Excel Table to Power Apps

[123Powerapphelp]

Hi All,

First time posting here, hope you guys are having a great day.

I'm trying to build a form entry app on Power Apps. I'm using the Edit Form function that is connected to a vertical gallery. The vertical gallery is connected to an excel table.

I want to use different entry types on my form (for example: date picker for choosing dates, drop down for choosing the employee position, search function to search locations) to make things easier, however; when I linked the edit form to the fields in my Excel table everything was set to Input Text type only. Is there a way I can switch the some of the Input Text types to other things and still have them link to the right part of my excel table when I click the button I made that says submit form?

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my question!

[SpongYe]

Hi @123Powerapphelp 

As with any datasource, PowerApps will infer the data types of the columns based on conditions.  For SharePoint, it basically looks at the column datatype.  For Excel, it has to infer the type based on the data and formatting of that column in the spreadsheet.

AND, just like any datasource, you cannot change the datatype that PowerApps inferred directly in the app itself, you have to change it in the datasource.

So, for Excel, the trick will be to get PowerApps to infer the data type that you want.  For example, if you had a date coming in and you wanted text, then you would have to alter the column formatting in Excel to convert the date values into text there.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Power-Apps/Changing-data-type-for-form/td-p/1512061

If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know. Have a great day! 😊

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[123Powerapphelp]

Hi,

Thank you very much for your response. I understand what you mean by changing the column types now. However, I am still having a few problems. What column type do I need to change my excel column to make it just Date (not DateTime)? What column type would I change it to make it show up in my edit forms as a drop down?

Thank you!

[SpongYe · Accepted solution]

To make your column show up as a drop down in your edit forms, you need to change the control type of the data card that corresponds to that column. You can do this by following these steps:

1. Select the edit form in your app screen, and click on Edit fields in the Properties panel.
2. Select the field that you want to change, and click on Advanced under the Data card tab.
3. Under Data, you will see a Control option. Click on it and choose Drop down from the list of available controls.

[123Powerapphelp]

Thanks for your response SpongYe, I ended up using a Sharepoint List in the end, but I'm sure this will definitely help someone with the same question as me in the future. Thanks again!