Creating a comment field with date stamp and becomes Read Only upon submission

[darrenfloyd666]

Is there a way date stamp a comments/free text field and make it Read Only upon submission? 

So for example: 

Work notes:
26/02/2020 11:18:39 -Terry Edwards Emailed Rachel and attached a CfE document - early draft
26/02/2020 11:17:54 - Terry Edwards introduced Rob to Tracey Jacks

[WarrenBelz]

Hi @darrenfloyd666 ,
For your two questions - the second one would have on the DisplayMode

If(
   !isBlank(YourControlName.Text),
   DisplayMode.View,
   DisplayMode.Edit
)
      

however you seem to have multiple notes in your example and you cannot make part of a field a different mode.
The date stamp would also be problematic - easy enough to add it to the start of a note on submission - in the Update property of the card

Text(Now(),"dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss") & " - " & YourControlName.Text

There are also other ways of doing this.Is this what you are seeking?

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[eka24]

Kindly watch this video:
https://youtu.be/SaDEVOgOlYY?t=6

On the confirmation / submission label, you can join the various input fields / datefields:

User().FullName&":"&" "&DatePicker.SelectedDate&” “&Textbox1.Text

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[darrenfloyd666]

Hi @eka24 and @WarrenBelz 

What I did was create a Flow which updated the item and in the comments and I put the uctNow expression in for the date, but it doesn't create a date stamp for multiple entries and doesn't make it Read Only (I might push back on the Read Only requirement as the user won't be able to add additional comments...

Any idea how I could add date stamps for multiple entries?

[WarrenBelz]

Hi @darrenfloyd666 ,

I can't test this fully, but something like 

Text(Now(),"dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss") & " - " & 
Substitute(
   YourFieldName,
   char(10),
   char(10 & Text(Now(),"dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss") & " - "
)

would put the date and time at start of each line, but I am not sure this is what you are asking.

[darrenfloyd666]

Thanks @WarrenBelz I presume that formula would go in PowerApps, which property would I put that in? Items? 

[WarrenBelz]

Hi @darrenfloyd666 ,

The Update property of the card that the text control is in.

As I mentioned, there are other ways of doing this including using Patch or UpdateIf to write to the field, but that would depend on what else you were want to write back at the time.

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @darrenfloyd666 ，

Could you please share a bit more about your scenario?

Do you want to add comment text within the comment field along with date time value?

The user @JimmyWork has faced similar issue with you, please check my response within the following thread:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Power-Apps/Patching-to-SharePoint-column-getting-the-la...

On your side, you need to configure your Multiple Lines Text type field as below:

Then you could generate an app based on your SP List data source (I suppose), go to the Edit form, set the Update property of the "Comment" field data card to following formula:

"<span style='font-size:12pt'>"& Now() &"</span> " & " - " & RichTextEditor1.HtmlText & Char(13) & Gallery1.Selected.'Case Comments'

I assume that you use Rich Text Editor control to enter your comments, on your side, you should replace it with actual control name (using which to enter your comment).

Please take a try with above solution, check if the issue is solved.

Best regards,

[darrenfloyd666]

Hi @v-xida-msft 

That's exactly the outcome I want. I made the changes you suggested.

My gallery is called GAL_Ideas and the freetext field is called Work_Notes. Config below. I'm getting a 'Name isn't valid...' error, seems to be around the RichTextEditor line. Where am I going wrong? 

Oh, and now I can't add any text into the Work_Notes via the app, I can only add it via the list. 

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @darrenfloyd666 ,

Within the Update formula, please replace the RichTextEditor1.HtmlText with actual Text Input box control name within the Work Notes data card.

You may need to type following formula:

"<span style='font-size:12pt'>"& Now() &"</span> " & " - " & WorkNotesTextInputBox.Text & Char(13) & Gallery1.Selected.'Case Comments'

Please modify your formula as above mentioned, check if the issue is solved.

Best regards,