logic-apps-add-run-inline-code.md

title	description	services	ms.suite	ms.reviewer	ms.topic	ms.date	ms.custom
Add and run code snippets by using inline code	Learn how to create and run code snippets by using inline code actions for automated tasks and workflows that you create with Azure Logic Apps	logic-apps	integration	deli, logicappspm	article	05/14/2019	devx-track-js

Add and run code snippets by using inline code in Azure Logic Apps

When you want to run a piece of code inside your logic app, you can add the built-in Inline Code action as a step in your logic app's workflow. This action works best when you want to run code that fits this scenario:

• Runs in JavaScript. More languages coming soon.

• Finishes running in five seconds or fewer.

• Handles data up to 50 MB in size.

• Doesn't require working with the Variables actions, which are not yet supported.

• Uses Node.js version 8.11.1. For more information, see Standard built-in objects.

  [!NOTE] The require() function isn't supported by the Inline Code action for running JavaScript.

This action runs the code snippet and returns the output from that snippet as a token named Result, which you can use in subsequent actions in your logic app. For other scenarios where you want to create a function for your code, try creating and calling an Azure function in your logic app.

In this article, the example logic app triggers when a new email arrives in a work or school account. The code snippet extracts and returns any email addresses that appear in the email body.

Prerequisites

• An Azure subscription. If you don't have an Azure subscription, sign up for a free Azure account.

• The logic app where you want to add your code snippet, including a trigger. If you don't have a logic app, see Quickstart: Create your first logic app.

  The example logic app in this topic uses this Office 365 Outlook trigger: When a new email arrives

• An integration account that's linked to your logic app

  [!NOTE] Make sure that you use an integration account that's appropriate for your use case or scenario. For example, Free-tier integration accounts are meant only for exploratory scenarios and workloads, not production scenarios, are limited in usage and throughput, and aren't supported by a service-level agreement (SLA). Other tiers incur costs, but include SLA support, offer more throughput, and have higher limits. Learn more about integration account tiers, pricing, and limits.

Add inline code

1. If you haven't already, in the Azure portal, open your logic app in the Logic App Designer.

2. In the designer, add the Inline Code action at the location that you want in your logic app's workflow.

   • To add the action at the end of your workflow, choose New step.

   • To add the action between existing steps, move your mouse pointer over the arrow that connects those steps. Choose the plus sign (+), and select Add an action.

   This example adds the Inline Code action under the Office 365 Outlook trigger.

   

3. Under Choose an action, in the search box, enter "inline code" as your filter. From the actions list, select this action: Execute JavaScript Code

   

   The action appears in the designer and contains some default example code, including a return statement.

   

4. In the Code box, delete the sample code, and enter the code that you want to run. Write code that you'd put inside a method, but without defining the method signature.

   When you type a recognized keyword, the autocomplete list appears so that you can select from available keywords, for example:

   

   This example code snippet first creates a variable that stores a regular expression, which specifies a pattern to match in input text. The code then creates a variable that stores the email body data from the trigger.

   

   To make the results from the trigger and previous actions easier to reference, the dynamic content list appears while your cursor is inside the Code box. For this example, the list shows available results from the trigger, including the Body token, which you can now select.

   After you select the Body token, the inline code action resolves the token to a workflowContext object that references the email's Body property value:

   

   In the Code box, your snippet can use the read-only workflowContext object as input. This object has subproperties that give your code access to the results from the trigger and previous actions in your workflow. For more information, see this section later in this topic: Reference trigger and action results in your code.

   [!NOTE]

   If your code snippet references action names that use the dot (.) operator, you must add those action names to the Actions parameter. Those references must also enclose the action names with square brackets ([]) and quotation marks, for example:

   // Correct
workflowContext.actions["my.action.name"].body
   

   // Incorrect
workflowContext.actions.my.action.name.body

   The inline code action doesn't require a return statement, but the results from a return statement are available for reference in later actions through the Result token. For example, the code snippet returns the result by calling the match() function, which finds matches in the email body against the regular expression. The Compose action uses the Result token to reference the results from the inline code action and creates a single result.

   

5. When you're done, save your logic app.

Reference trigger and action results in your code

The workflowContext object has this structure, which includes the actions, trigger, and workflow subproperties:

{
   "workflowContext": {
      "actions": {
         "<action-name-1>": @actions('<action-name-1>'),
         "<action-name-2>": @actions('<action-name-2>')
      },
      "trigger": {
         @trigger()
      },
      "workflow": {
         @workflow()
      }
   }
}

This table contains more information about these subproperties:

Property	Type	Description
actions	Object collection	Result objects from actions that run before your code snippet runs. Each object has a key-value pair where the key is the name of an action, and the value is equivalent to calling the actions() function with @actions('<action-name>'). The action's name uses the same action name that's used in the underlying workflow definition, which replaces spaces (" ") in the action name with underscores (_). This object provides access to action property values from the current workflow instance run.
trigger	Object	Result object from the trigger and equivalent to calling the trigger() function. This object provides access to trigger property values from the current workflow instance run.
workflow	Object	The workflow object and equivalent to calling the workflow() function. This object provides access to workflow property values, such as the workflow name, run ID, and so on, from the current workflow instance run.

