xpath error - cannot be evaluated because property 'ID' cannot be selected

[AlexLindberg]

This is a follow up to "Power Automate xpath".  I have followed the detailed instructions posted by @Paulie78  to the letter with out success. The xpath() function returns the following error:

Function

xpath(outputs('XML'),concat('//Array[ID/text()="', item()['ID'],'"]/Size/text()'))[0]

Error returned:

InvalidTemplate. Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Compose' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'The template language expression 'xpath(outputs('XML'),concat('//Array[ID/text()="', item()['ID'],'"]/Size/text()'))[0]' cannot be evaluated because property 'ID' cannot be selected. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions for usage details.'.

If I replace item()['ID'] with '3333', the xpath() works as expected and returns the expected result.

Flow:

	[ { "ID": "3333","Object_Name": "Power" },{ "ID": "1111","Object_Name": "Automate" },{ "ID": "2222","Object_Name": "Function"} ]
	[ { "ID": "1111","Size": "5" },{ "ID": "2222","Size": "6" },{ "ID": "3333","Size": "8" },{ "ID": "4444","Size": "8" } ]
	"Array": @{outputs('Array2')}
	xml(outputs('PrepareArray2'))
	Using a Compose step to check the xpath() construction xpath(outputs('XML'),concat('//Array[ID/text()="', item()['ID'],'"]/Size/text()'))[0]

The output from XML is

<root>
	<Array>
		<ID>1111</ID>
		<Size>5</Size>
	</Array>
	<Array>
		<ID>2222</ID>
		<Size>6</Size>
	</Array>
	<Array>
		<ID>3333</ID>
		<Size>8</Size>
	</Array>
	<Array>
		<ID>4444</ID>
		<Size>8</Size>
	</Array>
</root>

The error message from the Compose Stage

InvalidTemplate. Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Compose' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'The template language expression 'xpath(outputs('XML'),concat('//Array[ID/text()="', item()['ID'],'"]/Size/text()'))[0]' cannot be evaluated because property 'ID' cannot be selected. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions for usage details.'.

 I have also tried item()?['ID'].  No error message but returns an empty array.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Alex

[Chriddle · Accepted solution]

In a Compose action, there is no item() and therfore no item()['ID'].

I assume, that you want to use a Select action with Array1 as "From" and use this expression to get the size of each Object from this array:

Select

From

outputs('Array1')

Map ID

item()['ID']

Map Object_Name

item()['Object_Name']

Map Size

xpath(
	xml(outputs('Xml')),
	concat('string(//Array[ID/text()="', item()['ID'],'"]/Size/text())')
)

Result

[
  {
    "ID": "3333",
    "Object_Name": "Power",
    "Size": "8"
  },
  {
    "ID": "1111",
    "Object_Name": "Automate",
    "Size": "5"
  },
  {
    "ID": "2222",
    "Object_Name": "Function",
    "Size": "6"
  }
]

That's the beauty of xpath: you can create complex queries within an expression to use in a Select action.

[AlexLindberg]

Thank you for the clarification... It makes complete sense once you pointed out there was no "item()" available to the xpath function... (DUH).. 😃

Using the Select function provides the values for "item()".

A big thank you.

Alex