Error - data type not supported

[HallieG]

Hi! 

I have a Get Items actions that continue to fail with the below error. I have a column - Year (lookup column) that I guess Power Automate doesn't recognize the data type. I created a view without the year column that fails, however it still fails. Is there any workaround for this list, I can't create any flow on it because of this error. 

Here's the error 

Flow save failed with code 'DynamicOperationRequestClientFailure' and message 'The dynamic operation request to API 'sharepointonline' operation 'GetTable' failed with status code 'BadRequest'. This may indicate invalid input parameters. Error response: { "status": 400, "message": "The required field \"Year\" data type is not supported\r\nclientRequestId: 47369fff-7dd4-4f5a-85b7-09af81da8713\r\nserviceRequestId: 47369fff-7dd4-4f5a-85b7-09af81da8713" }'.

[Jronash]

Is this SharePoint Online, or an on-prem installation?

My experience has been that SharePoint on-prem installations don't respect your views.

[HallieG]

SharePoint Online. 

[Jronash]

I ran a few tests, and it seems to be working on my end.  It works when I include the lookup column, and it also works if I select a view that does not include the lookup column.  You're using the SharePoint "Get Items" action, right?

A few things to check.  As I said, I can't replicate this problem, so these are all complete guesses going off of the error message you posted:

1. Go to your list in SharePoint, click on the gear box and go to List Settings.  Can you confirm what type your Year column is (you said Lookup Column, but just to double-check).
2. Also check if there are other requirements in this field.  Does the data have to be of a certain type?  Is the field required?
3. Also just to double check - the column doesn't have double quotes on it, does it?  I.e., is it Year or "Year"?
4. One way to read the error message is that there's a problem with the data type.  Another way of reading it is that there's a problem with the data in a column not matching the data type of the column.  If Year is required, double-check that there aren't any list items where Year is blank.  If it requires a date or a number value, double-check that you don't have a list item with the wrong type of data.  SharePoint is supposed to keep this from happening, but I've seen instances where bad data slipped in somehow.

That's all I got!

[HallieG]

Year was required - so I un checked that and the flow was able to save and pull in data! thanks for the solution.

Also - Do you know about Lookup fields in lists. The Get Items action will not pull in any of the Lookup fields only the "hardcoded" ones. Can we force the lookup fields to get pulled in as well? They are in my view but I do not see the field in the dynamic content?

[Jronash]

From my tests, it looks like the other lookup fields are returned, but are not added to dynamic content.  So we can access them, but we have to use an expression to do so.

In my test, I have one of these columns called Lookup:Modified, that displays the modified date of the list item the lookup points to.  When I run Get Items and inspect the data, I see that it is arranged like this:

"body":{
  "value":[
    {
      "Lookup_x003a_Modified": {
        "@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference",
		"Id":10,
		"Value":"2020-10-09T18:06:44Z"
      }
    }
  ]
}

(I cut out a lot of irrelevant stuff.)

This means that if we loop over the items from our Get Items action (using 'value' from the dynamic content), we can access that field value with this expression:

item()?['Lookup_x003a_Modified']?['value']

Note that my column name is Lookup:Modified, but the colon is converted to '_x003a_' when I use it in an expression.

Hopefully that helps.

[HallieG]

Thank you, I am working through this solution right now! 

Can you show me a screenshot of the Loop? I don't know how to pull the expression in?  

[Jronash]

Sure.  As you can see here, I have an Apply to each block that is looping over the values from Get items.

In the compose action (and this could be any kind of action, not just compose), I put the expression in by clicking "Expression" on the dynamic content block and typing my expression.  Type carefully, because it is not forgiving of typos, and press Update when you are done.

[HallieG]

Hey I am still having trouble getting the Manufacturer to populate. I tried Manufacturer and Manufacturer1 (as indicated in the URL) but they both return blanks? Any ideas?  here are the field details. 

[Jronash]

This is difficult to guess without seeing exactly how your data is organized.

From what I can see, I would guess you could access this value by creating an Apply to each block over your values from you Get Items action and using the expression:

item()?['Manufacturer1']?['value']

You are correct that you should refer to the column using the name you see in the URL, not the name you see in the title field.  (Usually they are the same, but not always.)

However, I would expect that to return an ID.  If you want to return the value of some of the other values that you are bringing over from the other table with your Lookup column, you would need to use those column names instead.

If there is no sensitive data, it would be helpful to see the names and types of all of the columns in this list (or at least those related to the lookup column).  It would also be helpful to see a screenshot of the part of your flow where you are trying to access this data.

[HallieG]

Ok – So I will try to describe this the best I can.

I am pulling in Get Items (Client Forms List) that includes a Lookup column called Manufacturer (actual name Manufacturer1). This field is a dropdown list from a SP list =  Clients List – Client Field. Then we select a client and it becomes the Manufacturer Field record.

LIST: Client Forms Columns (none of the lookup fields are returned in the Dynamic Content)

[Jronash]

Well, your flow looks good.  The data must not be organized the way I'm guessing.

The next step would be to look at the output of your Get Items action.  If you go to the run history for that flow, you can open the Get Items action and go to the Outputs section and view the output.  Once you're there, search for 'Manufacturer1' and see what comes up.  You should see a JSON object, something like this:

"Manufacturer1": {
  "@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference",
  "Id":10,
  "Value":"something"
}

If you are able to find that and post it here, that would help.  You can remove the actual data, I only need to see how it's organized.  ("Id", "Value", etc.)

If you can't find Manufacturer1 in the output anywhere, that means it's not being returned by your Get Items action, either because of the view you are using, or possibly some other reason.

[HallieG]

That seems to be the problem, when I look at the Outputs, none of the lookup columns (Manufacturer) show up. is there any way to force them? why aren't they there? I am currently looking at Get Items for the entire list, and there is no Manufacturer column. 

[Jronash · Accepted solution]

Your initial question suggests that you've already played around with Views some, but that might be something to try again.  Can you create a view that only returns the Manufacturer column and use that in your Get Items action and see what comes through?

The disclaimer here being that because I can't reproduce this behavior on my end, I'm just throwing out educated guesses at this point.