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Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

By:

Pieter Veenstra

Date:

In the past couple of weeks I’ve been using PowerApps, and the overall experience has been great! SharePoint Designer and InfoPath have been replaced by a browser based application that is a lot easier to work with. Of course it is still all very new but the general experience is very good.

Today, I will be looking at Flow. A Flow can be triggered by a lot of things , but for now I will look at a flow that is triggered by a PowerApp.

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft FlowIn the past I wrote Workflow articles about Nintex Workflow and how to setup the workflows. I have always liked the state machine workflows and I was wondering if I could setup my Flows in a similar way.

So If we start with the basics. Adding some tasks. Within Flow there are a lot of tasks available and for Flows related to PowerApps that use SQL Server as their data source I could imagine that there may be a lot of Update row actions in my flows. Flow supports both on-premises and Azure based SQL installations as the “Connect via on-premise (hic) data gateway” indicates.

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft FlowFor small flows it will be quite easy to just stick action after action. But once a few additional actions are added it might be useful to organize the no-code a bit.

Comments

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

As with Nintex, Microsoft has now introduced comments for each step

This makes the workflows already a lot easier to understand and compared to SharePoint Designer workflows this is already a massive improvement.

 

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

 

Renaming actions

Next to adding comments it might also help to rename all the actions within a flow. This helps documenting tImplementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flowhe Flow without the real need for additional documentation outside the Flow.

 

Variables

Within Flow it is possible to create variables. So I’m adding a Variables – Initialize variable action to my flow.

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

Within this action I’m creating a variable State Machine Status

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

Then I’m adding a Do Until Action

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

The Do Until action I’m configuring to run until my status variable has been set to Complete.

 

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

Then Inside my Do until I create a Switch, which can be found in the … More.

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

Then by clicking on the + between Case and Default  I add all the different states that I want to go through.

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

Then for each state I’m added a state change:

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

 

Time to add the real work into my Flows and my state machine workflow is ready.

Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow

 

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Is your business still running on paper trails, sprawling Excel files, or ageing Access databases? There’s a better way — and I can show you exactly what it looks like. I’m the Technical Director of Vantage 365, a Microsoft solutions consultancy working with clients across the UK, the Netherlands, and worldwide. For over 30 years I’ve been turning messy, manual business processes into clean, automated systems that save time, reduce errors, and give teams the visibility they need to make better decisions. SharePains is not just any blog run by a Microsoft MVP. Have you ever used Try-Catch in Power Automate? The original post about Try-Catch in Power Automate can still be found on this site, https://staging.sharepains.com/2018/02/07/try-catch-finally-in-power-automate-flow/ Or have you ever used the Pieter’s method to avoid variables and speed up your flows? https://staging.sharepains.com/2020/03/11/pieters-method-for-advanced-in-flows/ You can contact me using contact@staging.sharepains.com

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7 responses to “Implementing a State Machine using Microsoft Flow”

  1. Luis Valencia - MVP (@levalencia) Avatar
    Luis Valencia – MVP (@levalencia)

    great, I needed this in order to replace Nintex in some sites 🙂

    1. Pieter Veenstra Avatar
      Pieter Veenstra

      Thanks Luis, I’m glad my post helped you!

  2. SharePoint Wonderer Avatar
    SharePoint Wonderer

    Tried this, when the workflow enters the “do until” loop, you can’t see the state of the flow when its running. Any ideas on how to see the current state?

    1. Pieter Veenstra Avatar
      Pieter Veenstra

      Do you mean the that the State Machine Status isn’t visible? This should be created as a variable within your Flow/Logic App.

  3. SharePoint Wonderer Avatar
    SharePoint Wonderer

    No, I mean that once its running, when its in the do until loop, Microsoft Flow doesn’t expand. So its not about the variable, you cannot see the current action the workflow is on – because it just shows the current action as do until.

    So for a production workflow, where the majority of the flow’s work is done inside the do until, its not practical, because you no idea what is the current action.

    1. Pieter Veenstra Avatar
      Pieter Veenstra

      I guess you could update a status field in the triggering list item in SharePoint or any other data that may trigger your flow.

      1. SharePoint Wonderer Avatar
        SharePoint Wonderer

        OK, thats a work around. I’ll try it and test. I have a workflow with about 10 tasks, so I’ll see if it works.

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