Flow condition evaluating incorrectly

[aobr31569]

I'm trying to set up a fairly simple flow. Check date of SharePoint column (Calculated column formatted as date) equal to utcNow(yyyy-MM-dd). It wont work. I've created an entry in the SharePoint list with the date of today, and it still shows condition as false.

Even trying on a non calculated column its not working. Yet I have another list/flow and it works fine.

 And yet it is quite clearly 01/03/2019.

[AlanPs1]

Hi @aobr31569 , I will try to assist.

what's the actual WDL for:

As I would try

equals(<Last Cali...>, utcNow(yyyy-MM-dd))

then make that equal to true(expression).

That may work or post the output of the SharePoint connector JSON that has generated <Last Cali...> and I will do my best to assist.

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If this post has solved your problem, please click "Accept as Solution".

Any other questions, just ask.

Thanks, Alan

[aobr31569]

Thanks for the suggestion, as I'm a Flow beginner what is 'WDL'?

I tried using the expression you suggested, but it always says its invalid. (I did change Last Cali... to the full string).

Portion of JSON code.

{"statusCode":200,"headers":{"Transfer-Encoding":"chunked","Vary":"Accept-Encoding","X-SharePointHealthScore":"0","X-MS-SPConnector":"1","X-SP-SERVERSTATE":"ReadOnly=0","DATASERVICEVERSION":"3.0","SPClientServiceRequestDuration":"115","SPRequestGuid":"dfdac49e-7010-8000-a457-2b37d81d620a","request-id":"dfdac49e-7010-8000-a457-2b37d81d620a","MS-CV":"nsTa3xBwAICkVys32B1iCg.0","Strict-Transport-Security":"max-age=31536000","X-FRAME-OPTIONS":"SAMEORIGIN","MicrosoftSharePointTeamServices":"16.0.0.8620","X-Content-Type-Options":"nosniff","X-MS-InvokeApp":"1; RequireReadOnly","Timing-Allow-Origin":"*","x-ms-apihub-cached-response":"true","Cache-Control":"max-age=0, private","Date":"Fri, 01 Mar 2019 23:05:09 GMT","P3P":"CP=\"ALL IND DSP COR ADM CONo CUR CUSo IVAo IVDo PSA PSD TAI TELo OUR SAMo CNT COM INT NAV ONL PHY PRE PUR UNI\"","X-AspNet-Version":"4.0.30319","X-Powered-By":"ASP.NET","Content-Type":"application/json; charset=utf-8","Expires":"Thu, 14 Feb 2019 23:05:10 GMT","Last-Modified":"Fri, 01 Mar 2019 23:05:10 GMT","Content-Length":"273824"},"body":{"@odata.nextLink":"https://flow-apim-europe-001-westeurope-01.azure-apim.net/apim/sharepointonline/53a6401e04cee5104e38b4ff5a9a44e2/datasets/https%253A%252F%252Ftsx.sharepoint.com%252Fsites%252FTSBSShotton%252FDMS/tables/01457268-3807-4640-aa72-0ac255106bbf/items?$skiptoken=Paged%3dTRUE%26p_ID%3d100","value":[{"@odata.etag":"\"11\"","ItemInternalId":"1","ID":1,"Title":"091203056","Equipment":"Thermometer IR","Status":"WITHDRAWN","Last_x0020_Calibrated":"2010-07-26","Division":{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":1,"Value":"PANELS & PROFILES"},"Division#Id":1,"Area":{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":2,"Value":"Panels"},"Area#Id":2,"Section":"Lab","New_x0020_Owner":{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedUser","Claims":"i:0#.f|membership|julia.xxxx@tatasteeleurope.com","DisplayName":"Lloyd, Julia","Email":"Julia.xxxx@tatasteeleurope.com","Picture":"https://tsx.sharepoint.com/sites/TSBSShotton/DMS/_layouts/15/UserPhoto.aspx?Size=L&AccountName=Julia.xxxx@tatasteeleurope.com","Department":"PP Laboratory","JobTitle":"Chief Chemist"},"New_x0020_Owner#Claims":"i:0#.f|membership|julia.xxxx@tatasteeleurope.com","Calibration_x0020_Due":"2011-07-24T23:00:00Z","Cal_x0020_Status":{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":1,"Value":"Ok"},"Cal_x0020_Status#Id":1,"EquipmentType":{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":31,"Value":"Thermometers"},"EquipmentType#Id":31,"Calibration_x0020_Schedule":52.0,"Ownership_x0020_date":"2011-04-28","Modified":"2019-03-01T23:01:30Z","Created":"2019-02-27T15:06:53Z","Author":

Looking at it now, i'm assuming the error is because the date format is incorrect?