In this topic's example, the workflowContext object has these properties that your code can access:

{
   "workflowContext": {
      "trigger": {
         "name": "When_a_new_email_arrives",
         "inputs": {
            "host": {
               "connection": {
                  "name": "/subscriptions/<Azure-subscription-ID>/resourceGroups/<Azure-resource-group-name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/connections/office365"
               }
            },
            "method": "get",
            "path": "/Mail/OnNewEmail",
            "queries": {
               "includeAttachments": "False"
            }
         },
         "outputs": {
            "headers": {
               "Pragma": "no-cache",
               "Content-Type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
               "Expires": "-1",
               "Content-Length": "962095"
            },
            "body": {
               "Id": "AAMkADY0NGZhNjdhLTRmZTQtNGFhOC1iYjFlLTk0MjZlZjczMWRhNgBGAAAAAABmZwxUQtCGTqSPpjjMQeD",
               "DateTimeReceived": "2019-03-28T19:42:16+00:00",
               "HasAttachment": false,
               "Subject": "Hello World",
               "BodyPreview": "Hello World",
               "Importance": 1,
               "ConversationId": "AAQkADY0NGZhNjdhLTRmZTQtNGFhOC1iYjFlLTk0MjZlZjczMWRhNgAQ",
               "IsRead": false,
               "IsHtml": true,
               "Body": "Hello World",
               "From": "<sender>@<domain>.com",
               "To": "<recipient-2>@<domain>.com;<recipient-2>@<domain>.com",
               "Cc": null,
               "Bcc": null,
               "Attachments": []
            }
         },
         "startTime": "2019-05-03T14:30:45.971564Z",
         "endTime": "2019-05-03T14:30:50.1746874Z",
         "scheduledTime": "2019-05-03T14:30:45.8778117Z",
         "trackingId": "1cd5ffbd-f989-4df5-a96a-6e9ce31d03c5",
         "clientTrackingId": "08586447130394969981639729333CU06",
         "originHistoryName": "08586447130394969981639729333CU06",
         "code": "OK",
         "status": "Succeeded"
      },
      "workflow": {
         "id": "/subscriptions/<Azure-subscription-ID>/resourceGroups/<Azure-resource-group-name>/providers/Microsoft.Logic/workflows/<logic-app-workflow-name>",
         "name": "<logic-app-workflow-name>",
         "type": "Microsoft.Logic/workflows",
         "location": "<Azure-region>",
         "run": {
            "id": "/subscriptions/<Azure-subscription-ID>/resourceGroups/<Azure-resource-group-name>/providers/Microsoft.Logic/workflows/<logic-app-workflow-name>/runs/08586453954668694173655267965CU00",
            "name": "08586453954668694173655267965CU00",
            "type": "Microsoft.Logic/workflows/runs"
         }
      }
   }
}

Add parameters

In some cases, you might have to explicitly require that the Inline Code action includes results from the trigger or specific actions that your code references as dependencies by adding the Trigger or Actions parameters. This option is useful for scenarios where the referenced results aren't found at run time.

Tip

If you plan to reuse your code, add references to properties by using the Code box so that your code includes the resolved token references, rather than adding the trigger or actions as explicit dependencies.

For example, suppose you have code that references the SelectedOption result from the Send approval email action for the Office 365 Outlook connector. At create time, the Logic Apps engine analyzes your code to determine whether you've referenced any trigger or action results and includes those results automatically. At run time, should you get an error that the referenced trigger or action result isn't available in the specified workflowContext object, you can add that trigger or action as an explicit dependency. In this example, you add the Actions parameter and specify that the Inline Code action explicitly include the result from the Send approval email action.

To add these parameters, open the Add new parameter list, and select the parameters you want:

Parameter	Description
Actions	Include results from previous actions. See Include action results.
Trigger	Include results from the trigger. See Include trigger results.

Include trigger results

If you select Triggers, you're prompted whether to include trigger results.

• From the Trigger list, select Yes.

Include action results

If you select Actions, you're prompted for the actions that you want to add. However, before you start adding actions, you need the version of the action name that appears in the logic app's underlying workflow definition.

• This capability doesn't support variables, loops, and iteration indexes.

• Names in your logic app's workflow definition use an underscore (_), not a space.

• For action names that use the dot operator (.), include those operators, for example:

  My.Action.Name

1. On the designer toolbar, choose Code view, and search inside the actions attribute for the action name.

   For example, Send_approval_email_ is the JSON name for the Send approval email action.

   

2. To return to designer view, on the code view toolbar, choose Designer.

3. To add the first action, in the Actions Item - 1 box, enter the action's JSON name.

   

4. To add another action, choose Add new item.

Reference

For more information about the Execute JavaScript Code action's structure and syntax in your logic app's underlying workflow definition using the Workflow Definition Language, see this action's reference section.

Next steps

Learn more about Connectors for Azure Logic Apps