How do we get a specific value out from Filter Array

[kensley]

I have a "Filter Array" step that is outputting a single object of data....

But I am having a hard time trying to get the "name" value (in this case its "To do"), to come out and be stored as a string, so that later I can use that string value into an "Send an Email" step.  What should be my next move after that Filter Array and why?

Many thanks on the learning process!

[mrdevops · Accepted solution]

Hello. 

After your "Filter array" step, add a "Compose" action. This will allow you to handle the output data from the "Filter array" action.

Inside the "Compose" action, set the input to the "name" property of the first object in the filtered array. Since Power Automate's outputs are JSON, you can use an expression to retrieve this value. If you know that the array will always have one item and that is the one you want, you would use an expression like this:

outputs('Filter_array')?[0]?['name']

This expression assumes 'Filter array' is the name of your "Filter array" step (if not, you'll change the 'Filter_array' part of the expression to match with _ in place of spaces, if there are any). In your screenshot, the name is 'Filter array', so we should be good. This expression uses the safe navigation operator ? to avoid any errors if the array is empty or the property does not exist.

Next, you can add the "Send an Email" action to your flow.

In the "Send an Email" action, use the dynamic content box to insert the output from the "Compose" step into the body or subject of the email. The dynamic content box allows you to insert data from previous steps in your flow.

The "Compose" action is used as an intermediate step to explicitly extract the value you want to use later in the flow. It helps to make your flow more readable and maintainable, and ensures that you are passing the correct data to the "Send an Email" action.

I hope this helps. Thank you.

[v-qiaqi-msft]

Hi @kensley,

@mrdevops provides a correct direction, there is no need to use a Compose.

You could directly extract the name property using the following expression in your email:

body('Filter_array')?[0]?['name']