Format number action output cannot be used in approval

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Posted on by Oliver_Germany

Dear community,

I am running into an issue that I cannot solve.

I use a Format Number action to ensure that numbers are looking nice in the approval Email.

However, the flow keeps failing with the following message when it try to create the approval: Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Start_and_wait_for_an_approval_2' inputs at line '1' and column '2924': 'The template language expression 'body('Format_number_-_Current_Credit_Limit')?['body']' cannot be evaluated because property 'body' cannot be selected. Property selection is not supported on values of type 'String'.

Here is the output from the Format number action:

I really do not understand why the error message mentions a string as this is clearly recognized by Format number as a number and also property formatted.

Where is the error?

Regards,

Oliver

Categories:

Building flows

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IRQ16 15 on at

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Hey Oliver, the Format Number action is outputting as a String hence the error you're experiencing. The formatNumber() function also outputs as String, too.

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Oliver_Germany 14 on at

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Hi,

Okay, this explains the error.

But why can't I use the action in an approval? Is there any work-around?

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IRQ16 15 on at

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Would you mind sharing your Flow so we can see what you’re trying to build?

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v-alzhan-msft on at

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Hi @Oliver_Germany ,

The expression 'body('Format_number_-_Current_Credit_Limit')?['body']' is wrong.

The expression of the Format number action output should as below:

outputs('Format_number_-_Current_Credit_Limit')?['body']

Please take a try.

Best Regards,

Alice

Community Support Team _ Alice Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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Oliver_Germany 14 on at

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Hi @v-alzhan-msft ,

Thanks for the hint, it works as intended.

Just one more question:
I tried to figure out why the expression has changed.

I have a multi-stage approval process, in which basically the same Email is send to approves further down the chain. I tried to save time and copy-pasted the first Email in to latter ones. Doing so changes the expression from 'outputs' to 'body'.

Is this correct?

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