Format Date in Return Values

[Gwill1983]

Hi all,

I have a flow with my PVA topic which pulls a date from excel, but it is returning it as a number. 

After my 'Get a row' action I want the date to return as a date, not a text string.

It is the "W/C Date" in the output above that I am trying to format.....

I know how to format this in power automate, but the return values section doesnt allow formulas to return a value. 

I am fairly certain it will be in a compose action, but cant get any formula that I try to work.

Can anybody help with a solution for this?

[renatoromao]

Hi @Gwill1983 ,

You need to format this date.

I have added your code below, you can copy and paste within your PVA output (within your Flow):

@{if(empty(outputs('Get_a_row')?['body/W~1C Date']),null,addDays('1899-12-30',int(outputs('Get_a_row')?['body/W~1C Date']),'yyyy-MM-dd'))}

Note: yyyy-MM-dd we are formatting as Year-Month-Day

[Gwill1983]

Thanks.

I added this into the return values as below:

In my bot it just returned the  symbol however

Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

[renatoromao]

@Gwill1983 ,

Remove the text added and open the Dynamic Content panel (right side) >> Go to Expression tab >> Add the following code and click OK if(empty(outputs('Get_a_row')?['body/W~1C Date']),null,addDays('1899-12-30',int(outputs('Get_a_row')?['body/W~1C Date']),'yyyy-MM-dd'))

[Gwill1983]

Ah! I had to zoom out for this to appear! Apologies

Getting this error message now

[renatoromao · Accepted solution]

@Gwill1983 ,

Sometimes, this alert appears but you can try to confirm multiple times. (sometimes works)

Also, you can follow my steps below:

[renatoromao]

@Gwill1983 ,

If still not working, you can open the Dynamic Content panel, select you "W/C Date" field. This Excel column will appear in your output, then you can select the input and copy all content there, and paste in a notepad.

You will see something like that:

@{output(....)} 

Then, you can replace the output within the expression below (without @, {, and } 😞

 if(empty(______PASTE_YOUR_OUTPUT_HERE_WITHOUT_@_AND_{_}______),null,addDays('1899-12-30',int(______PASTE_YOUR_OUTPUT_HERE_WITHOUT_@_AND_{_}______),'yyyy-MM-dd'))

[Gwill1983]

Perfect!! All sorted. Thanks for your help