In Power Automate, how does one locate a specific attribute in a repeat table using the Dynamic Content list?

CarlisleHaworth1 · ‎04-19-2022

I'm setting up power automate notifications with S123 submissions, and finding it very difficult to find the right attributes in the hosted feature layer when searching in the Dynamic Content list, particularly with attributes in repeat tables. Here are a couple of the issues I'm encountering, and I'd love some suggestions on smarter ways to go about this:

First, the "Search" feature of the Dynamic Content definitely has major limitations and cannot find certain fields. Sometimes the name of the survey question is found, sometimes the label, and this seems to have something to do with a question being hidden or not. If it's hidden, the name is shown (sometimes), and if not hidden, it's the label (sometimes)? And for hidden questions, the search cannot find a portion of a field name unless you include all the characters starting from the beginning up to and including the portion you are searching for. For example, I have a hidden field named "LastReasonForInspectionReport". If I search for "Reason" this field cannot be found, but if I search for "LastReason" it is found.

However! Sometimes, neither the question name or label shows up in the search, especially if in a repeat table. For example, I have one text question in a repeat named "bmp_existingBMPother" and the label is "Other BMP Notes". This is not a hidden question, but in the dynamic content, it shows up as "feature repeats <font color="White"><center><h1>BMP Inspection Survey</h1></center></font> attributes Other BMP Notes". This does not show up in a search of any thing unless I start with "feature repeats <font....". This makes it impossible to find the right attribute.

Now, the bigger issue is that the width of the dynamic content window is too narrow to display this elaborate question name/label, so I can't tell what it is. No tool tip pop-up, no scrolling. So it's a wild guess. And there are a lot of these repeat fields since there are multiple repeat tables in the survey. Here is a screenshot of what that looks like:

In general, I cannot make heads or tails of the logic behind how the dynamic list is generated and the order of the list. Is it feature attributes first, then repeat attributes? Does it follow the order of fields in the attribute table? Is there anything the survey builder can do in the XLSform to help?

thanks!

abureaux · ‎04-19-2022

Ugh. This... Yep, it's infuriating.

I have a few potential solutions, in order of recommendedness:

Set up a Parse JSON and grab the attribute from there.
Use the Expression Builder to type it out.
Type out the full question label in the search box (Pretty sure there is a character limit, so this rarely works)
Click randomly (Yes, I did this once for a short survey. Got it second try!)

Sometimes Power Automate likes to hide things in the dynamic content list. A fantastic workaround is to go into the Expression Builder, type =, go back to the dynamic content list, and then search for your attribute (you can delete the = at this point). Doing this will display the FULL dynamic content list.

CarlisleHaworth1 · ‎04-21-2022

This was helpful @abureaux this was helpful. The = workaround is an odd one, but does cleanup the list a bit. I just discovered another odd workaround that helps clarify which repeat attribute is in the list. Normally, the dynamic content window pops up on the right of the flow. If you make your browser window small enough that there isn't room for this window to open, it displays your options immediately below the field you click on, and in this configuration, if you hover over the attribute you will see the full text string of the label or name. Part of me wants to know why, but I'm learning sometimes it's wise to just nod and wave and back away slowly...Here is a screenshot of what I mean.