Looking for explanations for odd behavior

[KiZAN]

I'm working with an O365 SharePoint Online account and am connecting to lists, but seeing some pretty odd behavior.

1. I created an app that connected to a SharePoint list called Reallotments. It worked great. Then the Reallotment list was deleted. A new list was created with the same name. Now, when I open that PowerApp that connected to that list it is showing blanks. When I Remove the data connection and create a new one to the new Reallotment list it is still coming up blank. It's as if it's still trying to connect to the old list, and I can't get it to change it's connection no matter what I try.
2. I've created another app that connects to a SharePoint list called FOB-Change. The app works good on in the PowerApp application, and on the web interface, but no data is showing on my phone. I'm using the same login account to connect on my phone and through the PowerApp application as well as the web page interface.
3. I've created a few apps and then deleted them. They do not show up in the list of apps in the PowerApp application interface or through the web interface, but they do still show up on my iPhone.
4. Interestingly enough, if I create a brand new list, even a copy of the one mentioned above (Reallotments), then it connects and works great. All of the problems seems to be stemming from removed or deleted content. I wonder if there's some sort of a cache for Removed content (PowerApps, SP lists, etc) that's causing these problems.
5. This is more related to the Support area on this powerapps.microsoft.com website --- I'm not able to use the Contact form under Support. The Message area remains greyed out, and when I try to Send I get a red error telling me to complete all fields.

[Steelman70 · Accepted solution]

Hi, in regards to list names you have hit upon a problem that I tired to raise also in connection with the Common Data Model which seems to have the same flaws even though the Microsoft team insist they are not related.

Anyway back to SharePoint lists.  Each list in SP has an internal name, which never changes, and a display name that you can change.  So say you create a list called "MyList", and you look at its URL you will see that it says MyList somewhere.  You then change its name to MyAnything and its URL will still contain MyList.  Now here comes the relevant bit.  When you delete this list and create a new one also called MyList then you will see from the URL that the internal name of this new list will be something like "MyList1" because the internal name remains reserved even though the list has been deleted.  I am not sure if by purging the list from all rubbish bins will clear the reservation/cache, but I don't think so.

This explains part of the problem but does not solve it.  I am not sure if PowerApps refer to the internal name or the display name of the list when connecting (I use Azure DB as a source generally), but you can experiment and find out.  If it is the internal name, then you should look for that in the list of sources available for your site.

In regards to deleted Apps please see this: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Forum/Keeping-Things-Tidy/m-p/5292/highlight/true#M241...

If you are interested in CDM and its flaws, my comments are here: https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/cdm-preview-available-for-powerapps/#comment-2828077868

In actual fact when deleting an custom entity in CDM (basically a list) and recreating another with the same name, you actually get back the data in the Title field as well!  This is even wierder behaviour.

[davidme]

Regarding #5 (problem using the support form at https://aka.ms/pasupport), I looked into it but was unable to reproduce the problem. What browser and browser version were you using when you had the problem?

I do observe that the styling on the "Message" text box makes it look disabled (it's gray, matching the page background), but it is indeed editable. I'll raise the styling issue with the appropriate owner.

I'm circulating your issue about the deleted and re-created SP list with some engineers internally and hope we can have an answer for you on that one soon.

[SinanE]

Hi, Regarding #1&4:

If an app uses a SP list a as data source, and that list gets deleted, the app would no longer be able to fetch data from that list, even if a new SP list was created with the same name. The workaround would be to open the app in Studio, delete the existing "data source" that is connected to the old list, and add a new data source for the new list. If the new list is a copy of the original one, the app should just be able to load data without any other changes required.

[Ceebu]

I had a slightly similar experience with PApps, in Excel However. My excel file was in OneDrive for business (Papps can't use a file from SP Online yet). After connecting to the data source, when I opened the excel file, I found an additional column added (title _PowerApps ID_ ). The strange behaviour i noticed was when I renamed the excel file (from ABC.xlsx to ABCbkp.xlsx) and uploaded a different file with the same name (ABC.xlsx). Power app never connected to the new file, and ended up connecting only to the old file, despite being renamed.

I believe the connection is not just being made to a file or a list, but is being made through a data store (CDM?) that maintains the connectivity back to the file or the SP List.

[KiZAN]

I'm thinking that when I "Remove the data connection and create a new one to the new Reallotment list it is still coming up blank. It's as if it's still trying to connect to the old list, and I can't get it to change it's connection no matter what I try."

I would think that by deleting the connection and creating a new one that all references to the list or it's GUID would get replaced.

[sarafankit]

@KiZAN - Are you removing the SharePoint data connection from web.powerapps.com or are you removing the connection to Reallotment list from Data Sources inside the app? You need to remove the list as a data source and add the new one again.

[KiZAN]

I've removed the list as a data source both from within the Windows 10 PowerApps program, and through the online development interface (which I assumed has the same effect).

Oddly enough I'm able to ADD a record to the list using the PowerApp, but it will just not display any results.

In any case, I'd like to close this discussion, because I'm going to recreate the list and essentially start over with the PowerApp. I know that will work.