Edit Form populating a different record after Remove function

[elemenopi]

BACKGROUND

As an fyi: I'm working in a data card in an edit form, where I've dropped some new controls, which may be part of my problem here.

I've set up an "Attach" button to find a record in my data source and turn it into a "child ticket" of the currently displayed "parent ticket" in the edit form. I do this by referencing an integer typed in a text box and using that value to search the "parent" data source for a matching record & patching that record to the secondary "child" data source. I'm using this in combination with a PowerAutomate flow to migrate correlating files in a Sharepoint Documents Library, and it has worked great so far.

After the patch function is complete, I want to delete the child record from the primary "parent" data source, so it only exists in the child data source. To prepare for this, I wrote a basic "Remove" function by itself, applied to its own button, to test the Remove function on its own and make sure it does what I expect.  No problems this way.

THE PROBLEM
For some reason, when I copy and paste the working Remove function to the end of the code on my Attach button, the Edit form refreshes and reloads with a different record in the data source--the pattern seems to be that it's loading the last record in the data source, possibly because the gallery that the edit form loads from is sorted that to have most recent items on top. So if I was working with Record ID 1 and tried to attach Record ID 3 to it, PowerApps correctly filters & patches a copy of Record 3 to the secondary data source with Record 1 as its parent, and even correctly removes Record 3 from the primary database. But then suddenly the edit form populates all the datacards with the data from Record ID 5 (if that's the latest entry).

Again, this does not happen if I put the remove function separately on its own button--when Remove is by itself on its own button, it deletes the target record and stays on the record I've been working with. How can I add Remove() to my Attach button, and not have it suddenly change records on me after the removal is complete?

Here's my code:

Spoiler

//Store searched record in collection
ClearCollect
(
     colSearchedTicket,
     LookUp
     (
          colAllTickets,
          ID = Value(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text)
     )
);

//Patch record in collection to child data source
ForAll
(
     colSearchedTicket As MyRecord,
     Patch
     (
          'Incidents - Child Tickets',
          Defaults('Incidents - Child Tickets'),
          {
               Title: MyRecord.Title,
               'Prospect Company': MyRecord.ProspectCompany,
               Persona:MyRecord.Persona,
               Description:MyRecord.Description,
               Comments:MyRecord.Comments,
               'Parent ID':varCurrentItemID,
               intIncrement:MyRecord.ID
          }
     );
);

//Prep variables for upcoming Flow
UpdateContext
(
     {
          varChildAttachmentsID: Text(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text),
          varParentAttachmentsID: Text(ThisItem.ID)
     }
);

//Remove matching "child record" from "parent" data source
Remove
(
     'Incidents',
     First
     (
          Filter
          (
               'Incidents',
               ID = Value(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text)
          )
     )
);

//Flow moves Sharepoint files from Child to Parent folder
Incident_MergeSPFolders.Run(varParentAttachmentsID,varChildAttachmentsID);

Reset(txtSearchSimilarTicketID);
Refresh(Incidents_Attachments);

Note that I've tried moving the Remove function to different points of the code, after the Patch. If it comes after the line where the Flow has been triggered, then it doesn't work at all--it'll just navigate to that other record and not remove it. If it comes before the Flow has been triggered, it does remove the record correctly, but like I indicated before will also load a different record.

[StalinPonnusamy]

Hi @elemenopi 

I believe the issue is the order of execution. I assume you have Editform on this screen. Patch command does not guarantee to complete before the next statement. So the best approach is to move some of the code.

Please move the below code to the OnSuccess Property of Edit form

//Prep variables for upcoming Flow
UpdateContext
(
     {
          varChildAttachmentsID: Text(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text),
          varParentAttachmentsID: Text(ThisItem.ID)
     }
);

//Remove matching "child record" from "parent" data source
Remove
(
     'Incidents',
     First
     (
          Filter
          (
               'Incidents',
               ID = Value(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text)
          )
     )
);

//Flow moves Sharepoint files from Child to Parent folder
Incident_MergeSPFolders.Run(varParentAttachmentsID,varChildAttachmentsID);

Reset(txtSearchSimilarTicketID);
Refresh(Incidents_Attachments);

Note: I haven't changed any code

[elemenopi]

Thanks for the tip. A question: I have other data cards on this edit form with customized buttons. If one of those other buttons runs successfully, will that "Call" this OnSuccess() property on the edit form too--and therefore do I need to come up with a way to make sure it's not running this Flow during unrelated button presses?

Edit: I tried a couple variants on this concept--moving the entire section recommended, moving just the Remove(), etc. And unfortunately it does not seem to work. If I move the Remove() to the OnSuccess() property, it no longer removes the record as needed. Because of the suggestion that it could be the timing on the Patch(), I moved the Remove() to go after the collection but before the Patch()--it still populates with a different record when I do that.

[StalinPonnusamy]

Hi @elemenopi

Looks like something I missed when responding. Anyway, still, the problem is the order of execution. We need to handle it on the save button, but will take some action if the previous save is successful.

In this example, using collection "colResult" to get the result of the patch. And further steps will proceed if the patch is successful by comparing Total records = No of records success

//Store searched record in collection
ClearCollect
(
     colSearchedTicket,
     LookUp
     (
          colAllTickets,
          ID = Value(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text)
     )
);

//Patch record in a collection to the child data source
Clear(colResult);
Collect(
    colResult,
ForAll
(
     colSearchedTicket As MyRecord,
     Patch
     (
          'Incidents - Child Tickets',
          Defaults('Incidents - Child Tickets'),
          {
               Title: MyRecord.Title,
               'Prospect Company': MyRecord.ProspectCompany,
               Persona:MyRecord.Persona,
               Description:MyRecord.Description,
               Comments:MyRecord.Comments,
               'Parent ID':varCurrentItemID,
               intIncrement:MyRecord.ID
          }
     );
)
);

If(
    CountRows(colResult) = CountRows(colSearchedTicket),
    
//Prep variables for upcoming Flow
UpdateContext
(
     {
          varChildAttachmentsID: Text(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text),
          varParentAttachmentsID: Text(ThisItem.ID)
     }
);

//Remove matching "child record" from "parent" data source
Remove
(
     'Incidents',
     First
     (
          Filter
          (
               'Incidents',
               ID = Value(txtSearchSimilarTicketID.Text)
          )
     )
);

//Flow moves Sharepoint files from Child to Parent folder
Incident_MergeSPFolders.Run(varParentAttachmentsID,varChildAttachmentsID);

Reset(txtSearchSimilarTicketID);
Refresh(Incidents_Attachments);
,
    Notify("Request was not submitted", Notification.Failure)
)

[elemenopi]

Thank you. I will try this in the future--I found a different solution this time.

[elemenopi · Accepted solution]

I found a way to work around this by moving most of the functions out of the scope of the form.

The data card still has the main "attach" button, but the button now only creates variables to pass the current item's ID and the visibility of the pop up:

UpdateContext
(
     {
          varCurrentItemID: ThisItem.ID,
          varShowAttachPopup: true
     }
);

I created an "Are you sure?" pop up for the user to confirm whether or not they want to attach the record. The pop up is ordered so that it's on the top of the screen and outside the scope of the Edit form. Almost all the code that used to be on the OnSelect() property of my datacard's "Attach" button is now on the OnSelect() of this pop up's "OK" button. It now correctly deletes the record and does not repopulate the Edit form with a different record.