Troubles parsing XML

[tgavriel]

Hello community,

Im having troubles parsing some xml into columns in Sharepoint list. Reading some forums i guess it might be due to BOM, how can I be sure this is the problem? more important how do I solve it?

Current flow goes as follow:
1. Triggers by new mail on shared mailbox

2. Initialize some variable that would be columns in a Sharepoint list.

3. Create new item in sharepoint list with default columns values.

4. For each attachments on email:

 4.1. Add attachment to item

 4.2. if attachment name ends with .xml then:

 
4.3.1.    decodeBase64(items('Aplicar_a_cada_uno')?['contentBytes'])
 
4.3.2.    xml(outputs('4.3.1'))
-- This is where sometimes the flow fails
 
4.3.3. Then i use some parallel work here to do xpath( 4.3.2, variables defined on 2) and if not empty save them
 
5. Update item with variables from 4.3.3.
 

The error:

InvalidTemplate. Unable to process template language expressions in action 'var_xml' inputs at line '1' and column '2803': 'The template language function 'xml' parameter is not valid. The provided value cannot be converted to XML: 'Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.'. 

As told before, the flow sometimes work, it depends on the xml im recieving, probably format of the file.

Thanks

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @tgavriel ,

please ensure that you have set Include Attachment field of the trigger to Yes.

Could you please provide the sample date of the XML so that we could do a further analysis?

According to the error message, XML data in the (outputs('4.3.1') seems to be an unexpected format. Please provide more details so that we could provide a proper workaround for you.

Best Regards,

[tgavriel]

@v-bacao-msft yes attachments are included, the flow does work sometimes.

{
    "inputs": "@decodeBase64(items('Aplicar_a_cada_uno')?['contentBytes'])"
}

{
    "inputs": "@xml(outputs('var_contentBytes'))"
}

Here are some examples of XML, this one is working and this one is not working 

Here is the error when not working:

Thanks,

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @tgavriel ,

Thank you for your reply!

Please check whether the XML data output by var contentBytes is complete. I did the test using the sample data(XML DOESN’T WORK.xml) you provided on my side and did not reproduce similar errors.

Best Regards,

[tgavriel]

hello @v-bacao-msft 

I just compared the output of var contentBytes = decodeBase64(items('Aplicar_a_cada_uno')?['contentBytes']) and is the same as the one in the file.

Did you download the file and loaded it to the flow? My guess is something to do with the encoding of the file, and if you copy-paste only the xml text it doesnt carry the file format. Maybe something with Byte-Order-Mark?

[tgavriel]

Ok I tested it again but  this time i copy the base64 code in from the attachment:

I paste the content here base64decode then compared the output on text-compare and it actually detects a difference on the first line!

what should I do?

[tgavriel]

Hey there i just solve the issue!

So, yes some of the XML i was receiving on the mail box came with an "unknown character at the beginning". I notice this after @v-bacao-msft  question to compare outputs. I did a IndexOf '<?xml' since this is how xml should start and in the correct ones it return 0, but in some xml it return 1. So i just look up for that index and got a substring of the xml: 

{
    "inputs": "@substring(outputs('var_contentBytes'),indexOf(outputs('var_contentBytes'),'<?xml'),lastIndexOf(outputs('var_contentBytes'),'>'))"
}

Then the xml function didnt throw the error.!

If there is another better solution please I'll be glad to hear it. But for now this works.

Thank you all!

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @tgavriel ,

Excellent, this is a place I didn't notice. I'm glad to hear that you have found the right solution.

Best Regards,

[tgavriel · Accepted solution]

If you have troubles reading an xml file: "Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1. Here is the solution to remove the hidden character.

{
    "inputs": "@decodeBase64(items('Aplicar_a_cada_uno')?['contentBytes'])"
}
{
    "inputs": "@substring(outputs('var_contentBytes'),indexOf(outputs('var_contentBytes'),'<?xml'),add(sub(1,indexOf(outputs('var_contentBytes'),'<?xml')),lastIndexOf(outputs('var_contentBytes'),'>')))"
}
{
    "inputs": "@xml(outputs('Compose'))"
}

I did some changes to the substring.

Thank you all!