How to create a copy of an existing item and show it in an Editform

[dkottow]

Hi everybody,

I need to implement a "copy item" on a typical auto-generated three-form data source (list, detail, edit forms) connected to a SP list.

In detail I would be most happy if I knew how to implement the following:

1) User has selected a certain item, and is now on the DetailForm.

2) User hits a "Copy Item" button.

3) App creates a new item. (not yet stored on the data source).

4) App copies over the values from the selected, old item to the newly created one.

5) App shows the EditForm to edit the newly created item (form would be in FormMode.New). 

I thought the most straightforward way to implement this was to add the "copy" button to DetailForm and implement the OnSelect event like this:

EditForm(EditForm1); EditForm1.Mode = FormMode.New; Navigate(EditScreen_Form1, ScreenTransition.None) 

but this doesnt work. It throws the folllowing error in red on the browser when running and trying to submit the form:

An Entry is required or has an invalid value.

Any ideas or alternatives on how to get this done would be highly appreciated.

Thank you

Daniel

[dkottow · Accepted solution]

Auto-replying myself after some back and forth...

Showing the EditForm with the current item and putting it into FormMode.New actually works just fine! I was stumbling upon a regressive bug somewhere else in a related DataCard.

Hope this helps,

Daniel

[ygyousif]

Thanks for the tip, but I wasn't able to get it to work with my app. After clicking a Copy button, the form simply goes to Edit mode and any changes are saved to the original item and no new item is created.

I'm wondering if you changed anything from your original line of code?

Thanks.

[Alaa-Alarori]

Hello Daniel,

I have been trying to get it to work for the last 2 hours. once the form is created with EditForm(EditForm1) it sticks to FormMode.Edit (I have a lable that indicates the EditMode)

I tried chaning the EditMode right after creating the form as you noted in your question like this:

NewForm(EditForm1); EditForm1.Mode = FormMode.New; Navigate(Screen1, ScreenTransition.None)

and also using the Onselect in Screen1 like this

EditForm2.Mode = FormMode.New

and both are not working!

any tips

thanks

Alaa

[dkottow]

Hi Alaa

The implementation of this ended up somewhat different from what I described originally. Rather than creating a full copy of an item and editing it afterwards, the code creates a new (empty) item and then picks up existing values from the selected item on the gallery view for each field separately.. here is the relevant code.

1) On the DetailForm of an item, I now have two icons to trigger actions: New Item and Edit Item

NewItembutton.OnSelect:

Set(NewItem; true);; NewForm(EditForm1);; Navigate(EditForm; ScreenTransition.None)

EditItemButton.OnSelect:

Set(NewItem; false);; EditForm(EditForm1);; Navigate(EditForm; ScreenTransition.None)

2) On the EditForm a field control will typically say:

MyFieldValue.Default:

If (NewItem; BrowseGallery.Selected.MyFieldValue; ThisItem.MyFieldValue)

Notes: NewItem is a (global) boolean variable. If true, we are copying the item shown on the DetailForm, otherwise we just edit it. Since the new item icon is now on the DetailForm, BrowseGallery.Selected is pointing to the item I eventually want to copy.

HTH,

Daniel

[Alaa-Alarori]

It seems the only workaround for now, although I had to go through a long list of controls one by one but at least it is working now!

Thanks for the quick reply Daniel 

[PhilD]

Thanks @dkottow

This method works well and was easy to add to my existing form - just what I was looking for so thanks for posting! The only card that didn't work out was the attachments control but I'm not going to worry about that for now.

[sasishaan]

Hello @dkottow,

Thank you so much for putting up this article.

I'm a actually in the look out for a similar situation. I have a SharePoint list in the backend holding the data and a front end powerapp to input and view the entries. I'm trying to implement the solution you've provided but it's not working for me.

1. I've created two buttons on the details screen and tried setting up the formula from your post. It's redirecting to the edit screen with empty fields. Pardon my ignorance, could you please provide more specifics on the formulas?

