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Add Default Content for 'null' Value

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Posted on by 4,533
I am passing data from a Power App to a Power Automate flow
and on to a SharePoint library and SharePoint list.

One of the Power Apps fields is 'Comments'. 

Comments are NOT required, which means there are times when
Power Apps will try to pass a 'null' (blank) value to the flow, which
triggers and error in Power Automate.

How do I craft an expression that will recognize the 'null' value
and replace it with the default 'No comment entered.', or if the
comment content is not 'null', pass the Power Apps entered content
to the flow? 
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  • Phineas Profile Picture
    Phineas 4,533 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    Yes.
     
    Verified by the Update item expression writer, which auto-populated 'text_5'
    as the field in question when I updated the expression.


    Also, 'Comments' is shown as such in the trigger.

    And, to reiterate, if I manually enter 'No comment entered.' as the default
    content in the 'Comments' field of the Power App, the flow runs without
    error and the comment column of the library is populated with the default
    content.


    Only when I leave the 'Comment' field empty/blank do I get the Power Apps
    error message and flow fail.
  • trice602 Profile Picture
    trice602 11,772 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    Hi,
     
    To confirm:  text_5 is your comment column?
     
    ------------------------------------------------


    If this was helpful, please like and/or mark as a verified answer to help others find this too!


    Always glad to help! 💯💯💯💯💯

    Tom 

    Follow me on LinkedIn - Thomas Rice, PMP | LinkedIn

     

     
  • Phineas Profile Picture
    Phineas 4,533 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    I updated the expression. I still get the same error in Power Apps.

    I have confirmed the Power Apps 'comment' field is 'text_5', and that the field is currently blank.

    If I add 'No comment entered' back into the 'comment' field ('text_5') I don't get the error and
    the flow works fine.

    Expression: 
    if(empty(triggerBody()['text_5']), null, triggerBody()['text_5']) 

     
  • trice602 Profile Picture
    trice602 11,772 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    Hi,
     
    We are close.  The issue is the entire entry is an expression, not directly typed in as you have it.
     
    New expression:  if(empty(dynamic_content_comments), null, dynamic_content_comments) 
     
     
    ------------------------------------------------


    If this was helpful, please like and/or mark as a verified answer to help others find this too!


    Always glad to help! 💯💯💯💯💯

    Tom 

    Follow me on LinkedIn - Thomas Rice, PMP | LinkedIn

     

     
  • Phineas Profile Picture
    Phineas 4,533 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    I updated the flow to the following. I still got the same error message in Power Apps.

    Please advise.
  • trice602 Profile Picture
    trice602 11,772 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    Hi,
     
    I use if(empty(dynamic_content), null, dynamic_content) and if(empty(dynamic_content), 0, dynamic_content) to handle blank values.  I recommend trying that expression on your comment field in create item.
     
    ------------------------------------------------


    If this was helpful, please like and/or mark as a verified answer to help others find this too!


    Always glad to help! 💯💯💯💯💯

    Tom 

    Follow me on LinkedIn - Thomas Rice, PMP | LinkedIn

     

     
  • Phineas Profile Picture
    Phineas 4,533 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    I tried a corrective action (see flow below). Will this work on the Flow side?

    I tried it and got the following error on the Power Apps side.

    Will your solution resolve this Power Apps error?


     
  • Suggested answer
    trice602 Profile Picture
    trice602 11,772 on at
    Add Default Content for 'null' Value
    Hi,
     
    Please add an expression here to handle null values:
     
    if(empty(dynamic_content),null,dynamic_content)
     
    if(empty()) will solve this for you.
     
    ------------------------------------------------


    If this was helpful, please like and/or mark as a verified answer to help others find this too!


    Always glad to help! 💯💯💯💯💯

    Tom 

    Follow me on LinkedIn - Thomas Rice, PMP | LinkedIn

     

     

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