Coercion Failed: If any email address column is null

Question

I have created a custom workflow in SharePoint Designer 2010.

There are 3 columns that are NOT required:

Column 1 = Subject Matter Experts

Column 2 = Other Stakeholders

Column 3 = Impacted Parties

These fields are for the end user to enter the email address of an employee in our outlook directory.

They can type in the email address and click the "check" icon or they can click on the "book" icon, type in the name of the user and then click enter.

From there, they can select the user from the list displayed in the "Select People Webpage Dialog" and click OK.

My workflow has been designed like this:

Step 1

If CurrentItem:Subject Matter Experts is not empty

  Email CurrentItem:Subject Matter Experts

  then Log Email sent to SME to the workflow history list

Else if Current Item:Subject Matter Experts  is empty

 Log No SME assigned to the workflow history list.

Step 2

If CurrentItem:Other Stakeholders is not empty

  Email CurrentItem:Other Stakeholders

  then Log Email sent to Other Stakeholders to the workflow history list

Else if Current Item:Other Stakeholders  is empty

 Log No Other Stakeholders assigned to the workflow history list.

Step 3

If CurrentItem:Impacted Parties is not empty

  Email CurrentItem:Impacted Parties 

  then Log Email sent to Impacted Parties to the workflow history list

Else if Current Item:Impacted Parties  is empty

 Log No Impacted Parties assigned to the workflow history list.

The workflow is 'Canceled' and I get the following error message if either of the three columns referenced above is null:

Event Type: Error

User ID: System Account

Description: Coercion Failed: Input cannot be null for this coercion.

I do not get the error message above if all three columns are populated.

Answer 1

Hi ,

I understand that you have three columns to hold the email address. When one of the columns are empty ,there is an Coercion Failed error. When adding the ‘Send an email ’ action, how do you set the user in ‘To’?

When using the workflow lookup for a user ,you should choose to return the field as String.

For more information ,please refer to this site:

Getting this error "Coercion Failed: Input cannot be null for this coercion." on all workflows created with SharePoint Designer 2010 but one.: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010customization/thread/831997ea-bcbb-4c76-8039-7d78f26badee/

Thanks,

Entan Ming

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Entan Ming

TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

Hello Entan,

I modified the email message's "To" field as follows: 

Return field as: As String

This did not work. I still received the same error message.

Answer 3

I have found that by setting up my workflow logic as below, I do not encounter as many strange errors.

This does not seem to cause any Coercion errors.

Step 1 - Figure out who is being emailed
If CurrentItem:Subject Matter Experts is empty
	If CurrentItem:Other Stakeholders is empty
		If CurrentItem:Impacted Parties is empty
			then Stop the workflow and log "No groups assigned to the workflow history list."
Else if CurrentItem:Subject Matter Experts is not empty
	Set Variable:SME to Yes
If CurrentItem:Other Stakeholders is not empty
	Set Variable:OS to Yes
If CurrentItem:Impacted Parties is not empty
	Set Variable:IP to Yes
Step 2 - Send emails
If Variable:SME equals Yes
	Email CurrentItem:Subject Matter Experts
	then Log...
If Variable:OS equals Yes
	Email CurrentItem:Other Stakeholders
	then Log...
If Variable:IP equals Yes
	Email CurrentItem:Impacted Parties
	then Log..
Step 3 - Addit. Logging
If Variable:SME equals Yes
	If Variable:OS equals Yes
		If Variable:IP equals Yes
			Stop the workflow and log "Done. Emails sent."
If Variable:SME equals No
	then Log...
If Variable:OS equals No
	then Log...
If Variable:IP equals No
	then Log...
	then Stop the workflow and log "Workflow complete."

Answer 4

Mrs. Jackson

as a test, email yourself the contents of your email field.

workflow action: send email. To: domain\you.  Body of email: add your fields.

let me know what you see.

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www.SharePointed.com

Answer 5

Also, you can add logging before the emails are sent out, to try and follow on which "line" it is failing.