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!

Call a Dynamics 365 Action from Flow [Bound and Unbound Actions] | Power Automate

May 4, 2020May 5, 2020 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate action in dynamics 365, bound action, cds connector, common data service, Microsoft Flow, Power Automate, unbound action

Ever wondered how to call an Action from a Flow using the new Common Data Service (Current Environment) connector? There are 2 actions to perform this –

Here’s a quick post to demonstrate that and the difference between Perform a bound action and Perform an unbound action in the CDS (Current Environment) connector.

Note that the connector used here is Common Data Service (Current Environment) connector which is available only if you are creating a Flow inside a Solution, not outside.

Check more on this connector here – Selecting (Current) in Environment in Power Automate CDS connector and why it matters

Unbound Action

Bound Action meaning calling an Action in Dynamics 365 that is bound to any one entity i.e. which is not a Global Action

In this example. I’m creating a Flow that will call a Bound Action which runs on Account entity.
And the InputName field shown above will simply take a string field and reflect the same as it is in Output
Now, I am using Perform a bound action Action from the Common Data Service (Current Environment) connector as shown below-
Once you select Perform a bound action, you’ll need to select what entity the Action is tied to with the following properties –
Entity Name: Name of the entity the Action is bound to
Action Name: Name of the action (not Display Name)
Item ID: Guid of the record of that entity. Typically this is dynamically retrieved from other operations above this step (I’ve simply hard-coded one)
Parameters: In my example, I’m passing a parameter called ‘InputName’ and I’m passing a string called “Account Name”
Operation-Now, once my Bound Action is executed, I can see the below results which it will return i.e. OutputName field after composing with InputName inside the Action
Further, you can use the following Output from the Bound Action i.e. the Response or the Output parameters the Action is sending.

Unbound Action

Unbound Action meaning calling an Action that is not bound to any entity in Dynamics 365 and is set to None (Global)

In my Unbound Action, I am simply passing InputName through to the OutputName field as is.
Now, I’ll use Perform an unbound action from the Actions in Common Data Service (Current Environment) connector
Once you select this action, you simply need to select the name of the Action from Dynamics 365 itself (Again, not Display Name) and pass along any Input parameters for the same, if any.
Operation – Now, once you execute this, the Action will execute and give you a response as below
Further, you can select what you want to use from the response of the action step i.e. either the Response itself or the Output Parameters, if any.

Here are some other Power Automate / Flow posts that might interest you –

Hope this simple example helps explain the actions!

Switch-Case in a Flow | Power Automate

April 29, 2020 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft Flows, Power Automate Microsoft Flow, Power Automate, switch case

Some of the common operations / decision making one wants to perform in terms of programming is definitely switch-case!

Here’s how you can do it in power automate

Scenario

To keep things simple, I will simply reflect the name of the OptionSet value in a variable in Flow –

1. Here’s my OptionSet called Account Type with values Customer [1], Vendor [2] & Partner [3]

1. My Flow will be called on update of Account record’s Account Type field change

1. I’m simply using a variable to store the value of the selection made on the field.

Using Switch

Now, let’s get to the important part –

1. If you search for Switch under Control, you’ll see as below

1. This will first ask you what the Switch should be on, in this case, it’s the Account Type value to be selected from the dynamics values

1. Now, I can start entering the Cases one by one as shown below and setting the variable I created above. For value in Equals 1, I’ll set variable as Customer
  
  Clicking on the + [Plus] sign in between Case and Default will let you add more cases.

1. Finally, once all the cases are entered, the Flow will start looking something like this from a hawk-eye-view with the Default case appearing in the end.

Working

Let’s look at how Switch-Case would work –

1. I updated the Account Type field with Vendor

1. Switch on the Account Type Value (selected from Dynamic Values) will reflect the value of 2

1. And Case 2 will execute simply reflecting what is stored in the variable. Rest of the cases will not run

Pretty Easy! Hope this helps!

Using Parse JSON to read individual List Records in Flow|Power Automate

April 12, 2020April 12, 2020 priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Microsoft Flows common data service, Microsoft Flow, Microsoft Flows, Power Automate

This is a scenario I came across when I was using Common Data Service connector [not Common Data Service (Current Environment)] connector to read Opportunities tied to an Account.

Example

In this scenario, I wanted to retrieve the Opportunities tied to an Account. So, my filter query was _parentaccountid_value(‘ACCOUNT_IDENTIFIER’)

Here’s my Flow starts. I want to read Opportunities that are tied to my Account in context –

Flow Inside a solution vs. Outside a Solution

Inside a Solution

Now, when I had this Flow inside a solution, the result didn’t have a body and instead just gave me Status Reason value as below –

Outside a Solution

Whereas, outside the Solution, I was able to get the array of Objects i.e. Opportunity data in the Body in the Output itself.

So, what can we do about the Flow which is used inside a Solution and you want to actually see what was the output? You may or may not require to see the records (depending on your implementation)

But let’s say you want to see what was returned, let’s just parse these results as is using Parse JSON to see what we got.

Use Parse JSON from Data Operation

Another way to read what you’re retrieving is using Parse JSON Data Operation.

Search Parse JSON and you’ll see the result in Data Operation type of Actions as shown below –
Now, you have to apply this to Current item from the retrieved List records in Apply to each operation. In case you don’t have the schema or not sure what to put it in. Simply use {} in Schema field. This will just pass through as is.

Checking Result

Now, let’s test using the above and see if we can get the results

Now, you can actually see the Inputs and Output of Parse JSON which is basically the same. This is useful if you want to visually see what’s going on through your Flow.

But, if you don’t want to see what’s being passed through when in Production? You can Secure Input/Output in Power Automate Run History

Hope this helps you!!

