Invalid URL when Patching from PowerApps to Sharepoint (Runtime error)

[HeihoSilver]

Hi,

I'm having trouble Patching in the Hyperlink (HTMLText) used in PowerApps forms into Sharepoint list. 

The default form is taken from DataSource1 using EditForm and I want to Patch the form into DataSource2.

Both data source1 and 2 is Sharepoint list and have Hyperlink type.

The default HTMLText in the form has this format:

"<a href='" & Parent.Default & "'>" & Parent.Default & "</a>"

The Patch formula is:

Patch(DataSource2, Defaults(DataSource2), {Link: DataCardValue1.HTMLText})

There is no error in the Patch function. However once I run it, there is a runtime error from "DataSource1" saying that "The requested operation is invalid. Server Response: Invalid URL: a href=' http://.....'>http://......</a>".

I test the link in the form and it works fine.

Can someone help me with this issue? Thanks.

[RandyHayes · Accepted solution]

@HeihoSilver 

The problem that you are having is that you appear to have an HtmlText control in your form rather than a simple text input control.  I am guessing you did this so that you can have a clickable link.  But, the problem is that the HTML encoded link is not a valid link for SharePoint.  It will want the actual value of the link ('http://blahblah.com').  This goes for both of your lists if they have a Hyperlink column.

If you intend to store the HTML version of the link, then you will need to look at changing your column to a Text column that has Rich Text enabled.

If you stay with the Hyperlink column, then you will need to provide only the URL information, and in that case, since you modified the DataCard - what does your Update property look like?

I hope that give you some information to go on.  If you need help on the Update property part, just post back.

[HeihoSilver]

@RandyHayes 

Thank you for the quick response. My main purpose is to make a clickable link with the desired display name (e.g. ""<a href='" & Parent.Default & "'>Link</a>") since URL can be long and does not look quite nice.

If I follow your second advice (keep Hyperlink column) then there is no Update property available since I set the Fields Properties to ViewURL in order to make the link clickable. The DataCardValue also updated automatically to HTMLText type. 

If I set the properties to EditURL or View Text then the DataCardValue change automatically to Text input type which makes the Update property available. Futhermore, it will only resulting in text value which is not clickable.

Your first advice (Rich editor column) works well for patching and for display in Edit or Display form 🙂

However, I found another issue if I present this in Data Table format. I neither be able to make a correct display name nor link (please see the attachment - <divclass="ExternalClass.....). Can you please advice again. Thanks

[RandyHayes]

@HeihoSilver 

So, in reviewing everything, my suggestion is that you actually store a hyperlink in a hyperlink column in your list.  Storing the interface elements (the HTML) with the hyperlink is going to cause you issues down the pike. 

Here are at least two issues:

1) A data table will not be able to show alternate text for a hyperlink.  There is an "isHyperLink" property for the column that you can set to true, but it will only interpret the entire contents to be a hyperlink - with the extra HTML in your data, the link will not work.

There is no real good solution for using a data table to display anything other than the entire URL - which you mentioned you didn't want to display because of size and such.

You will really need to use a Gallery instead to be able to have full control over the formatting and display of your data.

2) I don't know if this is actually and issue for you, but, if your app is designed to allow the user to also Edit the hyperlink, then you will need to consider that for the edit form.  Storing the HTML anchor tags and everything else with it will make that process of editing extremely more difficult than it needs to be.

Ultimately, do the HTML tags in your app instead of at the "database" (SharePoint) level.

[v-xida-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @HeihoSilver ,

Do you want to make the Hyperlink type column of your SP List to be clickable within the Data Table control?

Based on the needs that you mentioned, I think there is no direct way to achieve your needs. When you load Hyperlink column data from your SP List into your app, the column value would be added with additional text, e.g. "<div class="ExternalClass... ">".

As an alternative solution, I think the "Enable improved data table control selection and Value property" functionality within Advanced settings of App settings could achieve your needs.

On your side, please consider enable the "Enable improved data table control selection and Value property" option within Advanced settings of App settings of your app, then add a new Data Table control within your app.

Set the Items property of your Data Table control to your SP List. Then select the "RichTextTestP" column in your Data Table, set the Text property to following:

Substitute(Last(FirstN(Split(ThisItem.RichTextTestP,">"),3)).Result,"</a","")

Set the IsHyperlink property of the "RichTextTestP" column to following:

true

Set the OnSelect property of the "RichTextTestP" column to following:

Launch(                 /* <-- use this function to launch a Web URL link */
       Substitute(Last(FirstN(Split(DataTable1.Selected.RichTextTestP,">"),3)).Result, "</a","")
)

Note: The 'RichTextTestP' represents the Hyperlink type column in your SP List.

More details about the "Enable improved data table control selection and Value property" functionality in PowerApps, please check the following blog:

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/improved-data-table-control-with-column-formulas/

More details about the Launch function in PowerApps, please check the following article:

Launch function

Please take a try with above solution, then check if you could display the proper name within your Data Table, and could click the 'RichTextTestP' column value to launch a web page.

Best regards,

[HeihoSilver · Accepted solution]

Thank you all for the support. 

@v-xida-msft I tried briefly your solution and successfully create a clickable URL. But I need to play around a little bit with the provided code:

Substitute(Last(FirstN(Split(ThisItem.RichTextTestP,">"),3)).Result,"</a","")

The above code is intended to launch the "text" by extracting only the URL name from a long text (<div class="ExternalClass... ">). It seems that it separates the text by delimiter and the URL position (index). So I need to play around a little with delimiter and the "index" number in order to display the correct URL and launch later. However, the above solution seems make things more complex since in the end it will only show the long clickable URL text in the Data Table

I found out that by only using the "Enable improved data table control selection and Value property", the Data Table identify and automatically set the link to be clickable (with long URL name) as long as the Sharepoint (SP) data type where it is extracted from is Hyperlink data type. So, in this case no need to make a RichText type in SP and use complex solution above. 

In summary, if I refer to the title (Invalid URL when Patching from PowerApps to Sharepoint (Runtime error)), then I think it is solved with condition:

• Patch the original URL as "Text" into Hyperlink data type in SP, or
• Patch rich text URL into "Multiple line of text" data type with Rich text enable (but this will need complex above solution in order to make it back to a data table).

Regarding the nice "URL display name" in PowerApps Data Table, I think I just need to live with long display URL for now. 

Just a suggestion from me, if someone plan to use URL with display name, e.g.

"<a href='" & Parent.Default (URL) & "'> Display Name </a>"

then it would be great to create two separate columns in SP, e.g. Hyperlink type and Display Name (text type), instead of create display name under Hyperlink type. That way you can refer to a Display Name column if you don't want to use long URL. I think currently powerapps only recognize URL only for patch/save (not including the display name) into Hyperlink type in SP (please correct me if I'm wrong).