Filtering what changes to the SP list that trigger the flow

[CoachOffice365]

Hi.

I am surprised that I cannot find the way forward for our requirements:

1. We have a SharePoint list for work planning, with a column "Status"
2. When a list item has gotten its value for the Status column set to "Completed", an action should be triggered in Power Automate
3. We want the flow to be triggered only when the Status column has been changed (and then we will check if the value has been change to "Completed") but not when any column has changed (we want to economize with our number of flows)

I use the connection "When an item or file is modified" for SharePoint but the only limitation options provided for are Folder and "Limit columns by a view". And neither help us as the view only seems to filter out the column sent in to the flow, not filtering for what to trigger for.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Cheers, Magnus

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @CoachOffice365,

I would use the following approach to solve this.

Add a trigger condition to check the value of the Status field. Enable version history on the list and check if the status field value of the previous version wasn't completed, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/enable-and-configure-versioning-for-a-list-or-library-155...

Below is an example of that approach.

1. Add a trigger condition to the settings of your when an item or file is modified trigger action. Use the following expression

@equals(triggerOutputs()?['body/Status'], 'Completed')

2. Add a Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action. Use the following URI field value

_api/web/lists/getbyTitle('@{variables('ListName')}')/items(@{triggerOutputs()?['body/ID']})/Versions?$top=2

3. Add a condition to check if the Status value from the previous version wasn't Completed. Use the following expression to retrieve that value.

outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint')?['body']?['d']?['results']?[1]?['Status']

 

[CoachOffice365]

Thanks a lot @Expiscornovus 👍😊

Having a trigger condition on the connection seems the way to go. I wasn't aware of that possibility before.

However, when I try to implement it and subsequently run it I run into problems.

The trial run (with a test flow that I have run without the trigger condition) gives me an error message "Cannot read property 'properties' of undefined". When I check the trigger condition in more detail I see that the value of the array (at the top) and the reference in the trigger condition don't match. I cannot select the array you use (the triggerBody value is the only one available for me). 

Any idea of what's wrong in my implementation? Thanks!

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @CoachOffice365,

Sorry, I was expecting a triggerOutputs not triggerBody.

Try this one instead and let me now if it works:

@equals(triggerBody()?['Status'],'Completed')

[CoachOffice365]

Thanks for this.

I tried the new one but get this error this time:

Request to Azure Resource Manager failed with error: '{"error":{"code":"WorkflowTriggerNotFound","message":"The workflow '46f11da7-d53f-4139-b714-3713fa41733b' trigger 'When_an_existing_item_is_modified' could not be found."}}'.

And I don't understand why it is referring to a workflow; I just activated version management as you said and not content approval...well, it might be some other reason for that. 

Any idea what's going on? 

/Magnus 🙂

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @CoachOffice365,

Yes, that looks like a strange error. Maybe it's a good idea to start with a fresh trigger action.

Can you remove/delete your first trigger action and add replace it with a new when an item or file is modified trigger action: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sharepointonline/#when-an-item-or-a-file-is-modified

Be aware that you might have to reconfigure a couple of other actions too when you delete the original trigger action. 

If you don't want to mess with your original flow you could make a copy of this flow or save it as a new flow instead.

[CoachOffice365]

Hi again.

Yes, I started with a new flow and the connection "When an item or a file is modified" this time gave me the triggerOutputs array option. I added the original snippet for the array (and added "Send chat message to user in Teams" as an action).

I tested the flow by changing an item's Status to Completed, but it did not get triggered.

I removed the trigger action and the flow triggered, with the expected result. All well.

So I edit the flow and put back the trigger action. Now it is only possible to use the triggerBody array though. So I do that and test the flow with the previous run as test data. This time I get the following error:

Request to Azure Resource Manager failed with error: '{"error":{"code":"InvalidTemplate","message":"The template language expression evaluation failed: 'The execution of template trigger 'When_an_item_or_a_file_is_modified' failed: the result of the evaluation of 'splitOn' expression '@triggerBody()?['body/value']' is of type 'Null'. The result must be a valid array.'."}}'.

What does it actually say? That the value of the column is empty? I got it printed in the chat message so I verify that it is indeed Completed. Or is it pointing to some other value?

