{"id":747,"date":"2022-06-30T14:38:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T14:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/?p=747"},"modified":"2022-09-01T16:35:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T16:35:47","slug":"power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Automate Desktop URL Syntax Error (Fixed)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Power Automate Desktop lets you enter URL addresses in several tasks including the \u201cGo to web page\u201d task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes you may see an \u201cInvalid value\u201d message or a syntax error. This article shows you how to fix this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_64 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-66114ddd60295\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-66114ddd60295\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed\/#Example_of_Invalid_Value_Message\" title=\"Example of Invalid Value Message\">Example of Invalid Value Message<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed\/#Special_Characters_Causing_The_Invalid_Value\" title=\"Special Characters Causing The Invalid Value\">Special Characters Causing The Invalid Value<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed\/#Solution_Escape_The_Special_Characters_In_The_URL\" title=\"Solution: Escape The Special Characters In The URL\">Solution: Escape The Special Characters In The URL<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed\/#How_To_Identify_Special_Characters_In_Power_Automate_Desktop\" title=\"How To Identify Special Characters In Power Automate Desktop\">How To Identify Special Characters In Power Automate Desktop<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Example_of_Invalid_Value_Message\"><\/span>Example of Invalid Value Message<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In this example, a URL is entered into the input box:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boyneanlytics.com\/?info=hello%20world\">https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/?info=hello%20world<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Power Automate Desktop (PAD) displays an error message in red beneath the input box, as shown in the screen capture below.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/url_invalid_value.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-748\" width=\"654\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/url_invalid_value.png 535w, https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/url_invalid_value-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 654px) 100vw, 654px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>When you save the task with an invalid value in the URL, you will see another syntax error message at the bottom of the screen in the Errors pane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Error message is \u201c<em>Parameter \u2018URL\u2019: Syntax error.<\/em>\u201d as shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/flow_url_syntax_error.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-749\" width=\"646\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/flow_url_syntax_error.png 501w, https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/flow_url_syntax_error-300x74.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, the current version of PAD provides little help in identifying the error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope that a future version will highlight the problem part of the URL. But don\u2019t worry. I\u2019ll now explain the most common issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Special_Characters_Causing_The_Invalid_Value\"><\/span>Special Characters Causing The Invalid Value<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Our example URL has the special character for a space between two of the words. You can see it at the end of the string between \u201chello\u201d and \u201cworld\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The special character is %20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boyneanlytics.com\/?info=hello%20world\">https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/?info=hello%20world<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a valid URL but PAD can\u2019t parse it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Solution_Escape_The_Special_Characters_In_The_URL\"><\/span>Solution: Escape The Special Characters In The URL<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution is to escape all the special characters in the URL by putting \u201c%\u201d before them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our example URL is fixed by amending it to this string:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boyneanlytics.com\/?info=hello%25%20world\">\u00a0https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/?info=hello<strong>%%<\/strong>20world<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Hopefully, you can see that I\u2019ve simply added the extra \u201c%\u201d before the original %20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Identify_Special_Characters_In_Power_Automate_Desktop\"><\/span>How To Identify Special Characters In Power Automate Desktop<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re having trouble identifying what PAD considers to be invalid, then follow this strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can be difficult to see the problem in a very lengthy URL address. The trick is to chop it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PAD doesn\u2019t check whether the URL address itself is a valid web page until run-time. It\u2019s only checking for invalid characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s say you have a lengthy URL like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.problem.com\/search\/results?_page=%25PageNum%25&amp;sourcecategory=life%20events%20(bmds)&amp;collection=civil%20births&amp;lastname=%25Letter%25*&amp;datasetname=irish%20births%201864-1958&amp;sourcecountry=ireland&amp;yearofbirth=1955&amp;yearofbirth_offset=0&amp;sid=999\">https:\/\/www.problem.com\/search\/results?_page=%PageNum%&amp;sourcecategory=life%20events%20(bmds)&amp;collection=civil%20births&amp;lastname=%Letter%*&amp;datasetname=irish%20births%201864-1958&amp;sourcecountry=ireland&amp;yearofbirth=1955&amp;yearofbirth_offset=0&amp;sid=999<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The challenge is that this string doesn\u2019t just have several spaces. It also has PAD variables which are enclosed with the \u201c%\u201d character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Split up your string<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What I do is split up the string and enter increasingly longer sections at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, I\u2019d start with this piece and observe that there is no invalid message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.problem.com\/search\/results?_page=%25PageNum%25\">https:\/\/www.problem.com\/search\/results?_page=%PageNum%<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Then I\u2019d add on another short section:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.problem.com\/search\/results?_page=%25PageNum%25&amp;sourcecategory=life%20events%20(bmds)\">https:\/\/www.problem.com\/search\/results?_page=%PageNum%&amp;sourcecategory=life%20events%20(bmds)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This would give me the invalid message. Now I know that the second half of the string has a special character that needs to be escaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keep adding on sections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As it happens, this isn\u2019t the only part of the string that needs to be escaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ll see that when I add on another piece of the URL at the end of the \u201cworking\u201d part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It won\u2019t take long before you have a full URL that PAD can parse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Power Automate Desktop lets you enter URL addresses in several tasks including the \u201cGo to web page\u201d task. Sometimes you may see an \u201cInvalid value\u201d message or a syntax error. This article shows you how to fix this. Example of Invalid Value Message In this example, a URL is entered into the input box: https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/?info=hello%20world &#8230; <a title=\"Power Automate Desktop URL Syntax Error (Fixed)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/power-automate-desktop-url-syntax-error-fixed\/\" aria-label=\"More on Power Automate Desktop URL Syntax Error (Fixed)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":750,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandittracker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}