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Expression Update Not Saving

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Posted on by ChrisBenJohnson

When I am building long Flows with long expressions I find I run into an issue where, when I amend an expression, clicking the Update button doesn;t save the changes. I can see this by immediately hovering over the expression block and the tooltip confirms the changes haven't saved.

This only seems to become an issue when Flows grow to a particular size (not sure what the threshold is though).

This can be very confusing when testing a change and seeing no difference. Now I always double check changes to expressions. The workaround I have found is to make my changes, copy the entire expression, delete all text in the expression and paste it back in. This has a 100% success rate (so far!)

For info, I am using Chrome.

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Building flows

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yashag2255 24,769 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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Hi @ChrisBenJohnson

So when you ammend the expression, do you update it with the cursor at the point where the change was made? Can you please try this: Create an expression and save. Come back and update the expression -> ensure that the cursor is at the end of the expression and then click update. Now check if you continue to face the same issue.

Hope this Helps!

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ChrisBenJohnson 99 on at

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@yashag2255, unfortunately that didn't make a difference. The cursor can be at any point in the expression and it won't update. This seems to happen once several functions are nested within one another - simple expressions aren't affected,

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v-bacao-msft on at

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Hi @ChrisBenJohnson ,

At present in Flow, the Expression limit is 131,072 characters, @concat(), @base64(), string can't exceed this limit. According to your description, it should not be the number of bytes you input exceeds the limit.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/flow/limits-and-config#message-size

Your issue might be because an embedded function, may be lack of a bracket when editing an expression. Sometimes the bracket are missing in expression, and the system does not prompt an error exception.

Suggesting you at the time of updating nest function, first copy of the original expression comes out, it is used to edit and backup for preventing after the update of the original expression disappear.

Please pay attention to the use of the nest function when editing, such as brackets matching. It is recommended to check the function parenthesis in VS code or other Editors.

At present, the expression input box of Flow is a little trouble when editing complex expression. It is recommended to check it in the editor.

Best Regards,

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ChrisBenJohnson 99 on at

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Hi @v-bacao-msft ,

Thanks for the info. My expression is definitely not that long!

When working on long, embedded functions I use a text editor to write them as I frequently get caught out by missing parentheses! I used this for this one so I know that a missing bracket isn't the cause.

In the example I used to test this, I have a concat() function nested in an if statement. To amend the function, I add an extra string to the concat() function and lick update. It isn't updated. Copy the entire amended expression, delete all expression text, and paste back in, and it works.

This tells me the amended expression is syntactically correct.

Ironically, when I tried to post this reply first time, it gave me an error and I lost the post. Wish I'd copied that first too!

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yashag2255 24,769 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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Hi @ChrisBenJohnson / @v-bacao-msft

This looks like a bug. It happened a couple times with me when I update an expression (in a nested action and the expressions are bit long) it does not update the expression and the only fix I was able to find is, update the expression and place the cursor at the end of the expression and then click update. Only then it worked for me.

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v-bacao-msft on at

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Hi @ChrisBenJohnson / @yashag2255 ,

I tried to reproduce the issue you said. I tried the following test case that added time on the timeline and then changed the time zone, but no similar issue was found:

convertFromUtc(addToTime(addSeconds(addMinutes(addHours(adddays(utcnow(),length(string(body('Get_items')?['value'])),'yyyy-MM-ddT00:00:00Z'),length(string(body('Get_items')?['value']))),length(string(outputs('Compose')))),length('this is a test')),11,'day'),'Pacific Standard Time')

Later, a set of unregulated expressions was tested ( purely for the purpose of using functions and without any other substantial meaning).

In addition, two expressions were added in a Compose action, and the issue came up. But then I found that the issue, in this case, does not always reappear. This is incidental, not constant.

If you don't mind, you could share your expression and see how it goes.

Best Regards,

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ChrisBenJohnson 99 on at

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Hi @v-bacao-msft ,

Sorry for the late reply. This issue is ongoing. It's present in Chrome and Edge.

It seems to be an issue in longer/more complex Flows only, so this makes me think it is an issue with the Flow Checker possibly?

The below example is a simple expression where I try to add int( ... ) around the existing expression but it only works on the third time.

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efialttes 14,756 on at

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@ChrisBenJohnson

Thanks for posting this issue! I've been suffering it also, but didn't have time to report it. Also tried both with Edge and Chrome.

The procedure I am following is to always copy the expression before clicking UPDATE, store it as Comment, verify change applied by hovering over the expression block and the tooltip confirms if changes were saved properly. This way I make the "code" also more readable, but it is hard to do it everytime... Let's hope Power Automate Team can fix it.

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hjaf 487 on at

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Also experienced this issue for some time, I have reported it in the in-editor feedback function several times.

This has been such a headache, it has now become routine for me to copy the expression after its changed, attempt to update it, and reopen the editor select all and paste my copied expression again before i click update. Then I need to confirm that the changes has been made because even this is not working all the time.

Please fix this.

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mpcavagnino 14 on at

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I just discover that after you make changes, you click on Expression or Dynamic Content (focus outside the modified text), then click Update and it works

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