Automating SharePoint List Data Insertion into SQL Table Using Automation Anywhere

​@madhu subbegowda Thank you for taking the time to capture this detail and provide steps. It’s really helpful, and I know other community members would value this as well. Do you mind if we share in the Developer Forum? 

Of course, Lu. :)

This guide is very helpful, especially with the current task I’m trying to troubleshoot.

One step I am struggling with is how you knew how to identify the Key in Step 4. I am using the custom headers from my List, but these do not seem to match the key.

For example, if I use “Status” as they key it returns a blank

Any help you could offer would be great.

​@jane.neasham The key is the internal SharePoint column name, not the display name.  Usually these are the same but if the column name was ever changed after it was first created the two will not match.  For example, if your Status column was first created with the name “Bot Status” and then later renamed to “Status” then the key would need to be “Bot_x0020_Status”  (include _x0020_ for all spaces in a column name) instead of “Status”.   The most common example of this is the “Title” field which is automatically added when a new list is created a new list but frequently renamed to something else.   

To see what the internal SP column name is you will need to access the List Settings for that list.   If you don’t have rights to view the list settings for the list you are working with then you will need to work with your local SP Admin for assistance.  Alternately, if you can connect to the list via Power Query in Excel you can see the internal names there as well.  There may be other methods but those are the two I use the most. 

This is an example showing where to view the internal name using the list settings in SharePoint.  In this case the Title field was renamed to “Bot Name”:
 

​@jane.neasham It occurred to me after I posted earlier that you could also find your columns by running the task in debug mode and viewing the contents of the dictionary after the Get List Items action. 

I would just create a new task with just a few actions:  authenticate to SharePoint, Get List Items and then add a delay action right after.  Put a breakpoint on the delay and when you run the task in debug mode it will pause there and you can view the actual dictionary contents.  This way you will be able to see exactly what is being returned and so you can identify the keys you need.

The two screen shots below show the test SP task and the dictionary values that are returned.  In this case none of the columns have an internal SharePoint name that is the same as the display name.  Even the one that appears to be the same is actually not because there is a hidden space after the word “Lockbox”, represented in the dictionary by the “_x0020” at the end.  I’ve labeled them to show what columns match which dictionary value.  
 

Thank you. I’ve used the debugging method and this has worked perfectly.