DisplayMode=View removes border

[dave-jorgensen]

Would be greating if having controls with DisplayMode=View can have a border. I see a similair post about the padding being removed when in View mode, but since this is a seperate issue, I'm making a new item.

Any way to have a control (textbox or label) have a border, and also be in View Mode?

Thanks

[cherie]

Hey,

If you set the border for a label or a text box, it should show up.

You can set it in the properties pane at the side

[v-yamao-msft]

Hi dave-jorgensen,

With the Label control being selected, you may try to change the following properties about Border to modify its border.

More details about Border properties please check it at here:
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/tutorials/properties-color-border/

Best regards,
Mabel Mao

[JRaasumaa · Accepted solution]

@v-yamao-msft and @cherie what Dave is saying is when a control property is set to DisplayMode.View it does not have a border. If you try this out by placing a control and changing it's DisplayMode to View you'll notice the border settings can be set to show but when changed to "View" the border doesn't appear.

@dave-jorgensen I can't find any way to make a .View control have a border, maybe there is an actual way to do it but if not my suggestion would be to put this on the ideas forum to see if it gains any traction and can be added to the PowerApps future updates.

You can post ideas here: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Ideas/idb-p/PowerAppsIdeas

Edit: I just tried the old school method of putting a rectangle behind a text input box and it doesn't look too bad and works similar to a  "border" would. Maybe a temporary method of getting what you want? All I did was add a rectangle icon from the Icons menu, then sent it to back from the Reorder menu in Home. Then it was just tweaking it to create a border behind the .View set text input box.

[dave-jorgensen]

Thanks - not a bad hack, but not all that practical once you have a significant number of textboxes. 

I won't be marking as answer, because it doesn't solve the issue - the fact that view displaymode doesn't allow borders, but once again - thanks for suggestion.

[tmtm]

Not sure if that helps you, but I solved that in this way:

1. New Forms/Edit
2. Add datacard with TextInput
3. Set TextInput DisplayMode=DisplayMode.Edit

You can keep DisplayMode.Edit all the time and switch from View to Edit on Form level. In FormMode.View mode the TextField have the border and value is read only even with the DisplayMode.Edit used.

To enable editing you just need to switch form to FormMode.Edit

[ruth]

You can change the control to View and the Datacard to Edit, then your border will display on the datacard.  Not sure if that helps

[motami]

I was having this same problem, no borders when in view mode but I found a workaround, at least for me.

I had my Form Displaymode set to View and all my dropdown control boxes all set to "Parent.DisplayMode".

I changed the dropdown control boxes to "DisplayMode.Disabled" and they appear exactly like in View mode but you can set/change/add border.

Examples in the screenshots.

Form = "DisplayMode.View"; Dropdown boxes = "Parent.DisplayMode"

Form = DisplayMode.View ; Dropdown boxes = DisplayMode.Disabled

 And then you can change the borders however you like.

Hope it helps.

Miguel

PS: Sorry for unearthing this old post, I found it while searching for a solution to my problem.

[Anonymous]

@motami Thanks for revisting and posting useful info. You don't owe anyone an apology. Microsoft on the other hand...

IMHO the fact that as of October 2018 this is STILL the case is absurd. To my mind this example is 100% emblematic of a number of just completely inane shortcomings of PowerApps...that such complex workarounds are required for such a SIMPLE objective.

[FilipK]

This behaviour is by design.  

The logic behind it is that when the control is in edit mode it shows the actual input control and allows user to input content and make selections.  When it is in view mode, it just shows the data in a more presentable way, in a way that makes it obvious to the end user that the data is just being displayed and cannot be changed.  For the text input control this eliminating borders as those are the main markers of the input controls.  For other controls (like date picker, combo box, dropdown) it elminates the borders and all other elements of an input control.

I am curious to find out what problems is this causing in your app designs, perhaps the change is too drastic, but perhaps the solution lies elsewhere.