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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / What causes a date fie...
Power Automate
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What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

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So I am making a flow to take data from a microsoft form formate the date to be litearlly just ddmm so if someone entered the date of today it would take 03/25/2024 and turn it into just 2503 and then put everything into an excel sheet.

I have tried two ways and both times getting a similar error.

The first way I tried was to initialize a variable called reformatted date, compose to change the dat from it's format in the form to the ddmm then set variable. THen I simply plugged it into the add row to table under birthdate. 

It said that the entry was null.

Second way I tried jut putting the expression into the birthdate column in the add row to table section.
same error basically

 

the expression i used.

formatDateTime(triggerBody()?['BirthDate'], 'ddmm')
 
Am I missing a step? There is a date there, I can see it in the excel file that gets generated by the form, but it treats it as a null.



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  • creativeopinion Profile Picture
    10,502 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    @rmartori You need to use capital MM.

     

    formatDateTime(triggerBody()?['BirthDate'], 'ddMM')

     

    In the meantime, you might find these YT Tutorials helpful: 

     

    How to Get a Microsoft Form RSVP Response into a SharePoint List

     

    IN THIS VIDEO:

     How to get a Microsoft Form Response into SharePoint

     How to get a Microsoft Form ID

     How to get a Microsoft Form response

     How to Build a Microsoft Form with Conditional Fields

     How to used Branching in Microsoft Forms

     How to format Microsoft Form multiple choice responses for a SharePoint multi-choice column

     How to parse a Microsoft Form multiple choice response as string of text

     How to convert a text response to a number

     How to use the Switch action

     How to create a custom email confirmation for a Microsoft Form submission

     How to Create a Custom View in a SharePoint list

     How to use the Compose Action

     How to write Power Automate Expressions

     

    ----

     

    How to Get Microsoft Form File Uploads Attached to an Email 📧

     

    In this Microsoft Power Automate Tutorial I’m going to cover where file uploads from your Microsoft Forms are saved. I’ll also show you how attach the uploaded files to an email and how to dynamically name the files and customize the recipient of the email based on the selections made in your Microsoft Form. I will also cover how to handle responses that don’t include any file uploads.

     

    IN THIS VIDEO:

    ‌ Two types of MS Forms

    ‌ Where Microsoft Personal (OneDrive) Form File Uploads are Saved

    ‌ Where Microsoft Group Form File Uploads are Saved

    ‌ How to Add a File Upload Question to an MS Form

    ‌ How to get a Microsoft Form ID

    ‌ How to get a Microsoft Form Response

    ‌ How to Get the Dynamic Content Microsoft Form File Upload Content

    ‌ How to handle Single and Multiple Microsoft Form File Uploads

    ‌ How to use a Scope action to Organize and Group Your Flow Actions

    ‌ How to Get the File Content from an MS Form File Upload

    ‌ How to Collect All Files Uploaded to a MS Form and Attach to an Email

    ‌ How to Handle MS Form Response When a File Isn’t Uploaded

    ‌ How to Create an Email Key

    ‌ How to Send an Email to a Specific Recipient Based on Form Selection

    ‌ How to Create a Dynamic Output Based on Form Selection

     

    Hope this helps!

    If I helped you solve your problem—please mark my post as a solution .
    Consider giving me a 👍 if you liked my response!

    👉 Level up your Power Automate skills by checking out my tutorials on YouTube
    👉 Tips and Tricks on TikTok and Instagram
  • rmartori Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    I am still getting this error
    "Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Compose' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'The template language function 'formatDateTime' expects its first parameter to be of type string. The provided value is of type 'Null'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions#formatdatetime for usage details.'."

    It fails at the compose step
    Ultimately what I am trying to do is fix an issue I had with the original form since I need it as "text" when it gets outputted because it gets concatenated into another cell and I didnt want to lost any leading zeroes if they were born like october 1st since I would need it to actually show as 0110

    rmartori_0-1711387097806.png

     




  • Ellis Karim Profile Picture
    11,653 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    Hi @rmartori ,

     

    The error could be due to the fact that the property 'BirthDate' doesn't exists -  and this may be due to you mistyping the name.

     

    Try:

    formatDateTime(variables('reformateddate'), 'ddMM')

     

    See the following for an explanation on why a Null value is being returned for the date: How to Query JSON Data Using JSON Notation with Power Automate – Ellis Karim's Blog


    Ellis
    ____________________________________
    If I have answered your question, please mark the post as ☑️ Solved.
    If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.
    My Blog Site

  • creativeopinion Profile Picture
    10,502 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    @rmartori Can you expand your Get response details and screenshot what displays in the Birthdate field...

  • rmartori Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    Here you go,

    error 3.png

    error 1.png

    Screenshot 2024-03-26 102444.png

  • Verified answer
    creativeopinion Profile Picture
    10,502 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    @rmartori Since you'd like to only reformat your date—a variable action isn't necessary in your case. You only need a Compose action. Insert an expression and use the formatDateTime() function.

    creativeopinion_0-1711463540965.png

    Click the dynamic content tab and insert the dynamic content with the date value from your form.

    creativeopinion_1-1711463560589.png

    Add a comma and insert the datetime pattern between single quotes—in your case it's ddMM.

    creativeopinion_2-1711463594220.png

     

    Run a test. Review the output of the Compose action.

    creativeopinion_4-1711463718541.png

    Hope this helps!

    If I helped you solve your problem—please mark my post as a solution .
    Consider giving me a 👍 if you liked my response!

    👉 Level up your Power Automate skills by checking out my tutorials on YouTube
    👉 Tips and Tricks on TikTok and Instagram

     

     

  • rmartori Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: What causes a date field that has something in it, to be considered Null by power automate?

    Well that fixed one problem but now I get this on the final step

     

    I am curious though this is almost all pulling from a Microsoft form that branches at the question type of engagement all the questions depend on if they select option A or option B, if option B the only question they answer is hourly rate, if Option A then all those other questions get answered and hourly rate is ignored. Would that cause the issue and what would be the best way to fix it?

    rmartori_0-1711464687328.png

    error 5.png

    error 4.png

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