How to setup dynamic variables in Flow triggers that require environment specific values

[Gematria]

Hi all.

I have been working with Power Platform for a little more than a year. I work for a bigger corporation where Power Platform is not officially OK'd, but our region has received some special exemptions and are allowed to work in and develop automations, apps etc. Within certain boundaries. This also means that we do not currently have access to setup Pipelines for deployment and testing, and must do the majority manually or through Visual Code.

We are currently struggling a little bit with the best practice for some of our Solutions.

I have a DEV Environment, Test environment and a PROD environment, so the Solutions should go from DEV -> Test -> PROD, but I am finding it difficult to figure out how best to accomplish this with Triggers that require Environment specific variables.

As an example, we are using Dataflows to create Databases and backends for some of our automations and apps, and we have specific flows triggering when the dataflows are updated. However, I have to hardcode the Environment as well as the Dataflow in my Trigger

I have tried using workflow() outputs to determine the environment, but that made the trigger fail constantly.

I would prefer to be able to deploy a complete solution with everything related to that specific process (Dataflows, Tables, Apps, Flows etc.) and not have to go into the Test or PROD environment afterwards and manually update the Managed flows.

I have considered simply changing the Solutions manually through PowerShell or similarly before importing into the new environment, but that also seems like an annoyance and would require us to import the Dataflows and Tables separately so the IDs of the individual entities are created in the other environment(s).

Is there a solution to this that is easy to maintain and setup?

[FLMike · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gematria 

I would use Environment Variables. But please note that you still have to add them as part of a solution (or manually) and you will still need to "set" the values in the environment. There are different ways, one being manual and what alot do. So you wont get away from manually updating

But you can also create a configuration page that triggers on install of the solution and then you type in / select what you want, but that requires custom work too

But I would still use Environment Variables, which the Flow can see in the Dynamic window and will be able to pick them up in the other environments as long as they exist already or were part of the solution that installed the flows.

Cheers
If you like my answer, please Mark it as Resolved, and give it a thumbs up, so it can help others
Thank You
Michael Gernaey MCT | MCSE | MCP | Self-Contractor| Ex-Microsoft
https://gernaeysoftware.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgernaey

[Gematria]

Hi.

Thanks for the assistance, I will look into using the Environment Variables instead.

Should I set the Environment Variables in the PROD environment or in the DEV environment included in the Solutions I deploy or what would be the best approach?

I'm guessing it would be easiest to define the Variable values in the PROD environment?

[FLMike]

Hi @Gematria 

You would define them in whatever environment you would first test or dev them. Then as you export your managed solution to install into the other environment, it will be created.

I'd be grateful if you could mark my answer as Resolved and possibly a thumbs up.

Cheers
If you like my answer, please Mark it as Resolved, and give it a thumbs up, so it can help others
Thank You
Michael Gernaey MCT | MCSE | MCP | Self-Contractor| Ex-Microsoft
https://gernaeysoftware.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgernaey