Why did "Flow beginning" fibre URI variable change?

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P. Andreas Schmidt, IVE

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Oct 12, 2022, 7:12:03 AM10/12/22
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Hello Hendrik,

I've been trying to see if I missed this, but it certainly seems to me that somewhere not too long ago (after May this year), so one of the last updates, the way the fiber URI in the Flow beginning block changed. It used to be the same as the Flow URI that is shown in the block, but not anymore. I can also understand that that was necessary, because that wouldn't really refer to the current fiber... 
My problem though is this: I used that in some flows (ike this one: https://llamalab.com/automate/community/flows/41309) to figure out which beginning point the user had chosen, so I could reduce the number of blocks and didn't have to do the same flow twice, for some small change... As a matter of fact, in that flow I gave the link to, I first checked the variable against the whole string of "Flow URI", as was shown in my block, on my phone, and somebody had posted that this didn't work for him and I should fix it. So I downloaded it to my phone to see what changed in the URI, and adapted it, since the statement number at the end remained the same, so I just had to check for that.
But now the statement number isn't included anymore, just the flow number, which is the same independent of which beginning point you chose, and the fiber number, which is always a different one and not correlated in any way to the beggining point. Hence my problem of: how can I now tell which was chosen? As far as I can tell, it's not possible anymore, and at least in this particular flow that I gave the link two, it's a question of doing the same action a different way, so they actually end up in the same line of the flow, not two completely different things, but the difference that there is was then done depending on which beginning was chosen. This allowed for reducing block count and making this a non-premium flow.
See attached screenshots for more details.
Is this going to be reverted? Or combined, so that both the statement number and current fiber URI will be in the variable value? Or is there - that I haven't seen - currently a way to figure out which beginning was chosen - apart from just having to make a separate flow, and not intertwine them?

Thanks!


Flow beginning block.pngChecking block.png

Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist

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Oct 12, 2022, 7:42:04 AM10/12/22
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The Fiber URI change with every start of the flow, since the last path segment, the fiber id change.
The Flow URI change with for every install for the flow, since the flow id segment change (e.g. 179), the last path segment is unique to the Flow beginning block, i.e. it's the block id, which doesn't change.
The parts of either URI has never changed, they still contain the same segments.

There's should be no need to check which beginning point was chosen, just use a unique payload.

P. Andreas Schmidt, IVE

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Oct 12, 2022, 11:03:45 AM10/12/22
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--- The parts of either URI has never changed, they still contain the same segments.

Yeah, but before one of the latest updates, the string that was passed to the fibre URI variable given in the beginning block, would not contain the fibre URI, that's why, as I show in my screenshots, I could use substr of the last three to get the segment ID. But now, the segment ID is no longer contained in that string, only the Flow URI and the fibre URI.
And I don't see a way to implement your payload suggestion, because I'm talking about finding out which beginning was chosen by the user, and in that case no payload is given, and even specifying different variable names for each beginning, they are all null ... So no use in checking which was picked, as far as I can tell.
So, it seems to me, unless the segment ID will be re-integrated into the fibre URI variable value, what I'm trying to do, will no longer be possible. But it's mainly a question of reducing blocks... But still, I find it can come in handy.

Pater Andreas Schmidt, IVE
Kapelaan Cluster Edith Stein
Parochies Bunde - Geulle - Moorveld - Ulestraten
---
Pastoor van Eijsstraat 3
6235 EK Ulestraten
THE NETHERLANDS



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Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist

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Oct 12, 2022, 11:28:47 AM10/12/22
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As said, noting has changed.
Of course the Fiber URI output variable contains the Fiber URI, that's its purpose.
Your Expression true block is nonsense, first it can't expect 3 digits, and expecting it to end with "148" will only ever be true once, the 148th time the flow is started. 148 in the Fiber URI is not the block id, it's the fiber id.

Sorry, payload is indeed irrelevant. Just place an Variable set after every Flow beginning block which tell which one was started.

P. Andreas Schmidt, IVE

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Oct 12, 2022, 11:32:50 AM10/12/22
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Well, I'm telling you it did work... that's why I did it that way, and the guy who commented that it didn't work, didn't write back in his comment that it still wouldn't work... Don't know what to tell you.
And yeah, I guess that's the best solution, and I imagine including the statement ID could complicate things, and mess up many existing flows that work on fibre URI.
Sorry, and thanks!

Pater Andreas Schmidt, IVE
Kapelaan Cluster Edith Stein
Parochies Bunde - Geulle - Moorveld - Ulestraten
---
Pastoor van Eijsstraat 3
6235 EK Ulestraten
THE NETHERLANDS


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