Multiple Files from Different MS Forms Questions, Not All Mandatory - Parse JSON code Fails with Blank Response

[Mila]

Hi all,

I completed the flow below however I am encountering two issues which I cannot seem to get around.

1. When a document with the same name is uploaded by a user filling in an MS Form in response to different questions, the flow fails. Is there a way to avoid this?

2. Following this solution (Solved: Re: Get multiple files from different MS Forms upl... - Power Platform Community (microsoft....), I have two conditions set up so that, if one of the 'Please upload' questions do not come up in the form branching, the Flow skips it. In the blank field after 'is not equal to' I tried to use these four individual options:      ""     " "       null      "null"

When I save and exit the flow and get back into it, the value has either disappeared or remains as null, but the flow fails:

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this might happen?

Perhaps @Jay-Encodian?

Many thanks!

Mila

[ChadVKealey · Accepted solution]

I've found conditions to be a real pain at times, especially when the condition you're checking is a blank/null value. I prefer to use the "Configure run after" property/setting so that when that action fails, the flow will continue to run. See https://youtu.be/jBTmX0cm6NU for the pattern I use. 

If you prefer to use a condition, then you may have better luck comparing the length of the response (using the "length()" expression) than checking for the presence/absence of the response. In other words, on the left side of the condition, enter the expression "length(<file-upload-question>)" and check if that is equal to (or not equal to) the number zero (0). If the question is left blank, it'll have a length of zero characters.

As for the duplicate file names, you really just need to do something to make sure that file names are unique. It could be appending the date/time of the form submission or file creation (e.g.: utcnow()), the name of the submitter, or something else. Other SharePoint file actions (specifically the "Move file") have a built-in setting to handle name collisions, but not the "Create file" action. So, the choices are either check if the name exists and, if so, append something to make it unique OR just always append some consistent string to ensure that every dynamically-generated file name is unique. I'm a big fan of consistent naming conventions for files, so in nearly every project I work with the client to find a convention that works for them.

[Mila]

Thanks very much @ChadVKealey !

My limited knowledge meant that I could not quite fully understand and use the information in your video and directly apply it in my flow as mine aims at saving the attachment in a SharePoint list versus sending an email. 

I did however use the 'length' expression option and that seems to be working well! Asking users to do some rounds of testing, so fingers crossed. 

Thanks very much, I appreciate you help!

Mila

[ChadVKealey]

In terms of getting the form response data and accounting for no responses to non-required questions, the process is exactly the same regardless of what you intend to do with the files that are submitted. This playlist contains a series of videos that go into more detail, starting with the basics: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMVyjgrWIGnylSE6NAy_OIG4_ZBqzZtp5

However, I don't specifically talk about what to do with those non-required file upload questions there.

[Mila]

Thanks @ChadVKealey, and sorry for the late response (annual leave).

The Flow just failed as two people were submitting the form at the same time. 

Error:

Save Conflict.

Your changes conflict with those made concurrently by another user. If you want your changes to be applied, click Back in your Web browser, refresh the page, and resubmit your changes.

Upon resubmitting it, it worked, and created a new row into the SharePoint list. Do you know whether there is a way for me to avoid this? I read a thread earlier but could not quite work out what to amend. 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! 

Mila

[ChadVKealey]

What step within that Apply to each failed?

[Mila]

Hi @ChadVKealey 

It is the step that looks for the attachment in the MS Form and then adds it on to the SharePoint list. There are two questions that have a mandatory form upload step, and one of the two failed, whereas the other worked. The files uploaded has different file names. 

Thank you. 

Mila

[ChadVKealey]

Due to the parallel branch, you're basically updating the item twice at the same time to attach the two files. It has nothing to do with two submissions being made at the same time, but rather the same flow trying to update the same item simultaneously. 

At a minimum, you should eliminate the parallel branch and just make it a single sequence. Alternatively, you could add all of the files into an array variable and then iterate through that array to attach each file. See https://youtu.be/2mrcTMkwelE for more details on that option.

[Mila]

Thanks very much @ChadVKealey! For now I have removed the parallel branching. Testing again tomorrow. I will also look to rebuild with the array variable so I learn how to do that. 

Thanks again, your tutorials are super helpful and I appreciated your help!

Mila