XML actions
Power Automate provides the capability to use desktop flows to manage XML attributes and elements.
To read an XML file, use the Read XML from file action. Specify the path or browse for the file, and select one of the encoding options.
After selecting a file, use the Execute XPath expression action to run an Xpath query. The following example uses a produced variable from the Read XML from file action to specify the document.
To retrieve an attribute from an XML file, use the Get XML attribute action. In the following example, status is an attribute of client, which is an element of clientlist. The value will be obtained as a text value.
Similarly, to retrieve element values, use the Get XML element value action. You can manage elements and attributes using the respective action to get, set or remove XML attributes or elements.
Read XML from file
Read the contents of an XML file into a variable.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File path | No | File | The file that contains the XML document to read | |
| Encoding | N/A | System default, ASCII, Unicode, Unicode big endian, UTF-8 | System default | The encoding used for the specified file |
Variables produced
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| XmlDocument | XML node | The variable that holds the read XML document |
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Directory not found | Indicates that the directory doesn't exist |
| File not found | Indicates that the file doesn't exist |
| Failed to read from file | Indicates a problem reading from file |
| File doesn't contain a valid XML document | Indicates that the file doesn't contain a valid XML document |
Write XML to file
Write the contents of an XML node variable into a file.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File path | No | File | The file to write the XML document into | |
| XML to write | No | Text value | The XML node or document to write into the file | |
| Encoding | N/A | System default, ASCII, Unicode, Unicode big endian, UTF-8 | System default | The encoding used for the specified file |
| Format XML | N/A | Boolean value | True | Specifies whether to format the XML |
| Indentation per level | Yes | Numeric value | 2 | Specifies by how many spaces to indent each level of the XML |
Variables produced
This action doesn't produce any variables.
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid directory specified | Indicates that the specified directory is invalid |
| Failed to write XML to file | Indicates a problem writing XML to file |
Execute XPath expression
Extract values from an XML document based on the provided XPath query.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document to parse | No | Text value | The XML as text or a previously defined variable that contains the XML document to parse | |
| XPath query | No | Text value | The XPath expression to execute against the XML document | |
| Get first value only | N/A | Boolean value | False | Specifies whether to retrieve a single value (the first value only) or all the values that match the provided XPath expression |
Variables produced
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| XPathResult | XML node | The extracted node(s) as an XML node |
| XPathResults | List of XML nodes | The extracted node(s) as a list of XML nodes |
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XML document provided | Indicates that the XML document provided is invalid |
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
Get XML element attribute
Get the value of an attribute of an XML element.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document or XML element to retrieve its attribute | |
| XPath query | Yes | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the subelement and retrieve its attribute | |
| Attribute name | No | Text value | The name of the attribute to retrieve its value | |
| Get value as | N/A | Text value, Numeric value, Datetime value, Boolean value | Text value | Specifies the data type for the attribute value |
Variables produced
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| XmlAttributeValue | Boolean value | The retrieved value of the XML attribute |
| XmlAttributeValue | Datetime | The retrieved value of the XML attribute |
| XmlAttributeValue | Numeric value | The retrieved value of the XML attribute |
| XmlAttributeValue | Text value | The retrieved value of the XML attribute |
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| XPath expression returns no element | Indicates that the XPath expression returns no element |
| Attribute not found in element | Indicates that the attribute doesn't exist in the element |
| Failed to convert attribute value to the requested data type | Indicates a problem converting the attribute value to the requested data type |
Set XML element attribute
Set the value of an attribute of an XML element.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document or XML element to set its attribute | |
| XPath query | Yes | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the subelement and set its attribute | |
| Attribute name | No | Text value | The name of the attribute to set its value | |
| Attribute value | No | Text value | The new value for the attribute |
Variables produced
This action doesn't produce any variables.
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| XPath expression returns no element | Indicates that the XPath expression returns no element |
| Failed to set XML attribute | Indicates a problem setting the XML attribute |
Remove XML element attribute
Remove an attribute from an XML element.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document or XML element to remove its attribute | |
| XPath query | Yes | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the subelement and remove its attribute | |
| Attribute name | No | Text value | The name of the attribute to remove |
Variables produced
This action doesn't produce any variables.
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| XPath expression returns no element | Indicates that the XPath expression returns no element |
| Attribute not found in element | Indicates that the attribute doesn't exist in the element |
| Failed to remove XML attribute | Indicates a problem removing the XML attribute |
Get XML element value
Get the value of an XML element.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document or XML element to retrieve its value | |
| XPath query | Yes | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the subelement and retrieve its value | |
| Get value as | N/A | Text value, Numeric value, Datetime value, Boolean value | Text value | Specifies the data type for the XML element value |
Variables produced
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| XmlElementValue | Boolean value | The XML element value |
| XmlElementValue | Datetime | The XML element value |
| XmlElementValue | Numeric value | The XML element value |
| XmlElementValue | Text value | The XML element value |
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| XPath expression returns no element | Indicates that the XPath expression returns no element |
| Failed to convert element value to the requested data type | Indicates a problem converting the element value to the requested data type |
Set XML element value
Set the value of an XML element.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document or XML element to retrieve it value | |
| XPath query | Yes | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the subelement and retrieve its value | |
| XML element value | No | Text value | The new value for the XML element |
Variables produced
This action doesn't produce any variables.
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| XPath expression returns no element | Indicates that the XPath expression returns no element |
| Failed to set element value | Indicates a problem setting the element value |
Insert XML element
Insert a new XML element into an XML document.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document to insert the new XML element | |
| XPath query | No | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the parent XML element and insert the new element into it | |
| XML element to insert | No | XML node | The new XML element to insert into the XML document |
Variables produced
This action doesn't produce any variables.
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| XPath expression returns no element | Indicates that the XPath expression returns no element |
| Failed to insert XML element | Indicates a problem inserting the XML element |
Remove XML element
Remove one or more XML elements from an XML document.
Input parameters
| Argument | Optional | Accepts | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XML document | No | XML node | The XML document that contains the XML element(s) to remove | |
| XPath query | No | Text value | The XPath expression to locate the element(s) to remove |
Variables produced
This action doesn't produce any variables.
Exceptions
| Exception | Description |
|---|---|
| Invalid XPath expression provided | Indicates that the XPath expression provided is invalid |
| Failed to remove XML element | Indicates a problem removing the XML element |
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