Format all planner task dates in Flow

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Posted on by surfer1978

I am trying to format dates for planner tasks when I email them.

I followed this solution

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Planner-Flow-Date-Value-Format-Error/m-p/249542#M24796

I have found that if there is no date in the planner task due date, the flow will fail to run, is there any way to skip trying to format the date if the duedate is null?

I also need to do this to the start date and the completed date, is there an elegant way to basically get all the dates from the task details and if there are any dates present format them so I can use them in an email template?

Thanks in advance!

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Building flows

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RezaDorrani 12,143 on at

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Re: Format all planner task dates in Flow

Hi @surfer1978

In that second compose 2 action
use the following expression

if(equals(outputs('Compose'),null),'',formatDateTime(outputs('Compose'),'yyyy-MM-dd'))
This will only format the date if it exists else output blank

You can do the same for the other date fields

Regards,
Reza Dorrani

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Ed Gonzales 4,531 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Re: Format all planner task dates in Flow

@surfer1978

Reza and I responded at the same time....his is better. go with that 😉

Hi there!

So...dates are all going to be stored the same way. I'm guessing you'll want to change the presentation before they are presented in an email, right?

There are a few ways to go about this depending on how comfortable you are with expressions. It's not my strongest point, but I've found this kind of thing to be handy...

Here's the one from the thread you mentioned: formatDateTime(outputs('Compose'),'yyyy-MM-dd')

So, we want to see if the field is empty before trying to format it, right? Try this in the expression box: if(empty(outputs('Compose'),'',formatDateTime(outputs('Compose'),'yyyy-MM-dd')))

Totally winging it so it may yell at you, but basically asking if there's a value in the output, and if not keep it blank, and if so, format the value.

Keep us posted.

-Ed-

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v-alzhan-msft on at

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Re: Format all planner task dates in Flow

Hi @surfer1978 ,

Have your problem been solved?
Please take a try with @edgonzales's and @RezaDorrani 's solution, and you could also consider adding a Condition under the Compose 2 action to check if the task due date is null, and you could add different Set TaskDetails Variable for the task due date in the If yes and If no branch of the Condition.

Best regards,
Alice

Community Support Team _ Alice Zhang
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surfer1978 42 on at

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Re: Format all planner task dates in Flow

Thank you @RezaDorrani that worked perfectly

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Re: Format all planner task dates in Flow

Hi

I have the exact same issue as this. I have edited the template flow task which emails outstanding tasks to a group at a given time.

I've used the formatDatetime expression to get the dates the way I want them(the email shares title of task, start date and due date).

When there is no start date/due date the flow fails. I've tried to edit the expression and add:

if(equals(outputs('Compose'),null),'',formatDateTime(outputs('Compose'),'dd-MM-yyyy'))

but it just tells me that the expression is invalid. Any ideas?

Thanks

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