Add a new Row Action to Dataverse, Autonumber ID in Name Column, Dataverse Requires Value for [Name] Column

[nmasmo]

Hello;

I’m generalizing the issue to a simple fruit stand to isolate the problem… Further down in my explanation I get to the Power Automate part of my question...

Suppose there is a fruit stand that sells fruits. Whenever the fruit stand makes a sale, they input it into their Power Platform app. The app is a combination of a Power App and a dataverse “database”.

This is what the app looks like…

This is what the backend dataverse table looks like…

Dataverse requires a [Name] column that must be filled in with a value. At the start of the project, I set this datatype to “Autonumber” with a seed value of 1000. I figured this column could serve as a unique ID.

At the beginning of this app’s life, it was using a “Patch” statement to put the data in the dataverse table.

After a couple months in use however, the app now needs to input the data into the dataverse table a different way. The app needs to pass the data to a Power Automate flow, and the flow will use the “Add a new row” action to add a row to the dataverse table. No more patch statements. So, I set this up…

Here is where the challenge arises:

When adding a row to a dataverse table using the “Add a new row” action in Power Automate, a value is required for the [Name] column. However, I already set this value as an “Autonumber” datatype, because I originally intended this column to serve as a unique ID for each row in the table. If I input a value into this column (for example, the constant 1), then I will get the following results:

Here are my questions:

Is there a way to work around this specific problem using the “Add a new row” action?

Should the [Name] column be used as an Autonumber ID? Or something else?

Thank you!

[HenWang]

Hi @nmasmo ,

In this scenario, I think there is no other way to avoid this, because there are plenty of records with name value in your DataSource already and flow cannot simply capture the previous, like the last record's Name value and put this value inside the name value to be created in "Create a new row" action.

Obviously, the easiest way is to create a new auto number column in your table and use this column as the unique ID of record. 

In my test, the autonumber column will generate value even if flow does not provide any value when creating a new row in table.

Best Regards,

Hen Wang

[nmasmo]

@HenWang When I attempt to save the flow in Power Automate, I get an error saying ~'Name' is required'.

The action in Power Automate seems to require I put in a value.
Is there any way around this? I wonder how you were able to have the autonumber column generate a value by not providing a value to the autonumber column in your flow test.

[HenWang · Accepted solution]

Hi @nmasmo ,

For your scenario, you need to create a new column with auto-number type to replace the role of your Name column. Through this way, you can just leave any value to the Name column and leave it blank for your new-auto number column, which means you need to give up on your Name column.

Best Regards,

Hen Wang

[nmasmo]

Thanks for the help on this one!!! (:

[IstvanZorenyiNL]

You can use the expression builder for this an use the null fuction in this case. It'll achieve exactly what you want to achieve here.

[carlilelance]

@nmasmo, this works and should be the accepted answer. The current accepted answer is an unnecessary workaround.