Save collection as file

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Posted on 8 Aug 2018 09:54:08 by Community Power Pla...

Hi all,

Is it possible to save a collection as a file?

I've created a flow to save to sharepoint however in powerapps I am getting the error that the formula needs text rather than a table

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Mike8 1,328 on 08 Aug 2018 at 12:43:05

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Re: Save collection as file

Hello Collen,

Unfortunately flow can receive only strings from powerapps and not a table.
You can concat the table in Powerapps in order to send it to Flow and use the split function in Flow in order to have it as a table.
Check online and you can find examples.
Also you can create a JSON string in powerapps using the concat function if you know how to do it.

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Community Power Pla... on 08 Aug 2018 at 13:34:01

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Re: Save collection as file

Thanks Mike for the info!

I've been looking around and struggling to find examples of what you're talking about. Could you provide me with a link or so that demonstrate concatenating a table - then flow recreating it?

Kind regards,
Colleen

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nickduxfield 497 on 08 Aug 2018 at 23:12:48

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Re: Save collection as file

@Anonymous,
If your keen, you can patch to a list with columns that you can pass to flow.
Flow can take action on an item added, and evaluate.

Flow can use an ID and / or other columns to filter a table as in a SPList.
You can then use the Get Items action / Select DataOperations / Generate HTML action in MSFlow to create a HTML table that can be placed in an email or possibly an attachment to an email. etc.

Scenario:
It might be good to do that in powerapps by connecting a flow to a button, but I needed to make a record anyway to carry the request / approval. Doing so allowed me to have 1 record, that
represented a collection of items in a SPList.
The record allowed me to Flow to look back on changes
and or make updates autonomously.
You may wish to take this approach nstead of placing a heavy workload on an OnSelect action.

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Mike8 1,328 on 09 Aug 2018 at 07:20:44

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Re: Save collection as file

Hello Colleen,

You can use this as reference
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Connecting-To-Data/Collection-from-PA-via-Flow-to-SP-list/td-p/94121

If you have trouble implementing it, maybe I can help

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v-xida-msft on 09 Aug 2018 at 09:08:10

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Re: Save collection as file

Hi @Anonymous,

Do you want to pass a collection from your app to your flow?

Currently, a flow could only accept strings as input from PowerApps, if you want to pass a collection from an app to a flow, I afraid that there is no direct way to achieve your needs in PowerApps currently.

As an alternative solution, I agree with @Mike8's thought almost. Please check and see if the following blog would help in your scenario:

https://www.techmikael.com/2017/05/saving-collection-of-images-from.html

Best regards,

Kris

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Community Power Pla... on 09 Aug 2018 at 09:47:08

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Re: Save collection as file

Thanks everyone - this is all really useful and will bear this in mind.

I'm trying to do a work around at the moment using how powerapps automatically changes excel spreadsheets when connected, as what is happening there seems rather complex - however it's likely i'll need to turn back to this if my way fails so thanks 😄

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bbar0121 50 on 23 Jul 2019 at 15:53:43

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Re: Save collection as file

As an alternative you could collect the data and display into an HTML table to either copy and paste the data into excel or email the html table.

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