removeProperty Object vs Array Error Message

[tagustin]

Hello,

I am working on a PC Request Notification Flow that runs when a PC request has been edited. My goal is to include a list of what changed in the email. Overall, it is going well, but there are 2 standard fields I don't need to put into the email which are "Modified" and "PCFormVersion". I would like to remove those 2 fields from the list that is included in the notification email. I'm getting an error on my second Select action that states "The 'from' property value in the 'select' action inputs is of type 'Object'. The value must be an array." I'm still new to PowerAutomate so I'm having a hard time figuring out how to adjust the flow. Can you help me?

Here is the Output from the first Select step so you can see what is being returned (this step is not broken).

Here are the flow steps. The last step labeled "Select - Remove" is the one that is throwing an error.

Here are the expressions I am having trouble with in text format:

json(replace(string(outputs('Select')),'Modified','PCFormVersion'))

removeProperty(removeProperty(item(),'Modified'),'PCFormVersion')

Hopefully, only small adjustments are needed. Thanks in advance for your help!

Teresa

[takolota]

The problem is the JSON( ) expression returns a JSON object, not the array a Select action uses.

But my bigger question is why are you trying to do that replace?

If you use the standard Select table format, you can list the column/field names on the left & their corresponding values on the right. Then if you just don’t include Modified or PCFORM… then they won’t be included in the output.

If you need to let it be variable with different possible columns or fields, then why not just use a Compose action & use replace( ) from there?

[WillPage · Accepted solution]

To remove items from an array use Filter array instead of Select. Put the expression @And(not(equals(item(),'Modified')),not(equals(item(),'PCFormVersion'))) in the advanced editor.

[tagustin]

Thank you both for your advice. I really appreciate it. @takolota, if I understand your question correctly, the reason I can't pick out certain fields using the Select action is that the results from "Get changes for an item or a file" varies. I only wish to include fields in the email that have changed. @WillPage I incorporated your expression so I thank you very much.

Here is the current version of the flow. Seems like a lot of steps to get to what I want so let me know if there is a more efficient way to consolidate the steps. Also, if you scroll down further to the email screenshot, you can see it is not very elegant. The internal SharePoint column names are displayed. Is there a way to show the Display Names instead? My Display Names have spaces between words.

Email screenshot:

[WillPage]

@tagustin  You can get the display names of the columns using the "Send an HTTP request to SharePoint" action.

The request path is _api/Web/Lists/GetByTitle('List Name')/Fields?$select=staticname,title

If the schema is unlikely to change, just hit the URL in a logged in browser (e.g https://myorg.sharepoint.com/sites/mysite/_api/Web/Lists/GetByTitle('List Name')/Fields?$select=staticname,title where myorg is your SharePoint domain, sites/mysite is the path to the site containing the list and List Name is the Display Name of the list or library.

Hit it once in the browser and paste the result into a compose action. Now do another Filter array and input outputs('Compose')?['value'] with the condition body('FilterArray') contains item()?['StaticName]. Replace outputs('Compose') with whatever action contains the output from that HTTP action, whether you do that each flow run or you put it in a compose.

Now the result of that action should contain an array of the relevant columns with the two properties, StaticName and Title, so to get the Display Names of these, do a Select and in there, press the small T icon on the right of the key-value input boxes and in there put the expression item()?['Title']. You can then run the join over the output of that to get a string of the Display Names of the columns.

[tagustin]

@WillPage 

Thank you Will. I will give this a try tomorrow morning (Wed) and let you know how it works out. 

Kind regards,

Teresa

[tagustin]

@WillPage 

Hi Will,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I had an app meeting with IT that resulted in a lot of great feedback to incorporate into the app so I've been working on that before adjusting the flow since the changes involved adding extra fields. I think I have everything dialed in now so I'm hoping to be able to work on implementing your solution for display names tomorrow. Thanks again for your advice. I really appreciate it!

Teresa

[tagustin]

@WillPage 

Hello Will, 

I finally got a chance to work on this on Saturday. I added a Send an HTTP request step per your instructions and ran the flow. I didn't get any errors and I can see that promising results are being returned.

I wasn't completely sure what you meant 7 lines down where you say "Hit it once in the browser and paste the result into a Compose action." Thinking you might have meant for me to run the flow and paste the body of the Flow Run Outputs section into a Compose action, I went in that direction. The ComposeOutputs text is very long so I'm just showing the beginning and end to help us troubleshoot the error I am getting in the FilterArrayOutputs step.

Here is the error I am getting at the FilterArrayOutputs step. I did make changes to the PC Request Form so I'm not sure why it is returning 'Null'.

