New Trigger for Changes to a Column in an Item in SharePoint Fails

[GeorgeAnderson]

A new trigger has just been released. A video tutorial posted by @Chakkaradeep is found at Video Walkthough of New Trigger/Action. This is meant to allow you to trigger when a column within an item in SharePoint changes, not just when the item changes anywhere in it.

I attempt to set up the flow to detect when the Status column changes and then send an email. However it fails for me.
The error message is: sinceInput not specified.

Here's the attempt:

When an existing item is modified

Get changed for an item

Since = Trigger Window Start Token

Until = Trigger Window End Token

In the Select an output field AND in the first of the two conditions the Dynamic Content choice is Has Condition Changed: Status

Error message received:

Inputs

What am I missing?

[Pstork1]

First, is the Status column included in the view you are using for the trigger and the action?

Second, is versioning enabled for the list?

Also, could you show us the condition statements you are using to check for changes?

[GeorgeAnderson]

@Pstork1 ,

I made a reply to your questions and got a message that my reply was marked as spam and removed. I'll try again without any screenshots.

First: Yes. The Status column is included in the view that I'm using.

Second: Yes. Versioning is enabled for the list.

Third: The condition is shown, but I'll type it out for clarity

Has column changed:Status is equal to true

AND

Status Value is equal to Draft

What I do then... Save the item with a status NOT equal to Draft (one of the other status possibilities on the drop down). Then, go into the item again and save the item with the status equal to Draft. And, then, I get the error message.

[Pstork1]

I didn't try with a second condition (status value = draft), but it does work for me with just the main condition.  I'll add checking for a specific value and let you know.  But the screenshot stops at the end of the Get Changes.  The error is shown, but not the definition of the condition.

[Pstork1]

I just tried with both conditions and its working for me.  Can you show me the definition of your condition statements?

[GeorgeAnderson]

@Pstork1 ,

OK. Hold the horses!

Your screenshot shows an "fx true", mine just has the text "true" typed in the field (you couldn't see mine cuz they labeled my first reply as spam and removed it). Can you explain your fx true, and why that instead of just text "true"? In the tutorial video that @Chakkaradeep created and posted, he only used the text "true" not the fx true. Is fx true important for some reason, or is it equivalent to the text "true"?

Also, you didn't put your condition inside a Apply to Each box. The video did... so I did... though I don't know why or what exactly the Apply to Each does for me in this situation. Now looking back at the video again, @Chakkaradeep was talking about getting the collection of changes from an item, but then he kind of faded out on that discussion, maybe abandoned that line of thought, and then switched to another demo. Very confusing to me! I thought the point was that you need to capture all of the changes of an item in order for this all to work... but... maybe not.

[GeorgeAnderson]

@Pstork1 ,

So, I modified my flow to be more like yours, rather than what was in the first part of the tutorial by @Chakkaradeep .a

It fails on the 2nd step before it ever gets to the conditional. 

Here's what the General steps are now:

2nd try - General Steps

Here's the Step 1 Detail:

2nd Try - Step 1 Detail

Here's the Step 2 Detail (where it fails):
2nd Try - Step 2 Details

When run it fails on Step 2 with this message:
Try 2 - Error message

I could show you the inputs and outputs of the first two steps, but I'm concerned the Moderator is going to call this spam and deleted, maybe because of too many screenshots. Let me know if you want to see the inputs and outputs, or can you see the problem without that?

[Pstork1]

1) When trying to compare to a boolean I find it best to use the true or false expression rather than a literal.  The literal will work, but it is actually a string, not a boolean and the automatic cast seems to be case sensitive.  So whenever testing against a boolean I always enter the value via the expressions tab to make sure I'm getting a boolean value and not a string.

The apply to each isn't really needed if you are using a singular trigger.  The trigger fires when one item is modified and i'm just testing the one item to see if the column changed.  I don't remember whether the video used a loop or not, but its not necessary unless you are doing a recurrence flow and retrieving multiple items.  You do get all the changes for that one item, but its not in a collection.  They show as independent values.  They may have been a collection of changes in an earlier version of the trigger.  @Chakkaradeep has been working with that trigger since its earliest inception.

[Pstork1]

I'm assuming your list is set for both major and minor versions.  I would try setting the second step to include minor versions = Yes.  If its ignoring minor versions it may not find any changes even though changes occurred, but were stored as a minor version.

[GeorgeAnderson]

Found it!!!

