Updating Notion page table using API: Row filtering by environment and column modification

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1

Hey everyone, I’m stuck on a Notion API problem. I want to update a table in my Notion page, but I’m not sure how to do it correctly. The goal is to filter rows based on the ‘Env’ column and then update a few other columns like ‘Last Deployed’, ‘Deployed By’, and ‘Branch Deploy’.

I tried using the database query API, but I think that’s wrong since my table is on a page, not in a database. Here’s what I’ve attempted:

notion_api_call() {
  curl -X POST 'https://api.notion.com/v1/pages/$PAGE_ID/query' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Notion-Version: 2022-06-28' \
    -d '{
      "filter": {
        "property": "Environment",
        "text": {
          "equals": "$ENV_VALUE"
        }
      }
    }'
}

This doesn’t work, and I’m not sure what to do next. Can anyone help me figure out the right API and method to filter and update rows in a page table? Thanks in advance for any tips or examples!

2

hey josephk, i had similar troubles. for page tables, you gotta use the blocks endpoint instead of database query. try GET /v1/blocks/{block_id}/children to fetch rows, then filter em yourself. update rows with PATCH /v1/blocks/{block_id}. it’s a bit clunky but works. Good luck!

3

As someone who’s wrestled with Notion’s API quite a bit, I can tell you it’s not always straightforward. For page tables, you’re on the right track thinking about blocks. Here’s what’s worked for me:

First, fetch all the rows using GET /v1/blocks/{page_id}/children. This gives you the entire table structure.

Then, you’ll need to parse through the response to find your table. It’ll be a type ‘table’ block. From there, grab its children - these are your rows.

Now comes the tricky part. You’ll have to implement the filtering logic in your code. Loop through the rows, check the ‘Env’ column value, and store the block IDs of rows you want to update.

Finally, use PATCH /v1/blocks/{block_id} for each row you want to modify. You’ll update the specific cells in the request body.

It’s more work than a database query, but it gets the job done. Just be mindful of rate limits if you’re dealing with large tables.

4

I’ve encountered a similar issue when working with the Notion API. The main challenge is that the database query endpoint is not suitable for page tables. For page tables, you must retrieve the children of the block using the GET /v1/blocks/{block_id}/children endpoint and then perform filtering on the rows in your code based on the ‘Env’ column. After identifying the relevant rows, you can update each row individually with the PATCH /v1/blocks/{block_id} endpoint.

Keep in mind that this approach can be slower if your table is large, so moving your data to a proper Notion database might improve efficiency.