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Export/Import: Can environment variables be used

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Posted on by isogunro1

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I know best practice is to use Solutions to move apps between environments but I'm unable to do so in the current environment that I'm in that is managed by a government agency. So I decided to export and import my application. Unfortunately, when I move apps between environments, I would have to change URLs in my apps and flow that is specific to the environment and it's a pain. Is it possible to use environment variables with the export/import method? I would also appreciate any suggestions to make moving between environments less painful using export/import.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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iAm_ManCat 18,228 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Environment Variables can only be created within a solution - so unless the government agency is happy for you to edit their default solution in the environment, then you will not be able to use environment variables (as you've said that you're unable to use solutions in the current environment, so I assume that means you only have access to the default solution that every environment has). You will not be able to store this App within a solution, so I'm not exactly sure how the export/import will retain the environment variable values, but its the only other alternative I can think of for using the environment variables.

Otherwise I would suggest storing those URLs in a list (either Dataverse or SharePoint), and having your Apps/Flow look up that information from the list - that way you only need to modify the list data to update all URLs across apps or flows - we are essentially recreating the environment variable experience without them in this case.

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isogunro1 195 on at

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@iAm_ManCat

If I add the URL's to a SharePoint list, how would I use it in my flow. How would I poupulate the site address and List Name from SharePoint?

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iAm_ManCat 18,228 Most Valuable Professional on at

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You would still need to update the flows for trigger URLs, there's no way around that as you can't get anything like values from anywhere else before the first action has run, but for uses elsewhere throughout the flow you can set variables at the start that are based on a lookup to a dev/prod config list of sorts, which you can then use in a similar way to env variables, meaning you'd only need to update the top-level references once and the values would cascade down as variables wherever else in the flow you used them:

And then tested that to confirm:

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