compare dates

[robrobrob]

hello guys,

i am trying to send an email to candidates after 2 weeks of their start date. we have a field named  start date.

in the compose this is what i have " addDays(utcNow(),14,'MM/dd/yyyy') "

not sure how to continue this

any help would be appreciated

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

@robrobrob ,

To begin, I would set up a recurring trigger that runs daily. Then identify the candidates who joined exactly 14 days ago by querying the list (using Get items) with this filter

addDays('Candidates Start Date',14,'yyyy-MM-dd')

[robrobrob]

hey , this is what i got so far

trying to compare the start date field after adding 14 days with the utcnow 

formatDateTime(addDays(items('Apply_to_each')?['ai.dcrs_startdate'],14,'yyyy-MM-dd'))

but this is the formatted result i'm getting2023-03-24T00:00:00.0000000

how can i format it to show yyyy-MM-dd ???

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

You need to apply formatDateTime on both expressions to make a date comparison.

[robrobrob]

i had it like this 
utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd')

formatDateTime(addDays(items('Apply_to_each')?['ai.dcrs_startdate'],14,'yyyy-MM-dd'))

will try your formatting 

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

You can also try dateDifference() function by providing the two dates as inputs.

[robrobrob]

this formatDateTime(addDays(items('Apply_to_each')?['ai.dcrs_startdate'],14,'yyyy-MM-dd')) 

is not working , the output is 2023-03-24T00:00:00.0000000

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

The output of the formatDateTime function is in the form of a timespan, which is why you are observing the current output.

To compare the timespans, you can utilize the datedifference function.

If your goal is to display the date in an email, you can simply specify the desired format as demonstrated in the article referenced below.

How to customize or format Date and Time values in a flow - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

[robrobrob]

My goal is to send an email for candidates after 14 days of their start date which why i tried to

1- get the start date successful

2- add 14 days successful

3- format it to yyyy-MM-dd unsuccessful

4-format utcnow to yyyy-MM-dd successful

5-if both are. Equal then send email

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

@robrobrob 

Are you having issues comparing dates or printing them?

To compare dates, follow these articles

Solved: Comparing dates in Power automate - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)

To format the date follow the one I shared earlier

[robrobrob]

i am having issues comparing , i don't want or need to print the dates . how to use the datedifference

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

dateDifference(First date expression,Second date expression)

It will return the days, minutes, seconds separated by colon

You can extract the days, etc using the split function

[robrobrob]

oh man , what i thought is a simple thing turned out to be complicated

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

Give me a date to compare with, I will build a sample for you

[robrobrob]

i get the date from a "Start Date" Field , take an example 2023-6-5 ( yyyy-MM-dd ) , so if the Start Date + 14 days equals utcnow , send an email, 

or if datedifference between utcnow and start date equals 14 days , send an email

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

ok.I'll send tonight

[SudeepGhatakNZ · Accepted solution]

@robrobrob ,

Here is my dataset.

There is only one date that meets the criteria

Here is my flow logic

The expressions I used in the flow are:

startofday(formatDatetime(addDays(item()?['cr384_startdate'], 15), 'yyyy-MM-dd'))

and

startofDay(utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd'))

Disregard the "apply to each" construct. It was employed solely to display the UTC date values for the two expressions. Upon investigation, it appears that, most likely due to timezone disparity, the filter functions correctly when utilizing the number 15, even if the dates are only 14 days apart.

To improve the logic, you can incorporate convertTimeZone actions. However, for the time being, the current approach should suffice.

The final output produces a single item out of the array

[robrobrob]

i got this error 

also tried the full start date field name and got this 

[robrobrob]

oh no wait i think it worked , it was a typo from me , i'm gonna test some more and let you know the results.

with this new logic, how can i send an email to each candidate that matches the filter array ? 

[robrobrob]

okay i think i got it, this is what i did 

in the compose inputs this is my formula 

"items('Apply_to_each')?['emailaddress']"

it worked so i'll replace compose with send an email.

let me know if this is good or if there is a better way of doing this , i will accept your answer and the solution 

and thank you for your help