Top 4 Fundamental Knowledge To Master Power Automate

Now you want to learn Power Automate but you have no idea where to start? Below are the keys to mastering Power Automate in no time!

You can go to Microsoft Learn to take on self-paced courses on dealing with Power Automate in Get started with Power Automate - Learn | Microsoft Docs. But before that, here are the top 4 fundamental topics you need to master before jumping into Power Automate.

1. JSON

JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is merely a lightweight data transportation format. Quoted from json.org, JSON is easy for humans to read and write. Mainly because the data structure is simple but can fit into different types of data. Imagine JSON is water, very fluid, and can fit into many different containers. The entire IT standards are now revolving around JSON as the format of the data transportation from one system to another.

In Power Automate, JSON plays a crucial element when coming to developing a system. Often we face an error while developing and it's important to pinpoint the core of the issue before we take action to fix it.

Power Automate, even the entire suite of Microsoft Azure products and Office 365, were built around JSON as the data payload. Calling a SharePoint site with API, getting data from Dataverse, and even working with NoSQL databases such as CosmosDB, they're using JSON. Below is an example.

{
  "glossary": {
    "title": "example glossary",
    "GlossDiv": {
      "title": "S",
      "GlossList": {
        "GlossEntry": {
          "ID": "SGML",
          "SortAs": "SGML",
          "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
          "Acronym": "SGML",
          "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
          "GlossDef": {
            "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
            "GlossSeeAlso": [
              "GML",
              "XML"
            ]
          },
          "GlossSee": "markup"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

My only reference for learning about JSON is from json.org.

2. Expression

You must also learn how to make Power Automate expression, which is essentially a code you call to get the value you want in every part of Power Automate. If you already know Power Automate, oftentimes you get data directly from the Dynamic content just like below.

But here's a secret, NOT ALL data are presented in the dynamic content. You sometimes have to run the flow to get the precedent actions/trigger data presented in JSON format, and then consume it.

  triggerOutputs()['headers']['x-ms-user-name-encoded']
  

The example above is the code for getting data from the Power Automate trigger, of the username in encoded format.

What if you want to check if the trigger came from a specific IP address that is stored in X-Forwarded-For header? Well, it's the same process.

  triggerOutputs()['headers']['X-Forwarded-For']
  

Now, what if you want to get a value that sometimes exists, but another time doesn't? Just put a question mark in between.

  triggerOutputs()['headers']?['X-Forwarded-For']
  

By giving a question mark, your code will not turn into an error if in the future X-Forwarded-For is not always there, the value returned will be null or empty.

3. OData

Now you know the data is transported using JSON format, how did it get transported? Some systems - if not, every system nowadays - are transported via an API, essentially a web service that you can call using a specific URL. OData itself is a standard most organizations follow including Microsoft, to build RESTful API.

SharePoint Online and Microsoft Dataverse use OData standards to communicate or get the data. This includes all administrative tasks such as get site collection, get environment (of Dataverse), and even the underlying Power Automate designer tool when you are working also uses OData standards. You can try pressing F12 in your browser, open up a Power Automate designer, and see it under the Network tab. That's a whole bunch of OData.

What makes OData unique is the ability to select, filter, expand, and sort, and of course it all depends on whether the vendor conforms to the OData standard. My go-to place to learn about OData is always SharePoint Online, with the reference from Get to know the SharePoint REST service | Microsoft Docs. If you don't have one, you can create an Office 365 Developer tenant via this link Developer Program | Microsoft 365 Dev Center.

Now, you can use Chrome or Edge (whichever you like), and install ModHeader - Chrome Web Store (google.com). This tool helps you to send an HTTP Web Request header along with your URL query. You need this tool because SharePoint Online uses XML to transport the data.

Set the request header just like above, and you're good to go.

4. HTTP Web Request

Knowing the concept of HTTP Web Request is also crucial to better understand how things work in Power Automate. Every single action in Power Automate is essentially a block that will run HTTP Web Request depending on how it was developed.

Most importantly, the concept of different types of requests, to understand how to set a setting of your HTTP Web Request in the Request Header or Body, to retrieve the data you want according you your specification.