Exercise - Create a cloud flow and a connection

  • 7 minutes

Note

To use the functionality in this lab, you'll need to own a paid or trial version of premium per-user plan with attended RPA. If you've completed the lab 1 prerequisite, you should already have a premium trial.

  1. Open a new window browser and then go to https://make.powerautomate.com. Sign in if needed.

  2. Select Create and then select the second option under Start from blank titled Instant cloud flow.

    Screenshot of the create a new Instant cloud flow button.

  3. This causes the Build an instant cloud flow dialogue box to pop up. Name the flow Manual trigger desktop flow to enter invoice then select Manually trigger a flow. Select Create.

    Screenshot of the flow name filled in and the Manually trigger a flow option selected.

  4. Add a step by selecting the + icon under the Manually trigger a flow action card.

    Screenshot of the add a new step button.

  5. Enter desktop flow in the search box and then select Run a flow built with Power Automate for desktop located under Desktop Flows.

    Screenshot of the run Power Automate for desktop action.

  6. In the Connection Name box, type My Computer. Select Connect with username and password from the Connect dropdown menu and then select the machine that you registered in the setup lab from the Machine or machine group dropdown menu.

    Screenshot of the run desktop flow action.

  7. Provide your sign-in user and password information.

    Note

    If you're uncertain of what to enter in the Domain and username field, you can use the Command Prompt window (open Windows Start menu, enter CMD, and then press the Enter key). Enter the whoami command and press the Enter key to locate the domain and username. Fill in the textbox with USERDOMAIN\USERNAME.

    If this account isn't a domain account, then use the Set computer command to look for the computer name. Fill in the text with COMPUTERNAME\USERNAME.

    Tip

    To make sure that you have the correct sign-in credentials, try signing out of the computer and using the username/password combination to determine if you can successfully sign in to this computer.

    Important

    The account that you plan to use must have local admin rights on your machine.

  8. Select Create New.

    Screenshot of the Create button.

  9. After setting up the connection, you can always view and select your connection by selecting the Run a flow built with Power Automate for desktop action card and then selecting Change connection reference.

    Screenshot of the my connections list.

    Note

    You can also create new connections here if needed. You can do this by selecting Add New. This step is not necessary for this lesson.

  10. Select Enter an invoice from the Desktop flow dropdown menu.

  11. From the Run Mode dropdown menu, select Attended (runs when you're signed in). This mode runs the desktop flow while you're signed in to the same machine. Unattended mode is for running automation on the server machines without users needing to sign in.

    Screenshot of the Run Mode dropdown menu with Attended selected.

  12. Fill in the Amount, Contact, and Accountname boxes with the following sample input values (you're using static input values for now and will learn in the next labs how to use dynamic input values):

    • Amount - $200

    • Contact - b.friday@wingtipcups.com

    • Account name - WingTip Cups

    Screenshot of the sample input values.

  13. Select Save, located at the top right-hand corner, and then wait for the flow to be saved.

    Screenshot of the Save flow button.

  14. Select Test in the upper-right corner of the screen.

    Screenshot of the Test button.

  15. From the Test Flow dialog, select Manually and then select Test.

    Screenshot of the Test Flow dialog.

  16. Determine if the required connections are correctly configured. If a green check mark appears to the right of Desktop flows, then you're ready to continue. Select Continue.

    Screenshot displaying the flow connection and back button.

  17. Select Run flow.

    Screenshot of the Run flow button.

  18. Select Done if your flow run started successfully.

    Note

    Don't interact with your device while testing.

  19. Watch as your desktop flow is triggered from the cloud and runs on your desktop.

    After your flow runs successfully, the run detail page will display.

    Screenshot of the Your flow ran successfully message.

  20. Now we're going to connect the flow to the solution we previously created. To begin, select the back arrow at the top left of the screen next to the name of the flow.

    Screenshot of the back arrow step.

  21. Select Solutions and then select the previously created Invoice processing solution First Last.

    Screenshot of the solutions.

  22. After clicking on the solution, select the Add existing drop-down menu at the top of the page. Then select Automation and then Cloud flow.

    Screenshot of the add existing steps.

  23. The Add existing cloud flows dialogue box pops up. Select the Outside Dataverse tab in the box. Then select the flow Manual trigger desktop flow to enter invoice and finally, select Add.

    Screenshot of adding the flow to the solution.

Now the flow is linked to the solution.