Asana custom task fields

Questions
#1

If I am doing a “create” or “update” operations on a task, how do I include input data for custom fields that may be on that task?

Also, when I create a task, it seems I have to use a separate node to move the task to the correct section, instead of being able to start off with it in the right section. Is that right or am I missing something? In order to avoid triggering certain rules in Asana it would be best if it could be added to the correct section as part of its creation.

#2

Welcome to the community @EricSGS

That is sadly currently not possible. Just changed this post to a feature request.

We have not exposed that parameter to the task creation. But it should be really easy to add since the API allows it.

For reference, the parameters needed are custom_fields and assignee_section

https://developers.asana.com/docs/create-a-task

#3

Hello @EricSGS,

I came here tonight looking for this exact feature.
TLDR; For my use case, it was acceptable to create a second Asana node to ‘move’ the task into the right section. Adding this feature isn’t as simple as it seems.

I forked the repo and started working on implementing this into the Asana node.

Unfortunately, there’s a little wrinkle:

  • In order to propose a drop-down menu of sections, the node needs to know which project you want to add it to.
  • Currently, during the task ‘create’ operation, the node allows you to (optionally) select one or more projects. I believe this is intentional behavior. The move node does not have this restriction, as it makes less sense in the context of ‘moving’ the task.
  • Having multiple projects selected is not easily compatible with selecting / proposing selections in a drop-down menu.

So, either we require a single project per task creation and optionally allow a section feature, or we leave as-is (ability to optionally include one or more projects) and use a workaround (chaining an additional move task) for adding a task to sections.

One could also do a custom HTTP request with the parameters as described by @RicardoE105, so again, this seems less and less ‘necessary’.

#4

I am assuming you are referring to the “section” allocation not specifically the custom fields.

Looking to the big name in the field: Zapier includes the ability to set the section if you only select a single project (which will be most use cases but not all) and if you select more than one project disables the section selection box.

I’m not aware enough about how the n8n UI is configured when designing nodes, but if elements can be created or removed dynamically then you could create one section selection box per project it is added to.

Another option would be to include a text entry box and allow the user to script that portion of the connection, even if the rest of it is done the “easy” way.

While a custom HTTP request is possible, one of the benefits of inbuilt nodes is to serve as both quick-and-easy creation blocks and also as a way for nontechnical individuals to build out the connection. While you absolutely can do a two-node create a task->move a task (and potentially another move a task if it is in multiple projects) there are a variety of automations that can (and often are) set up in Asana based on what section a task is in or added to. Giving the most common use-case (single project) a solution that can be executed simply (one node) and avoids common pitfalls (added to default section, causes that sections rules to fire only to see it moved a few moments later) seems optimal.

And now that I’ve been building more integrations using Asana there are more and more fields that I’m finding would be useful to have and are poorly documented in Asana’s documentation (such as the html description which does not, it turns out, accept that many html tags).