Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

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Posted on by SH-21101628-0

I have a flow set up to add rows to a table in a pbix report. I received an error for null values when adding rows. I attempted adding the following expression to account for nulls:

if(empty(triggerOutputs()?['ColumnName']),'',triggerOutputs()?['ColumnName'])

but I now get this error when triggering the flow:

The input body for trigger 'manual' of type 'Request' did not match its schema definition. Error details: 'Required properties are missing from object: entity.'.

Any insight as to the error and if my expression is incorrect?

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Ellis Karim 11,473 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

The use of the question mark in the expression triggerOutputs()?['ColumnName'] means that if 'ColumnName' does not exist, it will return a null value. Null value is not the same as empty.

So I think you need a condition to check for null values:

if( equals(triggerOutputs()?['ColumnName'], null), '', triggerOutputs()?['ColumnName'] )

Make sure to check that triggerOutputs()?['ColumnName'] is the correct way to reference the column. Are you sure it is not something like triggerOutputs()?['body/ColumnName'] ?

See: How to Query JSON Data Using JSON Notation with Power Automate❔❔❓ – Ellis Karim's Blog

Ellis

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SH-21101628-0 12 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

I tried the suggested change - still fails with the same error code. I tried inserting 'body/... into the expression and it would not allow me to update the expression.

Allow me to better explain the situation. The columns I'm exporting inevitably will have null values at the row level. They are text columns, so I don't want to have a zero replacing the null or empty cell. I made the assumption that the flow failed because of this.

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SH-21101628-0 12 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

here is the original error for failure:

The execution of template action 'Apply_to_each' failed: the result of the evaluation of 'foreach' expression '@triggerBody()?['entity']?['Power BI values']' is of type 'Null'. The result must be a valid array.

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Ellis Karim 11,473 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

Re-run the flow using the following modified expression:

@triggerBody()['entity']['Power BI values']

Please share the error message.

Which trigger are you using and can you share some sample data?

Ellis

Ellis Karim's Blog – IT doesn't have to be complicated!

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SH-21101628-0 12 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

Ellis, thank you for your help with this. I have cleared all of my error variable except one.

I have a column in PBI that Flow is classifying as type: number. The column contains percentages and '-' when no percentage is calculated.

So, am I correct in assuming it is failing because Automate cannot read the '-' as a number?

Is there a way to change the type in the execution of the flow?

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SH-21101628-0 12 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

I am finding now that the expression results not adding the row. There are instances where a row may or may not have a value in the collection of columns i'm trying to add to the file.

For instance, I have 5 columns of data and a row may only have data for 3 of the 5 columns. I still need that row to populate.

So, it seems the conditional statement I started with is incorrect.

Help?

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Ellis Karim 11,473 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

For instance, I have 5 columns of data and a row may only have data for 3 of the 5 columns. I still need that row to populate.

If you have the following JSON dataset, but it's missing Column3 and Column4:

{ "triggerBody": { "entity": { "Column1": "SampleData1", "Column2": "SampleData2", "Column5": "SampleData5" } } }

We can use the following expressions to return the value for each of the columns. The expression uses the coalesce function which is a bit easier to use than the IF function condition in this instance. If any column is missing from the data we return "😢empty!"

coalesce(variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column1'], '😢empty!') coalesce(variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column2'], '😢empty!') coalesce(variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column3'], '😢empty!') coalesce(variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column4'], '😢empty!') coalesce(variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column5'], '😢empty!')

The outputs from the above expressions:

variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column1'] = SampleData1 variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column2'] = SampleData1 variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column3'] = 😢empty! variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column4'] = 😢empty! variables('varTriggerBody')?['triggerBody']?['entity']?['Column5'] = SampleData1

See: How to Query JSON Data Using JSON Notation with Power Automate❔❔❓ – Ellis Karim's Blog

Hopefully this will give you some idea on how to handle the missing columns from the data using the "question mark notation".

I'll need to see the sample data as I'm finding hard to visualise the your data.

Ellis

Ellis Karim's Blog – IT doesn't have to be complicated!

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SH-21101628-0 12 on at

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Adding Rows to a table - null values & trigger error

Again, Ellis, thank you for your help. Here is hopefully a better detailed explanation. Here are 5 columns in the report:

Servicing Plant - Biloxi or (blank) if no return

Manager - Bob Smith or (blank) if no return

Customer - 12345

Sales - $$ or (blank) if no return

Still doing business? - "Y" for Yes, (blank) for No

Due to various reasons (ie. bad data, no sales, poor maintenance) some fields may result in (blank) or null. But the row still needs to populate when the flow is triggered. In other words, if there are 50 customers known in the Servicing Plant, then 50 rows should populate, even if there is no longer a Manager attached to the customer, or if there are no sales for the date range, or if due to poor maintenance, the Servicing Plant was removed in the system.

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