How to null lookup fields in CDS

[Mick282]

Hi all,

I've run into a problem with lookup fields in CDS and Flow. I'm trying to create a Flow which pseudo clones an existing case when they trigger a button on the form. It will then take a few fields on the existing case and create a whole new case and then roll up the existing case to the new case via the out of the box Parent Case field. 

The problem I'm having is that I have a custom lookup field on case called "Account" which looks up the account entity. I've then used the Common Data Service (current environment) create record step to create a duplicate of the case.

Now with the current environment steps. To set a lookup field for account as an example I have to set it like so:

/accounts(<account id>). This works fine but the account field is not mandatory and hence can be blank but I have to set the field value in case it has value. The problem is that if I trigger the Flow without a value in the account field. The Flow will attempt to clone the existing case and pass a blank lookup value to the field:

/accounts()

Is there a way to still have a dynamic value set for the account lookup field but if the existing case does not have a value for it, then to just set the field to null instead of failing the entire flow?

[yashag2255]

Hey @Mick282 

One way I see of doing this is using the coalesce function so you can do something like this: 

Add a compose action and save the accound field over there (i am assuming this would be a guid) and now in the action (the screenshot that you have shared), remove everything from that area and then use the expression 

coalesce(outputs('Compose'),outputs('Compose'),null)

This basically checks if the account field data has a value and if yes uses that value and if no then sends a null.

Hope this Helps!

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