Dynamic content behavior for Get a row by ID and List Rows action in Dataverse connector | Power Automate Flow

August 8, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate Dataverse, flow, get a row by id, list rows, Power Automate

Here’s an observation in one of the actions in the Dataverse connectors in Power Automate, which is “Get a row by ID”.

Select Columns

If you have selected specific columns in the Select Columns parameter of the connector, only those will be shown in the Dynamic content in next steps of the Flow.

All Columns

When you have not mentioned/selected specific columns and kept it blank, you’ll see the complete list of fields in the next steps of the Flow.

List Rows action

The same is also true for other action like “List Records” which shows all the attributes when selected columns are not mentioned, but shows only the ones mentioned with other required attributes if you have specific column names entered as shown below.

Hope this was useful!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Try Catch error handling using Scope in Power Automate

January 20, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate flow, Power Automate, scope, try catch, try catch in flow

As a programmer, using Try-Catch is a common programming practice to handle exceptions. Now, since we’ve moved more towards low-code platform implementations, error handling here is a must as well.

Generally, if a Flow fails as per below, we should be able to handle the exceptions effectively –

And this is what happened to my action step –

And this Flow will end in Failed Run status. So let’s ensure we handle this in a simple way.

Group actions using Scope

First step is to club the actions into a group which can be accomplished by an action called Scope. This will give us controls as to what happens if this Scope fails, succeeds, times out or is skipped –

Search for Scope in the Flow and add it.
Now, add the actions which needs to be handled for Exceptions in the Scope you just added.
And it should looks like this – Also, consider renaming the Scope as you might want to handle each section of the Flow differently for different potential actions

Here, your Try block is ready.
Now, let’s design the Catch block. Add one more Scope to the Flow (Ideally, after the Try Scope we just added)
For example, you can add an email step to notify the developer, typically.

Configure Run After

Now, let’s configure the Run After on the ‘Catch SP Exceptions‘ scope we added in the step above

Now, go to the ellipses on the Catch scope we just created.
You’ll find Configure Run After. This defines that when should this selected Scope Run based on the results of the previous Scopes.
And you can select the criteria you are defining for the ‘Try – SharePoint Actions’ scope’s results.
The below implies that run ‘Catch SP Exceptions’ block after the ‘Try – SharePoint Actions’ block failed (or any action in it fails)
And at this point, you are done. You can see a little i icon to see what is configured.
The arrow connecting the steps are also different (in brown as compared to other black/dark gray arrows.)

Testing

Now, let’s test this simple scenario and see how the executions will take place in terms of error.

We’ll resubmit the same failed Run to now go through these Scopes and observe our course of action.
As you see below, Try – SharePoint Actions scope has failed as expected but because we had configured the Catch SP Exceptions to Run After the Try – SharePoint Actions failed.
And note that the End Result of the Flow is also a Success.
Now, let’s see what happens if the Exception doesn’t occur and it succeeds.
But, notice that even the steps after the Catch SP Exceptions didn’t execute.
Now, I’ll explain below why that happened.
This happened because Catch SP Exceptions itself didn’t execute and the Delay step is connected to Catch SP Exceptions steps by default.
Now, you’ll need to also configure the Delay Step to Run After the Try – SharePoint Actions is Skipped executed. Then, the Flow will continue it’s normal execution that point on.
And if you Run this again, since the Catch SP Exceptions is Skipped, the Delay will continue to Run.
And everything after that. See another step added to validate this.

Hope this was quick and easy to understand.

Here are some more Dynamics 365 posts which you might be interested in –

Thank you!!

Call Flow from Webhooks in Dynamics 365 CRM | Power Automate

November 23, 2021 priyeshwagh777 Dynamics 365, Power Automate call flow from webhooks, flow, Power Automate, Power Platform, webhooks, webhooks in dynamics 365

In case you are wondering if there are other ways to call a Flow apart from just Dataverse connectors, well – There are ways! 😊

Here’s how you can use Webhooks registered on Dynamics 365 CRM to call a Flow in Power Automate using HTTP Request trigger

Pre-Requisites

Given that you already have Admin Access to create Flows with HTTP Request Triggers, you’ll need to have Plugin Registration Tool in case you are not familiar – Download Plugin Registration Tool for Dynamics 365 CRM using PowerShell

Initiate a Flow

Here’s how you start building your Flow –

You must select the HTTP Trigger when you start a new flow. This will be your Flow trigger.
Now, in order to be able to get the URL of the HTTP Trigger which you’ll need, you’ll need to save the Flow first.
And for that, Flow needs to have more than 1 step. So just go ahead and add a variable, maybe. 😊
Once you save the Flow, the URL will be generated which you can copy
Copy this URL and paste it in the Notepad. We’ll come to it later.
It should look like this –

So we’ll come to this later. Let’s keep this handy in clipboard since you’ve copied it anyway and let’s move towards registering the Webhook itself.

