Update only changed row in Lists

[Jakub732]

Hello,

I'm trying to make a flow in a Sharepoint Lists which will update only edited row rather then check all rows in a list.

I have something like this:

In Remaining tasks column I have listed all following tasks I need to complete. It is a choice column with standardized tasks.

I want Status column to be automatically updated after I delete a task I've completed, for instance:

in Name 1, I delete Task 1 from remaining tasks. I want a flow to update Status to "Prepare for task 2" as it will be next task I need to take care of.

I want the flow to check and update only Status for Name 1.

I don't want it to check Name 2, Name 3 or any other row because it takes about 1 sec for each row to check, with 60 rows it takes a minute to complete a flow.  

Job type	Name	Status	Remaining tasks
Type 1	Name 1	Prepare for task 1	Task 1; Task 2; Task 3
Type 1	Name 2	Prepare for task 2	Task 2; Task 3
Type 1	Name 3	Prepare for task 3	Task 3

I have managed to create such a flow but it takes too long to run it. When I use "when an item is created or modified" trigger then it goes with "apply to each" when checking which tasks still exist in remaining task column.

Is there a way to limit this check only to modified row? Or perhaps is there another way solve this problem?

It may be irrelevant for now, but I want to add different job types, up to 6 other types, with unique tasks for different types of jobs.

I'm looking forward for some help 🙂

Thank you

[v-jefferni · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jakub732 ,

So, when an item is modified, only the Status column which lies in the same item need update according to the Remaining tasks choices, right? Actually the apply to each control comes up due to the multiple selections of the Choices column Remaining tasks. Values of this column are of type array so the flow will check on every item of it.

For your scenario, to shorten the flow running time, you will need to find another logic to check on the tasks. If the tasks will always to achieved and removed from the list in turn, which means, as per your example, 3 tasks remaining then prepare for task 1, 2 remaining prepare for task 2 and 1 remaining prepare for task 3, then you could use the length expression along with an if statement for populating the Status column of Update item action.

Step1:

initialize an array variable (varRT) and set the Remaining tasks dynamic content from the trigger as the Value:

Step2:

expression for the Update item action Status column:

if(equals(length(variables('varRT')),3),'Prepare for Task1',equals(length(variables('varRT')),2),'Prepare for Task2','Prepare for Task3')

Replace the example task names with your true tasks.

Best regards,

[Jakub732]

Hi @v-jefferni 

Sorry for such a late reply, I had no heat for this flow lately.

Indeed your solution looks like it may work, however in my case it wouldn't quite work for me.

I will have 10 tasks that can be done out of sequence. So my flow should verify which task is completed in order to update status. However such flow takes so much time.

I've found a different approach though. I decided that 10 yes/no columns and one calculated column based on them, works better for me rather than multiple choice column with flow based on that. 

I can always hide those 10 columns and have them ticked in a details pane.

However thank you for your answer, I appreciate that. It is a different point of view which in fact I didn't realize is a thing. Perhaps I could use this solution in some other flow.

Thank you and have a nice day 🙂

Best regards

Jakub