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egornua1
Post Patron
Post Patron

Date conversion expression factoring in blank dates

Hello All,

 

Hope someone can advise?

I am creating numerious csv files from an excel file via the create html table action.

I have a number of date fields that need to be converted using the add days but i there are times when the fields have no date so i need to factor this in.

 

I am using the below expression but it doesn't seem to work and the flow times out.

If i remove the expression the rest of the flow works fine.

 

I have done a compose and the output is either a string or blank

 

Expressionif(equals(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date'],''),null,formatDateTime(addDays('1899-12-30',int(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date'])),'yyyy-MM-dd'))

 

Error - The execution of template action 'Create_CSV_table' failed. The column values could not be evaluated: 'The template language function 'int' was invoked with a parameter that is not valid. The value cannot be converted to the target type.'.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
abm
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hi @egornua1 

 

Thanks for the screen share. There are couple of things we did. First we set the List rows Excel connector Date Format to ISO 901. Then under the create CSV file we did an IF expression to check whether the length is > 0 then format the date using FromatDateTime() expression. Earlier under your Create CSV step you had referenced item with apply to each loop which was wrong instead we need item()?['ETA').

 

The expression used is as follows:

 

if(greater(length(item?['ETA'])),0,formatDateTime(items('Apply_to_each')?['ETA'],'dd-MM-yyyy'))

 

Also you had issues with caching of your files in SharePoint. To overcome this issue we did created a unique filename using format dd-MM-yyyy hh_mm_ss

 

Hope the session was useful.

 

Thanks



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View solution in original post

10 REPLIES 10
Paulie78
Super User
Super User

Well, it seems like your condition isn't doing enough to stop invalid values reaching your formatDateTime expression. It is difficult to know exactly where the problem is without seeing the data, but you could try expanding the expression a bit, but really I am just stabbing in the dark:

if
(
  or
  (
	equals(trim(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date']),''),
	equals(trim(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date']),null)
  ),
  null,
  formatDateTime
  (
	addDays('1899-12-30',
	int(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date'])),'yyyy-MM-dd'
  )
)

 

@Paulie78  - thanks for your help.

 

I ran your expression but it failed also.

 

error - The execution of template action 'Create_CSV_table' failed. The column values could not be evaluated: 'The provided parameters for template language function 'trim' are not valid.'.

eliotcole
Super User
Super User

Hi, @egornua1 I would be willing to bet that you just need to play around with the exact name, there.

 

The column title in excel likely is named something slightly different is all.

 

Also, if you edit some screenshots of the flow into your original post, it'll really help. But like I say, @Paulie78's answer is probably just right, if you play with the source details a bit.

 

You can test, and then get, the exact column name by creating a compose, then putting any old expression functions in there, and pull the column using the Dynamic Data tab (or drop down) whilst composing your expression.

@eliotcole  - Thanks for the feedback but iv'e tried everything and it doesn't seem to work.

 

I can see the values in the inputs and outputs.

I also reverted back to the below expression to check and it works fine on numerous date columns so dont think column naming is issue.

addDays('1899-12-30', int(item()['Create Date']), 'dd-MM-yyyy')
 
Thanks
eliotcole
Super User
Super User

any chance of some screenshots, @egornua1 ?

 

I'm pretty sure that is because the value you are getting is null and therefore trim cannot be applied. change the expression I gave you above to:

if
(
  or
  (
	equals(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date'],''),
	equals(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date'],null)
  ),
  null,
  formatDateTime
  (
	addDays('1899-12-30',
	int(items('Apply_to_each')?['Start Date'])),'yyyy-MM-dd'
  )
)
v-chenzhi
Community Support
Community Support

Hi @egornua1,

 

Could you please show more about your flow and tell me what’s the data type in your excel?

 

Best Regards,

Zhi Chen

egornua1
Post Patron
Post Patron

Hello All,

 

Thanks for the support, much appreciated.

I have tried @Paulie78 updated expression factoring in '' and null but i get a blank return even though all lines have a date in the excel file.

 

See attached i can see the date in the input and expression used.

 

if(or(equals(items('Apply_to_each')?['ETA'],''),equals(items('Apply_to_each')?['ETA'],null)),null,formatDateTime(addDays('1899-12-30',int(items('Apply_to_each')?['ETA'])),'yyyy-MM-dd'))

troubleShootETA.JPG

abm
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hi @egornua1 

 

Thanks for the screen share. There are couple of things we did. First we set the List rows Excel connector Date Format to ISO 901. Then under the create CSV file we did an IF expression to check whether the length is > 0 then format the date using FromatDateTime() expression. Earlier under your Create CSV step you had referenced item with apply to each loop which was wrong instead we need item()?['ETA').

 

The expression used is as follows:

 

if(greater(length(item?['ETA'])),0,formatDateTime(items('Apply_to_each')?['ETA'],'dd-MM-yyyy'))

 

Also you had issues with caching of your files in SharePoint. To overcome this issue we did created a unique filename using format dd-MM-yyyy hh_mm_ss

 

Hope the session was useful.

 

Thanks



Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution!

If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up


Proud to be a Flownaut!

Learn more from my blog
Power Automate Video Tutorials

@abm - Thank you so much for the support on this, very much appreciated.

Brilliant knowledge of the product, it really is great to have support from super users when  trying to solve issues. Thanks again!

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