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Power Automate - Using Flows
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Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

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Hi everyone I hope you're doing well,

MeSan_0-1618596006251.png

 

I've built a flow in which I have a simple power app as a trigger, then a populate word document step (this is where the problem is coming from) and after that a step to convert the populated document into pdf (with encodian) and lastly a step to send an email.

What is strange, is when I integrate the flow in a power apps button it requires me an unknown attribute I don't have in the flow at all, its name : PopulateaMicrosoftWordtemplate_File I really don't know where this comes from and what is the value I am supposed to give it ?

Can anyone help me with this please I'll highly appreciate

Thanks in advance !

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    As u can see :

    MeSan_0-1619129955451.png

    The SQL stores it this way, and its type is "image" :

    MeSan_1-1619129986625.png

    It is an image type loaded in an attribute of the SQL server database I'm using. Whenever I create a new item in this DB, I associate with it an image file I load from my local machine so it is sent to the DB table of this item. I really don't understand how SQL server processes these images, does it only store its references or the image in the txt format I need to convert to get the .PNG or .JPG format ?

  • Pstork1 Profile Picture
    65,999 Most Valuable Professional on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    What kind of image is it and how is it being loaded into the Power app?

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    Yes @Pstork1 , sounds a quite logic cause. But I didn't understand actually, can u give me more details how to save the image ? (do I need to save it somewhere in the power app or in the DB or in the flow ? I'm so worried this won't work in the case of too much data :/)

    Thanks again 🙂

  • Pstork1 Profile Picture
    65,999 Most Valuable Professional on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    The image control in Power Apps can hold a number of different types of images.  And usually they just have a reference to a cached image, not the image itself.  I've never had any luck trying to pass an actual image from Power Apps to a flow. You may have to save the image somewhere and pass a url to the flow so it can load the image for use.

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    Hello @Pstork1 ,

    I have an image field to populate in the word document and I gave it as a parameter askinpowerapps, but when I run the flow in the power app I get this error : The image is not of type PNG or JPG. Please provide an image of type PNG or JPG.

    I really don't get it since the image I have in the power app is of type image, do I need to do any conversion ? Any ideas how to resolve this please ?

    Thanks in advance !

  • Verified answer
    Pstork1 Profile Picture
    65,999 Most Valuable Professional on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    1) The first thing you need to do is remove the trigger in the flow and re-add it.  That will get rid of all the parameters.

    2) Starting in the Power App create either a string variable or a collection to hold the values you want to pass as parameters. Use a variable if you are passing a single set of values and a collection if its an array.  Here's a sample of a single set of values.  You can also see the Run command for the flow which uses the JSON() function to convert the variable you created to a JSON object.

    Set(
     Parameters,
     {
     Parameter1: TextInput1.Text,
     Parameter2: Value(TextInput1_1.Text),
     Date1: DatePicker1.SelectedDate,
     Boolean1: Checkbox2.Value,
     array1: MyData
     }
    );
    ComplexParameters.Run(
     JSON(
     Parameters,
     JSONFormat.IndentFour
     )
    )

    3) Now in the flow add a Parse JSON action just after the Power Apps trigger and use the Ask in Power Apps dynamic content to supply the Content. Add the flow to the button in Power Apps and run it once.  Make sure to make a copy of the variable and run line first since this will overwrite the existing button onSelect.  Just paste it back after adding the flow.

    4) Use the output of the parse JSON step in the flow to get the parameter you passed and use that to generate the schema.  You'll need to save the flow and re-add it to PowerApps.

    5) Now if you look in your flow you should see all the parameters as dynamic content coming out of the Parse JSON.  Here's what my example output looks like.  You can use these as parameters for your Word Document. The names will be whatever you named them in the record you created in Power Apps.

    image.png

    image.png

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    Thanks so much@Pstork1 , If the JSON tip would be easier to handle I prefer using it in the power app (even if I've never did it before haha) because, as u said, working with such huge amount of parameters is really confusing (for both me and the used power platforms 😁). Looking forward for your next reply about the sample how to pass the JSON object as parameter and I would appreciate if u can help me to get to know better how to use/create the JSON object in power automate and how I can link it to my word document ^^.

    Have a nice weekend

  • Pstork1 Profile Picture
    65,999 Most Valuable Professional on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    If you have 76 parameters I would really suggest you remove the trigger again and make sure you remove all the AskInPowerapps generated parameters.  With a set of parameters that large I would suggest you change to just one JSON parameter that contains all 76.  Managing 76 separate parameters is going to be a real chore and very prone to missteps.  Which is probably what generated 79 parameters instead of 76.  I've got a small sample I can post tomorrow that will demonstrate how to pass a JSON object as a parameter.

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    Yes, I followed the steps and the parameter PopulateaMicrosoftWordtemplate_File disapeared but power apps formula keeps telling me : "invalid number of arguments: received 76 expected 79" and in my flow I only have 76 parameters to ask in the power apps I don't understand at all where the other three ones come from.. So strange

  • Pstork1 Profile Picture
    65,999 Most Valuable Professional on at
    Re: Unknown attribute in the flow action in power apps

    Once an AskInPowerApps field has been added to a flow it is persistent even if the field is deleted.  At some point you added an AskInPowerApps dynamic content to the File field in the Populate a Microsoft Word template action.  to get rid of it do the following in order

    1) Verify that the Power Apps parameter isn't still in the file field of that action

    2) Remove the power apps trigger (this will get rid of the PopulateaMicrosoftWordtemplate_File parameter

    3) Re-add the Power Apps trigger to the flow and save the flow

    4) Make sure you remove and re-add the flow to the button in Power Apps.  It should no longer prompt for the strange parameter.

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