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Custom Connector $filter query string parameter does not work

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Posted on by Zpg613

Hello experts,

I've just setup a custom connector. Problem I'm facing is the $filter query string parameter does not seem to be properly working.

During connector testing all is good, I get a 200 response, expected results. When I go to run the actual flow and pass the exact same $filter string parameter value, I get a 400 error saying the data types are not compatible, see below. Very strange that the custom connector testing does not match the actual flow when being used....is it possible some characters are being automatically escaped in the custom connector testing area but not in the actual flow? I've tried encoding, using compose variable string, etc but I'm stuck. Please help, any advice/input is welcome!

Testing - 200 response

Flow run - 400 response

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Connector development

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murshed Microsoft Employee on at

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First, your filter seems like using an exact timestamp. Due the nature of distributed systems a match on exact timestamp may proved to be tricky. Try using a window instead or some other criteria to filter on.

Secondly, can you tell us more about how you implemented $fliter in your custom connector and how is it processed in the backend? If you can explain what you are trying to do with this flow in general that will be helpful too.

Thirdly, compare the differences between the test environment and prod environment. What are the difference between the two? Are the backend changes same in both prod and test? Can you make the API call using an app such as postman and get same/different results? Testing with postman can be helpful, since it will validate if you backend is returning correct results with the query or not. Once you confirm that, the only remaining thing to check is the connector itself.

Hope this helps.
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Zpg613 18 on at

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Thanks for the response and appreciate the help.

1 - So I have a test version of the API, and I used a specific DateTime in my post above to get an expected result, using Postman. I just changed the filter to a datetime window and got 6 results in the testing stage of the connector and also in Postman...but still get an error in the prod flow that the type entered is not correct.

Makes me believe that the prod flow adds some extra characters or the test flow is adding something eg additional header or escaping characters.

Testing Connector

Postman (same Get Request)

Prod PA flow

2 - The $filter in the connector is setup as a optional, string. Eventually I was going to use this data to return only the last records modified in the last 1 day. Not sure if I'm missing any configuration here. I left the default empty so I could pass dynamic string value.

3 - The setup for the connector and the flow are the same, point to same endpoint/gateway/etc and the test connection results match Postman exactly (above).

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murshed Microsoft Employee on at

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The problem may be odata specific. Try googling for the error message. Please take a look at this see if it helps: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/62196447/odata-filter-datetimeoffset-less-that-date

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Zpg613 18 on at

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I've been struggling with exactly this, testing different odata filters to see if they work...is there some difference between the testing stage and prod flow - maybe testing stage adds some header or character I don't see?
FYI When I try filtering on another field eg like a text field it seems to work ok. I've also tried passing the filter string first as a PA variable but I have the same issue.

Thanks again for the input.

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Zpg613 18 on at

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Still struggling with this, any ideas why the testing environment returns data properly but not in an actual flow?

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murshed Microsoft Employee on at

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I wouldn't think the test and prod would behave differently. Are you using the same backend API for test and prod?

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LaelLeeH 91 on at

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Hi,
Did you ever resolve this and is there a fix/work-around? I am experiencing a very similar issue. I have built a Custom Connector and it works perfectly, both with and without query parameters inside the Connector Test feature. But when I try and run it from Power Apps, then it works fine without parameters, but as soon as I add in filter parameters it fails. Power Apps does not even report any error - it just does nothing.

When I Inspect Element in the browser, I can see the error that odata is returning. It is complaining about pluses '+' in the query string either side of the 'eq' operator, which is invalidating the request. It seems like either Power Apps or the Custom Connector is adding the '+'s before issuing the call to odata. Is there some way I can remove them in the connector defintion?

My request which works fine inside the Custom Connector Test feature:
/Projects?$Select=Id,Name,EPS&$Filter=Name eq 'My Project'

Error reported when inspecting element in the browser whilst running same call from Power Apps:
{
"odata.error": {
"code": "",
"message": {
"lang": "en-US",
"value": "Syntax error: character '+' is not valid at position 11 in 'ProjectName+eq+'My+Project''."
}
}
}
Any guidance appreciated.
Regards
Lael

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