# Action is not reading a cell properly **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [September 16, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419 "2024-09-16T18:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/1 "2024-09-16T18:39:37Z")
I have an action with a condition to look for an empty cell and execute it. However, this does not happen, and I know the cell and other cells are empty. What could be the problem? BSS ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/2 "2024-09-16T19:32:08Z")
What’s calling the action? Is it being executed from a component that’s connected to the row with the empty cell? ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/3 "2024-09-16T19:44:35Z")
The action is being called from within a Block in a Form. I hope I am stating this correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/4 "2024-09-16T19:51:30Z")
And I have a condition in the Action. If the cell is empty, do this, else do something else. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/5 "2024-09-16T21:01:12Z")
Gets a little tricky in a form. Is the value your action is trying to look at coming from the parent row where the button to open the form islocated? Or is it supposed to come from a value set within the form? Have you done anything to verify if the value of filled or not, such as adding a text component to your form that works display the value? ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/6 "2024-09-16T21:24:46Z")
I would say it is a value in the parent row. I deliberately went into a specific cell and deleted the data out of three cells and then one of those cells I asked it to see if it was empty but it says it’s not empty. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/7 "2024-09-16T21:31:51Z")
I also forgot to tell you that this data is coming from a Google sheet. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/8 "2024-09-16T21:34:56Z")
Just gotta ask… did you replace the value in those cells with a space character, or are they truly empty? Otherwise, I think I’m going to need to see screenshots and/or a video to fully understand how everything is set up. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/9 "2024-09-16T22:27:30Z")
I will send you a video ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/10 "2024-09-17T00:11:15Z")
This data is coming from a Google sheet. Thanks. [https://youtu.be/shjryb7XucM](https://youtu.be/shjryb7XucM) BSS ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/11 "2024-09-17T00:26:32Z")
I think the problem is you’re expecting that button to look at your whole table and do a set column on any rows that are “empty”, but in reality that only interacts with the row where your screen is built on. That row is “not empty”, so that’s running as expected. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:38am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/12 "2024-09-17T00:38:27Z")
Well, what are you saying to do? ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 10:56am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/13 "2024-09-17T10:56:07Z")
This morning, I created a table in Glide and created an Action to see the empty cell and to Set The Column values and it worked perfectly. I am wondering whether there is something about data coming from a Google sheet. Any comments? BSS ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 10:58am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/14 "2024-09-17T10:58:43Z")
However, when I added another empty cell in the same Test Table, the Action did not see the new empty cell. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 11:03am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/15 "2024-09-17T11:03:24Z")
I am sorry for another post. The action seems to see the first cell, but not the second or third empty cell. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 11:08am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/16 "2024-09-17T11:08:54Z")
It seems the empty cell has to be at the top of the table for the action to work correctly. Still testing. ---
**Author:** ![Eric\_Penn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/eric_penn/32/73888_2.png) [@Eric\_Penn](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Eric_Penn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 11:16am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/17 "2024-09-17T11:16:04Z")
On the top level of a screen you will be connected to the first row of a table. You could create a one row table and use that as the driver of your screens. Or if the user will be signed in the user profile table is another good option. May I ask what are you trying to do? ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/18 "2024-09-17T12:17:33Z")
1. A user is completing a Purchase Requisition form created in Jot Forms. 2. That form is integrated into a Google sheet. 3. When a new requisition is completed that new is added to the Google sheet. 4. Glide is linked to that Google sheet and that new row is inserted into Glide. 5. The inserted row is accomplished but there are four blank/empty cells in the Google sheet table in Glide 6. My goal is to have Glide set values in those empty cells by clicking an action. The purpose of this action is to inform the treasurer of the status of those rows to pay later. This could be one row or 5 rows. Depending on how many PR are created. 7. The cycle ends and will start again when a new PR is created. BSS 8. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/19 "2024-09-17T12:25:10Z")
This is why I asked the following question earlier. Actions act upon on a single row. The row that the actions looks at depends on which row the screen with the button was attached to. > [@Jeff\_Hager](#): > > Is it being executed from a component that’s connected to the row with the empty cell? - If you have no filters on the screen then it usually attaches to the first row. - If the screen is filtered, then it will attach to the first row that matches that filter. - If you apply a sort order, it will attach to the first available row matching that sort. - If you have row owners, then it attaches to the first owned row. - If you got to that screen by selecting an item in a collection, then you it will be attached to the selected row. If you want you action to work with a row that has empty columns, then you need to be on a row with empty columns. > [@Benjamin\_Strickland](#): > > The purpose of this action is to inform the treasurer of the status of those rows to pay later. Wouldn’t be easier to just show a filtered collection on the screen? Is there no way to get Jot forms to prepopulate those columns? ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Strickland](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/benjamin_strickland/32/68255_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Strickland](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Benjamin_Strickland)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:46pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419/20 "2024-09-17T12:46:45Z")
You made a good point here. But please explain more about the filtered collections on the screen. Also, it may be possible to populate the Jot Form with the missing data first. [Next page](https://community.glideapps.com/t/action-is-not-reading-a-cell-properly/76419.md?page=2)