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Workflow 1: Merging data#

Nathan's company stores its customer data in Airtable. This data contains information about the customers' ID, country, email, and join date, but lacks data about their respective region and subregion. You need to fill in these last two fields in order to create the reports for regional sales.

To accomplish this task, you first need to make a copy of this table in your Airtable account:

When setting up your Airtable, ensure that the customerSince column is configured as a Date type field with the Include time option enabled. Without this setting, you may encounter errors in step 4 when updating the table.

Next, build a small workflow that merges data from Airtable and a REST Countries API:

  1. Use the Airtable node to list the data in the Airtable table named customers.
  2. Use the HTTP Request node to get data from the REST Countries API: https://restcountries.com/v3.1/all, and send the query parameter name fields with the value name,region,subregion. This will return data about world countries, split out into separate items.
  3. Use the Merge node to merge data from Airtable and the Countries API by country name, represented as customerCountry in Airtable and name.common in the Countries API, respectively.
  4. Use another Airtable node to update the fields region and subregion in Airtable with the data from the Countries API.

Create a new workflow#

Open your Editor UI and create a new workflow using one of the following commands:

  • Press Ctrl+Alt+N or Cmd+Option+N on your keyboard.
  • Open the left menu, navigate to Workflows, and select Add workflow.

No node for that service?

The HTTP Request node is one of the most versatile nodes, allowing you to make HTTP requests to query data from apps and services. You can use it to access data from apps or services that don't have a dedicated node in n8n.

Add an Airtable node#

Add an Airtable node and connect it.

In the node panel:

  1. Search for Airtable.
  2. Select Search a record from the Record Actions search results.

This will add the Airtable node to your canvas and open the node details window.

In the Airtable node window, configure the following parameters:

  • Credential to connect with:
    • Select Create new credential.
    • Keep the default option Connect using: Access Token selected.
    • Access token: Follow the instructions on the Airtable credential page to create your token. Use the recommended scopes and add access to your beginners course base. Save the credential and close the Credential window when you're finished.
  • Resource: Record.
  • Operation: Search. This operation will search records in the existing table.
  • Base: Select your base from the list.
  • Table: Customers.

Test the Airtable node#

Once you've finished configuring the Airtable node, execute it by selecting Execute step. This might take a moment to process, but you can follow the progress by viewing the base in Airtable.

Your results should look like this:

Airtable node results
Airtable node results

Add an HTTP Request node#

Add an HTTP Request node and connect it.

In the node panel:

  1. Search for HTTP Request.

In the HTTP Request node window, configure the following parameters:

  • Method: GET
  • URL: https://restcountries.com/v3.1/all
  • Authentication: None
  • Send Query Parameters: Set toggle to On
    • Set Query Parameters:
      • Name: fields
      • Value: name,region,subregion

Test the HTTP Request node#

Once you've finished configuring the HTTP Request node, execute it by selecting Execute step.

Your results should look like this:

HTTP Request node results
HTTP Request node results

Add a Merge node#

Add a Merge node and connect it.

In the node panel:

  1. Search for Merge.

In the Merge node window, configure the following parameters:

  • Mode: Combine
  • Combine By: Matching Fields
  • Fields To Match Have Different Names: Set toggle to On
  • Fields to Match: Toggle On
    • Input 1 Field: customerCountry
    • Input 2 Field: name.common

Test the Merge node#

Once you've finished configuring the Merge node, execute it by selecting Execute step.

Your results should look like this:

Merge node results
Merge node results

Final Workflow#

The workflow should look like this:

Workflow 1 for merging data from Airtable and the Countries API
Workflow 1 for merging data from Airtable and the Countries API

Quiz questions

  • How many items does the HTTP Request node return?
  • How many items does the Merge node return?
  • How many unique regions are assigned in the customers table?
  • What's the subregion assigned to the customerID 10?
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