of the flow. These changes are stored in the variable named Price and will be updated during our flow to have a final price when the flow ends.

So, let’s create a set variable block right here after our first block, the first thing we see is the switch mode option, where the options are set or unset a value to a variable. The set option will let us add a new value to a variable while the unset option will assign an empty value to an already existing variable, both options when the flow goes through the block. But let’s keep it in the set mode for this example.

We can use an already created variable or create a new one, just type the name of this new variable. Oh! and keep in mind, no spaces are allowed!

Now comes the time to select the type format of the variable, this is the type of information the variable will store.

We have four options:

-Text: think of it as a STRING of characters
-Number
-Date
-And Array: which stores a collection of variables that are the same type or JSON objects.

After we have selected the format of our variable, choose its value by writing it in the text box, if we do not plan on giving it a fixed value we can also make it depend on other variables’ values.


The variable block gives us the option to choose if we want our value to perform a calculation, keep in mind that only Numbers and dates can do that.

For numbers, the available operations are:
- Addition (+): To Sum
- Subtraction (-): To Subtract
- Multiplication (*): to Multiply
- Division (/). To Divide
- And Modulus "remainder" (%)
For dates, we only get the option to add or subtract.

And just a quick tip, we can do the same calculations and much more with the Formulas block.

Finally, after we’ve done all of this, our block will be set and ready to use, and we will get two different outputs:

Success
and Failed

If the client writes the input correctly the flow will follow a Green path, BUT if he inserts anything that isn’t in the correct format of the variable, the flow will go through the Red path and continue accordingly.

So let’s recap everything we went through:
First, we understood what was the Variable block and what we could do with it
And then, we explored the deeper setting that variables come with.

So, that’s all, see you in the next one!