Getting rows from CSV using Get File Content

[biconix1]

I am trying to read rows from a CSV file (no table) and am using Get File Content. I have configured the step with the proper Site Address and File Identifier. since the file type is CSV i set the Infer Content Type to True

From what i understand the contents of the file is stored in a variable called File Content

I need to parse each row and extract the data so i am using Parse Json where i have passed the Content as:

json(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body'])

and the Schema as 

{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"Person ID": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "integer"
}
},
"Trip Date": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"System Generated": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "boolean"
}
}
}
}

I get this error:

Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Parse_JSON' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'The template language function 'json' parameter is not valid. The provided value 'Person ID,Trip Date,System Generated
142791,12/16/2022,FALSE
' cannot be parsed: 'Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: P. Path '', line 0, position 0.'. 

To me it looks like it values it generated are correct. What exactly is the error?

[grantjenkins · Accepted solution]

I've built a flow with how I'd get what you're after. The below flow assumes you have data for each of the columns (no empty values).

The CSV file for this example is below:

The full flow is below. I'll go into each of the actions.

Get file content gets the data from the CSV file.

Compose gets the content from base64 to string, splits in on \r\n, then skips the first row (headers).

skip(split(base64ToString(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body']['$content']), decodeUriComponent('%0D%0A')), 1)

Filter array then removes any empty lines (normally get a line at the end of the array from the previous step). We use item() in the filter.

Next, we use a Select to map out the key/value pairs in JSON format. The expressions used are:

//Person ID
int(split(item(), ',')[0])

//Trip Date
split(item(), ',')[1]

//System Generated
bool(split(item(), ',')[2])

Finally, we have Parse JSON to give us properties we can use. The schema uses is below.

{
    "type": "array",
    "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
            "Person ID": {
                "type": "integer"
            },
            "Trip Date": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "System Generated": {
                "type": "boolean"
            }
        },
        "required": [
            "Person ID",
            "Trip Date",
            "System Generated"
        ]
    }
}

This will provide us with the following properties to select.

After running the flow for this example, we would have the following output.

[
  {
    "Person ID": 12345,
    "Trip Date": "15/08/2022",
    "System Generated": true
  },
  {
    "Person ID": 12346,
    "Trip Date": "19/09/2022",
    "System Generated": false
  },
  {
    "Person ID": 12347,
    "Trip Date": "21/09/2022",
    "System Generated": false
  },
  {
    "Person ID": 12348,
    "Trip Date": "22/09/2022",
    "System Generated": true
  },
  {
    "Person ID": 12349,
    "Trip Date": "22/09/2022",
    "System Generated": true
  }
]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
If I've answered your question, please mark the post as Solved.
If you like my response, please consider giving it a Thumbs Up.

[biconix1]

wow! very different from the "simple" flow i built! thanks for your help

 i believe i have made all the additions you suggested:

The Filter Output is: 

[

  "142791,12/16/2022,FALSE"

]

which is the input to the Select

THe Selects Output is:

[

  {

    "Person ID": "int(split(item(), ',')[0])",

    "Trip Date": "split(item(), ',')[1]",

    "System Generated": "bool(split(item(), ',')[2])"

  }

]

whihc is the content to the PARSE JSON

the Schema is:

{

  "type": "array",

  "items": {

    "type": "object",

    "properties": {

      "Person ID": {

        "type": "integer"

      },

      "Trip Date": {

        "type": "string"

      },

      "System Generated": {

        "type": "boolean"

      }

    },

    "required": [

      "Person ID",

      "Trip Date",

      "System Generated"

    ]

  }

}

but i get errors:

[

  {

    "message": "Invalid type. Expected Integer but got String.",

    "lineNumber": 0,

    "linePosition": 0,

    "path": "[0]['Person ID']",

    "value": "int(split(item(), ',')[0])",

    "schemaId": "#/items/properties/Person ID",

    "errorType": "type",

    "childErrors": []

  },

  {

    "message": "Invalid type. Expected Boolean but got String.",

    "lineNumber": 0,

    "linePosition": 0,

    "path": "[0]['System Generated']",

    "value": "bool(split(item(), ',')[2])",

    "schemaId": "#/items/properties/System Generated",

    "errorType": "type",

    "childErrors": []

  }

]

 as follows:

what have i donw wrong?

[biconix1]

the screenshot was not included, here it is

[biconix1]

my huge error. i did not do the Select mapping using expressions....

thanks for your excellent help

[biconix1]

Again, thanks for your solution! it works in 99% of the records. I have noticed 2 problems that i hope you can help me resolve

1) some of the cells in the table are multiline. thus, they seem to have a "/n" in the middle of the cell. Is there a way to work around this?

2) one column has a comma (lastname, firstname) so it parses an an extra field i think. 

should i ask the creator fo the table to not use commas and not to have multilined cells (not sure they can accomodate this) or is there a workaround?

again, thanks for your great help!

[grantjenkins]

@biconix1 Sorry for not getting back to you. Did you still need help with this?

[robdix]

Just wanted to say thank you for posting this solution. It saved me a ton of time. Cheers!

[MarioOne]

@grantjenkins I was on similar topic but in my case, I need to compare values from the CSV against the SP Column. Unfortunately, I am not able to move with that forward with the result I have. It seems the strings are returned with double quotes beeing not recognized by the Condition.

The result I have after parse JSON:

and the reso fo the flow:

broken to details:

and the final result is, the comparision never takes place:

Is there a way to achieve that task? Shall I maybe instead write the CSV into SP List first, and then compare two SharePoint Lists?

Happy to hear from you, Mario1

[timmiller]

Using your formula: 

skip(split(base64ToString(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body']['$content']), decodeUriComponent('%0D%0A')), 1)

Getting this error:

InvalidTemplate

Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Compose' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'The template language expression 'split(base64ToString(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body']['$content']), outputs('Compose_1'))' cannot be evaluated because property '$content' cannot be selected. Property selection is not supported on values of type 'String'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions for usage details.'.

The only difference being that I'm using the new network share "Get file content". This is the first line of the body for that step: "Server","Days Since Reboot","Last Update Installed","OS","PATCH GROUP","STATUS"

Thoughts?

[SaiGanesh]

In my scenario i am facing one issue where the input cell values have some , separated like street address eg:-Building Name, Area, Sector then when i am using the same thing i am getting Steet Address as only Building name since its coma separated .

I am attaching the screen shot This is how input is going to like can any one help to fix this out.

[AlexEncodian]

For those interested in no code solution to parsing / reading CSVs, Encodian has two actions that can help:

Parse CSV – Encodian Customer Help

Get Rows from Excel – Encodian Customer Help

[smpa01]

@grantjenkinsthis is simply awesome.

Is there any way for me to select a range form csv (from row#4 to row#8 only)

// I know I can do the following t start picking up from row#4
//but is there a way for me to specify a end range as well
skip(split(base64ToString(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body']['$content']), decodeUriComponent('%0D%0A')), 3)

[takolota]

This template deals with in-data comma errors if each value with in-data commas is surrounded by double quotes, and has a setting that lets you input the number of header or footer rows to skip so you can grab the right segment of CSV rows: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Cookbook/CSV-to-Dataset/td-p/1508191