Power Automate Tool

[#1]

Power Automate Help Page

The Power Automate Tool allows you to run your Power Automate flows on incoming data and pass the processed data to other tools in Designer.

Current version

Power Automate Tool v1.0.1 (May 3, 2022)

• Fixed issue which prevented authentication under a single-tenant application.

Previous versions

Power Automate Tool v1.0.0 (March 10, 2022)

• Compatible with Alteryx Designer version 2021.4 and later.
• Initial release.
• Supports authentication using credentials or Client ID and Tenant ID.
• Added option to select the flows from a list or using an incoming field.
• Added option to set the input parameters manually or dynamically.

This tool uses a .yxi file format. A .yxi file is a package that includes an Alteryx Tool and all of its dependencies zipped into a single file. When this file is imported into Alteryx, the tool is added to the tool palette in the category specified by the tool.

When sharing a workflow that uses a .yxi tool, the tool is not included and must be installed by the recipient.

[SPetrie]

How do you pass parameters to the flow? I select the flow but no parameters show as available. I manually set one and the flow runs but tells me input parameters are ignored. I try to pass it using a field and it tells me it failed to parse the parameters.

The flow is setup to ask for an input and the input works when I test in Power Automate. When I run the flow using the Alteryx connector however, it ignores my input and runs the flow using the same data I tested the flow with in Power Automate or says it succeeded but doesn't actually run.

Are there any more detailed instructions or examples on how to properly leverage this connector?

[JessieC]

@SPetrie - here's documentation - https://help.alteryx.com/20221/designer/power-automate-tool#sign-in-to-power-automate

Do you have screenshots of what you're seeing on the parameters options? Are you getting variables from field or select variables manually?

[SPetrie]

Thanks for the reply @JessieC 

This is what I see on the parameters screen when selecting the flow from the "My Flows" dropdown.

The flow is setup to accept a text value for an email address and the flow works properly in PowerAutomate

If I switch to using the flow id from a field so I can specify where the variable comes from and select the EmailText field, I get this when running the flow

If I specify them manually, I get a similar result.

In both of those runs, it did actually kickoff the PowerAutomate flow, but it used the last email I tested the flow with in PowerAutomate instead of the one I tried to pass it with the Alteryx workflow.

[Logan_Coffey]

Having the same issue as SPetrie above. The tool is pretty much unusable in the current format without the Parameters working appropriately. 

[PierreRodriguez]

Hi! was anyone able to resolve this?

[SPetrie]

No. I opened a ticket with support an their answer was this

"As it looks, our internal team has concluded that defect GCSE-1173 is to be canceled at this time. They have indicated that Parameter values are not supported by Power Automate connector at this time. They did indicate that they are working with the product team to update our documentation to better inform on the feature availability and limitations for this scenario."

That was in Sept of '23. I also dont see the connector listed when searching the new market place, so Im not holding my breath for a fix.

I ended up using alternative methods to leverage PowerAutomate with Alteryx such as only calling flows that require no input parameters, or using Alteryx to update a Sharepoint list with the parameters I care about and having Power Automate kick off a flow when the list is updated.

[Logan_Coffey]

@SPetrie @PierreRodriguez we have found other ways around this - none using the Power automate tool (above)

To give an example -- we use power automate cloud --> Run a flow built with Power automate desktop. Within the desktop flow.. we call via API (https://alteryx.b-f.net/webapi//swagger/ui/index#!/Workflows/Workflows_Enqueue).. passing the values we desire through a textbox interface tool to update a formula. This is what is used to pass values to alteryx from cloud / desktop.

Similarly - we run things Power automate flows at a conclusion or the middle of a workflow by calling out to a the cloud's webhook to kick something else off, or return values to alteryx for further processing. 

Happy to show if interested (just send a PM) to explain in as much detail as needed.