Count total of items per country in one list then update total to another column in another list

[LearnDayByDay]

I am trying to create a flow that will count the total of items per site/country in List A then populate in List B the total returned in another column for that specific site/country.  Example: count total of staff against London in List A then populate in List B the total. And i need the flow to run every time there is a change to the number of staff in List A for that particular location.

Please help!

[vayinapurapu1]

Can you try the following steps?

1) Create a flow with trigger on item created or modified

2) Use SharePoint Get Items from List A and store the count in variable

3) Update the value of count in list B using update item action

Couple of points to consider, Make sure the flow is not running under infinite loop, use proper condition to trigger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKN4_5o2NUA&t=40s

Also Get items by default gets top 100 records. If the items are less than 5000 you can either use pagination. Below is the video that gives more insights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-urscD106Y

hope this helps.

Cheers,

Vinay.  

[LearnDayByDay]

Hi Vinay

thanks for the help here. On Step 2- store the count in variable: can you explain a bit more? And on Step 3 i assume i will use the variable dynamic content in the column i need the total updated in...

attached screenshot is how far i have got.

[LearnDayByDay]

Hi Vinay, have you had any thoughts on this?

[vayinapurapu1]

Update the request count

Introduction: In this article, we will go through how to update the list column based on requests on other lists. Here I have 2 lists one is requests and other is countries.

In the requests list ‘Country’ is a look up column.

Here the property ‘RequestCount’ contains the count of requests based on ‘Requests’ list.

Flow Design:

Now we will go through the steps of designing the flow.

Step 1:

Login to Power Automate portal (https://make.powerautomate.com) with your organization account.

Step 2:

Select the trigger point as SharePoint and select ‘On item created or modified’.

Step 3: Get items from the countries list.

Step 4: From the countries list we need ID and the Country names. These are needed to update the list item properties. Here create the JSON object using the ‘Select’ data operation.

• From: property is dynamic property ‘value’ from the ‘Get items – Countries’ action.
• Map:
  • Here since we need JSON object enter the first key as ID, and values as item()?[‘ID’]
  • Enter the other key as ‘Country’ and the value is item()?[‘Title’]

Step 5: create ‘Apply to Each’ and inside add ‘compose’ action and log the current item. At first we will get the country value from the current json object.

Step 6: Now add ‘Get Items’ and configure the action to get the requests that satisfies the filter query where the current item country equals the country property of the requests.

In the filter query I have updated the property as Country/Title, since country is look up column and it requires specific format to check the filter. More about the OData can be found in references section.

And the value is the dynamic outputs of compose action log current item.

Step 7: Now here I am getting the length of collection and checking if the count greater than or equal to 1.

length(outputs('Get_items-Requests')?['body/value'])

Step 8: If the collection has value and go ahead update item with Request count.

• For update item we need ID, Title properties
• For ID: this is expression where you need to select ID from the current item of apply to each loop.

• Same thing applies for country.

• Request Count: Update the with expression length of collection from Get items action.

Step 9: Below is the complete flow and it should similar to below.

please note that you may have to avoid infinite loops if you are using trigger on item created or modified. Refer to the article in references. 

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeAnuTB85eg

Stopping Infinite Loops When Updating SharePoint List Items – Scott J Shearer – M365 and Power Platf...

[vayinapurapu1]

@LearnDayByDay does this meet your needs? Please let me know.

[LearnDayByDay]

Hi, i am going to try this solution today. I will update you with my results 🙂 thank you so much!

[LearnDayByDay]

im stuck on Step 5. see screenshot..i cannot get the inputs you show on your example from previous step. What goes in the Apply to Each Output?

[vayinapurapu1]

Can you try the below post. I have also updated the flow in this post

Updating List Properties Using Flow (c-sharpcorner.com)

Hope this helps. 

[LearnDayByDay]

Hi Vayina

i have tried following your steps a couple of times using my current Lists and creating lists from new and i cannot replicate what you have shown here. The Step By Step you have provided does not mirror the Step 9 of what the finished flow should look like.

I am unable to get the Input of Country as shown in Step 5, also on Step 8 the ID and Title field does not give me the 'ID' and 'Country' expression to pick from under the dynamic content.

Happy to organise a Teams meeting to go over it if you are willing?

[vayinapurapu1]

did you try adding 'Apply to each' action at step 5? Then add the compose action as shown in the steps. 

for the section 'Select an ouput from previous stage' please select the dynamic output from the select Country Names compose action. Please let me know how it goes or for any further questions. 

Thanks,

Vinay. 

[LearnDayByDay]

i have, this is what i get:

[LearnDayByDay]

i have followed the Steps exactly how you typed it and my flow looks different to yours:

If you can, please let me know if we can arrange a Teams or Whatsapp call to go over this.

[vayinapurapu1]

You are very close. Can you please follow from Step 6? You still need to configure couple of actions inside apply to each

Updating List Properties Using Flow (c-sharpcorner.com)

Inside apply to each, you need to select the 'Outputs' of country names

For each country name, filter the 'Requests' list using filter query 

If the length of the collection is greater than or equal to 1, then update the item in 'Countries' list. 

I have also updated the flow in Github. Can you please try downloading it and check. You should be able to figure it out. If still get stuck Please let me know. 

vayinapurapu/UpdatingListProperties (github.com) 

Hope this helps. 

[LearnDayByDay]

Hi, so the Github download helped get further-Thank you!!

 however, i am getting this error: 

Does the Country Column in the Requests list have to be renamed from Title to Country? i have created the list exactly how you have it though.

[vayinapurapu1]

 Can you please check this 7 minute video i did it. https://youtu.be/LIRQrXFjNW8?

have you defined the filter query as mentioned in below screen shot? 

You are almost close. I have explained the filter query in the video.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Vinay. 

[LearnDayByDay]

Hi VInay

I changed the column 'Country' in the Requests list to a look up which i never had before.

Still getting the same error that the column 'Country' does not exist:  Column 'Country' does not exist. It may have been deleted by another user.

[vayinapurapu1 · Accepted solution]

hello there sorry. I tried to export and import the flow to my other dev tenant, but it is failing. Not sure if this is because of recent updates from Power Automate or some policy in my other dev tenant. How ever i have taken extra steps and tried creating step by step. I have followed the same instructions during the document creation and it is giving me expected output. Can you please refer to the Git hub repo share your feedback? 

https://github.com/vayinapurapu/UpdatingListProperties/blob/main/Updating%20list%20properties_Step_B... 

[LearnDayByDay]

And finally we have done it!!! Thank you so much for all the patience and tutorials, step by step!

i changed the column 'Country' right at the start with 'Country1' so that is why it was always coming up with Column Country was not found 😙

Thank you so much for all the help on this request, now i just need to apply it to my actual Lists 🙂

[vayinapurapu1]

Glad we have made it finally!! Appreciated. Would you mind accepting my thread that helped for you 'As a solution'? 

Cheers,

Vinay.