2. Where do i need to set this field control in the edit screen? I tried changing the ThisItem, but it resulted in an error. Could you please help me to resolve this.

Thanks,

Sasi.

[Alaa-Alarori]

Hello @sasishaan

The solution provided by Daniel in the begining won't work for now, perhaps it worked in the past, but now it won't work.

As I mentioned earlier, once the form is created using "NewForm" the FormMode will always remain "New" and the same applies to EditForm.

So the suggested workaround, which worked for me, is to create a new form using "NewForm" and pass all the values you want to copy to the new form using the context. then assign those values if it's a copied item. check the following example:

Let's say I have a form with three fields: Name, Age and Gender. I want to be able to create a new item or to copy the information of an existing item, edit them, then submit them to create a new item.

1- as you said, you will need two buttons, let's call them "Add new" and "Copy"

2- change OnSelect for "Copy" button to:

NewForm(EditForm1);Navigate(EditScreen1,ScreenTransition.None,{IsCopiedItem:true, CopiedName:BrowseGallery1.Selected.Name, CopiedAge:BrowseGallery1.Selected.Age, CopiedGender:BrowseGallery1.Selected.Gender})

you could also pass the values of the datacards on your form, if you were on DetailScreen like this:

NewForm(EditForm1);Navigate(EditScreen1,ScreenTransition.None,{IsCopiedItem:true, CopiedName:DataCardValue1.text, CopiedAge:DataCardValue2.text, CopiedGender:DataCardValue3.text})

DataCardValue is the name of the textbox that holds the value you want to copy

you can add as many fields as you want between the parentheses seperated by ","

3- on the EditScreen you click on the textbox of the card holding the Name value and change the Defualt value to:

If(IsCopiedItem,CopiedName,Parent.Default)

repeat for each value you passed, Age and Gender in my example.

 4- you are almost done here, the only thing you need to do is to set the value of IsCopiedItem to false. This step might not be needed, I only did it to be 100% sure things are under control.

click on the EditForm1 and change OnSuccess to:

UpdateContext({IsCopiedItem:false,}); Back()

I hope this helps you

Best,

Alaa

[sasishaan]

Hello @Alaa-Alarori

Thanks a million for providing me with the elaborated solution.

I tried it with my app and it's indeed successful. For simplicity reasons, i've created another screen called "CopyScreen" with copy entry as heading just to let the users know what they're doing. The values from the Details Screen are passed over to a copy form(another version of edit form) and the entry is saved as a new record in the list. Yet to try from the browse gallery.

However, I could only pass the values from the text boxes in the details screen. It's not letting me to transfer the selected values from the dropdowns.I've slightly changed the formula to capture the value from the selected items from that dropdown. And, I tried setting the default value to what you suggested for the text boxes but it's returning an error saying that the type of variables are not compatible. Could you be able to suggest me which field for the dropdown values in the CopyForm i need to change and to what value please? 

Eg:

NewForm(CopyForm);Navigate(CopyScreen,ScreenTransition.None,{IsCopiedItem:true,CopiedProject_Number:DataCardValue19.Text,CopiedProject_Title:DataCardValue16.Text,CopiedLearning_Description:DataCardValue28.Text,CopiedPerimeter:DataCardValue17.SelectedItems})

Perimeter is one of the dropdowns I have on my form.

Though this feature is shelved for the later stage, i'm trying to push it in the first roll out. Much appreciate your help.

Thanks a lot!!

EDIT:

I found the mistake. It's working now. It should be DataCardValue.Selected for the fields with single value and DataCardValue.SelectedItems for fields accepting multiple values. Instead of Default property on the copy form we should select DefaultSelectedItems and set it to If(IsCopiedItem,CopiedPerimeter,Parent.Default).

Still working to make this happen from BrowseGallery. Just checking, CopiedName:BrowseGallery1.Selected.Name. The one in bold, what is it referring to? Field name or the data card name?