Placeholder accounts and aliases help pipelines work with QBL and solution APIs in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). This article explains what these tools are and how to manage them in Quickbase.
To learn more about managing pipelines with QBL, view the documentation for the current default version.
Placeholder accounts
A placeholder account is a channel connection that does not contain user credentials until you connect it. Placeholder accounts are created through Solution APIs and are used when a pipeline or solution requires a connection that has not yet been provided.
How they work:
A placeholder account can be connected from the Channel accounts page.
Connecting a placeholder account converts it into a normal account. All steps in all pipelines that use the placeholder are automatically updated to use the new credentials.
Placeholder accounts cannot be created directly in the UI.
Pipelines with placeholder accounts cannot be enabled or edited until the placeholder is connected.
Placeholder accounts cannot be used in all AI Smart Builder skills.
You can maintain multiple placeholder accounts, including multiple for the same channel.
Aliases
Every channel account requires an alias. An alias is a name that identifies the purpose of an account and makes it easier to track two connections belonging to different users that have the same purpose across ALM environments.
How they work:
An alias is automatically assigned when an account is created.
The alias can be changed later.
Two accounts in the same channel belonging to the same user cannot share the same alias.