Populate a Microsoft Word Template with dynamic content

[lukegatt]

Hello, I have a form created in PowerApps which collects various data. I would like to present this in a report, I have used the Populate a Microsoft Word Template in the past and was thinking of using it again however the difference this time is that my content is not fixed. Usually when I use the Populate a Microsoft Word Template I generate a 1 page "certificate" or other kinds of reports with static content.

In this particular case, I have 2 problems;

1. I wish to show certain sections of the report based on form controls such as checkboxes (ex. if checkbox A is ticked show X section in the report, if checkbox A is not ticked skip this section)
2. I have sections in my form which allow the user to add rows and input data as required (ex. The user will enter different tools used for a job, these can be 0, 1 or many) I use a collection and a separate list to achieve this and maintain the 1 to many relationship with the main list. How can I display this data using the Populate a Microsoft Word Template connector if I don't know how many placeholders I need in the template? I have added an example below from my form. 

Some google searches seem to be mentioning repeating content controls however I cant seem to find a good guide or comprehensive examples on how these work. Any help/feedback is appreciated.

If there other workaround to achieve this that would be great, I wish in the future Microsoft would implement a simple printing function for apps/forms. 

[DamoBird365]

Hi @lukegatt 

It’s quite a complex one but think of your sections as records in a collection. Then use the repeating control as you’ve suggested. 

I’ve a video creating dynamic docs from Microsoft Forms, the data is dynamic, the data in the dynamic content is also dynamic in the form of tags and the sections are optional. 

Create Dynamic Word Document with Power Automate & Microsoft Forms
https://youtu.be/8PUFodSc5BY

Cheers
Damien

Please take a look and subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more Power Platform ideas and concepts. Thanks

[lukegatt]

Very interesting, I will sure try it out (when I get back from Christmas holidays) and let you know. Thank you. 

[AlexEncodian]

@lukegatt 

Encodian’s Populate a Word Document action can handle both scenarios quite easily. You also don’t need to use controls as the syntax is plain text.

You can use Conditional Expressions to insert  content based on checkbox values. If this then that kind of logic.

And you can repeat pretty much anything whether it’s sections, tables, rows within tables and even nest repeats within repeats.

The support article links to example which include the template files.

[lukegatt]

Will definitely check it out, thanks!

[lukegatt]

Hi Alex, 

I am testing out the encodian connectors. So far the template generation+ conversion to PDF is working fine for me and conditional expressions. 

I am now trying to test the repeating content/row generation. In the examples here https://support.encodian.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360020426438-Tables all the data is parsed manually, this is not good for me. 

I have a main SP list with a PowerApp and users are allowed to enter rows of data at various stages, this data is saved to another list and linked via a field (foreign key to the main list, "Report ID")

App Input Screen

List Data

How can I populate a table with rows in this scenario? For each report I am generating I will need to populate a table with the component data. 

Thanks, 

Luke. 

[lukegatt]

I managed using arrays in PowerAutomate and passing back the data to the encodian connector.