Answered

does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

Like (0) Share

Report

Posted on 20 Sep 2019 13:42:05 by Community Power Pla...

I am looking to implement a query filter in Get Items to compare a date that is stored as strings. The information in the following URL shows how to do this but I need to convert one of terms to be in the proper format

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Filter-items-based-on-a-date-filter-query/m-p/202871/highlight/false#M21212

It seems Flow will not let the SP column name be used in function. Can someone confirm if this it true?

Filter Query = "TravelDate lt '@{addDays(utcNow(), -10)}'" works but the I can not find a way to pass TravelDate into a formatDateTime function to proper compare the dates.

Not I am able to get this work with a FilterArray but it adds extra logic to my app. Also I am storing the date as a string to avoid known off by 1 scenarios with powerapps when working with dates.

Thanks.

I have the same question (0)

All responses (15)

Answers (1)

martinav 3,340 on 20 Sep 2019 at 19:20:36

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

It is quite a wild ride trying to match all of the types, formats, and syntaxes involved. Its odd how "easy" flow and PA are, but yet in some cases, exceedingly complex. And quite undocumented.

Good luck!!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Power Pla... on 20 Sep 2019 at 19:01:02

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

thanks anyway. I also tried concat, it simply sees interperts the col name as string and ignores the value.
It really looks like the editor does not like any expression that uses the column name in a formula. If I try to use it in a formula without a quote, the popup expression editor says it's invalid and if I try to paste it directly in the action, it won't paste. If I try to type it in manually, it won't save and reports a syntax error.

I am going with the column name can not be used in a formula unless I can find a syntax than can somehow get it passed into any formula.

I guess I am going to live with using a filter array (which I use ticks()) in the comparison or I may look into changing the power app to ensure the data content in the list is in 'yyyy/MM/dd' format. If so, a direct string compare should work.

Thanks for trying to help.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
martinav 3,340 on 20 Sep 2019 at 18:50:42

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

Oh! if that is the case... then you can concat() with proper stuff to make it what it needs to be. There is a way to do this. Unfortunately, I dont know it well enough to just get it all out there at once. google the format, and see what it is that does not follow the date format. you can piece the text together with concat() to get it the way it needs to be. Sorry this is so itterative. Maybe someone else with more time doing this can get it closer sooner.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Power Pla... on 20 Sep 2019 at 18:29:50

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

I still cannot get past the runtime error for travelDate.

'@{addDays(utcNow(), -10, 'MM/dd/yyyy')}' ge @{formatdatetime('TravelDate', 'MM/dd/yyyy')}

"....function 'formatdatetime', the value provided for date time string 'TravelDate' was not valid. The datetime string must match ISO 8601 format.'."

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
martinav 3,340 on 20 Sep 2019 at 15:48:52

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

I edited my post... it might not be perfect. But close.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Power Pla... on 20 Sep 2019 at 15:46:10

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

that is what I am looking for. Can you post the syntaxt I use in the get items filter field. the Flow editor either will not let me put the column name in, or the output does not evalualte it.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
martinav 3,340 on 20 Sep 2019 at 15:40:25

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

You can use formatdatetime() on expiry_x0020_date as well if it is in text form, in your case. That will convert your text date into an object that you can pose the inequality.

So, for your example (I might not have all of the syntax perfect...):

@{formatdatetime('TravelDate','mm/dd/yyyy')} lt '@{formatdatetime(addDays(utcNow(), -10),'mm/dd/yyyy')}'

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

Community Power Pla... on 20 Sep 2019 at 15:34:26

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

I just re-read that article I posted. In there a MS response stated
"When configuring Filter Query, we can't use Expression to make any modifications to the column"

so I guess that's the problem. It's known limitation of the filter.

I'm going to make this closed.

Thanks for the help.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Power Pla... on 20 Sep 2019 at 15:24:55

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

I wound up using
"TravelDate lt '@{addDays(utcNow(), -10, 'MM\/dd\/yyyy')}'" since using dashes resulted in no matches.
In any case, SP is doing a text compare.
- If I use MM as in the format above, the filter evaluates to "TravelDate lt '09/10/2019'" which returns no records since expressions starts with a 0.
- If I use "addDays(utcNow(), -10, 'M\/dd\/yyyy')", it evaluates to "TravelDate lt '9/10/2019'" and retuns dates with a month starting it an 8 or less.

I read somewhere that there is a 'dateTime' quailifier used on constant dates but I lost the article. I am thinking maybe that can be used on the column Name. I was hoping there was a way to pass in the column name as an expression with @ and {} syntax but it seems the flow editor either doesn't allow it or the filter doesn't allow the column name to be used in formula.

I will see if I can find that article that uses a non parenthesized way to express a date but I supect that won't work either. I guess I'll just need to live with "filterArray" and some overhead code if this doesn't work out.

Thanks.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
ScottShearer 25,236 Most Valuable Professional on 20 Sep 2019 at 14:54:09

Like (0)

Report

Re: does SP's get items filter query support compare on date strings?

@Anonymous

I just noticed that the date is stored as a string.

You can't operate on any of the columns in a list in an OData filter. In other words, you can't reformat the TravelDate column as part of the OData filter.

~~Try this as your query:~~

~~TravelDate lt 'addDays(utcNow(),-10,'yyyy-MM-dd')'~~

~~You should not have to reformat TravelDate.~~

Was this reply helpful? Yes No