Power Automate Fundamentals # 6: Usage of Coalesce Function in Power Automate
Introduction:
In Power Automate, most of the common scenario is to verify null values and default to a specific value, in Power Automate it can be achieved easily using Coalesce Function as an example and Plan Object is considered.
Step 1:
Login to the required Power Apps environment using URL make.powerapps.com by providing user name and password and click on Flows on the left hand side as shown in the below figure.
Step 2:
After Step 1, Click on New Flow and select instant cloud flow and provide the trigger as Manually trigger a flow and click on Create as shown in the below figure.
Step 3:
After Step 2, name the flow as Coalesce to hold Plan Object we must click on + New Step and Choose an operation and in text box type Initialize Variable and select Initialize variable and provide the following
step name as Initialize variable - Plan Object
Name: Plan
Type: Object
Value:
{
"name": "VenkataSubbaraoPolisetty",
"plantype": null,
"connection": "landline"
}
as shown in the below figure.
Step 4:
After Step 3, click on + New Step and Choose an operation and in text box type Compose and provide step name as Compose - Coalesce and select inputs and in the below popup select expression and type the following as expression
Coalesce (object_1: any) which returns the first non-null object in the arguments passed in
Example : if plantype is null then false will be defaulted as value otherwise non null value specified in Plan Object , Step 3 will be returned
Usage:
coalesce(variables('Plan')?['plantype'],false)
after specify value then click on Ok/Update as shown in the below figure.
Step 5:
After Step 4, click on Save -> Test -> Manually and click on Test then Run flow .If no errors click on Done and observe the result false will be returned as shown in the below figure.
Step 6:
After Step 5, provide the input object as
Name: Plan
Type: Object
Value:
{
"name": "VenkataSubbaraoPolisetty",
"plantype": true,
"connection": "landline"
}
click on Save -> Test -> Manually and click on Test then Run flow .If no errors click on Done and observe the result that true will be returned as shown in the below figure.
Note:
- Make sure to save and run the flow whenever you try expressions.
- MS documentation is found at here
Conclusion: In this way one can easily handle null values using Coalesce function in few minutes and use it for required scenarios.
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