PART I - Power Automate Basics CONCEPTS : Variables

Topic: Power Automate Basics — Variables (Instant Cloud Flow, Types, Reuse, and API-call Optimization)

How to create and initialize variables

• In an Instant cloud flow (manually triggered), variables are created by adding: New step → Variable → Initialize variable.

• Power Automate variables are strongly typed. The demo lists 6 variable types:

  • Boolean
  • Integer
  • Float
  • String
  • Object
  • Array

Variable for reuse across multiple SharePoint actions

• Example: create a String variable (e.g., site address) that stores a SharePoint site URL.
• Motivation: if you reuse the flow across tenants, hardcoded values (like site address) would require editing in multiple places.
• Reason: SharePoint connector actions (such as Get items and Update item) repeatedly request the same site address—using a variable centralizes the value.

Using variables inside SharePoint “Get items”

• Instead of hardcoding parameters, action fields use dynamic content from variables.
• The demo also creates a variable for the List name (string), e.g., “approval config”.
• Performance note: adding an OData filter query to Get items can improve performance (the demo skips it because the dataset is small).

Passing the same variable values to multiple SharePoint actions

• Demonstrates Update item using variables instead of repeated hardcoded inputs:
  • Uses site address and list name variables.

• Important detail: SharePoint Update item requires the item value payload in JSON format. Example pattern:

  • Update a column like Title by providing data in a { "title": "new value" }-style structure.
  • Result: once variables are set up, the same configuration values can be reused across multiple actions.

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API call cost concern and optimization strategy

Why this matters

• Key analysis: each action/variable step counts as an API call, which can become expensive in large flows.
• The speaker notes that Microsoft 365 E5 has about ~2000 API calls/day, so excessive variable initialization can be problematic.

Optimization approach: one Object variable

• Instead of many separate variables, create one “Object” variable (e.g., application context) that stores multiple configuration values using JSON key/value pairs.
• Example keys mentioned:
  • site address key (e.g., app site address)
  • list name key (e.g., list name)

How to reference keys from an Object variable

• Uses Power Automate expression syntax, e.g.:
  • variables('application context')?['keyName']
• Then injects the values into SharePoint actions (like Get items and Update item) by referencing the specific keys from the object.

Outcome

• The demo updates SharePoint list item values (changing Title back and forth) to confirm the flow works.
• Benefit: a single object variable reused across multiple actions improves maintainability and can reduce overhead compared to initializing many separate variables.

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Real-time application pattern recommendation

• The speaker recommends a pattern used in a client-built solution:
  • multiple typed variables (array, boolean, etc.)
  • plus the object-variable + key access approach for shared values like site address
• Recommendation: follow this pattern to build robust flow logic.

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Main speakers / sources

• Primary source (speaker): the video creator (direct step-by-step demo in Power Automate)
• Software platform referenced: Microsoft Power Automate, including:
  • SharePoint connector
  • Instant cloud flow
  • Initialize variable
  • Expressions (dynamic key access)