Thanks a lot @Expiscornovus !

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @CoachOffice365,

Yes, it does sound like something is empty. But lets troubleshoot that. Can you share a screenshot of the test flow run when you removed the trigger condition and all was well.

Ideally a screenshot of the output of the When an item or a file is modified trigger action like below.

[CoachOffice365]

Alright. 👍 Here's the output of the flow without the trigger condition:

[
  {
    "@odata.etag": "\"2\"",
    "ItemInternalId": "11",
    "ID": 11,
    "Title": "Issue tracking item #10",
    "Status": {
      "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference",
      "Id": 7,
      "Value": "Completed"
    },
    "Status#Id": 7,
    "DaysOld": "0",
    "Modified": "2021-02-03T15:08:53Z",
    "Created": "2021-02-03T15:06:20Z",
    "Author": {
      "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedUser",
      "Claims": "i:0#.f|membership|sofia@learnandadopt.se",
      "DisplayName": "Sofia Sjöstrand",
      "Email": "Sofia@learnandadopt.se",
      "Picture": "https://m365x887154.sharepoint.com/sites/Automatiseraddata/_layouts/15/UserPhoto.aspx?Size=L&AccountName=Sofia@learnandadopt.se",
      "Department": null,
      "JobTitle": null
    },
    "Author#Claims": "i:0#.f|membership|sofia@learnandadopt.se",
    "Editor": {
      "@odata.type": "#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedUser",
      "Claims": "i:0#.f|membership|sofia@learnandadopt.se",
      "DisplayName": "Sofia Sjöstrand",
      "Email": "Sofia@learnandadopt.se",
      "Picture": "https://m365x887154.sharepoint.com/sites/Automatiseraddata/_layouts/15/UserPhoto.aspx?Size=L&AccountName=Sofia@learnandadopt.se",
      "Department": null,
      "JobTitle": null
    },
    "Editor#Claims": "i:0#.f|membership|sofia@learnandadopt.se",
    "{Identifier}": "Lists%252frendeuppfljning%252f11_.000",
    "{IsFolder}": false,
    "{Thumbnail}": {
      "Large": null,
      "Medium": null,
      "Small": null
    },
    "{Link}": "https://m365x887154.sharepoint.com/sites/Automatiseraddata/_layouts/15/listform.aspx?PageType=4&ListId=4dbd277b-3044-4ecb-8f82-ff1d72f7bf47&ID=11&ContentTypeID=0x0100496E8F694B75FA438AA613879F32B80400600378F38FC3594E83E465B27A8960ED",
    "{Name}": "Issue tracking item #10",
    "{FilenameWithExtension}": "Issue tracking item #10",
    "{Path}": "Lists/rendeuppfljning/",
    "{FullPath}": "Lists/rendeuppfljning/11_.000",
    "{HasAttachments}": false,
    "{VersionNumber}": "2.0",
    "{TriggerWindowStartToken}": "MTszOzRkYmQyNzdiLTMwNDQtNGVjYi04ZjgyLWZmMWQ3MmY3YmY0Nzs2Mzc0Nzk2MTY4MjU3NzAwMDA7NzczMDk1Nzcz",
    "{TriggerWindowEndToken}": "MTszOzRkYmQyNzdiLTMwNDQtNGVjYi04ZjgyLWZmMWQ3MmY3YmY0Nzs2Mzc0Nzk2MTc2NTMzNzAwMDA7NzczMDk2NDgw"
  }
]

[Expiscornovus · Accepted solution]

Hi @CoachOffice365,

I see that the Status field is a choice field. In my example it was a single line of text. That's why it can't find it 🙂

Try and use this expression instead:

@equals(triggerOutputs()?['body/Status/Value'], 'Completed')

[CoachOffice365]

Ah, great! It now works like a charm. 😊👍

We actually use  the Microsoft List template "Work progress tracker", I could written that at the start. 

So I need to ask you why you recommend to use version control for the list items? I haven't fully understood that, yet. Could be to make sure that the trigger doesn't fire again if a user edits the post after it has already been set to Completed? I would believe it is due to something like this...

Thanks a lot for your assistance @Expiscornovus 🙏