http-request trigger on multiple environments

[lorl]

Hello experts

I am looking for a best-practice tip for the following situation:

An application provides data in a complex environment. To process this data in Dataverse, I would like to use a Power Automate Flow that is started via http-request. I would like to use "manual" as the trigger. The HTTP POST URL is generated the first time the data is saved and is then unchangeable. At least that is my assumption.

Both the data app and this flow run on multiple environments (dev, test, prod).

As soon as this flow is deployed to multiple environments, every request that the data app sends triggers the flow in the respective environment.
How do I recognize whether the request comes from the Dev, Test or Prod environment?
One possible solution would be to define a property with the content 'dev', 'test' or 'prod'. What I don't like about this is that three flows are kicked off with each request, two of which are completely unnecessary.

Would it therefore be better to establish a separate trigger flow for each environment, which does nothing other than start the logic flow that executes the data processing?
The logic flow would be identical on all environments. Changes could be deployed normally from one environment to another.
But how can I ensure that the trigger flows are never deployed?

Has anyone already had experience with one or the other variant or is there a completely different solution?

Many thanks to anyone who would like to share their experiences.

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

@lorl ,

I save the generated HTTP triggered flow urls in environment variables.

I use these environment variables when I invoke those flows.

[lorl]

Hello @SudeepGhatakNZ 

Thank you very much for your reply. I slept on it for two or three nights and realized that I can't follow your suggested solution.

What are environment variables and how can they be assigned to the request trigger (the HTTP POST URL field is read-only)?

Sorry, I'm not an advanced Power Automate engineer yet, but I'm working on it...

[SudeepGhatakNZ · Accepted solution]

@lorl ,

I believe if you have multiple environments, you must be using solutions to migrate your apps and flows form one environment to another. If not, you should.

A solution lets you group all your apps, flows, environment variable etc together.

Solutions can be managed and un-managed. There is guidance available here.

Solution concepts - Power Platform | Microsoft Learn

(11) Environment Variables in Power Platform - YouTube

So essentially you can create a variable in a solution and use it to store the endpoint of your http triggered flow

You can then invoke the flow by using the variable name instead of hardcoding the url.

This way once you migrate the solution, just change the environment variable with the updated endpoint and your flows should run flawlessly. 

[lorl]

Hello @SudeepGhatakNZ 

Thank you for the clarification. I now understand the concept of environment variables.

One more question.

Based on your description, I can't use the trigger "When receiving an HTTP request" because the HTTP URL is generated the first time it is saved and can't be replaced by an environment variable, right?

You suggest storing the generated HTTP URI in an environment variable and using it in the "HTTP" trigger, correct?

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

@lorl 

When you deploy your HTTP triggers to another environment, new URLs will be generated for all of them. Consequently, you'll need to update the environment variables in your new environment with these new URLs.

Since the HTTP actions will be referencing the variables rather than the URLs directly, they will remain unchanged during this deployment.  Hope that helps!