Run Excel Script not from the drop down

[alexpople]

I have multiple flows that run different office scripts in Excel, but I've realised I can combine these into one single flow with variables to control the different values. The only thing I can't do, is change which Excel script is run, as I am forced to select an option from the drop-down list. Is there way to insert a variable here instead? I've tried using the plaintext name and the Id of the .osts file in OneDrive but both error.

[Yutao · Accepted solution]

If you are able to figure out the IDs of those scripts you want to run and somehow assign them to variables, you can pass them to the Run script action through "Enter custom value":

Does your script accept parameters? If yes, you may need to do a bit extra work. Please let me know if that is the case.

FYI, below is how you can figure out the script ID:

* First you need to choose one script from the dropdown.

* Then click "..." on the Run script action, and choose "Peek code":

* In the "code view" box, look for "scriptId":

There are also other more dynamic ways to figure out the script IDs (e.g., using the "Get file metadata" or "Get file metadata using path" action from the OneDrive for Business connector). You can give it a try if you are interested.

[alexpople]

Thank you for the reply. My scripts do not use parameters but would be interesting to see how I would implement this if they did?

Also, when I use get file metadata on the .osts script file, I get a different ID than I would when I peek code of the run script action. Am I doing this wrong?

[Yutao]

Firstly, regarding the dynamic script parameters -

Imagine you have a script like this:

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook, name: string, value: number) {
  console.log(`Name: ${name}, Value: ${value}.`);
}

If you have configured the "Run script" action to use dynamic script ID by specifying a variable as a custom value, you will see a field called "ScriptParameters". You can specify your parameters as a JSON block:

Then regarding the dynamic script ID from "Get file metadata" -

1. The script file id you get from the file metadata should look something like this "b!ZwIX*******.01FSU****" but we only need the part after the dot ".". You can use the split() expression in Power Automate to extract the second part 01FSU****.
2. Then you need to prefix the extracted id with "ms-officescript%3A%2F%2Fonedrive_business_itemlink%2F".
3. The final script ID should look like this: "ms-officescript%3A%2F%2Fonedrive_business_itemlink%2F01FSU****". It should be in the same format of the one you see in the Peek code view.

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for your reply. This works for me.

But there is another problem. If I use this way to execute excel scripts from script ID, I cannot get return value. 

Here is more about my cases: why I want to use scripts in this way:

I need to export flow (the excel scripts will not be exported together with the flow, which is quite annoying)

and I import the flow in another environment, and manually copy the excel scripts there. the import will fail due to failing find the excel script file ID. 

[Yutao]

Hi @Anonymous ,

There seems to be two issues -

- Cannot get return value from the "Run script" action.

Similar to how we handle the dynamic parameters passed into the "Run script" action, we'll also need to handle the return value in a more dynamic manner. After the "Run script" action, you can use this Power Automate expression to extract the result: "outputs('Run_script')?['body/result']". Please note here "Run_script" is to reference the default name of the Run script action block, and you may need to update it to match your actual action block name in your flow. For example, if your Run script action is named "Run script to read cell values", you'll need to update the expression to "outputs('Run_script_to_read_cell_values')?['body/result']".

- Failed to find the script ID after exporting/importing the flow to another environment.

How did you get the script ID in your original flow? Using the "Get file metadata" action? Did you adjust the file path in the new flow to match the new location of the script file? Also in the new environment, are you running the flow with the same user account?

[Anonymous]

Hi @Yutao  

Thanks for your reply! My problem got resolved.

Since last time I did not find any result from Run Script Result or Body from Dynamic Content in the following actions, I did not try outputs('Run_script')?['body/result'] 

And it turns out that the return value can be retrieved from the expression!!