update SharePoint list without deleting the old data and having duplicating data

[flexcodec]

Hello,

please I've my excel file generated by my flow that am using to load data in my SharePoint list what I want is to update data without having duplicate data and deleting the old value like (add the data on my share point list without duplicating the value that are already existing and deleting them).

any help?

[annajhaveri]

@flexcodec  do you have any value in excel that can uniquely identify the row?

[flexcodec]

if you refer to an ID, I don't have but my table in excel files starts with the column name (title), but a name same can have multiple rows. I can say YES, the column name name(title) can be using a unique value. 

[annajhaveri · Accepted solution]

@flexcodec  okay so the Title column wont have same values in multiple rows?  If yes, in the Apply to each action, you can use Get Items action with Filter Query as below. Then use Condition action to check the length of items returned by Get Items to see if that row already exists in list. In the yes branch of condition action, you can use Update Item action using the ID value from Get Items to update the item in the list, and in the No branch you can keep the Create Item action as you currently have now

Title eq 'select the title column value from dynamic content here'

[flexcodec]

thanks for your help. this is what am getting for a particular value i don't really know how to deal with. @DJ_Jamba can u assist me please?

[DJ_Jamba]

Hi @flexcodec 

You have to escape single quotes. One or more names coming through have a single quote e.g O’Connor

I’m not at my pc so try one of these:

replace(COLUMN,'''','')

or

replace(COLUMN,'''','''''')

so it would be 

Title eq 'EXPRESSION IN HERE'

[flexcodec]

Yes am using actually the Incumbent Name column but the problem that i've is the name can be the same in 3 rows but with differents values in others column. Means same name with differents in the percentage  column.

[DJ_Jamba]

My response was to solve this error. 

is that resolved now?

[flexcodec]

Am trying your solution

[flexcodec]

Done it Think it's not longer checking the condition  because it has added duplicated value now.

[annajhaveri]

@flexcodec  is your problem resolved? From screenshot it looks like your filter query has blank value

[flexcodec]

Hello, no it has not been resolved once am running the flow the data are still going duplicated there is nothing happening on the filter. ma still getting double value sometimes triples value the condition is always yes i don't know why! and now that am trying with a different approach, it's filtering the items uniquely. 

[DJ_Jamba]

@flexcodec 

One step at a time. 

I don't think you have entered the expression correctly to handle single quotes.

In edit mode, what column do you use for the odata query in Get Items 2?

e.g.

Select the column name you have, right click on it, select copy and post it in here

[flexcodec]

am using this:   eq '@{items('Apply_to_each')?['INCUMBENT NAME']}' because in the excel file that is the column corresponding to the title column, I used Title because it's the internal name of the column. but the external name of the column in the sharepoint list is Employee name.

i've changed it buy using the position number @{items('Apply_to_each')? ['POSITION CODE'] but it has failed too.

[DJ_Jamba · Accepted solution]

OK so first change the Filter query to:

Title eq '

replace(items('Apply_to_each')?['POSITION CODE'],'''','''''')

Then put all of the above in an expression

Then close it with a single quote.
It should look like this:

This will solve the single quote issue only.

Once that's solved, we can look at the duplicate issue

[flexcodec]

Thank you it works now without any problem on the special characters. now the problem that I've is it's removing the duplicated value while the value are different in the others column. 

[DJ_Jamba]

OK good.

Now explain the main issue.
Can you explain this?

"now the problem that I've is it's removing the duplicated value while the value are different in the others column. "

[flexcodec]

The issue I'm facing is that my SharePoint list contains duplicate rows based on the "Employee name" field, with each duplicate having different values in other columns.

For example:

| Employee name | Percentage | Emp stat |
|--------------     -|-----------   -|-----------|
| geoges ava        |       10         | 1112/25 |
| geoges ava        |       5           | 1116/22 |
| geoges ava        |      75          | 1152/10 |

In my workflow, I need to compare values in my Excel file with those in my SharePoint list. If the values match, the workflow should skip them. However, the current implementation only considers distinct values, resulting in only one instance of "geoges ava" being processed.

My objective is for the workflow to check all items, including duplicates, without removing them.

Could you please advise on how to achieve this functionality within my flow?

[DJ_Jamba]

Do you need to compare all 3 fields for a match?
Employee name, Percentage & Emp stat

[flexcodec]

only no because the Emp stat is having also duplicated value as Employee Name and percentage.  i can compare 2 fields