Register Webhook in Dynamics 365 CRM

Given that you have Plugin Registration Tool and you are logged in, you can proceed with registering a Webhook in the environment –

In the menu, select Register a Webhook option.
Now, you can start by giving it a name.
Then, in Endpoint URL – copy only till the work invoke
https://prod-131.westus.logic.azure.com:443/workflows/6092c774224e498ebe413f3d7c05a45e/triggers/manual/paths/invoke?api-version=2016-06-01&sp=%2Ftriggers%2Fmanual%2Frun&sv=1.0&sig=gvfm52Mpnhsz4Ew4ufRllNM_VhfC6a-GkCpM7AigPU0

Also, select the Authentication as HttpQueryString
Now, coming the next part, you can start add properties to this –
Green are the Properties, Pink are the Values

https://prod-131.westus.logic.azure.com:443/workflows/6092c774224e498ebe413f3d7c05a45e/triggers/manual/paths/invoke?api-version=2016-06-01&sp=%2Ftriggers%2Fmanual%2Frun&sv=1.0&sig=gvfm52Mpnhsz4Ew4ufRllNM_VhfC6a-GkCpM7AigPU0

Also, in case you are wondering what does the %2F mean – It’s the HTML encoding for a slash symbol “/“
Ref Link: https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.ASP

And, the properties should look like below –
Now, you can go ahead and add a Step just like you would do in a Plugin assembly

And then, for example, register a step on Associate. It could be any message.
And, when you Associate a record, example – Assigning a security role to a User –
The Webhook will call the HTTP Request Flow

And if you open the Flow, you can expand the first step and see the Detailed outputs
You can copy the above Outputs and use this to generate Schema for the HTTP Trigger so that you can use it further in the Flow

And this is how it will be generated

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Join action in Data Operations in Power Automate

September 9, 2021 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate data operations in power automate, flow, join array, Power Automate

One of the commonly used connectors to perform operations in Flow is Data Operations

To describe this action in simpler terms, it is “Joining values in an array with a value”.

Join

Here’s how you can use the Join operation in Power Automate

Look for Data Operations connector in Power Automate.
In Join, you’ll see that you’ll need two fields that takes a source and by what character you want to Join into the String result this Action will output.
Example – I want to Join numbers by a hyphen “-“. Here’s how it can be done.
Here’s how my From and Join With fields will be populated.
And this will return a String value by joining the items in the array by the value we entered in Join With.

To be sure this is string, you can click on Show raw outputs and see the results

Hope this was useful!

Here are some more Power Automate / Flow posts you might want to check out –

Thank you!

Visualize Adaptive Card for Teams user action within a Cloud Flow | Experimental Feature

January 30, 2021 priyeshwagh777 Adaptive Cards, Power Automate flow, Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, power automate adaptive cards

Microsoft Teams’ connector for Cloud Flows (Power Automate), and if you are looking to use Adaptive Cards for Microsoft Teams from the connector. There are chances that you’ll see some options to post an Adaptive Cards to Teams.

I’m exclusively covering a Teams’ connector’s Action called as Post an Adaptive Card to a Teams user and wait for a response.

But, you also have an improved Adaptive Cards Action in the Microsoft Teams’ connector that let’s you save the progress of the Card in the Flow itself!

Also, I found this effective for only 1 Action from the Microsoft Team’s Adaptive Card related actions. Not others.

Adaptive Card to Teams User – Regular

So, if you see the below –

With the above Adaptive Card, you’ll need to work in https://adaptivecards.io/ and paste the Card payload here and then save it. Also, you can’t visualize it within the Flow step itself.

Turn on Experimental Features for Flow

Look for the Gear icon in Settings and look for All Power Automate Settings
If the Experimental Features show below is turned Off, please turn it on.

Adaptive Card with Experimental Features On

Now, if you select the same Action from the Power Automate step
You’ll see the Step Action having the below details.
Once you click on Create Adaptive Card, you’ll see the Designer itself in the Flow Steps which you can create the Card on the fly within the Flow and save the same as well.

Hope this helps!!

Here are some more Power Automate posts you might want to look at –

Thank you!!

Get Count of records retrieved in CDS connector in a Flow | Power Automate

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate cds connector, common data services, flow, Microsoft Flow, Power Automate, record count

In several applications, you need to know how many record were retrieved in the List records Action in a Common Data Service connector in order to take a decision.

