When
you want to protect a name or another column value in a
SharePoint list or library, you can let a flow react to
any changes and roll back the value to the original one.
In the demo below Peter Kalmström, CEO and Systems Designer
of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions, shows how to create
a Department content type, connect it to a new list app
and protect the Department name column from changes with
a rollback flow.
In his example, Peter uses a Departments list where the
name of each department must not be changed. For the flow
he creates a separate column for the original name. This
column should be hidden to users, and at the end of the
demo Peter shows how to hide it.
This flow idea can also be used for other change reactions.
Only the last action in the description below, which is
the actual rollback, needs to be changed into something
else.
"Created or modified" trigger
Microsoft Flow has the SharePoint triggers "when an item
is created" and "when an item is created or modified", but
there is no "when an item is modified", which is what we
actually would need for this flow.
Instead we have to use the "created or modified" trigger
and make the flow understand if the item is new or modified.
We achieve this by using the fact that new columns have
a "null" value before it is used the first time.
If the item is new, the name should be considered the original
one, but if it is modified the flow must compare the name
with the original one and decide if it the same or not.
NOTE: If you use the SharePoint action ‘Update item’ on
the same list as the trigger ‘SharePoint - when an item
is created or modified’, there is a risk for an infinite
loop of flow runs. When I recorded the demo, the infinite
loop risk was not acknowledged, but now the Flow Checker
gives a warning. Therefore, we now recommend to use the
new action ‘SharePoint – Get changes for an item or a file
(properties only)’ action, and set a condition for the update
action. The warning will not go away, but you will avoid
the risk for an infinite loop. This is described in detail
in the book,
SharePoint Flows from Scratch.
Flow steps
Create an automated blank flow and use the trigger
SharePoint - when an item is created or modified' for
the Departments list.
Add a condition to check which one of the two trigger
parameters are valid in this case created or modified:
the dynamic content Original Department Name is equal
to the function null. (Start writing "null" in the function
field under the 'Expression' tab and select 'null' from
the dropdown)
If the condition is true (= the item is new), add
the action SharePoint, update item for the Departments
list. At Original Department Name, add the dynamic content
Department Name.
If the condition is false (= the item has been modified),
add another condition to check the value of the Department
name column: the dynamic content Original Department
Name is not equal to the dynamic content Department
Name.
If the second condition is true (= the names are
not the same), add the action 'SharePoint update item
for the Departments list and add the dynamic content
Original Department Name in the Department Name field.
When
you want to protect a name or another column value in a
SharePoint list or library, you can let a flow react to
any changes and roll back the value to the original one.
