Data Card Positioning Bug

[GuyBoswell]

I keep having real problems with data cards in a detail form not doing what I tell them.

And it is really inconsistent - some behave, some don't

I have a very simple SharePoint list but with a very big number of columns that I am using as data source for a canvas app.

I have tried using the wizard to build the app based on the data source and I have tried adding the data source by hand to a blank app but I get exactly the same problems.

Because I have so many columns but most have a short title and a small piece of data (like, "Viewers" = 6) I want to shuffle the data cards up to make more space.

I am designing for phone so the default width is 640.  A very few of the columns (like comments) are bigger so I am leaving .width = 640 but for most I have set .width = 320

By default most of the data cards I added have .height = 103.  I have tried changing these but whatever I change them to they all revert back to 103

Other data cards by default have .height = 73 (And don't display the data).  I can change these to any height I like and they stay there and if I set them to over 100 they display data.  So I have set all of them to 103

Now to try and position them where I want ...

DataCard1 .x = 0, .y = 0 - fine!

DataCard2 .x = 0, .y = 103.  I change those to .x =320, .y = 0 and it happily displays alongside DataCard1 as I would expect

DataCard3 .x = 0, .y = 206.  I change those to .x = 0, .y = 103 and it displays just below DataCard1, just as I want and expect

Now it gets tricky!

DataCard4 .x = 0, .y = 309.  I change those to .x = 320, .y = 103.  I would expect that to display alongside DataCard3 and below DataCard2.

But instead it sets itself to .x = 0, .y = 2060 and disappears to the very bottom of the form.  Setting .x and .y to any other figure have no effect.  I can get it back up the form to any level I like by drag and drop.  But it always has .x = 0  As soon as I change that it disappears back to the bottom of the form.

What on earth is going on??!?!?!?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Guy

[notj]

I think you might benefit from using multiple edit forms on the same screen. I often break up my content into different forms if they require odd sizes. 

I used to try and fight with the auto positioning and sizes and whatnot. I started to lose my mind until I just started putting it separate forms.

Then for the submit formula, you use something like this:

Patch(
   CheckRequest,
    Defaults(CheckRequest),
    Form1.Updates,
    Form1_1.Updates,
    Form1_2.Updates,
    EditForm1.Updates);
Navigate(ScreenSuccess)

[GuyBoswell]

Thank you for the idea notj but isn't it just a bit rubbish to have to use such a complicated work around for something that should be so simple?

[notj]

@GuyBoswell If you've worked with Microsoft a lot over the years, you should probably be used to it by now.

Sure, you would think just resizing some controls shouldn't be an issue. I agree. But unfortunately, it is. It's a huge pain point and you'll find similar workarounds suggested all over these forums. 

When I think about how much time and effort goes into getting a single form with lots of controls to play nice, or 3-5 forms with a handful of controls each, I much prefer the second avenue.