[GeorgeAnderson · Accepted solution]

Found it!!!

I wrote this flow starting from a template, thinking that the first step was the same as the new trigger... it was not!

Therefore, I was using an old trigger:

When an existing item is modified

@Pstork1 and others on the forums were using the new trigger:

When an item or a file is modified

I thought I was using the new trigger... but I was not. My eye thought they were the same...
It does works properly, as advertised, when using the correct trigger.

So, if you use the wrong combination:

When an existing item is modified

with

Get Changes for an item or a file (properties only)

You will get the error: sinceInput not specified

This reminds me of the old days of "Bad command or file name" which could mean 31 different things. I do wish error messaging could be more revealing as to what the problem actually is. @Chakkaradeep you might put this in the documentation for the new trigger.

[Pstork1]

That's one of the problems starting with templates.  They can be great learning instruments, but they are a snapshot in time and as things change, they don't.

[KenSprNC]

We are attempting to refactor simple SP OnPrem Leave Calendar Workflows to SP online using Power Automate. Does anyone know how to use the 'column changed' feature within a single flow that is based on the “When an item is created or modified’ trigger?

I've created both types of flows and both worked (as described here) but this ends up duplicating a large set of the follow-on actions after the column-change logic. I’d prefer to put all the logic in one flow for when an item is created and when it is changed (simple CRUD using DRY principle as much as possible).

When we use the 'When Item is created or modified' trigger then add a step for 'Get changes for an item or file (properties only)', the flow errors when tokens are used. Using the 'version trick' or Modified date will not work due to firing orders -- the SLA does not guarantee version 5 will fire after version 3 or that Modified on is accurate. If fact, I've watched version 5 fire before version 3 (mileage/version numbers may vary).

[KenSprNC]

We are attempting to refactor simple SP OnPrem Leave Calendar Workflows to SP online using Power Automate. Does anyone know how to use the 'column changed' feature within a single flow that is based on the “When an item is created or modified’ trigger?

I've created both types of flows and both worked (as described here) but this ends up duplicating a large set of the follow-on actions after the column-change logic. I’d prefer to put all the logic in one flow for when an item is created and when it is changed (simple CRUD using DRY principle as much as possible).

When we use the 'When Item is created or modified' trigger then add a step for 'Get changes for an item or file (properties only)', the flow errors when tokens are used. Using the 'version trick' or Modified date will not work due to firing orders -- the SLA does not guarantee version 5 will fire after version 3 or that Modified on is accurate. If fact, I've watched version 5 fire before version 3 (mileage/version numbers may vary).

[Pstork1]

The problem is that by definition there are no changes when you first create an item.  That's why you are getting errors.  You'll either need to build two flows or find some way to differentiate whether its triggered by a modification or creation.

[KenSprNC]

Thank you for the comment @Pstork1. I started to state the obvious in my quest for a solution, but I didn't want to waste anyone's time. The actual issue is the lack of 'Windows Token' during the CREATE operation. Completing web workflow products mark all non-null values as changed during the CREATE operation - nothing new. IMHO, larger organizations with hundreds of departments will not be able to sustain two or three flows per Leave Calendar (i.e. Create flow, Modify flow, Delete flow, etc.). In our case, that’s over 240 flows for only Leave Calendar implementations.

[Pstork1]

Not really my place to discuss whether the design is lacking or not since I didn't write the code.  Just trying to explain the error.

[keepitsimple]

Hello @GeorgeAnderson,

Went through your post and also the video demo by @Chakkaradeep.

Does this mean that "Get Changes for an item or a file (properties only)" is only supposed to be working with the trigger "When an item or a file is modified"?

I have an existing flow which runs every 24 hours with a recurrence as a trigger. I want to find if the items were changed in the past 24 hours. I tried to use "Get Changes for an item or a file (properties only)" with Since = Trigger Window Start Token. This is not supposed to work which you described.

I also tried with Since = getPastTime(24,'Hour'), hoping to get the changes. However this also returns the same error as yours.

Can you please help?

Thank you

[Pstork1]

Yes, you are correct. It only works with the modified trigger and will not work with the recurrence trigger.  You can check the Modified Date/Time to see if it was modified in the last 24 hours, but you won't be able to get the specific columns that were changed.

[tonygarcia22]

I am getting the same exact error (sinceInput not specified) but I have the correct trigger "When an item or a file is modified" . What am I missing?