Null in Parse JSON when Upload in Forms is Optional

[bsmith736464]

I have a flow that is triggered when a user submits a response to a Microsoft Form.  A user has the option to upload an attachment to the form and then the flow writes their responses to a Sharepoint List.  The flow works if a user does upload a file but fails when a user does not upload a file.  Before the flow creates the Sharepoint items, I am using a Parse JSON to get that information - how do I change the schema so that it accepts a null file?

{

"type": "array",

"items": {

"type": "object",

"properties": {

"name": {

"type": [

"string",

"null"

]

},

"link": {

"type": [

"string",

"null"

]

},

"id": {

"type": [

"string",

"null"

]

},

"type": {},

"size": {

"type": [

"integer",

"null"

]

},

"referenceId": {

"type": [

"string",

"null"

]

},

"driveId": {

"type": [

"string",

"null"

]

},

"status": {

"type": [

"integer",

"null"

]

},

"uploadSessionUrl": {}

},

"required": [

"name",

"link",

"id",

"type",

"size",

"referenceId",

"driveId",

"status",

"uploadSessionUrl"

]

}

}

[hmenzel]

Yep, here's that info:

[stephanie2]

Hi There! Thanks for sharing this screenshot! I only can see the full configuration details for this single step, so bear with me on some assumptions I'm making. So in the earlier screenshot you showed you skipped the Parse JSON step if there's no file input to parse, but you're using outputs from the Parse JSON step in the approval you're building in the Apply to Each 3 step. 

If the condition goes to the "No" side and the Parse JSON step doesn't happen, then there's no output items to be used by the Apply to Each 3--they simply don't exist. 

Can you make the file upload question in your form required? If so, there will be a file every time and you don't need the condition. If not, you'll need to create a separate approval like you have here that doesn't rely on outputs from the Parse JSON step.  So you'll have two approvals, one that happens if the "yes" branch is chosen and one that works if the "no" branch is chosen.

hopefully this helps! let me know if this solves your problem. 

[hmenzel]

Yes, right, I think that's what is going wrong. I need to include elements of the parsed Json in the approval, and the approval needs to be sent with or without elements from the parsed json. The file upload can't be required, so I'll keep trying to troubleshoot... thank you!

[stephanie2]

Hey There, just to clarify my last sentence there, you just need to drag your existing approval inside the "no" condition. Then make an exact copy of the approval without the Parse JSON output pieces and put that one inside the "yes" condition. This will mean that the flow works every time with or without a file and that the approval gets created with or without the Parse JSON outputs.