Calling a Power Automate Flow with Power FX?

[ghdunn]

I am looking at the new preview functionality to allow me to create custom command bar items in Dataverse/Dynamics MDAs.

I notice that i can call a Power FX function.  Can anyone help with a Power FX function to call a Power Automate flow?

[_TrD_]

Indeed, @Leksie , that was the way I eventually solved the problem.

For anyone else facing the same issue, you need to:

• create an API endpoint in Power Automate by using the 'HTTPRequest' trigger  in power automate (only 'Premium' though) - your payload is the EntityReference of record on which you are triggering the flow; see hereunder.
  • 
• in the new command bar editor, call a javascript formula instead of a PowerFX function - per usual, you do this by linking a code webresource and calling the function. Do not forget to pass the 'PrimaryControl' parameter, so you have a context towards the data record you are operating on.
  • 
• create a javascript file calling the API - see example below (disclaimer: I'm a citizen developer, so this is most probably not optimal javascript 😥). I used the EntityReference as body parameters in the POST request, so I immedialty have a reference to the active record

Everything works as intented.
Only thing nice to have would be to disable the form while the flow runs. But due to the fact that you have no real executionContext/FormContext I cannot reference the form itself. and so 'setDisable()' is not available...

Example Javascript:

// omd_js_contact_UpdateFromOffice365.js

function UpdateFromOffice365(primaryControl) {
    try {
        var formContext  = null;
        if (primaryControl!== null) {
            if (typeof primaryControl.getAttribute === 'function') {
                formContext = primaryControl; //called from the ribbon.
            } else if (typeof primaryControl.getFormContext === 'function' && typeof(primaryControl.getFormContext()).getAttribute === 'function') {
                formContext = primaryControl.getFormContext(); // most likely called from the form via a handler
            }
        }
        
        var entityObject = formContext.data.entity;
        var entityReference = entityObject.getEntityReference();
     
        /* entity reference returns object with:
        {
            "entityType": "contact",
            "id": "{123ABC-ABCD-1234-QXYZ-12345678}",
            "name": "Surname, First name"
        }
        */

        // construct an HTTP request
        let url = "https://prod-136.westeurope.logic.azure.com:443/workflows/[rest of the API End Point]"

        // Creating a XHR object
        let xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

        // open a connection
        xhr.timeout = 120000; // two minutes in milliseconds
        xhr.open("POST", url, true);

        // Set the request header i.e. which type of content you are sending
        xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
        xhr.responseType = "json";

        // Create a state change callback
        xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
            if (xhr.readyState === 4 && xhr.status === 200) {

                // handle callback from server
               formContext.data.refresh(false).then(
                    successCallback = function(){
                        console.log(`OMD - ${xhr.status} - ${xhr.response.flowname} - ${xhr.response.message}`);
                    },
                    errorCallback = function(error){
                        console.log(`OMD - error refreshing the data entity`)
                    }
                );

            }
        };

        // Converting JSON data to string
        var data = JSON.stringify(entityReference);

        // Sending data with the request
        xhr.send(data);

    }
    catch (error) {
        console.log(`OMD - UpdateFromOffice365 - error before HTTPRequest = ${error}`)
     }
}

.  

[EricRegnier · Accepted solution]

Hi @_TrD_ , cheers for providing your workaround. Here's what I'm doing with Power FX. It's quite simple and doesn't require any code (ie JavaScript).

If(Confirm("Are you sure you want to continue?"),
 Patch(Contacts, Self.Selected.Item, { ProcessingFlag: 'ProcessingFlag (Contacts)'.Processing });
)

 And I use the standard Power Automate Dataverse trigger on modified of Contact

Hope this can also help others!

[_TrD_]

Great solution as well! thanks for sharing.

But downside is (I assume) you cannot (easily) capture a response from the flow (which in my case I needed to trigger a data refresh)

[Leksie]

Hi @_TrD_ , yes you can. You can include a response action in your flow and give back success or error HTTP statuscodes to the jav script.

And then on success, do a formContext.data.refresh() in your java script in your example.

[_TrD_]

Hi @Leksie 

I was referring to the solution offered by @EricRegnier (Automated triggered). You cannot use a HTTP response IMO in this solution, as there is no HTTP request coming in (at least not one you can capture)

When calling Power Automate

[EricRegnier]

Hey @StalinPonnusamy , unfortunately this is not yet support for MDAs (model-driven apps), just in canvas apps.

[Bene3000]

@EricRegnier thanks for the solution! What exactly is the following code doing:

'ProcessingFlag (Contacts)'.Processing

[jonckhje]

It's a charming way to execute a flow. The code you're referring to is changing field "ProcessingFlag" (or rather new_processingflag) to value "Processing".
This change is what triggers the Power Automate Flow as to be seen in his second screenshot.

Thanks, @EricRegnier , for this nice solution!

[Wendy_Lumsden]

That is such a great way to achieve the lo-code solution to triggering a flow with a button in a MDA! 
I assume you need to create a field called processingflag?
And if the field was already set to "processing" will the flow still run?  Or do you need to reset the field within the power automate flow to e.g. "complete"?

[Wendy_Lumsden]

@EricRegnier  - I am getting warnings about an infinite loop for the Power App Flow - should I ignore this or am I missing something?