Loading form if User().email has a record in SharePoint list

[MH5]

What I'm trying to achieve is similar to Solved: check if item exists if not create new using butto... - Power Platform Community (microsoft.... except I want this functionality upon loading the app, so without interaction of a button.

I have a SharePoint list that contains a large number of columns, I want to present the users of this list with a better experience so they can complete the form in multiple pages. The records contain a field that has the user's email address.

I'm trying to build an customized SharePoint form that has the following behavior:

If the user already has a record in the SharePoint list, then upon the form loading, load the existing record on the screen.

If the user does not already have a record in the SharePoint list, then upon the form loading, present the user with a new form.

 

The customized form should have 1 screen with 4 buttons which load different sections of the form.

Only the Profile section contains required fields, each section has a button to save the form that is loaded.

There are 4 forms, all connected to the same SharePoint list, upon saving the form, the next section is loaded with the next part of the form to be filled out. You can access any section at any stage if a record exists by using the navigation buttons on the left.

The OnVisible property of the screen currently has the below formulas:

Set(varSelectedRecord, Filter('Skills-Matrix', 'Email Address' = User().Email));

Set(varSelectedItem, First(varSelectedRecord));

Set(GallCount,CountRows(Filter('Skills-Matrix','Email Address'=User().Email)));

The first two formulas work fine in that I can use varSelectedItem as the value in the item property of the form that exists when "profile" is active, if a record already exists for the user, this record will be displayed in the form.

The formula for the GallCount variable presents me with a delegation warning for using CountRows.

I'm using GallCount to identify if the user already has an existing record. What I can't get to work is for the form to load as a blank form when GallCount = 0. What I've done so far to get around that is to create a second screen with a button that has 

If(GallCount=0,Navigate(Screen2),Navigate(Screen1);

Screen1 has the 4 button layout as included in the image above, and as previously mentioned will load up the existing record.

Screen2 has a new form that shows the relevant fields to complete the profile section of the form.

The behavior I want from the form on Screen2 is upon submission, to navigate to the Soft Skills section on Screen1 with the new record in the SharePoint list being the selected form item (which was created upon submission). However nothing is loading on the form in this section, it shows a blank form in edit mode instead.

The form in Screen2 has the below formulas for the OnSuccess property:

Set(varSelectedRecord, Filter('Skills-Matrix', 'Email Address' = User().Email));

Set(varSelectedItem, First(varSelectedRecord));

Set(GallCount,CountRows(Filter('Skills-Matrix','Email Address'=User().Email)));

Set(FormSection, 2);

Navigate(Screen1);  

What I'm looking for help with is:

• How can I get the Custom SharePoint form to present the user with a form appropriate for their use scenario (existing record if record exists, new form if record does not exist) without using the new screen with a button? The objective is to get a form design with just a single screen where the user does not need to interact with anything except the form, the navigation buttons and the save buttons.
• How can I avoid the delegation warning on the GallCount formula (the SharePoint list will exceed 2000 items), is there another way to identify if the user already has a pre-existing record in the SharePoint list?
• How can I get the next sections to properly load the next form section when a new record has been created on Screen2? (it works fine when a record already existed on app launch)
• Just as general feedback, it feels like what I'm trying to achieve should be simple, is there a more straightforward approach, am I making a silly mistake somewhere?

[WarrenBelz · Accepted solution]

Hi @MH5 ,'

Before I delve into any of the structure, the problem you are going to have is that an Integrated Form does not run OnStart or screen OnVisible (which is important to you here) on anything other than the first record selected (for example the user chooses another record it does not run) unless the browser is refreshed each time. Also multi-screen forms and Variables are problematic especially when you try to set things from the Integrated OnEdit / OnNew / OnView.
These problems do not exist in Canvas apps - is there any reason you are making an Integrated app with this complexity ? As an aside, you can fix the Delegation warning like this

With(
   {
      _Data:
      Filter(
         'Skills-Matrix',
         'Email Address' = User().Email
      )
   },
   Set(
      GallCount,
      CountRows(_Data)
   )
)

[MH5]

Thanks @WarrenBelz ,

I've used your provided formula and there's no more delegation warning.

The reason I'm using the integrated form, and I might be misinformed here, is to avoid the PowerApps licensing costs per user. I usually make PowerApps within teams for the same reason.

I'm not using PowerApps for teams in this case as the request was to have it accessible through a SharePoint Community Page.

The intention is not to have multiple screens and not to provide users access to any records than their own. That's what I'm trying to achieve with these OnVisible formulas anyway. The idea is that a user loads the form (through direct link in webpart) if they never submitted a record before, they can create one. If they have created a record before, it would allow them to update this record with any required changes.

The 4 buttons for navigation do not navigate to other screens but rather make certain inputs in the form visible or not.

[WarrenBelz]

Hi @MH5 ,

I had a fairly good guess at your motivation and you are fortunate that the restrictions have been eased since these forms where introduced (initially unlicenced users could not even open them), however these forms were never designed to be full-blown apps, rather a replacement for the standard SharePoint new/edit/view and InfoPath forms.

As I mentioned, when the app is initially opened, then another record selected, the logic is that you have only changed the selected record, therefore the app does not re-open - it stays open (for performance reasons) and does not run OnStart or screen OnVisible. I noted some other things on my previous post that you will have difficulty with, particularly Variables and Collections that do not reset when you change records for the reasons I mentioned - the first one is going to cause you some issues here.

You may get some of this to work - the code you posted seems logical.

[MH5 · Accepted solution]

To update my progress, I was able to resolve my issues by getting rid of the additional screens I had added when I was attempting to resolve the first issue.

The actions I've taken are as per below:

I removed the screen with buttons, there's just the 1 screen in the app.

I changed the OnStart property for the App to: (using @WarrenBelz 's fix for the delegation warning)

Set(varSelectedRecord,Filter('Skills-Matrix','Email Address'=User().Email));

Set(varSelectedItem,First(varSelectedRecord));

With({_Data:Filter('Skills-Matrix','Email Address'=User().Email)},Set(GallCount,CountRows(_Data)))

On the screen I changed the OnVisible to 

If(GallCount=0,NewForm(SharePointForm1));

Set(FormSection,1);

On the form itself, i changed the DefaultMode property to:

If(GallCount=1,FormMode.Edit,FormMode.New);

The buttons all have an appropriate OnSelect property where the Section var updates from 1 - 4

Set(FormSection,1); 

The form inputs all have Visible properties that match the appropriate sections, for example FormSection =2