Creating an event

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Posted on by PeggyLang

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I have an approval flow for PTO requests.
Essentially the flow is triggered when
response is received in MS Form

an approval process takes place

an item is created on SP list

AND and an 'All day' event showing as 'free' is created in Director's calendar (all day event is preferred due to where/how this shows up on the calendar)
The flow works perfectly if the PTO request is for longer than 1 day. If PTO is only 1 day then an error message of 'all day event must be at least 24 hours' is given.
How do I establish first day of leave request as 11/9/2020 00:00:00 and last day of leave request as 11/9/2020 24:00:00?
The alternative would be to change wording on MS Form to
first day off work
first day back to work
I would rather not do that if possible.

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Building flows

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tom_riha 10,185 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @PeggyLang ,
the end date should be 11/10/2020 00:00:00 exactly in your case, that will give you 1 full day off from 11/09/2020 (but if it's even 00:00:01 it'll be resolved as 2 full days).
I'd add a condition to your flow before you create the event. If 'start date is equal to end date', use the following expressions as start/end date.
startOfDay('<startDate>') :this will give you the start date @00:00:00 addDays(startOfDay('<startDate>'),1) :this will give you the next day @00:00:00
If 'start date not equals end date' use the start date and end date from the form.

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PeggyLang 381 on at

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@tom_riha I like where you are going here. I didn't think of that. However, even if I did I'm unclear how to accomplish this. See Screenshot below. I think I have my 'if start date = end date' condition in the right place, but when I try to 'initialize variable' in the 'yes' tree I am returned with 'The operation 'initialize variable' can only be used at top level'. Obviously I'm choosing the incorrect Action, but I don't know what to choose instead.

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tom_riha 10,185 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @PeggyLang ,
'Initialize variable' must be at the top level, it can't be in any condition/loop/etc., ideally right after the trigger. But you don't need any variable, you can use expression directly in the 'Create event' action.

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PeggyLang 381 on at

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@tom_riha
I'm having a devil of a time creating the expression.
I'm assuming my expression will be a combination of expression & dynamic content.
Based on this assumption, my expression begins to look like the below;
Start time = startOfDay('outputs('Create_item_2')?['body/Lastdateofleave']')
End time = addDays(startOfDay('outputs('Create_item_2')?['body/Lastdateofleave']'),1)
However, when I input that I am returned with the error 'The expression is invalid' I know this is going to work just as soon as I get the actual syntax correct.
Screenshots above are added in incorrect order, first should actually be second.

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tom_riha 10,185 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @PeggyLang ,
when you're using dynamic content, you don't need the apostrophes, try it as below.

Start time = startOfDay(outputs('Create_item_2')?['body/Lastdateofleave']) End time = addDays(startOfDay(outputs('Create_item_2')?['body/Lastdateofleave']),1)

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PeggyLang 381 on at

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@tom_riha PHEW!!!
This was frustrating for me (maybe you as well 🤣).
I went into the expression many times to insert dynamic content and sometimes after I typed in the expression, placed my cursor to where I want the dynamic content and then clicked on dynamic content the expression would disappear, sometimes the dynamic content would not show me the correct options, sometimes I would be successful in getting the expression AND the dynamic content in, save and test only to find an error, then when going back into edit would find the dynamic content had disappeared . . . Really weird, inconsistent things were happening. So . . . I signed out, rebooted, signed back in, edited flow and ran. It WORKS!!! I've only run it once (I'm afraid to jinx it and try it again) but I will have to run it again to be extra sure that it is working and nothing strange is going on.
I greatly appreciate your knowledge, time and patience working through this with me!!!

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