Filter Array woes - 'Filter_array' failed:The provided value is of type 'Object'.

[Seuadr]

Hi all,

I am confused - I am trying to take response details from a  form submission, put them in an array, and filter for length.

here is my flow:

here are my inputs/outputs:

JSON inputs:
{
  "responder": "ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu",
  "submitDate": "6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM",
  "r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375": "response",
  "r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653": "Pre Implementation Validation",
  "rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3": "Validate the equipment class",
  "re1091ddaff7e40af84fc3b1405d3b17d": "",
  "r007f98f267f14c5ea21ff5e2ecd892e7": "",
  "rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b": "Build the Bulk Template",
  "r182391eeefcc4a83a900d7578b04fd92": ""
}

JSON outputs:

  "responder": "ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu",
  "submitDate": "6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM",
  "r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375": "response",
  "r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653": "Pre Implementation Validation",
  "rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3": "Validate the equipment class",
  "re1091ddaff7e40af84fc3b1405d3b17d": "",
  "r007f98f267f14c5ea21ff5e2ecd892e7": "",
  "rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b": "Build the Bulk Template",
  "r182391eeefcc4a83a900d7578b04fd92": ""
}
Compose_2 output:
[
  {
    "responder": "ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu",
    "submitDate": "6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM",
    "r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375": "response",
    "r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653": "Pre Implementation Validation",
    "rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3": "Validate the equipment class",
    "re1091ddaff7e40af84fc3b1405d3b17d": "",
    "r007f98f267f14c5ea21ff5e2ecd892e7": "",
    "rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b": "Build the Bulk Template",
    "r182391eeefcc4a83a900d7578b04fd92": ""
  }
]
Filter array input:
outputs('Compose_2')

Filter Array Expresison:
length(item())

Filter Array error Message:
InvalidTemplate. The execution of template action 'Filter_array' failed: The evaluation of 'query' action 'where' expression '@greater(length(item()), 1)' failed: 'The template language function 'length' expects its parameter to be an array or a string. The provided value is of type 'Object'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions#length for usage details.'.

I am confused, because i have several flows that do the same thing from plaintext emails and i don't get this error i added the parse JSON because i was thinking that the compose_2 was perhaps having issues with the output from get response details, but, it seems to be the same either way.

i also tried an apply to each with the filter array action being "current item" but get the same error.

i am not sure how to approach this?

[Paulie78]

It's because you are trying to use length on a whole object, in your case:

  {
    "responder": "ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu",
    "submitDate": "6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM",
    "r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375": "response",
    "r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653": "Pre Implementation Validation",
    "rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3": "Validate the equipment class",
    "re1091ddaff7e40af84fc3b1405d3b17d": "",
    "r007f98f267f14c5ea21ff5e2ecd892e7": "",
    "rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b": "Build the Bulk Template",
    "r182391eeefcc4a83a900d7578b04fd92": ""
  }

You can only use length on an array, or a string. I presume you are trying to test the length of one of the properties of that object, so you could do something like 

length(item()['responder'])

or you could get the entire length of the object by doing something like:

length(string(item()))

 What is it you are actually trying to achieve, it does not make complete sense to me.

[Seuadr]

Paulie78,

Thanks for the quick response!

My end goal is to omit any array entries that have no value entered in the response:

Regards,

Jared

[Paulie78 · Accepted solution]

You can do it like this:

https://ibb.co/68KpLsy

The output produced is:

[
  "<responder>ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu</responder>",
  "<submitDate>6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM</submitDate>",
  "<r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375>response</r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375>",
  "<r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653>Pre Implementation Validation</r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653>",
  "<rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3>Validate the equipment class</rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3>",
  "<rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b>Build the Bulk Template</rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b>"
]

[Paulie78]

Actually change the xpath expression to:

xpath(outputs('XML'), '//root/entries/*/text()')

and delete the select action. Then the output will be:

[
  "ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu",
  "6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM",
  "response",
  "Pre Implementation Validation",
  "Validate the equipment class",
  "Build the Bulk Template"
]

Bit cleaner.

[Seuadr]

Thanks! I am working on implementing this, but, i think i've gone awry somewhere - 

My XML output is:

<root><entries><body><responder>ipf.sa.hvacflow@msu.edu</responder><submitDate>6/30/2021 12:55:00 PM</submitDate><r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375>response</r2fd4e52c503546c199c3869b95b02375><r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653>Pre Implementation Validation</r23b2747015474c219b0d3946db0e5653><rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3>Validate the equipment class</rc9512ec9e1a14bf8a7e0ea10148678f3><re1091ddaff7e40af84fc3b1405d3b17d></re1091ddaff7e40af84fc3b1405d3b17d><r007f98f267f14c5ea21ff5e2ecd892e7></r007f98f267f14c5ea21ff5e2ecd892e7><rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b>Build the Bulk Template</rf4838fcf300e45a3b06ff7aa4bbef80b><r182391eeefcc4a83a900d7578b04fd92></r182391eeefcc4a83a900d7578b04fd92></body></entries></root>

but the xpath input is []

[Seuadr]

I figured it out - instead of selecting specific nodes, i just selected all of the nodes:

xpath(outputs('XML'), '//node()/text()')

this might normally be a bad idea, but, since i have a very limited selection of items, it seems to work fine.