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Getting Started With Microsoft Flow

Microsoft flow is a cloud-based workflow engine, Using Flow end users can create cross application workflows (no code workflows).  Flow is a part of office 365 E3 suite. It is a successor of SharePoint designer workflows. Complex level Flows can be promoted to an Azure logic app.

Microsoft Flows Vs SharePoint Designer Workflows

Anatomy of Microsoft Flow

• Flow Designer
• Connectors, Triggers & Actions
• Variables & Data Flow
• Expressions
• Branching, Error Handling & Scopes

Flow Designer – Create a Flow from Browser or Mobile Application

Desktop Version:

• Go to https://flow.Microsoft.com
• Sign-in with Office 365 Account
• Start from existing template or import from disk or create from scratch (both in desktop & mobile browsers)

Mobile Version:

• Install flow mobile app, sign in
• Create new flow (template or from scratch).

Connectors

Connectors Wrapper around an API that allows Flow to talk with other services.It exposes Triggers & Actions.

• Standard Connectors – included as part of E3

  • Microsoft Connectors (SharePoint, Azure Blob storage, SQL Server.)
  • Non-Microsoft Connectors (Twitter, Slack.)
  • https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=standard

• Premium Connectors – additional cost

  • Microsoft Connectors (HTTP with Azure AD.)
  • Other Connectors (Salesforce, MySQL.)
  • https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=premium

• Custom Connectors – additional cost , development

  • ISV, System Integrators, End users can create custom connectors to integrate any system/application/service.
  • https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=custom

Triggers

• Run based on user action or event

  • From other apps in office 365 – PowerApps, SharePoint, etc.
  • From SQL
  • From dedicated Flow button

• Run on a schedule

  • Flow also run based on time schedule, From every minute to 1 am on Days.

• Run by HTTP GET/POST to URL generated by flow

  • Call another Flow
  • Call from any application/service/agent that can make HTTP calls

Scenarios & Types of Triggers

• Triggers – Scenarios

  • Simple: Flows start with a Trigger.
  • Advanced: Flows can have more than 1 trigger (async actions)
  • Custom: Flows can have custom triggers

• Types:

  • Polling Trigger:
    • Periodically checks the service
    • Checks count as executions
  • Push Triggers :
    • Listen for data on an endpoint or wait for event.

Actions

• Execute CRUD operations with workflow context
  • SharePoint: Create Item, Delete Item, Create File.
  • SQL: Insert Row, Update Row, Delete Row, Get Row.

• Transform Data

  • Inline – using expressions (e.g. string operations, math operations.)
  • Other services – Html to text.

• Send Notification

  • Send mobile notification, send email notification etc.

• Call other Flow

  • Chain Flows to create complex Flows.

Variables

• Use Variables connector*
• Initialize & then set value
• Supported value types (Boolean, String, Object, Array, Float).

Variables are NOT always necessary!

• Why variables are not always necessary?

  • Data Flows from each step and is available for all later steps
  • ‘Add Dynamic Content’ allows us to select outputs from previous steps
  • Certain outputs show up based on the types of the inputs and outputs.

Expressions:

• Expressions can be used in most of the fields to transform data inline
• IntelliSense available as you type

Convert Type

String to Integer

Int (triggerBody())

String Manipulation

Claims to UPN

replace(triggerBody()?['Author']?['Claims'],'i:0#.f|membership|','')

Date Time Manipulation

Add 1 day

Get month

adddays(utcnow(), 1)

formatDateTime(utcnow(), 'MMMM')

Arithmetic

Add numbers

Add(11,22)

Generate data

Create GUID

guid()

Branching

• If-then-else

• Switch

• For-Each

  • By default, parallel
  • Parallel (20 exec)
  • Supports sequential

• Do-Until

  • Emulate State machines
  • Help in approvals & more

• Parallel branches

Error Handling

• Actions can be set to run if previous action fails/times out.

Scopes

• Logically group actions
• Allow advanced error handling for a group of actions
• Scope boxes are in brown boxes.

CONCLUSION:

Vinod N

SHAREPOINT CONSULTANT, MICROSOFT MVP

Fortune 500 companies use SharePoint. It's the preferred choice of intranet for most enterprises, offering powerful tools for communication and collaboration, extensive document management capabilities, sweeping search features