Setup a Threaded Discussion log in PowerApps with version history

[joshieboy]

Hello,

I have an app whereby users can fill out an extensive form, submit and it go through a review process before being approved or rejected.  When a user submits a form, approvers must be able to review and request additional information which allows the form to be reverted to the submitter.  The submitter can update the form based on the info. requested and also add a thread to the discussion saying it was updated or even requesting further clarification etc.  I would like for this threaded discussion to be stored within the app so both parties can see date/time/created by and content of what was asked/answered by both parties.  Any guidance on this appreciated.

[JohnM86]

To implement a threaded discussion within your app, you can create a separate table or collection to store the discussion threads related to each form submission. Here are the high-level steps:

1. Create a new table or collection in your data source to store the discussion threads. This table should have columns for the following information:

   • Submission ID: the ID of the form submission that the thread is associated with.
   • Thread ID: a unique identifier for the discussion thread.
   • Created By: the name or ID of the user who created the thread.
   • Created Date: the date and time when the thread was created.
   • Content: the text content of the discussion thread.

2. Add a button or link on the form review screen for approvers to request additional information. When this button is clicked, you can create a new thread in the discussion table using the current submission ID as a reference.

3. When the submitter updates the form and submits it again, you can retrieve the discussion threads associated with the submission ID and display them on the form review screen. You can also add a new thread to the discussion table to capture any new communication.

4. To display the threaded discussion, you can use a gallery or table control to show all the threads related to the submission ID. You can also use conditional formatting to highlight the threads created by the approver and the submitter, respectively.

5. You can add additional features to the discussion, such as the ability to reply to a thread or mark a thread as resolved.

These are the basic steps to implement a threaded discussion in your app. Of course, the actual implementation may vary depending on the specifics of your app and data source.

[SolTeferi]

Hi @joshieboy ,

There are 3 main parts involved to build a conversation log/thread:

1. In your datasource (i.e. SharePoint list), create a new list (for this example, I am using "Threads" as the name of this list) and in the list create the following columns:
   1. A person field/column (for this example, I am using "User" as the name of this field)
   2. A rich text column (for this example, I am using "Comments" as the name of this column). A rich text column can contain tens of thousands of characters. If you allow users to type too many content in there, it will potentially slow down your app and datasource. So, limit the number of characters to only few hundreds. You can set that when creating the column)
   3. A number column (For this example, I am using "ParentID" as the name of this column
2. On the form in Powerapps where users and approvers enter data, do the following:
   1. Insert a custom data card to the form (This will be used to type comments by approvers and users)
   2. Add a rich text editor control to the custom data card (for this example, I am using "RichTextEditor" as the name of the rich text editor)
   3. Set the OnSelect property of the submit button to the following:

UpdateContext({varText:RichTextEditor.HtmlText});   SubmitForm(NameOfYourForm);​

             d. Set the OnSuccess property of the form to the following:

Patch(Threads,Defaults(Threads),{ParentID:NameOfYourForm.LastSubmit.ID,
User:
 {
Claims: "i:0#.f|membership|" & User().Email,
DisplayName: User().FullName,
Email: User().Email,
Department: "",
JobTitle: "",
Picture: "" },
Comment:varText});​

      3. Anywhere (preferably in a new screen) in your Powerapps where you want to display the conversation threads, do the following:

1. Insert two galleries to the screen. (You can insert one gallery nested inside the other. But, that involves a little bit complicated technique if you are not familiar with it. The easier and actually the best way is to insert the galleries side by side (left and right) separate from each other. Make sure you choose a "Flexible height blank gallery" for the right gallery. For this example, I am using "GalleryMain" for name of the left gallery and "GalleryThreads" for the right gallery)
2. Set the items property of the left gallery as your main SharePoint list name
3. Set the items property of the right gallery as the following:

SortByColumns( Filter(Threads,ParentID=Value(GalleryMain.Selected.ID)),"Created_x0020_Date",SortOrder.Descending);​

      d. Insert HtmlText control to the right gallery (For this example, I am using "Htext" as the name of this control). Set the X and Y values of the HTML control to zero.

       e. Set the HtmlText property of the HtmlText control to the following:

"<div style='border-radius:5px; padding:2px; background-color:#dddddd; font-size:14px;'><em>"&ThisItem.User.DisplayName&" - "&ThisItem.Created &"</em></div><div>"&ThisItem.Comment&"</div>" ​

         f. Set the width of the HtmlText control to Parent.Width-10 and set its AutoHeight to True.

         g. Set the Template Size property of the right gallery to: Htext.Height

If you follow everything as indicated, you should have a nice looking conversation threads for your app. I recommend to use the exact names of controls used in this example. The only thing you will have to change is the "NameOfYourForm" on step 2, c & d. You have to replace that with the actual name of your form. If you want to change any other name/value, make sure to change all instances as it may be used more than once.

[joshieboy]

Hi @SolTeferi 

Thank you for the detailed breakdown and explanation of this.  I may have misinterpreted some of step 3, as the previous ones were very clear.  

For Step 2 though, I including the update Context in what was already existing there for me so it reads:

UpdateContext({locIsSubmit:true,varText:RichTextEditor.HtmlText}); SubmitForm(Form1_2);Navigate(FormSubmitted)

I did not see any errors there from PowerApps so I assume that was fine.

My OnSuccess as per attached also was fine.  I just had one error as per attached.

Re:  Step 3, I inserted the galleries side by side.  Left gallery was set to my main SharePoint List which is the Buyer Pre Qualification Questionnaire - and the right gallery set based on your formula.  As per attached galleryerror, the semicolon to the end was giving the attached errors, and removing it removed the errors.  

I don't know what I am doing wrong here but my "Threads" list in SharePoint is not being updated.  

[SolTeferi]

Hi @joshieboy ,

Yes, the way you added the formula in step 2 is fine. Also, it is okay to remove the semi colon at the end of a formula as long as you don't have any more formula added at the end. The semi colon is just a separator between one formula from the next. But I am not sure why your thread list is not updating. I am sure if everything is done correct, it will work.

Did you go in SharePoint to see the actual list to see if it updated or you just looked at the gallery? If you see the actual SharePoint list and it is not updated, the only thing I can think of is spellings of column names (ParentID and User). Also, if you have the default "Title" column. Change its required property to "NO" in SharePoint. I hope that will doit. Let me know.

[SolTeferi]

I just noticed a problem on the submit button that can prevent the threads list from being updated. You have a 'Navigate' function on the OnSelect of the submit button. Remove that "Navigate(FormSubmitted)" from the submit button and put it at the end of the OnSuccess property of the form. Make sure there is a semi colon at the end of the OnSuccess of the form before you add the Navigate function. 

[joshieboy]

Hello @SolTeferi  - I only just realised you updated this as I was trying several times again following the steps you provided.  I think I have to go through it again from the beginning as I would have made some other changes.  Thanks very much again for this and I will update you later this week once it works for me.  

[SolTeferi]

Hi @joshieboy ,

Sure, let me know how it goes. Also, just so you know, there is nothing wrong with the steps I gave you and you don't need to change anything there. What I was talking about in my earlier post is that you had an existing "Navigate" function in your expression. So, you need to remove that navigate function from the submit button and add it to the end of the OnSuccess expression. I hope that make sense.