How to apply HTML to a Teams Meeting from Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365

In my previous WTF episode I outlined how you can display line breaks in a Teams Meeting invite created from Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365. What I mentioned towards the end was that in the next WTF episode I'd share how to apply HTML to the Teams Meeting.

Let's Automate

This is what my cloud flow looks like in Power Automate

This should look similar to my original WTF episode where the difference here is using a different function in the expression.

Expression for the Content property

In the final HTTP action the expression is updated to the following

coalesce(triggerOutputs()?['body/description'], '')

As mentioned in my previous WTF episode, when the Description column is null you want to be able to account for this otherwise the cloud flow will fail. The Coalesce function helps by ensuring that it will treat any null values as null, whereas non-null values are defined by the reference in the Coalesce function. In this scenario it will be the value in the Description column.

Enabling the Rich Text Editor Control for the multiline text column

If you didn't already know, Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365 have controls that can be enabled for columns.

• Timeline
• Quick View
• Custom Controls
• Timer
• Calendar
• Rich Text Editor
• Bing News
• Form Component Control

The Rich Text Editor control is what we want to enable for the Description column.

Steps

In the make.powerapps.com site, navigate to the form and click on the Switch to classic button.

Select the multiline text column (in my case it is Description) and click on Change Properties.

Click Add Control.

Select Rich Text Editor Control and click Add.

Select the Web radio button for the Rich Text Editor Control and click OK.

Click Save and Publish.



Refresh your browser and create a new Teams Meeting activity record in Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365. The Rich Text Editor (also known as WYSIWYG editor) will be displayed where end users can start applying formatting.

Cloud flow in action

Create a new Teams Meeting Activity in Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365 and let the magic flow ✨

When there is a description provided, the Teams Meeting will render the value in the multiline text column as HTML.



When there is no description provided, the Teams Meeting will display the content as blank. The cloud flow will not fail.

Summary

By enabling the Rich Text Editor control for the multiline text column and referencing the column in an expressions will render the formatting from Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365 as HTML in the Teams Meeting. The Coalese function was used to ensure the cloud flow does not fail when no details is entered in the multiline text column.

Thanks

Would like to say thank you to all my #WTF followers to date. I reached my 2000 subscribe milestone on YouTube recently 🎉

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How to display line breaks in Teams Meeting from Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365

In my previous WTF episode I outlined how you can create and send a Teams Meeting invite from Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365. What I mentioned towards the end was that in the next WTF episode I'd share how to display line breaks in the Teams Meeting as it was rendering the value from the Description column as a single line of text.

Let's Automate

This is what my cloud flow looks in Power Automate. 

This should look similar to the previous WTF episode where the difference here is 

1. The addition of a Compose action
2. A change of expression in the final HTTP action

Since I already covered the cloud flow in detail in my previous WTF episode, I will only cover the above two in this WTF episode.

The Compose action

This action is for the purpose of referencing a new line in the expression used for the "Content" property in the Body of the HTTP action that calls the Create Event Graph API request.

As seen in my vlog I simply hit enter on my keyboard in the Compose action. Nothing else is required.

Expression for the Content property

In the final HTTP action the expression is updated to the following

if(equals(triggerOutputs()?['body/description'], null, null), '', replace(triggerOutputs()?['body/description'], outputs('Blank_line'), '<br>'))

In the scenario where the Description column is null and you don't have logic to be able to deal with null values, the cloud flow will fail. Therefore the expression incorporates two functions to handle when the Description column in the Teams Meeting Activity record in Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365 is null. This is good practice when using expressions for columns where there is a possibility that the column value can be null. For more best practices on what you should be doing with cloud flows check out the white paper, A Guide to Building Enterprise-ready Flows that was authored by Jerry Weinstock and other prominent experts including input from the product team.

What are the two functions used?

The two functions are

1. If
2. Replace

If

The If function provides a conditional check where the true or false value defined is used in the output.

In this use case, the cloud flow will check if the Description field is null and if it equals true, the cloud flow will return null as the output. Otherwise if the Description field is not null, the cloud flow will return the false value.

Replace

The Replace function is used for the false value where its purpose is to find all the blank lines and replace it with the HTML <br> tag so that it will render as line breaks in the Teams Meeting created and sent via the Create Event Graph API request from the HTTP action.

Cloud flow in action

Create a new Teams Meeting Activity in Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365 and let the magic flow ✨

When there is a description provided, the Teams Meeting will render the line breaks.

When there is no description provided, the Teams Meeting will display the content as blank. The cloud flow will not fail.

Summary

By using a Compose action and referencing this in an expression will display the value from the Multiline Text column with line breaks in the Teams Meeting that is created and sent from Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365.

Stay tuned as in the next WTF episode I'll show you how to easily apply HTML next when creating and sending a Teams Meeting from Microsoft Dataverse or Dynamics 365.

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