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Zball
Frequent Visitor

Append string to array error

Hello all,

 

I am looking to calculate the number of workdays between 2 dates, and am using an index date variable while determining what day of the week the current date lies on to determine if it is a weekday. When attempting to append the index date to my array of dates, I get the error: "The execution of template action 'Apply_to_each_5' failed: the result of the evaluation of 'foreach' expression '@outputs('Compose_2')' is of type 'String'. The result must be a valid array.". I have attached screenshots of the flow as well as the outputs along the way for clarity, any help would be appreciated!

Outputs:

Zball_0-1658842248872.png

Zball_1-1658842290947.png

Current Flow: 

Zball_2-1658842391656.png

Note: Outputs for index date variable is the start date, createarray is initialized with start date

Zball_3-1658842466415.png

Note: Outputs in do until is the due date, compose 2 adds a day per loop to count up, set variable 11 value is output of compose 2, apply to each output is also compose 2. Compose 3 is variables('DateArray')

 

Any and all help appreciated!

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
Jronash
Impactful Individual
Impactful Individual

I think you have multiple problems in your flow, which is making it difficult to troubleshoot.

 

Here's a different solution to the same problem:

date1.png

First you create variables for your start date and end date, and an integer variable to track the number of days.  Next, the Do Until loop:

 

Date2.png

Set the Do Until loop to run until the Start Date is equal to the End Date.  I wrapped both dates in a formatDateTime() function to be sure that they will be formatted in the same way.  The expression for those is:

formatDateTime(variables('startDate'))
formatDateTime(variables('endDate'))

 

Next, a condition to check whether the current day is a Saturday or a Sunday:

Date3.png

 

In the condition, I use the dayOfWeek() function to test whether it's a Saturday or a Sunday:

dayOfWeek(variables('startDate'))

 

If the current date is not a Saturday or a Sunday, I increment the numDays variable by one.  Next, I have to increment the startDate variable.

Date4.png

I can't reference the startDate variable directly within the Set Variable action, so I have to use a compose action as an intermediary.  The expression in the Compose action is this:

addDays(variables('startDate'), 1)

Then I just set the startDate variable to the output from the Compose action.

 

That's it!  After the Do Until loop, the numDays variable should contain the number or work days between the start date and the end date.

View solution in original post

12 REPLIES 12
Hardesh15
Super User
Super User

@Zball When you ran flow then what is your compose 2 output?. Also Apply to each input must be a collection.

Please 'Thumbs Up' the posts that helped you and 'Accept as Solution' if my post answered your question.

@Hardesh /Gopenly.in

The compose 2 output is the date in the current iteration, every time it loops the compose 2 output increases by 1 day. For example - the start date is the 25th, so the first iteration output will be the 26th, the second iteration the 27th etc. until that date is equal to the due date

@Zball Why are you using Apply to each 5? You can simply append your array value in your array variable.

Please 'Thumbs Up' the posts that helped you and 'Accept as Solution' if my post answered your question.

@Hardesh /Gopenly.in

 

@Hardesh15 I added the apply to each 5 as I read on another post it may fix things, I did not have it originally and the same error occurred. See this image below

Zball_0-1658855992791.png

The apply to each was me trying to troubleshoot to no avail

@Zball  i have created a test and here are steps-

Hardesh15_0-1658857273405.png

 

Please 'Thumbs Up' the posts that helped you and 'Accept as Solution' if my post answered your question.

@Hardesh /Gopenly.in

@Zball  Output-

Hardesh15_4-1658857464341.png

Please 'Thumbs Up' the posts that helped you and 'Accept as Solution' if my post answered your question.

@Hardesh /Gopenly.in

 

@Hardesh15 While your solution works in a vacuum, I believe putting it in the do until loop is causing the issue as each loop it must append that iterations date. I fooled around with other options I could try but have not been able to solve the issue, which still states the variable DateArray cannot be initialized r updated with value of type 'String', and only supports values of types 'Array'. I may be missing something obvious but this do until loop seems to be the cause of the error.

@Zball Pls share your expression used in Compose 2, Set variable 11 and append to array variable with screens.

Please 'Thumbs Up' the posts that helped you and 'Accept as Solution' if my post answered your question.

@Hardesh /Gopenly.in

Jronash
Impactful Individual
Impactful Individual

I think you have multiple problems in your flow, which is making it difficult to troubleshoot.

 

Here's a different solution to the same problem:

date1.png

First you create variables for your start date and end date, and an integer variable to track the number of days.  Next, the Do Until loop:

 

Date2.png

Set the Do Until loop to run until the Start Date is equal to the End Date.  I wrapped both dates in a formatDateTime() function to be sure that they will be formatted in the same way.  The expression for those is:

formatDateTime(variables('startDate'))
formatDateTime(variables('endDate'))

 

Next, a condition to check whether the current day is a Saturday or a Sunday:

Date3.png

 

In the condition, I use the dayOfWeek() function to test whether it's a Saturday or a Sunday:

dayOfWeek(variables('startDate'))

 

If the current date is not a Saturday or a Sunday, I increment the numDays variable by one.  Next, I have to increment the startDate variable.

Date4.png

I can't reference the startDate variable directly within the Set Variable action, so I have to use a compose action as an intermediary.  The expression in the Compose action is this:

addDays(variables('startDate'), 1)

Then I just set the startDate variable to the output from the Compose action.

 

That's it!  After the Do Until loop, the numDays variable should contain the number or work days between the start date and the end date.

Zball
Frequent Visitor

@Jronash this worked like a charm! Thank you for the help, it seems like the array I was trying to use previously wasn't functioning as I intended.

Jronash
Impactful Individual
Impactful Individual

Glad it's working for you!  I forgot to mention one thing.  Be default, the Do Until loop has a limit of 60 iterations.  So if you give it two days that are more than 60 days apart, it will fail because it will exceed that limit.

 

Maybe 60 iterations is more than you need in this case, but if you need more, you can adjust this limit (to a maximum of 5000, I believe) by clicking Change Limits in the action.

date5.png

Zball
Frequent Visitor

Thanks for pointing that out, 60 iterations should be more than enough but if the need for more arises I will keep that in mind

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