Filter

NBPSE

How do I add a filter that picks up data that "Contains Total" OR "Is Null" / No Data Found.

I have 2 inputs, one will sometimes be blank, but will sometimes contain a row Total that I need to use. Currently no NULL data is coming in, it is just not bringing any data in because the worksheet is blank and therefore it is causing my basic "Filter" icon for "Filter for if Contains Total" to error out my workflow. It says "No Applicable Data Found."

jirikrecek

I was wrecking my brain on this a few years back when needing to send an automated email, if a file was read empty.
There is a super simple trick using the same logic as @OTrieger suggested.
But one major difference:

• in your dummy files, do not just include the headers and nothing with it. It won't work as you already saw
• What you need to do is to add at least one row in that dummy file, something like "No Data" or "File Empty"
• What will happen now that if your data file is empty and you union the dummy file, which will always have 1 record saying "No Data", it will ALWAYS run the flow.

I did the following and it worked flawlessly:

1. union your dummy header file to your data + have a 1 record in it saying "No Data"
2. Add record ID
3. Summarize tool will help you find the MAX value of that record ID
4. Append this maxvalue to your data with Append tool
5. Now you have your original data and also a column, which tells you how many records you have
6. Add  filter where you tell it to only pass records where:
   1. Max Record ID is > 1 and Org column is different != than "No Data"
7. What this does is: if there is no data and only the headers are pushed, your result will say No Data
8. if there is data in your file, then the No Data first row will be hidden and only your live data will be passed

I used this before and it works perfectly. It helped sending me emails to alert my customer to let them know that their source file came in empty that night.