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ConnorJM
Regular Visitor

Using a Form Responses to assign multiple Approvers

Hello, 

 

My staff need approval for time off requests. I want them to be able to select the "Supervisors" they are seeking approval from using Form Responses and use those names to assign Approvers (the assigned supervisors change often, so it is preferred to let our staff choose their Supervisors via the Form).

 

In my Form, I have a Multiple answers question where staff can select each Supervisor that should receive approval requests. Using the logic Initialize variable > Compose > Set variable, I am able to create a single "Supervisor" that I can assign approvals to. How could I do this if multiple supervisors are selected?

 

PA flow currently working as follows: 

 

ConnorJM_1-1712089514622.png

ConnorJM_2-1712089532902.png

Inputs here is the name of Supervisor from Form response (e.g., John Doe)

ConnorJM_3-1712089612503.png

The expression here assigns an email based on the name selected, e.g., if(equals(outputs('Compose'),'John Doe'),'john.doe@company.com'

 

This next step then sends the approval to a single supervisor, but fails if multiple Supervisors are selected on the form (error code = BadRequest. The request failed. Error code: 'InvalidApprovalCreateRequestAssignedToMissing'. Error Message: 'Required field 'assignedTo' is missing or empty.'.

 

ConnorJM_4-1712089699670.png

 

What logic could I use to store the list of supervisors the requestor selects on the form and then input into the Assigned to field in my approval function?

 

If it's possible to avoid using a SharePoint list, that is preferred. 

 

Many thanks!

JC

 

3 REPLIES 3
v-yueyun-msft
Community Support
Community Support

Hi , @ConnorJM 

According to your description, you select the multiple supervisors in your Form , and you want to pass the selected supervisors to the "Assigned To" property . Right?

So why did you use the If() function to set the supervisor variable.

if(equals(outputs('Compose'),'John Doe'),'john.doe@company.com'

 

So if this expression did not meet the condition, it will return null. So it will return "'Required field 'assignedTo' is missing or empty.'.".

In my understand , you can directly extract the supervisors which selected in Forms and pass the emails to the  "Assigned To".

 

I test it in my side , this is my Form selected:

vyueyunmsft_0-1712111635177.png

We can get in the "Get response details" action output:

{
  "responder""anonymous",
  "submitDate""4/3/2024 2:32:57 AM",
  "r737c87c1452e40cdb69197772566aeaa""[\"aniyazhang@test.onmicrosoft.com\",\"jy@test.onmicrosoft.com\"]"
}
 
So we can use this code to extract the emails:
join(json(outputs('Get_response_details')?['body']?['r737c87c1452e40cdb69197772566aeaa']),';')
 
The result is as follows:
vyueyunmsft_1-1712111781329.png

 

If I misunderstand what you mean, you can describe your needs and your expected outcomes in detail so that we can better help you

If this reply can help you , you can click mark this reply as solution (Accept solution) which can help more people, thanks in advance! 

 

Best Regards,

Yueyun Zhang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello @v-yueyun-msft

 

So the form is currently design where supervisor selection is simply first name last - 

ConnorJM_0-1712113043572.png

 

I then use Initialize Variable > Compose > Set Variable with the expression if(equals(outputs('Compose'),'John Doe'),'john.doe@company.com'  to assign an email address to the name we got from the form and carry that variable forward to "Assigned to" field in the approval component. This all meant to simplify the selection process of supervisors - this is preferred. Unfortunately, this operation doesn't work when multiple supervisor names are selected in the form (hence the error 'InvalidApprovalCreateRequestAssignedToMissing'. Error Message: 'Required field 'assignedTo' is missing or empty.') 

 

If I can't find a way to manage this in our automation, I may use you suggestion to simply list email addresses instead of simply first and last name on the form itself. As I mentioned this is not preferred. 

 

That said, I'd be curious to see the each of the individual steps you've used between "Get Response Details" and "Start and Wait for Approval" to get the result of passing email addresses from the form into the "Assigned to" field of the the "Start and Wait for Approval". 

 

Specifically, I am curious where you apply this expression in your steps (after 'Compose' do I need to add another step or would this simply be dropped into an expression in the "Assigned To" field of the approval itself?)...

 

So we can use this code to extract the emails:

join(json(outputs('Get_response_details')?['body']?['r737c87c1452e40cdb69197772566aeaa']),';')

 

Thank you!

JC

Hi , @ConnorJM 

Thanks for your response!

Just passing the name doesn't get to get an email in Flow. So I suggest you use email directly as an option in the Form.

Or you pass the firstName and maintain an array of corresponding names and emails in Flow to get the email. (This is static)

 

And This is my whole flow, you can refer to :

vyueyunmsft_0-1712114025134.png

join(json(outputs('Get_response_details')?['body']?['r737c87c1452e40cdb69197772566aeaa']),';')
 
If you pass the emails , you can directly use this code to get the emails and put this code in Assigned To.
vyueyunmsft_1-1712114080048.png

 

If this reply can help you , you can click mark this reply as solution (Accept solution) which can help more people, thanks in advance! 

 

Best Regards,

Yueyun Zhang

 

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