Getting Started With Microsoft Flow
Microsoft flow is a cloud-based workflow engine, Using Flow end users can create cross application workflows (no code workflows). Flow is a part of office 365 E3 suite. It is a successor of SharePoint designer workflows. Complex level Flows can be promoted to an Azure logic app.
Microsoft Flows Vs SharePoint Designer Workflows
Anatomy of Microsoft Flow
Flow Designer
Connectors, Triggers & Actions
Variables & Data Flow
Expressions
Branching, Error Handling & Scopes
Flow Designer – Create a Flow from Browser or Mobile Application
Desktop Version
Go to https://flow.Microsoft.com
Sign-in with Office 365 Account
Start from existing template or import from disk or create from scratch (both in desktop & mobile browsers)
Mobile Version
Install flow mobile app, sign in
Create new flow (template or from scratch).
Connectors
Connectors Wrapper around an API that allows Flow to talk with other services.It exposes Triggers & Actions.
Standard Connectors – included as part of E3
Microsoft Connectors (SharePoint, Azure Blob storage, SQL Server.)
Non-Microsoft Connectors (Twitter, Slack.)
https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=standard
Premium Connectors – additional cost
Microsoft Connectors (HTTP with Azure AD.)
Other Connectors (Salesforce, MySQL.)
https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=premium
Custom Connectors – additional cost , development
ISV, System Integrators, End users can create custom connectors to integrate any system/application/service.
https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=custom
Triggers
Run based on user action or event
From other apps in office 365 – PowerApps, SharePoint, etc.
From SQL
From dedicated Flow button
Run on a schedule
Flow also run based on time schedule, From every minute to 1 am on Days.
Run by HTTP GET/POST to URL generated by flow
Call another Flow
Call from any application/service/HTTP calls
Scenarios & Types of Triggers
Triggers - Scenarios
Simple: Flows start with a Trigger.
Advanced: Flows can have more than 1 trigger (async actions)
Custom: Flows can have custom triggers
Types
Polling Trigger
Periodically checks the service
Checks count as executions
Push Triggers
Listen for data on an endpoint or wait for event.
Actions
Execute CRUD operations with workflow context
SharePoint: Create Item, Delete Item, Create File.
SQL: Insert Row, Update Row, Delete Row, Get Row.
Transform Data
Inline – using expressions (e.g. string operations, math operations.)
Other services – Html to text.
Send Notification
Send mobile notification, send email notification etc.
Call other Flow
Chain Flows to create complex Flows.
Variables
Use Variables connector*
Initialize & then set value
Supported value types (Boolean, String, Object, Array, Float).
Variables are NOT always necessary!
Why variables are not always necessary?
Data Flows from each step and is available for all later steps
‘Add Dynamic Content’ allows us to select outputs from previous steps
Certain outputs show up based on the types of the inputs and outputs.
Expressions
Expressions can be used in most of the fields to transform data inline
IntelliSense available as you type
Branching
If-then-else
Switch
For-Each
By default, parallel
Parallel (20 exec)
Supports sequential
Do-Until
Emulate State machines
Help in approvals & more
Parallel branches
Error Handling
Actions can be set to run if previous action fails/times out.
Scopes
Logically group actions
Allow advanced error handling for a group of actions
Scope boxes are in brown boxes.
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