Cannot "Get items from an entity" because instanceId blank

[DavidMLCarr]

I an creating a new flow and in step 1 I am using the "When a record is created" action.  I am connected to the CDS, and it correctly gives me a choice of the three organizations I can access, and I can enter an entity name.

In step 2, if I use the "Get items from entity (preview)" action, it shows a form requiring instanceId.  That field does not return my three instances.  If I click on the "identifier of an interface" so-called help text, the optionset shows "Loading" for a second and then "No items", and on the next line "Enter custom value".

So, if you have been able to "Get items from an entity", please reply.  Otherwise, I'll assume its an early preview bug and move on.  (The use case is trying to sum up values over all records in an entity).

Thanks,

Dave

[manuelstgomes]

Hey @DavidMLCarr 

Can you please explain what you're trying to achieve?

In step 1, you have all the fields that you need for that record. You don't need to fetch the items again and can use their values right after.

Sorry if I'm missing something, but please let me know, and I'll try to help you.

If I have answered your question, please mark your post as Solved.
If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

Cheers
Manuel

[DavidMLCarr]

Thanks for replying @manuelstgomes 

I'm trying to get "Get Items from an entity (preview)" to work.

My goal is to loop through all records in one entity in the CDS and sum up a (series of) field values, and then write a "summary record" back into the CDS...

Thanks,

Dave

[JatinSanghvi · Accepted solution]

@DavidMLCarr, the only action with name 'Get items from an entity' belongs to a different connector: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. I do not think that will help with the task you have. If you only want to iterate through list of all records of given entity type, you need to select 'List records' action from Dynamics 365 or Common Data Services connector. Please feel free to post here if you have any questions.

[DavidMLCarr]

@JatinSanghvi Many thanks, the "List records" action did the trick.

I now have a flow that has the following steps:

- Initialize Variables (counter and sum field)

- List Records (to return rows from Entity A)

- Apply to each, within which I use

      Increment Variable (to sum field across Entity A)

- Create a new record (in Entity B consisting of the sum of the field value across all Entity A records.)

Just what I wanted!