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pamjustice
Helper I
Helper I

"Apply to each" block keeps getting added for all strings.

I am trying to make a simple Flow that sends an email when an item is added to a Sharepoint list.  For every string column in the list of Dynamic fields I try to display in the email step, it automatically wraps the email step in another "Apply to each" block.  It's turning a simple task into a very frustrating, complicated mess!  I never had this much trouble using SP Designer 2013 workflows.  Does Power Flow really see every string as an array of individual characters and expect, automatically, that someone is going to want to process each little character separately? I'm at the end of my patience with this product.

 

I've read other posts pertaining to the same issue and tried to follow those examples but my flow never turns out looking the same as theirs.  How can I stop my flow from wrapping everything in an "Apply to each block"?

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pamjustice
Helper I
Helper I

@Jcook 

I figured out what was wrong and for those who have this issue, I am posting what I did.

I started from scratch creating a new workflow and noticed when I added my tenant site, the list I wanted to connect the workflow to was not among those to choose from. (The first time I tried this I forced the list to be chosen by picking the "custom" option which I should not have done.)

I deleted the list the workflow was originally based on because I noticed that it was created using an "announcement" list template instead of a new modern generic list.  I created a new, modern generic list and added my necessary columns, including the choice field and set it to allow only one choice (as a radio button).  This in turn allowed me to create the email step in the workflow without the annoying "apply to each" block wrapping around the whole workflow.  So it turns out that the list template was the culprit, not the choice field column.

View solution in original post

13 REPLIES 13
Jcook
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hello @pamjustice 

 

I have written a blog post on how to bypass the apply to each:

https://flowaltdelete.ca/2020/04/12/bypass-apply-to-each-loop/

 


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@Jcook   Thank you for your suggestion.  I read through the blog but I'm not sure how I would apply this to my situation.  I'm not adding multiple items to a list or even processing multiple items.  I'm simply trying to send an email when one new item is added to the list.  I have a couple of choice fields and a few text fields, (both single and multiple lines of text) and the email is just to display those fields for the one item that was added.  Your blog seems to have some complex steps to avoid the stupid loop that gets automatically added by the flow.  Is there something simple I can do to solve this?  When I first started using Flow about a year ago, it didn't behave like this.  When and why was this loop added by Microsoft?

Thanks

Pam J.

Jcook
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hi @pamjustice 

Please share a screenshot of your Flow.

 

The apply to each loop gets added every time the values are an Array. Even if the Array has only 1 item it will still add the Loop. 


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@Jcook 

Screenshot of workflow

pamjustice_0-1601407438004.png

The instant I added either the Severity field or the ApplicationsEffected field, the Apply to Each loop imprisoned the whole email step.  Severity is a choice field and ApplicationsEffected is a multiline text field.

Pam J

Jcook
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hi @pamjustice 

 

Is your Choice column allowed multiple selections?

 

This is why the Apply to each is required. Power Automate recognizes that there could be more than 1 selected, so its defined as an array.

 

To get the values into an email, the easiest would be to use a Select action. And then use the Outputs of that select action in the email.

Jcook_0-1601409664614.png

 

 

If your column is not multi select, I would recommend checking your SharePoint List formats. I could only replicate the behavior you're having by enabling multi select on the choice column.

 

I could not replicate your issue with multi line text column. Please check this settings for these fields in your List 

 


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@Jcook 

The Severity field does not allow multiple choices as far as I know.

pamjustice_0-1601416437151.png

I was always under the impression that both DropDown menu and Radio button properties only allow the user to choose one option.  I created this workflow a long time ago but in editing the flow I have wiped out all the steps and re-added them several times with no joy.  Do you think I should delete the whole workflow and make a new one completely from scratch?  I'll try switching the Severity field to Radio buttons first and/or try your latest suggestion.

Thanks

Pam J

Jcook
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hi @pamjustice 

 

Edit the column in the List view:

Jcook_0-1601417192549.png

 

Could you run the Flow and copy the output from your trigger and paste it here.

 


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I will try what you ask tomorrow.

