SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

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This post is part of my User guide to using the SharePoint REST API in Microsoft Flow for no-code developers series.

I will look at the following operations on a list in this post.

  • Create a list
  • Get the list details.
  • Update lists details
  • Delete a list

Getting the list details is easy using the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint  action. Simply select the Site Address and supply the API uri then supply the body details and a SharePoint coder would be quite happy to create all of this within less than no time. I have found however that no-code developers struggle sometimes.

To make this easy for no-coders, I’m going to start by setting some variables.

  • ListName
  • ListDescription

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

Create a list

Now I can create a list using my 2 variables:

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

Looking at my flow run history, my list is created:

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

Get a list

Getting the list details of the list that we just created is now just as easy as shown below:

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

Now to get for example the title of the list (I agree why would you want to get the title of a list if you know the title of the list), use something like the following expression in an initialize varibale or compose action:

body(‘Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint’)?[‘d’]?[‘Title’]

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

Update a list

To update an existing list we need to do the similar things as when we create a list. In the headers use X-HTTP-Method and set it to MERGE.

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers


Delete a list

To delete the list we just need to supply the API Uri. In the headers use X-HTTP-Method and set it to DELETE.

SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers

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

5 responses to “SharePoint / Microsoft Flow – Maintain List details for no-code developers”

  1. Feibien Avatar
    Feibien

    Hi,
    I have a question, have you tried to create a field in a list/library and set in default view using flow and rest api?
    I manage to create the field but I haven’t found a way to set that field in default view. I posted the question in flow forum: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/create-new-choice-column-to-sharepoint-library-using-flow/m-p/393981#M44885
    Thanks beforehand for any help/tip

    1. Pieter Veenstra Avatar

      It should be possible to use REST API call like described in the following post:
      http://www.codesharepoint.com/rest-api/create-view-in-sharepoint-using-rest-api

  2. Philip Avatar
    Philip

    Hi Pieter

    Could the ‘Update a List’ section be used to rename a list, or only to add more data? I’m looking to check some lists and if each item is marked as ‘validated’ then I want to append “Completed” to list name.

    Regards
    Phil

    1. Pieter Veenstra Avatar

      Hi Phil,

      Yes, that should be possible. I assume that you only want the displayname (title) of the list to change and that the URL of the list needs to remain the same as before.

      1. Philip Avatar
        Philip

        Hi Pieter

        Many thanks for the super quick reply – and yes, that’s correct, only the DisplayName needs to change. I’ve never used these HTTP requests before so I’m a little lost looking at it!

        Regards
        Phil

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