OnChange and custom validation

[rdorman]

Hi all,

So I have a bit of a glitch in my Booking PowerApp that is disconcerting users.

My app has a form with a series of comboboxes.

In the OnChange event of these comboboxes I have added code to validate the data of that field. The code will set a flag that will then display the relevant error message in a label, and change the field border.

So this all works nicely.

When the user submits the form, the app is designed to display the same form data again in read mode so they can see what they submitted. The problem is that during the transition between modes, the OnChange events are triggered and for a brief moment, the error messages appear and then disappear, leading to the user thinking something may be wrong with their submission.

Now, technically, I am still using EditForm to display the "read mode" version so that any buttons on the form still work. It is the data cards with fields that are set to view mode.

I need some way to work out that the form has just been submitted in order to not display the errors.  Any ideas?

[v-jefferni]

Hi @rdorman ,

Simply you can leverage the OnSuccess property of the Edit form. I assume the OnChange properties of those Combo boxes will update a series of context variables to control the visibility of flags and error message Labels. So, OnSuccess you can update these context variables with a false value to hide all the flags and Labels. After these operations, change the display mode of the form to view mode is more simple:

ViewForm(EditForm1)

Best regards,

[rdorman]

I am already using the OnSuccess property. The issue is happening when my OnSuccess code runs. In OnSuccess I have the following code:

Refresh('Booking Requests'); //Refresh the data source to get the update
If(!varIsAdministrator, //Admin is redirected elsewhere
    Set(varItem, frmBooking.LastSubmit); //Get the just submitted SharePoint item
    Set(varFormMode, FormMode.View); //Set this to view mode so that the DataCards of the form are displayed in View mode
    //I believe the next line is what makes the validation appear briefly
    EditForm(frmBooking); //Put the form itself in Edit Mode or the approval buttons wont work

    UpdateContext({ //This object I use to control my validation. I set all the flags that display the error messages to false or 0 to hide the validation.
//I believe this code then hides the error messages after the EditForm has triggered the OnChange events
        locShowValidation: {
            Field1: false,
            Field2: false,
            Field3: false,
            Field4: 0, //These ones are numeric as there can be more than one error 
            Field5: 0, //associated with these fields. 0 means no errors
            Field6: false
        }
    });
)//end if

[v-jefferni]

Hi @rdorman ,

I cannot understand the EditForm(frmBooking) part, could you please explain it further? What are the approval buttons you mentioned in annotation? What will the form mode be when the edit form being submitted?

Anyway, these formulas are triggered sequentially. So, you need to change the sequence of updating the validation variable and changing form mode to view, otherwise users will see the view form before error messages get hidden. 

Refresh('Booking Requests'); //Refresh the data source to get the update
If(!varIsAdministrator, //Admin is redirected elsewhere
    Set(varItem, frmBooking.LastSubmit); //Get the just submitted SharePoint item
    UpdateContext({ //This object I use to control my validation. I set all the flags that display the error messages to false or 0 to hide the validation.
//I believe this code then hides the error messages after the EditForm has triggered the OnChange events
        locShowValidation: {
            Field1: false,
            Field2: false,
            Field3: false,
            Field4: 0, //These ones are numeric as there can be more than one error 
            Field5: 0, //associated with these fields. 0 means no errors
            Field6: false
        }
    });
    Set(varFormMode, FormMode.View); //Set this to view mode so that the DataCards of the form are displayed in View mode
    //I believe the next line is what makes the validation appear briefly
    EditForm(frmBooking); //Put the form itself in Edit Mode or the approval buttons wont work
)//end if

Best regards,

[rdorman]

@v-jefferni I tried your suggestion of moving the clearing of the error codes, but it did not fix the issue.

Ok, let me explain my app a bit more.

A user comes in, completes the form details to create a booking and submits the form. If submitted successfully, the form details are shown in read mode, but the form itself remains Edit mode as there are buttons at the bottom of the form to allow the user to change or cancel the booking. If the form itself was in View mode, these buttons would not be clickable. That is why I use EditForm, not View form.

My suspicion is that the OnChange events of the fields are being triggered by the EditForm call and performing validation when they shouldn't. But I can't detect what is triggering the OnChange in order to know whether to run the validation.