Here are the expressions I entered into the step. The expression in the notes section is what I entered into the From field. When I enter body('FilterArrayOutputs') in the Condition body, the expression does not save as it says the step cannot reference itself. This is why I tried (body('ComposeOutputs') instead. 

Thinking it might be a flow step order issue, I've tried placing the Send an HTTP step both above and below the Get changes for an item step. It throws the same Null error either way. What should I try next?

Thank you again for your help. I hope you have a nice weekend!

Teresa

[takolota]

@tagustin @WillPage 

 

Try changing that label in the compose from “d” to “body”

You may also need to add more to your expression to get your desired piece of data.

Check the start of this video that explains some of expressions for calling JSON data: https://youtu.be/C52brz28poU

Also I’m not sure if you’re trying to use the static results in a compose here or if you need dynamic results.

[tagustin]

@takolota @WillPage 

Thank you for the advice, but even after changing the "d" to "body" I am getting the error message "Bad Request. The 'from' property value in the 'query' action inputs is of type 'Null'. The value must be an array."

To answer your question about whether I need dynamic results. In these steps, I'm trying to get the Display Names whether or not the column was changed. If I can get these results back, I can then cherry pick out the ones where the column was changed with the Select action.

Teresa

[tagustin]

@takolota @WillPage 

Hello,

I'm still trying to solve the issue of how to come up with the display names, but wanted to let you know that I will be off the computer from Fri-Tues as I have family coming to the house for a visit. If you have any more thoughts on what I should adjust I would love to hear them! Have a great weekend! Teresa

[takolota]

“You may also need to add more to your expression to get your desired piece of data.

Check the start of this video that explains some of expressions for calling JSON data: https://youtu.be/C52brz28poU”

I don’t know what specific part you’re trying to get your data from as you didn’t show it all.

But it looks like it may be several layers deep in your JSON & array structure. You’ll need to create an expression that manually parses through those parts to get to your specific data.

[tagustin]

@takolota @WillPage 

Hello,

Thank you for the advice. I think you are right in saying I need an expression to get to the data I need. I tried watching Reza's video, but couldn't figure out how to make it work for me. Here is a sample of the outputs I am getting from my 'ComposeTitles' step.

{
  "d": {
    "results": [
      {
        "__metadata": {
          "id": "https://fortive.sharepoint.com/sites/TEKCSOEmployees/_api/Web/Lists(guid'e9bae1f6-5440-414f-93c9-f9862ed0e1e2')/Fields(guid'1d22ea11-1e32-424e-89ab-9fedbadb6ce1')",
          "uri": "https://fortive.sharepoint.com/sites/TEKCSOEmployees/_api/Web/Lists(guid'e9bae1f6-5440-414f-93c9-f9862ed0e1e2')/Fields(guid'1d22ea11-1e32-424e-89ab-9fedbadb6ce1')",
          "type": "SP.Field"
        },
        "StaticName": "ID",
        "Title": "ID"
      },

Here are the Outputs from my 'FilterArrayGetChanges' step.

Here the expressions entered into the Filter array fields. The flow fails at this step. The error message is "The 'from' property value in the 'query' action inputs is of type 'Null'. The value must be an array."

How can I manipulate what is returned from the 'FilterArrayGetChanges' step so I can compare it to what is returned in the 'ComposeTitles' step? I really appreciate you hanging in there with me as I think this solution will not only benefit myself, but others in the Community as well. 

Thank you!

Teresa

[WillPage]

You need to clean up the output of the FilterArrayGetChanges action so you have just the column's internal name. To do this, add a select action and put the output of the filter array into its input, then click the T icon on the right to switch from key-value inputs to raw, and add the following expression into it: substring(item(),2,sub(indexOf(item(),':true'),4))

The result of this will look like

[
    "GridLocation",
    "DeviceType",
    "DeviceName"
]

Now, add an Apply to each and inside that, add a filter array. The input of the filter array is outputs('ComposeTitles')?['d']?['results'] and the thing to filter for is items('Apply_to_each') is equal to item()?['StaticName'] where Apply_to_each is whatever you called the apply to each loop but with spaces substituted for underscores (or find it in dynamic content, usually down the bottom of the list).

Now add a compose and do first(body('Filter_array'))?['Title'] to get the string value of the column display name, also assuming your filter array above is called Filter array.

After the loop, you can reference that compose in another compose: Simply outputs('Compose') as an expression where Compose is the name of the compose inside your loop. The outer compose will be an array of all the values of the Title properties from the list metadata, which you can now use in your email/notification/approval or whatever it is you're doing with it.