Make HTTP request from Flow in Power Automate

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate HTTP, Power Automate

One of the most common asks I’ve come across lately is people asking whether or not, we can make external HTTP requests using Flow in Power Automate. Well, yes! Let’s quickly take a look at how you can do that.

Scenario

To keep the example really simple, I have an API that I can use to call to get weather information. (By the way, you’ll find MSN Weather connector in Power Automate too)
So, the API I’m using to test the call is OpenWeatherMap. Their API is really easy to understand for this example.

Note: You can create your account here and you’ll get an API key which you can use.

Now, Let’s say I have the API key and I’m ready to consume their API.
You can have your Flow start any which way you want, I’m just running it on schedule –
Select HTTP in the search and select the HTTP trigger
Now, I can fill in the data required to make the HTTP call. In my example, the API is expecting Query String, so I’m passing the values in Queries as needed. It could be different in your case.
I’m select GET method since we are trying to retrieve data by calling the API

And then go on to write the rest of the request.

Let’s say, if you’re required to pass headers to a POST request with Body, you can do that as well.
And I’m capturing the response in a variable in Flow to further use it. I’ve chosen to store it in an Object type of variable.
Easy!

Making HTTP Request

Now, let’s test it. I made a sample request and I’ve received the response as below –
I’ll open my response part –

Check this, in case you want to also secure the data your receive – Secure Input/Output in Power Automate Run History

And I’ve received the data successfully! Hope this gets you started in making HTTP calls.

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!

Create a To-Do List Item of Important Outlook Emails using Power Automate

March 9, 2020 priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Microsoft Flows, Power Automate Microsoft Flows, Microsoft To Do, Outlook Email, Power Automate

Since Power Automate is so powerful that you can creatively use it to improve your productivity at work. Here’s an example of how you can utilize a scenario where you need a quick checklist to make sure you respond all important emails for the day.

Power Automate

You’ll need to create an Automated Power Automate and select the trigger as Office 365 Outlook. Select ‘When a new email arrived (V3)’ from the same and make sure you only select the High Importance marked emails
Next step, create a To-Do Item. Select the List you have created. In my case, I created a separate list called ‘Respond Important Emails’

And the step to configure the To-Do List item should be like this –

In the above picture, I’ve made sure I select the correct List I want to create a To-Do in.

And to give myself some time, I’ve added a reminder time of 2 hours from the time this Flow/Power Automate will run i.e. when the email will come in –

How it works

Now, when an Important email will arrive in my Inbox as below –

Power Automate will create a To-Do in my created List

And it will look like this –

Also, the reminder is set to remind me 2 hours post the time the To-Do item was created. Just in case I’m into something else, I’d set myself a reminder.

Hope this helps! And you can use your creativity to improve your productivity!

RSS notifications to your phone using Power Automate

March 3, 2020September 26, 2020 priyeshwagh777 Power Automate Power Automate, Power Platform, rss

RSS is powerful and taming it wisely really helps! 🙂 Here’s an example where I used it to get a notification whenever a new blog was posted by Microsoft in their Dynamics 365 Blog page. It is my attempt to stay updated on the latest posts so that I don’t miss anything.

Scenario

Let’s say, for example, this is the website I want to read RSS feeds from. So click on the RSS icon – https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/
Copy the URL from the Feed page

Build your Power Automate

Start by building your Power Automate, you can select the Trigger as RSS.
Paste the URL copied from your RSS source above, and then add a step to send a Notification. You can have anything here, it’s up to your use case of what you want to do with the Power Automate further on.

Getting RSS Feeds on Phone using Power Automate

Now, once all this is set, here’s how I’ll get notifications on the phone once I have Power Automate setup and authenticated to the correct environment of Power Automate.

Whenever there’s a new blog posted on https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/, I get a Power Automate notification on the phone like this
And when you click on it, you’ll see what has been posted, it will open up in the Power Automate app
And when you click on the link, it will take you to the actual blog Post

Hope this helps you in your application or use case! Cheers!!

Selecting (Current) in Environment in Power Automate CDS connector and why it matters

February 25, 2020September 26, 2020 priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Microsoft Flows, Power Automate Microsoft Flow, Power Automate, Power Platform

If you’re new to Power Automate, you must be wondering why am I given an option to select either (Current) or the actual name of the environment. Why can’t I just select the actual name?

Well, here’s why –

Importing into Other environments

So, when you import your Flow / Power Automate into other environment using a solution, be it from Sandbox to Production or to entirely different org in different tenant, here’s the behavior

(Current) selection

And if you Export this Flow and import into other Organizations, you can simply restore the connections to that organization by simply selecting the connection

And it will be loaded with the current environment(s) as it was on the source environment

Environment selection

Whereas now, if you have exported the Flow with Environments selected as the particular environment and not (Current) like below –

When you import this into other environment, and when you try to authenticate, it will not go through and you’ll see something like this –

And if you wonder what the Org name is displayed in the picture above, it’s the Org Unique Name of the source environment

And that’s why, it’s critical to select (Current) environment when you develop flows and you know you want to have these imported to other environments.
Here’s Microsoft’s Current Environment connector’s official Docs – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/commondataserviceforapps?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Scenario

Check Count

Using it for comparison

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Commas and Decimals

Phone Number

Currency Input

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Unbound Action

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Scenario

Using Switch

Working

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Example

Flow Inside a solution vs. Outside a Solution

Inside a Solution

Outside a Solution

Use Parse JSON from Data Operation

Checking Result

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Scenario

Making HTTP Request

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Retrieve Users with Filter Condition

Result

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Power Automate

How it works

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Scenario

Build your Power Automate

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Importing into Other environments

(Current) selection

Environment selection

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