Thanks

Pam J

@Jcook 

My choice column has never allowed multiple selections. Still the whole workflow gets wrapped in that annoying loop.

pamjustice_0-1602255584009.png

 

Jcook
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Ji @pamjustice 

 

Could you run the Flow and copy the output from your trigger and paste it here.


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If you like my post please hit the Thumbs Up


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Check out my blog for Power Automate tips,
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FlowAltDelete





Here is the result of the workflow.  Nothing is getting entered into the areas where the dynamic fields were inserted.  The email is coming from Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate which is wrong but I don't see anyplace to specify who the email should be from.  And finally, it gives users the option to unsubscribe which we in IT don't want them to do.  but for now I would just like to focus on the looping issue.

pamjustice_0-1602265846636.png

Here is the actual workflow

pamjustice_1-1602266182780.png

Output from the workflow is

 

OUTPUTS
Status code
200
Headers
Key
 
Value
 
Transfer-Encoding    chunked
Retry-After   21600
Vary    Accept-Encoding
X-SharePointHealthScore   1
X-MS-SPConnector   1
X-SP-SERVERSTATE   ReadOnly=0
DATASERVICEVERSION    3.0
SPClientServiceRequestDuration    119
SPRequestGuid    e3288c93-5518-4373-8647-5034477477cf
request-id   e3288c93-5518-4373-8647-5034477477cf
MS-CV   k4wo4xhVc0OGR1A0R3R3zw.0
Strict-Transport-Security   max-age=31536000
X-FRAME-OPTIONS     SAMEORIGIN
Content-Security-Policy     frame-ancestors 'self' teams.microsoft.com *.teams.microsoft.com *.skype.com *.teams.microsoft.us local.teams.office.com *.powerapps.com *.yammer.com *.officeapps.live.com *.stream.azure-test.net *.microsoftstream.com;
MicrosoftSharePointTeamServices    16.0.0.20523
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, 09 Oct 2020 17:36:47 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, 24 Sep 2020 17:36:48 GMT
Last-Modified   Fri, 09 Oct 2020 17:36:48 GMT
Content-Length   2346
Body
{
  "value": [
    {
      "@odata.etag""\"2\"",
      "ItemInternalId""14",
      "ID"14,
      "Title""testing workflow",
      "PartialTitle""testing workflow",
      "Body""<div class=\"ExternalClass65E1FD3AEAD1444E8C49E4C6C9B2EDA5\"><div style=\"font-family&#58;Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size&#58;11pt;color&#58;rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"color&#58;black;\">​This is a test of the im emergency broadcast system.&#160; This is only a test.&#160; If this were a real emergency would have been instructed to on what to do.</span><br></div></div>",
      "Severity": {
        "@odata.type""#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference",
        "Id"2,
        "Value""INFORMATIVE"
      },
      "Severity#Id"2,
      "ApplicationsEffected""Only me",
      "Expires""2020-10-10T06:00:00Z",
      "Modified""2020-10-09T17:36:18Z",
 and all the rest,   The fact is that the workflow is getting the values alright but it isn't displaying them in the resulting email and the minute I try to do anything to correct it, the stupid "apply to each" loop comes back.
 
I tried the same thing in SP Designer 2013 workflow and it works just fine without wrapping everything in a loop.
pamjustice
Helper I
Helper I

@Jcook 

I figured out what was wrong and for those who have this issue, I am posting what I did.

I started from scratch creating a new workflow and noticed when I added my tenant site, the list I wanted to connect the workflow to was not among those to choose from. (The first time I tried this I forced the list to be chosen by picking the "custom" option which I should not have done.)

I deleted the list the workflow was originally based on because I noticed that it was created using an "announcement" list template instead of a new modern generic list.  I created a new, modern generic list and added my necessary columns, including the choice field and set it to allow only one choice (as a radio button).  This in turn allowed me to create the email step in the workflow without the annoying "apply to each" block wrapping around the whole workflow.  So it turns out that the list template was the culprit, not the choice field column.

Magby
New Member

This was my exact issue, and I never considered the template I used to be the possible culprit. Thank you. 

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