How can I clear a Sharepoint list Hyperlink column from Power Automate

[phanks01]

I have searched and not found a solution to my issue.  I am stumped on how to set the value of a Hyperlink column to be blank.  The situation is we have a list that contains project information.  One column is a link to another system where the PMO team uses to manage projects which are set when the users update the ProjectID column.  Once the ProjectID is updated, the flow will populate several columns for reporting which includes the URL to the project in the management application.  In my flow, I need to be able to clear this Hyperlink column from the URL that is currently in the column and be blank.  The situation I need to handle is when someone enters the incorrect ProjectID and will come back and clear the ProjectID field, the flow is failing when the update occurs.  I am getting the error 'ProjectURL' is required to be of type 'String/uri'.  I tried to update with a null value as well as an empty string variable.

I would appreciate any guidance on this.  Otherwise, I may be forced to use a bogus URL.

[Paulie78]

Just tested this. I get the same behaviour. But if you use the expression "null" it works fine. Don't type null in, use the expression null.

[phanks01]

Thanks for the quick response.  I failed to mention there is an email notification that is sent to the users notifying them of changes made to the project for reporting purposes. This flow is triggered on the List item being modified.  I am using variables that are set based on the column that is changed.  I tried to set the variable to null as well and still got the error.  My only thought is I will need to have a conditional prior and have different Update Item actions.  My goal was to not have an Update for each change which would trigger the flow to run again and the user receiving several emails on the changes.

[krootz]

@phanks01 , on your variable, assign the string value "@null", that will null the value of the url.

[phanks01]

It does not change the error.  I have tried the value @null, "@null", and the expression null.  All give an error.  The only value that will not error is a valid URI formatted string such as http://nourl.

[phanks01]

I did additional testing today and discovered the code behind the flow is not what I assumed it would be.  For example when I use the expression null in the Update Item action the code inputs "@null".

However, when using the action Set Var with the Expression null, it places "@{null}".

When I do the same but input the value as @null.  what is input is "@@null".

I am confused as to how to get the variable to work for the Hyperlink values.  For normal string values it is not a problem.

[phanks01]

Does anyone have a suggestion for this?  Or is this a bug?

[Paulie78]

I'm really curious to find out why it does not work for you. On my tenant it just did it, right away. Simples. No variables, no messing around examining code. Expression -> Null -> Done.

When you find out it would be good if you shared.

[phanks01]

If I do not use variables it will work.  However, I need to use the variables as the flow is checking several of the columns that may need to be updated and issuing one update action with the variables.  The issue is when there was a value in the column and I need to remove that value.  Can you do a peek at the code and see what is actually being defined? 

[phanks01]

Being that I need to use variables, is there anyone that can provide a direction to help me address this issue?

[phanks01 · Accepted solution]

Well, I have found a solution to address this issue.  This is for anyone who may have a similar problem.  I used the following expression in the Update Item action for the HyperLink column.

if(not(empty(variables('your variable name'))),variables('your variable name'),null)

You just need to confirm the variable has the data that you want to update the column to. Otherwise, the column is updated to null.