PowerAutomate – Dynamics 365 Key Topics

In this blog we will address the common error we get while parsing JSON array in power automate. It is very common to get null values in the input files.

The first step is to create a trigger for flow. In this blog I have considered manual trigger.

We need to initialize the input variable. In our case it is Array. We can give sample values for our array as below,

The next step is to parse the JSON.

For the content we need to map the Array variable ‘ArrayParse’ that we initialized in the above step.

Click on Generate from sample. A sample JSON payload appears as below,

Click on Done.

The sample schema is generated as below,

{

“type”: “array”,

“items”: {

“type”: “object”,

“properties”: {

“ProductName”: {

“type”: “string”

“ProductID”: {

“type”: “integer”

}

“required”: [

“ProductName”,

“ProductID”

]

}

Now test the flow.

We get the error Action ‘Initialize_variable’ failed,

Solution:

We need to remove the type generated by the sample schema manually,

Now the problem is resolved.

We could see the sample output successfully.

PowerApps, PowerAutomate

Get Tweet User details from Twitter using Power Automate

March 18, 2022July 6, 2022 Devikumari Krishna

In this blog, I will describe on how to use power automate to extract tweet details from Twitter page.

To start with,

Login to https://make.powerapps.com.
Navigate to Flows and create an automated cloud flow.
Let us use the trigger When a Tweet is posted.
Click on Add Connection and set the Twitter Account details which needs to tracked.
In the Search Text, enter the search terms – #Searchtext or “search text” or from: @username.
Power Automate will only trigger when the search criteria is met.

Initialize an array variable to get the User Details Array information from the Tweet.

Call the trigger – Get User
Insert user name parameter from previous step ( ‘when a new tweet is posted’)

Now pass information to user details array we initialized. For this we will use the action – Append to Array,

Test the results by passing it to a html table,
Lets use the create html table action and pass the array we set in the previous step with user details.
You can either choose the columns to be ‘Automatic’ or give custom values,

If custom value is choosen , each column name need to be created and value needs to be assigned as below,

@{variables(‘arrayname’)?[0]?[‘FieldName’]}

In our case to get full name – @{variables(‘userdetailsarray’)?[0]?[‘FullName’]}

Save the Flow. Now create a Tweet from associated Twitter account with the search input matching the search term specified in flow.
The UserDetails Array holds the following information,

The html table would appear like below,

Please Note : Incase location is coming as blank – make sure in Twitter User profile the location and location settings are set properly,

Complete steps for flow is as below,

PowerApps, PowerAutomate

Power Automate – Data sources using Environment Variables

February 15, 2022July 6, 2022 Devikumari Krishna

In this blog , I will describe how to use environment variables to pass data sources in power automate flows.

Environment variables help us in a great way to reduce the manual association of data sources in each environment.

Login to https://make.powerapps.com
Navigate to Solutions -> Add New->More->Environment variables
Create an environment variable for Site .
Choose the Data Type – Data Source
Associate SharePoint connector if you have already created. Else create a connection and associate it here.
Choose the parameter type as ‘Site’.
Associate the SharePoint Site . You can pass the Default site value and a current value ( which is unique for each environment).
If the current value is not specified , default value will be used.

Once the environment variable for site is created, we need to create one more environment variable for List.
Follow the same steps as above and create a new environment variable,
Choose the Parameter Type as ‘List’.
Under Site , Specify the name of Environment variable we created in above step.

Now login to https://flows.microsoft.com
choose the flow that is using sharepoint list as data source or create a new flow,
In the Site Address – instead of specifying the URL directly choose ‘custom value’
Now you will observe that the environment variables are available to use in ‘Dynamic Content’
Use the Environment variables created for Site and List respectively,

This helps is deploying the Canvas Apps from one environment without manual intervention in Data source connections.

PowerApps, PowerAutomate

Microsoft Data verse – Create Data in Data verse from Excel using Power automate

December 21, 2021July 6, 2022 Devikumari Krishna

Login to https://make.powerapps.com
Choose the environment.
click on Flows.
Choose the Instant Cloud Flow -> create a name and choose the PowerApps (V2) Trigger.
Add a Step and choose PowerApps as admin ->Get Apps as Admin

To know the Environment ID in Environment Name field ,
Click on Settings ->Session details->PowerApp Session Details ->Copy the value against Environment ID.

Add a new Action below Get Apps as Admin step -> List rows present in table.
Choose the Location. In my case I have kept the excel file in SharePoint.
Choose the Document Library, File and table name from excel file from where we need to read the data.

We need to loop through the list data output and create records in Data verse.
For this , choose the loop control Apply to Each.
Select the Output from previous step with ‘value’ returned from the List above.

Choose the Microsoft Data verse ->Add a new Row action.
Select the entity . In my case I am reading data from excel to create records in contact entity.