Make multiple rows on sharepoint list using one question from form response

[elishafxx]

Hi,

Looking for some assistance setting up a flow to make multiple SharePoint item rows from the one response dependant on the answer to one of the questions.

Flow is currently : when a new response is submitted > get response details > condition "has HR been notified?" set to no > if yes: send responder cancel email, if no: send email to HR/responder advising of response details then create item on SharePoint list with answers to questions > Parse JSON for attachments > apply to each : get file content using path > add attachment.

This form has an option for "No. of positions" so that they can do multiple entries on one form. I would like to set this up so that it creates separate items on the SharePoint list based on what value is entered in this field. At the moment it is creating 1 item even if the amount of positions required is more than one.

I understand that I could do a condition, e.g if no. of positions equals 2 then create item, however there are a lot of fields that I would have to repeatedly add in to the flow over and over and I would rather make it so that it will create item however many times is entered.

I am new to PowerAutomate and forms so please bare with me.

Thanks!

[wskinnermctc]

Is the MS Form question "No. of positions" a multiple choice type question or a free text field? Is it required to answer?

I want to know the output of the response and if it is possible for them to select zero 0 or make any errors.

It is possible to set up the flow to use a Do Until with the output value of "No. of positions" as the limit. So within the Do Until there will be a Create Item action. The Do Until will continue to loop creating items until the limit is reached. But all of the items will be exactly the same. 

[elishafxx]

Hi,

It's currently a mandatory drop down option, 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5 or other. This can be changed though depending on what we need to do to get this set up.

I thought about doing a "do until" but I wasn't sure what to put in the 2 choose a value fields for it to work. So it would be ___ is equal to no. of positions?

Yes, that's what I would like - all the items to be the same, but on different rows.

Thanks,

Elisha

[wskinnermctc · Accepted solution]

Here is a basic example of how it will work.

You need to make a variable that is counting the number of Do Until loops.

Each time the Do Until runs it will it will Increment the variable by 1. So adding 1 each time. 

Then compare that to the number of positions. I have put the Number of Positions into a variable as well with the integer int() expression so that it will be a number instead of a text string.

Do Until Loop

So a Do Until will Always run the first time no matter what the values are. So I start the compare value at 0, so the increment variable will add 1. Then if there is only 1 position the numbers will equal and the Do Until shouldn't run again.

Test this out and see how it works,

[elishafxx]

Hi,

That's very helpful thank you - just one thing, 

This seems to be working OK when I test creating a new flow, however when trying to implement into my current flow it's not playing ball.

Test flow:

Existing flow keeps automatically adding "apply to each" every time I try to add "get response details", then because of this I am unable to initialise variable after getting response details. I have even tried deleting everything off the flow and starting again.

This is what my current is doing:

I don't want it to apply to each, how do I stop this? 😞

Thanks,

Elisha

[wskinnermctc]

@elishafxx I don't have an explanation for why it creates and Apply to Each on the Get Response Details, but it is common. I think it has to do with the version of power automate or something like turning on special features. 

Many people will have an Apply to Each created when the use Get Response Details. But my version has never done that. 

Don't worry, easy fix. Initialize Variable before the Get Response Details.

See the screenshot below. I moved the Initialize Variable to be the second action in the flow.

Initialize Variable as second action above Apply to Each and Get Response Details

This should work the same, the only difference will be that the rest of the flow will be inside the Apply to Each.

[elishafxx]

I was able to do this by creating a new flow, I had to re-add all my information which took a while!

Thank you for your assistance! 🙂

[wskinnermctc]

Unfortunately, creating a new flow or deleting all steps and starting over is common. I just consider it extra practice.

(If you have a big flow with problems and need to re-create a new flow; put the old flow up on one monitor and build the new flow on a second monitor. Do NOT use the copy and paste steps to clipboard because it will most likely create new problems or literally copy the old problem.)

Good luck!