Signals Notebook: How to retrieve data for selected sample rows using signals notebook external actions?

Description

When an External Trigger is attached to an entire Sample Table (container-level trigger), is there any way for the trigger to know which specific rows were selected by the user and retrieve only those rows instead of the complete table?

Solution

• Configure the Samples table External Action to use HTTP POST.

• With POST, Signals Notebook includes selection context in the request body (e.g., a selectedRows array with row metadata or an entityIds array of the selected sample IDs).

• Signals Notebook then sends a JSON request body containing the details of all the selected rows. This allows your external application to receive and process multiple selected samples in a single request.

Example: 

The selectedRows section contains the rows that the user selected in the Samples Table before triggering the External Action.

{
  "data": {
    "type": "samplesContainer",
    "attributes": {
      "name": "Samples Table",
      "createdAt": "2025-02-27T14:45:16Z",
      "modifiedAt": "2025-02-27T14:46:27Z"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "selectedRows": [
        {
          "data": {
            "type": "row"
          },
          "meta": {
            "name": "Sample-1"
          }
        },
        {
          "data": {
            "type": "row"
          },
          "meta": {
            "name": "Sample-2"
          }
        },
        {
          "data": {
            "type": "row"
          },
          "meta": {
            "name": "Sample-3"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Alternative Configuration for Individual Samples

 If your requirement is to invoke the External Action for a single sample at a time, you can configure the action directly on the Sample entity. In this configuration, Signals Notebook sends only the Sample ID instead of the complete selectedRows array.

This can be accessed in either of the following two ways:

1. From the Samples table row hamburger menu
   Users can select the External Action from the row menu to execute it for the individual sample. 
           

2. From the expanded Sample entity view
   The External Action is also available when viewing the detailed page of a Sample entity
             
    

Summary:

• POST + Samples Table External Action → Sends details of all selected rows in the selectedRows payload, making it suitable for bulk processing.

• Sample-level External Action → Sends only the individual Sample ID, making it suitable for actions performed on a single sample.