"Calibration_x0020_Due":"2011-07-24T23:00:00Z"

Even though the column is formatted as date only, its returning date/time. 

[AlanPs1]

Hi @aobr31569 

Sorry for the jargon, WDL is Workflow Definition Language. More information on expressions here

So, thanks for the information as I believe what you are looking for is:

equals(formatDateTime(body('Get_items')['Calibration_x0020_Due'], 'yyyy-MM-dd'), formatDateTime(utcNow(), 'yyyy-MM-dd'))

Now, I am assuming you are using a SharePoint "Get items" and it's named as the default, but if not, you will need to tweak that(body('Get_items')['Calibration_x0020_Due']), but you're on the right track in terms of date format.

Something like the above , equal to true should work if indeed you want to work in the most with date format of 'yyyy-MM-dd'.

You may not need to format the date time but when you read the references below that will shed more light on it over all as it could become:

equals(body('Get_items')['Calibration_x0020_Due'], utcNow())

Information here:

utcNow() 

formatDateTime() 

Standard Date and Time Format Strings

If you find my posts helpful, please mark thumbs up.

If these posts has solved your problem, please click "Accept as Solution".

Any other questions, just ask.

Thanks, Alan

[aobr31569]

Thanks again, I think I understand what the expression is doing. (CalibrationDue = utcnow) = true. But it always results in an error.

I'm using 'Get Items' rather than 'Get Item' if that makes much of a difference. I did change that in the expression, but it still errors.

Get items is working, i've checked the output.

Basically I have a list of 465 items requiring calibration. I want to check the calibration due date against the current date, and change another column status as a result. (I have another workflow that checks the due date and sends an email when its within 30 days and then 7 days, these use dynamic content and a single expression that seems to work)

I need to get to grips with expressions and formats because the power of flow with SharePoint lists seems to have huge potential, but its not quite as simple as I first thought.

[AlanPs1]

Hi @aobr31569 

Try this: 

subtle change with use of "?" which allows null. if it were one item, it wouldn't matter. now it is items there looks to be some with out a due date in your JSON.

equals(formatDateTime(body('Get_items')?['Calibration_x0020_Due'], 'yyyy-MM-dd'), formatDateTime(utcNow(), 'yyyy-MM-dd'))

Otherwise, you may have to enhance your condition to say if ['Calibration_x0020_Due'] is not null or empty.

I say this as your JSON has:

New_x0020_Owner& New_x0020_Owner#Claims it seems ...

Error:

The expression is working and doing it's job. the empty vallue needs addressing hence I'd try this.

Thanks, Alan

[aobr31569]

Thanks, tried the updated expression and get a new error.

Unable to process template language expressions for action 'Condition' at line '1' and column '2541': 'The template language function 'formatDateTime' expects its first parameter to be of type string. The provided value is of type 'Null'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions#formatdatetime for usage details.'.

I did also try removing the null/blank fields in CalibrationDue, but still get the error.

Unable to process template language expressions for action 'Condition' at line '1' and column '2541': 'The template language expression 'equals(formatDateTime(body('Get_items')['Calibration_x0020_Due'], 'yyyy-MM-dd'), formatDateTime(utcNow(), 'yyyy-MM-dd'))' cannot be evaluated because property 'Calibration_x0020_Due' doesn't exist, available properties are '@odata.nextLink, value'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions for usage details.'.

Even though it clearly does exist and is referenced in the output of get items.

[aobr31569 · Accepted solution]

I'm beginning to think it just doesnt work on a calculated column, which is really unhelpful. I set up one of the standard reminder flows and ran it. Low and behold the following error.

{
  "status": 400,
  "message": "The field 'cdue' of type 'Calculated' cannot be used in the query filter expression.\r\nclientRequestId: d024b19e-de17-4cb7-a73f-5b1d9872c703\r\nserviceRequestId: 3a2cc59e-304a-8000-a457-2945895bf722"
}

Changing the column to standard date format and it works.