Re: Powerapps Can't find data in table

DaveRobson · ‎10-16-2019

Hi,

I'm in the processs of building a simple app where people can update percentage completion out in the field and it sends the data back to a central onedrive spreadsheet when the form is submitted. I have this working on one site, and have simply created a duplicate app (by saving as) and updating the table source (I.e from table 1 to table 2). This issue I am having is when I conenct my new data source into the app (updating all 'table 1' refs to 'table 2') the app is not working and can't read data. When I look at the data source in items for my gallery I get the message 'We didn't find any data' - yet in my form it reads my column titles and it knows what is a number/ date field.

I have tried creating an app from scratch with my spreadsheet and I get the same error as above. I have tried converting my table in excel to a range and then back to a table, and I've tried creating a new spreadsheet and rebuilding the table. I'm getting the same issues. Powerapps also doesn't seem to be creating the 'powerapps reference' column in the sheet. I've also inspected the table in powerpivot within excel to replicate the 'we can't find any data' error in powerapps, but it is finding the data.

Any suggestions anyone? I'm at a complete loss as to what to do now...

v-monli-msft · ‎10-17-2019

Hi @DaveRobson ,

It is not recommended to use a different data source for the exported app that used to have data source. It is expected that the error occurs when this happens. It might be related to different column names/data types.

But did you mean that you still have the error even when you create a brand new app with Table2? How did you create the app from scratch? Try to create the auto-generated app from Home > Start from data. Did you make sure that you have formatted the excel data to a table? PowerApps can only work with table in excel file. PowerPivot does not work with PowerApps.

Regards,

Mona

Community Support Team _ Mona Li
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

DaveRobson · ‎10-17-2019

I did the start from scratch with data imported from excel. The excel file does have the data formatted as a table, but in powerapps it says that there is no data in the table (which is incorrect as it is populated with sample data)

I'm not trying to have powerpivot work with powerapps - I just used it as a secondary tool to check that something else could read the data in my table.

In terms of column names and format types, I've changed the format types to text and back again (as I saw reccomended on this forum) with no success, and powerapps reads the column names correctly from the data source - it just says there's no data.

mocolega · ‎05-26-2020

I'm facing the same problem here. I even tried to create a very simple table in my Excel file in order to figure out what is the cause of the problem. But the "no data" problem still persists. I know that the Excel table should not have formulas, but this is not the case.

Brennan1 · ‎11-01-2022

I'm facing the same issue. Has anyone found a solution to this problem?

biostatisticat · ‎11-20-2022

Hello! 😞 any updates on this? I'm stuck, please share if you find a solution 🙏

SebS · ‎11-20-2022

Hello @biostatisticat,

This is a long shot, but see if I'm correct there is that behaviour that excel online has, especially when you store the file in OneDrive.

When You have an excel file open, or someone has it open it will reserve the file, and in that instant Power Apps Stoping reads the data from the Table. I noticed this behaviour when I was playing around, but it could be just an incident. When I closed the file on all devices and then refresh the Excel online connection in Power Apps, all get back to work, and I was able to see the data again.

I stay away from Excel as a data Source and Prefer SharePoint, fewer problems also it's free and more powerful after you use to it.

If you like this post, give a Thumbs up. Where it solved your request, Mark it as a Solution to enable other users to find it.

Drrickryp · ‎11-20-2022

@biostatisticat

First of all, Excel is a terrible datasource to use for a number of reasons. In this short video, Shane Young explains why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtmZM3tm2Zs

Amongst those that may be causing your problem are: Once you import the datasource from Excel, it adds a column to it. If you want to copy the data to another Excel table and import the new one, you must not copy this column.

Also, once you have imported a table into PowerApps, you cannot change the schema of the table or it will corrupt the file and PowerApps will behave unpredictably.

I suggest that you forget about Excel. Upload your file to SharePoint and use that. It too has limitations but not as many as Excel and its free. IMHO, the best datasource for PowerApps is Dataverse but it is a premium connector and comes with a price. However, you don't get a Mercedes for the price of a Yugo.

biostatisticat · ‎11-20-2022

Thank you @SebS you're right. Just found that the python script that I used to create the xlsx wasn't closing the file until I close the IDE (Spyder), even with the "writer.save()" at the end. So, that´s right, I'll stay away from excel.

Thank you again!