Scenario

Typically, let’s say I know only 1 record should exist in order to take that record forward and do an action. But how do I know when only 1 record was received? That’s when you use Control

Check Count

Now, let’s say you want to want to retrieve Accounts and know how many were returned (Perhaps, you want to proceed only if at least 1 or more were retrieved)

This is my List Records action and I’ve named it as Get All Records.
And just to display how many records are retrieved, I’ll use a variable. Usually, you would use this in condition (which we’ll get to in a bit)
So, in the expressions to set the Variable, under Dynamic Content, I’ll write –
and write the below expression
which is set to the variable
And here are the results. I have 101 Accounts

Using it for comparison

This is one of the typical use cases where you want to proceed only if you have at least 1 record –

Here are some more Flow related topics you might want to take a look at –

Hope this quick tip helps!

Number Formatting in a Flow | Power Automate

May 13, 2020September 26, 2020 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft Flows, Power Automate flow, Microsoft Flow, number format, Power Automate

Quite obviously this is one of the most common asks in Flow to format a number. Here are some ways to do so using Format number Action in Flow (Power Automate).

This is available in Format number action in a Flow in Power Automate. This is available in Number Functions connector.

Commas and Decimals

For a standard simple number, you can simply denote by # and commas or other symbols where needed. Here, I won’t select any locale.
And it would render into this –

Phone Number

US phone is an example where it is denoted by brackets and dashes in between. I’ll select English (United States) (en-US) in the locale among others. So, my format would be.
And the resultant phone number will be set as below

Currency Input

For currency, this is what I did –

Added ₹ followed by ##,###,###. I’ll select English (India) (en-IN) in the Locale field.
So even though my number value i.e. (50000) is in thousands and not hundred-thousands as I covered in my format, it’ll consider the correct format used and my output will be –

Here’s where you can look at other ways to format numbers –
1. Standard numeric format strings
2. Custom numeric format strings

If you’re looking for some more posts on Flow / Power Automate, I’ve written some in the past. Check these –

Hope this helps!

Retrieve only active Dynamics 365 CE licensed Users in CDS connector in Power Automate

March 30, 2020April 7, 2020 priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Office 365 Administration, Power Automate, Power Platform dynamics 365 users, flow, office 365 licenses, Power Automate, Power Platform

Let’s say you have a requirement where you want to work only on Dynamics 365 and you are using Office 365 Get User Profile action to retrieve all users.

In this example, I have some Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement licenses assigned to uers. And I want to retrieve only the Active D365 Users in my Common Data Service Connector.

Here’s how I do it –

Retrieve Users with Filter Condition

Now, the best thing you could do is identify what is the userlicensetype field of other Dynamics 365 users you might have retrieved in your previous executions.

I’ve used the query userlicensetype eq 6 to query for Active D365 users

If you want to retrieve Users who have been Disabled, you can check by using userlicensetype eq -1

Note: You’ll need to check the respective values for other users who have licenses like Team Member or Sales Professional. Since I haven’t tried those, I don’t have their exact number codes. Best way is to identify a user whose licence configuration you are looking for and look for their userlicensetype field value in Flow.

Result

This gave me only those users who have D365 Customer Engagement License assigned to them

And if I look at my O365 Portal, I can see that 4 users have the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement License

There are even more ways you can use to identify for different licenses used. I recommend it’s good practice to retrieved only those users which are needed for your operation.

If you’re also looking to secure the Input/Output data in Flow, refer this Secure Input/Output in Power Automate Run History

Hope this helps!

Approval Process using Power Automate

December 17, 2019 priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Power Automate Approvals, Dynamics 365, flow, msDyn365, Power Automate, Power Platform

Approvals have been around for quite some time now in Power Automate. Let’s look at the simplest example of how we can make use of Approvals in Flow / Power Automate and then you let your imagination and creativity take over!

Scenario

For the sake of simplicity, I have a custom entity called Request where users submit a Request and the Approval simply has to Approve/Reject.

The Approved/Reject status should be set in Dynamics 365 accordingly. Simple!

Power Automate for Approval

And then, my Power Automate looks like this –

I will trigger this off the CDS connector on create of the Request record and then select Approvals in the next step.
The Type of Approval selection is asked.
And my Approval body is simple, just providing the basic details and whom the Approval request should go to. In this case, Kuldeep Gupta
In the next Condition step, based on whether the Outcome is Approve or not, I’ll simply update the record’s status to either Accepted or Rejected.
If Yes, the following will execute
And if No, then the below

That’s it. Let’s see it in action!

Approval Process

Let’s say Priyesh has created a Request record in Dynamics
As I submit this request, an Email from Power Automate goes out to Kuldeep asking for approval. And right on the email itself, he can chose to Accept/Reject
Let’s say the request was Accepted
The request will be Approved.
And in Dynamics, the status of the record will be changed to Accepted as defined in the conditions.