Comparing the Planner Data between my previous pull and my most recent

[rnavrot]

Alright,

I am forever working on Planner.

I am attempting to build a sure-fire way to ensure that all Planner Cards on my Main Task List are duplicated into their sub-plans.

I have a decent system that is crippled by the number of connectors and constant 'Invalid Credential' errors.

So, my ex-programmer co-worker suggested a different approach: to regularly (every 10min?) pull ALL Planner Tasks in the Main Task List and compare this data to the prior pull.

Now, I have a button that lists all tasks in the Task List and inputs them into an Excel table. 

Next, I want to put this table aside for the next Flow to reference it. How do I 'move' the data from the old table somewhere else so I can reference it to my new table? In my mind, I imagine that step 1 is to move Old Table to New Location, then using this Flow to populate New Table in the prior location of Old Table. 

THEN I will need to figure out how to filter/compare the differences and create a Card (in the correct spot) for every difference AND close out any card that does not exist in New Table.

The idea is young, so messy.

Can anyone please help me figure out how to move this table elsewhere to temporarily 'store' it for reference to my new table?

Thanks,

-Ryan 

[takolota]

Why not…

When a task is created in the Main Task List (a trigger condition for that plan or bucket id)

Pull the sub plan(s) tasks. Either filter by plan or bucket id.

Use a Filter array to check if that sub plan contains the new task (if not by id, then maybe by title or some other identifier).

Then a conditional where if the length of the Filter array results is greater than 0 (contains the new task)

Then update the task with the task title/id returned in the Filter array

Else create a new task in that sub-plan plan or bucket.

[rnavrot]

Hmm, let me explain our architecture better.

We have 3 Main Task Lists where each of the 3 teams divvies out assignments.

We have ~ 100 Task List Plans - 'sub-plans' - that act as destinations for duplicates of any card created in the Main Task Lists.

When a card is created (using the agreed-upon syntax) my existing Flow will find the sub-plan in the title and recreate the card there.

I am not feeling it will be easy on the Flow to pull all tasks in each 100 sub plans. Not sure. I can give that a try.

Using Filters to compare pre-existing tasks is a good idea.

I am not sure about the Greater than 0 idea - does this apply to situations where there are LESS than 0? Like, maybe on this last run 2 cards were completed, therefore removed, so wouldn't there be less results in that case?

Thank you for the ideas, I will see what I can do with them.

-R

[takolota]

@rnavrot 

This is sounding more & more like something that should be in a SharePoint list in a card / kanban type view. Then you could just use a single or multi choice column to select one of the 100 sub plan labels. Then create a different card format list view for each sub-plan.

[rnavrot]

I do not have the office clout to suggest a migration from Planner. Unfortunately, I am stuck working with what already exists.

I am struggling to get the filter to detect the already-made cards.

Essentially, the first pass re-creates any card in the Main List that's completion is not 100.

Then, I need the Plan ID as my switch (because there are two more plans to integrate into here).

Then, my filter does not appear to pick it up.

If you can see what is going on here, please let me know. Essentially, once the Flow runs through all cards at 0% complete, it begins to run through them again creating duplicates in my Excel sheet.

Thanks for the continued support. 

-R

[takolota]

@rnavrot 

Can you post some pictures of the issue from a flow run?

If by “filter doesn’t pick it up” you mean it’s not returning anything matching your codition, then you may need to check the formatting of the percent complete value to make sure it matches exactly & whether it is in string or integer form.

You may alternatively be able to use some kind of status is not equal to Complete condition.

[rnavrot]

Here is my issue:

Essentially, the Apply to Each will run indefinitely. It seems to begin populating the table with tasks that 'item percent complete' is not equal to 100.

Here is the Excel destination table, blacking out the client info.

There are a few problems...

As you can see via the duplicate detection highlight, after we reach the end of the list the Flow seems to start back over at the beginning of this list. I stopped this one, but it will run multiple times if I let it.

Next, it seems like I can only pull the notes from the 1st Card to input them as notes for the rest. This looks like an easier fix, hopefully I can figure that one out while I am here too.

Essentially, it seems like the Flow will not filter out inputs that are already on the table. I want this Flow to read this table (or another table?) to check if these tasks already exist. If so, update them if they need it. If not, to re-created them.

Please let me know if any more questions.

[takolota]

@rnavrot 

One of your earlier pictures shows a second loop inside your 1st Apply to each loop.

And that’s probably because you pulled the Task Id in the 2nd Filter array condition from Excel instead of from the previous Filter array action.

Remove that Excel value & remove the second Apply to each loop related to it.

[rnavrot]

It looks like your latest suggestion solved my issue with the description. The Flow is correctly pulling the unique descriptions now.

Still looping over after it has gone through them all, creating duplicates. I am tackling this next.

I have simplified this case (below) based on your suggestions. 

Please let me know if you have any ideas to stop the infinite loops.

...and thank you!

-R

[takolota]

@rnavrot 

Is your List tasks action pulling from a plan with several buckets that each have duplicate tasks?

Your switch seems to be checking the plan id but not the bucket id.

Also I would probably just use another Filter Array to get one specific bucket’s tasks. Then it doesn’t have to evaluate a switch for every single task.

[rnavrot]

The List Tasks action is pulling from 1 plan with multiple buckets. There should be no duplicates within the Main Task List. The duplicates exist at the sub-plan level (sub-plan being my unofficial term).

Once a task is created at the Main Task List level, a separate Flow chases down its Teams Channel and dedicated Plan, and recreates the task from the Main Task List there.

This is because we have ~100 Teams Channels, each with a dedicated Plan. We want the relevant items from the Main List to also appear in the Sub List.

I am not ready to tackle the buckets just yet. Ideally, we could have consistent naming conventions across all sub-plans to ensure we don't need to find these plans buckets based on their IDs. But it does sound quicker to filter by bucket than to create a million unique Switch addresses.

Infinite loops are still occurring. Thanks for the feedback.

-R

[rnavrot]

...solved the looping. 

Here is what I came up with.

[rnavrot]

I have got a little further, but still need help.

I have got the initial part of this to create any missing tasks and ignore and existing tasks.

NOW, I need to filter out tasks on the Excel table that weren't in the latest Planner pull (meaning that they are now 100% complete in Planner) so I can remove them from the Excel table.

I am as far as filtering out the tasks on the table that are not on Planner. There are 3.

In my head, the next step here is to delete any row with the same ID as we just filtered out.

However, I cannot seem to input my ID as a Key Value here. I am not sure what the requirements are for Key Value in Delete a row.

Please advise.

[takolota]

@rnavrot 

Is it not…

body(‘Filter_array_2’)[‘Task_ID’]

???

[rnavrot]

I have not yet learned the syntax for writing expressions like you did.

Here is what worked for me.

Thank you for the help.

[rnavrot]

Alright, I am back with needing help.

I have created the Flow to remove rows from the table that aren't in the latest pull. Moving on...

Next, I need to recreate these Planner Card entries (1 per row) IF they do not already exist.

I need to find the Excel row, find the Planner Plan it is associated with, then check that plan for a card with the same title.

My Flows are timing out after about 10 minutes of attempting to go through the Large Apply to Each: Match Handwritten Acc Name with SP Short Names.

Unfortunately, since the Apply to Each is so large, I cannot see where inside it it times out.

If you have any thoughts, please let me know. Thank you @takolota for sticking around!