Top 10 Under-Utilized Expressions in Power Automate
Discover Top 10 underutilized expressions in Power Automate & why theyre cool in our Microsoft Experts guide.
Explored Ingredients of Power Automate
Written by David Wyatt, this blog post digs into the depth of Power Automate, specifically highlighting ten underutilized expressions. Wyatt explores the standard expressions of Power Automate like if(), equal(), formatDateTime(), among others, but the primary focus of the blog is about the lesser-known ones.
For more reference, readers can check the Power Automate guide here.
- Coalesce
- Empty
- Mod
- Intersection
- JSON
- FormatNumber
- StartOfDay
- UriComponent
- Take
- Xpath
Wyatt details the advantageous uses for each of these expressions. According to him, “Coalesce” is useful for Switch's or Conditions; it returns the first output that has a value from your inputs. “Mod” returns the remainder of a division operation between two numbers, useful for executing actions in loops. "Intersection" returns the shared items between two arrays. This functionality is mainly used while looking for changes and differences.
In addition, "Empty" elegantly checks if an array is empty, instead of checking the length of the array. "JSON" is useful for converting strings into objects, "FormatNumber" sets the desired format for integers, and "StartOfDay" is great for performing calculations based on date but with dateTime values.
In the blog, Wyatt indicates that "UriComponent" removes non-compliant characters from URLs, mainly used while building URLs with queries. "Take" is a function that returns a specific number of values from a string or an array. Lastly, “Xpath” is viewed as a very useful expression used in multiple ways, from adding up array keys to parsing HTMLs.
Insight into Power Automate
Power Automate, earlier known as MS Flow, is a part of Microsoft's Power Platform. It is a cloud-based software tool that allows employees to create and automate workflows and tasks across multiple applications and services without help from developers.
This Microsoft product helps in automating repetitive office tasks and to simplify the process of data sharing amidst different Microsoft services and apps. With its unique power to integrate and synchronize data from various sources, Power Automate is the ultimate solution for creating time and cost-efficient business workflows.
Moreover, it offers connectors for many common services and apps, both Microsoft-specific and third-party services like mail, social media, cloud storage, and more. Power Automate can be a useful tool to optimize your workflows, increase productivity, and ultimately enhance your business.
Learn about Power Automate - Top 10 Cool Under Used Expressions
This comprehensive guide explores the uncommonly used expressions in Microsoft's productivity software, Power Automate. An understanding of these 10 underused expressions can be beneficial in optimizing your work processes.
Frequently, we may underutilize the features and functions readily available, hence limiting the full potential of the software. With this guide, we aspire to change that by unveiling some of the less popular, yet highly useful, expressions. We'll look at expressions like Coalesce, Empty, Mod, Intersection, JSON, FormatNumber, StartOfDay, UriComponent, Take, and Xpath.
Coalesce: This function is useful when working with Switch or Conditions. It retrieves the first output with a value from your inputs, reducing redundancy and boosting efficiency.
Empty: Instead of constantly checking the length of an array for data, the function 'Empty' offers a more elegant alternative.
Mod: Mod returns the remainder from dividing one number by another, which is often used in loops and conditional settings.
Intersection: This function is used to compare two arrays and return items that are present in both. Its primary use is for detecting changes, making it great for tracking updates.
However, it isn't limited to those expressions alone. Here are a few more to explore:
JSON: Like int, string and Boolean, but used for converting to JSON. This allows for easier data conversion from a string to an object.
FormatNumber: This lets you set the number format for your integers, ensuring consistency across files and data compilations.
StartOfDay: This function helps with computations on dates from a dateTime value. For instance, it gives historical data entries based on the most recent items' created dateTime value.
UriComponent: This expression removes non-compliant characters from your URL to avoid mix-ups, especially useful when building URLs with queries.
Take: This function returns the first nth values in an array and string, which can be used for sorting or truncating data.
Xpath: A versatile tool that can be employed in different ways, XPath helps you extract information from structures such as JSON and HTML.
These expressions will certainly provide users a fascinating experience, especially those who are eager to dive deeper in their automation journey with Microsoft's productivity software. Beyond these 10 expressions, several other underused functions in Power Automate can be beneficial. Some honorable mentions are StartOfMonth, Skip, IterationIndexes, Workflow, ParseDateTime, AddProperty, and their other variants.
With more than a hundred expressions to explore, you can maximize the productivity software's potential and efficiency remarkably. Now, go forth and automate!
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- 3 hours ago — So I wanted to share my top 10 under used expressions and why they are cool. Coalesce; Empty; Mod; Intersection; JSON; FormatNumber; StartOfDay ...
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