Timestamper
Used to generate, read or reset a timestamp.
A typical use case is running a Flow that needs to fetch data that has changed since the last time the Flow ran.
Let's say you want to extract data from Hubspot for BI reporting. If you have very large amounts of data, you only want to fetch data that has changed since the last time you ran the Flow.
Below is an example Flow that does the following. You'll find this in the tutorial Flows under Reporting 10 - Import Companies, Deals.
uses the Timestamper block to get the last execution. If it has not run before, it sets the date to Jan 01, 1970.
Reads in all the Deals, with a filter applied that references the timestamp.
Gets association Companies.
Writes that data to a SQL database.
Once the batch has completed, it sets the current date time, which is read the next time you run the Flow.
In another Flow, or directly from the Data Store browser, you can reset this date in case you want to re-fetch all the data.
Mode
Get - reads the value specified by the Identifier. If it does not exist, it set the timestamp to Jan 01, 1970.
Set - generates a timestamp with the current date and time.
**Reset - resets the timestamp to Jan 01, 1970.
Identifier
This is a string (Data Store namespace) that uniquely identifies this particular timestamp. You use the same name when reading at the start of the Flow (or in another Flow).
Output key
For Get mode, this creates a key on the output edge with the timestamp that was stored.