Forms to update an Excel Row??

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone, I am relatively new to Power Automate so this may be something really simple I am missing. I have been looking at building a flow for some time now with an MS Forms response being the trigger.

I am hoping to use the info from the form to update rows I have on an excel table. The excel table contains a list of email addresses, which I am using as key values for the row to be updated, and the form has to go out to responders outside of my organization, so the email address I would like to match against the table has to be inputted as a question response within the form.

I have set a condition to read the table column containing the list of email addresses, and I have initialized the forms question containing the inputted email address to a string. If the email address inputted matches, I have set a condition to update the row containing that value with info from the rest of the survey, or if not, to add a row and fill in the info.

Whenever I have tested the flow, the flow is not reading the list properly, and is simply inputting information into the bottom of the table. I know that the test info I am using contains a matching email address, however I can’t seem to get it to function properly.

Has anyone created a flow similar to this? Or does anyone have an idea as to how I can fix this? I have been pulling my hair out over this for some time now!

Thanks All.

[efialttes]

Hi!

Some suggestions...

How many rows are currently in your Excel table? If the nr is high, you probably you need to enable pagination to read all rows

https://www.shanebart.com/flow-excel-256-limit/

If this is not the case, can you share a screenshot from you flow design?

Thanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes,

Thanks for the quick response!! I have 250 rows in the table at the moment, so I am under the limit (only just!). But I have changed the Pagination for future use.

I have added a screen shot below, I hope this helps:

Thanks,

Humph

[efialttes]

Hi!

For troubleshooting purposes, I would add a couple of dummy 'Compose action blocks' inside 'Apply to each 3', just before your Condition, assign to each of them the expressions you evaluate in your condition rule

ToLower('Email')

ToLower('ComposeString')

REexecute the flow, and inspect their contents

If they look exactly the same, I would add trim() also to the algorithm, to make sure hidden spaces are removed

trim(ToLower(...))

Hope this helps

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I have added a compose input for each of my ToLower variables, however still nothing.

I now have the addition now of the flow adding multiple rows of the same inputted information?? I think it has something to do with the apply to each function, and the no toggle containing the add a row.... Is it worth me separating the two?

Thanks!

[efialttes]

Weird

Did you also add trim() to your WDL expression?

If so, can you share both expressions, and also a screenshot with both Compose's content?

Thanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes,

I think I may have gotten confused as to what you were looking for me to do. I have screenshotted the below, is this not what the composes should be used for? 

[efialttes]

Hi again!

Can you share a screenshot of you Compose AND Condition current design?

And, a screenshot from your flow execution, to inspect both 'Compose' outputs?

Thanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes 

I have screenshotted the condition and the compose for you. I have a feeling I may have placed the TRIM function in the wrong place.

Here is a screenshot of my output from the flow's execution:

I have split down the condition to run parallel which was the cause of the multiple entries, the create new row was cycling in the apply to each function. However it still runs down the "add new row" branch every time.... argh!

Thank you for your assistance with this.

[efialttes]

Hi!

I see now what the problem is...

So you are not using the dynamic content inside your trim() based expressions. You are using 'EMAIL' and 'RESPONSESTRING' inside which are taken as strings, so the condition is always evaluated to false.

I would do the following: please remove temporarily your trim() based expressions from both 'Compose' action block. Now, from the 'Add dynamic content' menu, search for one of the two values you wanna evaluate. Once added, hover your mouse over it, please write down the text displayed and share it. Do the same with the second value, and share the corresponding text.

Hope this makes sense

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes,

I think I understand the problem. I have changed the compose functions to include the dynamic content, and the code is seen below:

items('Apply_to_each_3')?['EMAIL']

body('Get_response_details')?['rb151c576b2cf48b1bb1f19a5155e4093']

The second code is the forms response, I am guessing the aphanumerical sequence is the ID tag for that specific question?

Thanks!

[efialttes]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi @efialttes,

I think I understand the problem. I have changed the compose functions to include the dynamic content, and the code is seen below:

items('Apply_to_each_3')?['EMAIL']

body('Get_response_details')?['rb151c576b2cf48b1bb1f19a5155e4093']

The second code is the forms response, I am guessing the aphanumerical sequence is the ID tag for that specific question?

Thanks!

---

Now it looks better. And, You are right, the API assigns a random alphanumeric secuence to each response.

Challenge solved? Yes? No?

If problem persists, please share a screenshot from your current flow design

THanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes,

Apologies I haven't gotten back to you sooner, I have had to put this on hold until now unfortunately but back to it!  The flow still is not liking what we are doing to it for some reason, it still will not match the address in the key column array to the one submitted via forms for some reason? 

Thank you!

[efialttes]

Hi!

I believe if you can share a screenshot from your current flow design, it will help us understand better your challenge current status

Thanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes!

I have done my best to encompass all of the formatting up to update a row, inserting comments to show the code for the steps.

If you need anything else for this then let me know and I will be happy to provide! 😁

Many Thanks!

[efialttes]

I'm truly sorry, but the image is too big, so when I zoom into it the details are blurred.

Can you split the image in three?

-First part of the flow without condition brnaches

-Condition true branch

-Condition false branch

Thanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes 

Apologies, I thought this may have been the case! I looked to send as one so that it would 'flow'. I have split the screenshot down for you:

I hope this helps, thank you!

[efialttes]

Hi again!

So which of these two problems is happening now?

-"it still will not match the address in the key column array to the one submitted via forms for some reason? "

-

Please note your current flow design is 4-5 times more complex to the one you originally shared...

Are you sure you didn't overcomplicate the design?

Next, What's the purpose of the first 'Apply to each 2' from your flow?

AS far as I see you declare a string variable called EMAILVALUE, then iterate all over your Excel table and append emails to the variable. So, assuming your excel rows can have max. 1 email addresses, if the excel table has three rows (alice@mycompany.com; bob@mycompany.com; charlie@mycompany.com) EMAILVALUE will take the following value

alice@mycompany.com,bob@mycompany.com,charlie@mycompany.com,

If you ever wanna compare a forms response with a single email address with the above string, using operator equals will mean the evaluation will always take the false branch from your Condition. You need to use operator 'contains' instead...

And the purpose for the paralel branch you added? Seems you have one branch (not condition related) to add rows, another one (also not condition related) to update rows...

I think your current approach is probably wrong

Now, I need you to confirm the following assumptions:

First assumtion: your excel table can have max. 1 email address per row, right? Or each row can have more than one email address?

Second assumption: emails shall be unique in your Excel table, right? i.e. once you add alice@mycompany.com to a row, you cannot add it to another row

Third assumption: since emails are unique, in your Excel table, we will use EMAIL as you Excel table key column

If my 3 assumptions are right, I would do the following

Hope this helps

[efialttes]

Hi!

Issue finally solved?

Thanx!

[Anonymous]

Hi @efialttes,

Thank you for the reply, I took some time away from this but I am back into it now. I realise now that I was overcomplicating the flow too much. I have now streamlined this as such, however I am still getting the same result with the flow redrafted. The filter array is not picking up and matching the value of the email for some reason? 

Thank you for your patience.