Marcel Broschk’s Post

In Power Automate, efficiently processing data often requires distinguishing between objects and arrays. I just spotted this post, with an interesting approach to the subject. I wonder how it compares to using 'typeOf()' in the expression. #powerautomate #DataProcessing #Automation

Automagic Insight 🪄 Power Automate Tip of the Day! Did you know? There’s a quick way to check if a value is an array or an object in Power Automate! 💡 By using a simple conditional expression, you can dynamically identify the data type in your flow. Just use this expression: if(startsWith(string(<value>), '['), 'Array', 'Object') This checks if <value> starts with a [ (indicating an array). Use it as is or in a condition. This small but powerful trick helps your flow handle different data types smoothly, making it adaptable and efficient—keeping things, well, automagically seamless! #powerautomate #automagicinsight #datatypes #smartflows

And if you encounter cases where you may get an object of 1 item or an array with multiple items (like when converting some xml to json) & you want to ensure a reference for that item is always an array then you can do… json( replace( replace( concat(‘[‘, string(<value>), ‘]’), ‘[[{‘, ‘[{‘), ‘}]]’, ‘}]’) )

Automagic Insight 🪄 Power Automate Tip of the Day! Did you know? In the Parse JSON action, you can handle null values in Power Automate without breaking your flow! 💡 Just set up the schema to allow a field to be either a string or null, like this: "tin_number": {        "type": ["string","null"] } This way, your flow stays resilient even when optional fields or missing data return as null. Let Power Automate do the heavy lifting—automagically! #powerautomate #automagicinsight #nullhandling

JSON Expression tip for Power Automate

To all my Power Automate fellows The Parse JSON action might seem daunting, but once you get the hang of it, it’s incredibly powerful. It brings clarity to your data handling, making your flows much cleaner and easier to manage. 🌪️

For all of you who ever experienced a flow error due to a string, integer or any other data type being null "type" : ["string" , "null"] - this is the way #powerautomate

Automagic Insight 🪄 Power Automate Tip of the Day! Looking to control loops more precisely in Power Automate? Here’s how you can use Do Until with Current iteration index to add more logic to your flows: 💡 Step 1: Use the Do Until action to create a loop that runs until a specific condition is met. In this example, we’re looping until the variable varIndex matches a specified integer. 💡 Step 2: Inside the loop, set varIndex to Current iteration index. This dynamic content tracks each iteration, allowing you to manage and monitor the loop’s progress. 💡 Step 3: Customize the loop’s limits. Set a maximum count (e.g., 1,337) and timeout to prevent the loop from running indefinitely, ensuring it only runs as long as necessary. This approach is perfect for scenarios requiring precise iteration control, especially when processing large datasets. With Do Until and Current iteration index, your automations stay efficient and error-free! FYI, the upper limit for number of loops are 5000. #powerautomate #automagicinsight #dountil #loopcontrol

Automagic Insight 🪄 Power Automate Tip of the Day! Did you know? With just a few clicks, you can set up a try-catch setup in Power Automate to handle any action that might need an alternative output when it fails! Here’s how: 💡 Select the action you want to run if the first action fails (like the Parse JSON action in the image). Click on the three dots (…) in the upper right corner of the action and choose Configure run after. 💡 From here, choose specific conditions under which the following action should run, such as when the action has failed. 💡 Next, select the action to handle the failure gracefully and set its run after to execute if the previous action is skipped (which it will be if the HTTP action succeeds)—essentially creating a “catch” for the failure scenario. This setup allows your flow to keep running and respond appropriately, even if an action encounters an error. It’s a simple way to build resilience into your workflows—keeping them automagically on track! #PowerAutomate #Automation #MicrosoftPowerAutomate #WorkflowOptimization #BusinessProcess

Automagic Insight 🪄 Power Automate Tip of the Day: Restart Approvals! Isn’t it incredible how often approvals run for more than 30 days? And then we’re left wondering—how should we handle it? Here’s the simplest way I’ve found: ✅ Add a child flow to restart the approval process. ✅ Reduce the timeout limit of your approval action so it timeout before the flow run do (e.g., P28D) ✅ Set the child flow to run after a timeout in the parent flow. ✅ Use a Restart Counter to track retries and terminate if it exceeds your limit (e.g., 3 restarts). This can be used to restart any Manually triggerd flow for that matter. Simple, effective, and keeps things moving without manual intervention! #PowerAutomate #Microsoft365 #WorkflowAutomation #PowerPlatform