Space issue in the column names of Automate

[Youngwong]

Hi all,

Is there a quick fix for the space issue in the column names of Automate? 

There is a column "Product Category" in my SharePoint list, there is a space between Product and Category. In the "Get items" action of my flow, I need to search the data based on the Product Category of a new item created in my SharePoint list, I tried below 3 methods in the Filter Query but all failed.

1. ProductCategory eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’

the flow run failed with below error :

Column 'ProductCategory' does not exist. It may have been deleted by another user.
clientRequestId: ee273502-6575-4a9a-bf15-c0806e405dbb
serviceRequestId: ee273502-6575-4a9a-bf15-c0806e405dbb

2.Product Category eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’

the flow run failed with below error :

The expression "Product Category eq 'Denim'" is not valid. Creating query failed.
clientRequestId: 54f6c36c-211f-4aa4-8d31-2e9470573b2c
serviceRequestId: 54f6c36c-211f-4aa4-8d31-2e9470573b2c

3. Product_x0020_Category eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’

the flow can run successfully, but the "Get items" action gets nothing, I have used the "Create HTML table" and "Add a row into a table" to test it many times, actually nothing

Does anyone know the reason and how to fix this? Thank you!

[ManishJain]

Hi @Youngwong ,

If your Product category is number column then you do not need to put single quotes.

Please refer to similar thread posted earlier

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/OData-syntax-for-sharepoint-column-with-a-space-G...

Thanks

[Youngwong]

Thanks @ManishJain, that column is text format, and I have reviewed the post you advised me before my post, that's why I have my 3rd method for testing. Till now it still doesn't work. 

[efialttes]

Hi!

I would add a dummy 'Compose' action block just before 'Get items' for troubleshooting purposes, assign as its input

Product_x0020_Category eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’

Then reexecute the flow, inspect its content

Is the WDL expression displayed the one you expected?

Thanx!

[Youngwong]

Hi @efialttes ,

Thanks for your advice.

I'm not sure I did the right thing as you mentioned, below is my test result:

1. enter Product_x0020_Category eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’ to the Inputs of Compose action block

    enter Outputs('Compose') to the Filter Query of Get items

the flow runs successfully but gets nothing

2. enter Product_x0020_Category eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’ to the Inputs of Compose action block

    enter Product_x0020_Category eq ‘DynamicContentColumnName’ to the Filter Query of Get items

the flow also runs successfully and gets nothing

I think the first one is the right method, right? but still nothing. Is there anything I did wrong? thank you!

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @Youngwong ,

First, you need to make sure that the type of this field needs to be a single line of text. Then you need to get the internal name of this field instead of the display name.

The field names that are used are the internal field names as used by SharePoint. These internal field names can be found within column settings in SharePoint. Simply go to the settings for the column and in the URL you will find the field name.

Or you could run Filter Query without configuring Filter Query and get the internal name of this field from Body.

Hope that makes sense.

Best Regards,

[Youngwong]

Thanks @v-bacao-msft !

I think now I know what the problem is in my flow, the data type of the column I mentioned is "Lookup", which we provide a dropdown list for users to select, because this is the key factor for our subsequent categorization, we need to standardize the wordings from our users.

One more question, changing the data type of my column to Single line of text is the only way to realize Filter Query function, right?... Is there any other way for us to extract some filtered data from our SharePoint list? If we want to keep this column as a Lookup and a filter. 

Thank you very much!

[v-bacao-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Youngwong ,

Filter Query does not support lookup column as a filter.

You can consider using Condition or Filter array to filter items.

Best Regards,

[Youngwong]

Thanks @v-bacao-msft !

Understand your advice, will try it later.