Sudden problem with Patch on Choice and Lookup fields in modification

[CharlesPP]

Hello everyone,

I'm experiencing a recent problem with the Patch function in Power Apps concerning the modification of Choice and Lookup fields. This problem didn't occur before and happens even if I restore a previous version of the application. The error only occurs when editing records, not when creating new ones. No changes have been made to the configuration of the corresponding SharePoint Online lists.

Here's the error encountered: Network error when using Patch function: The specified column is read-only and can't be modified

Here's an extract of the code that generates the error :

Patch(
    'Echeances List',
    currentEcheance,
    {
        // ...
        StatutApprobation: { Value: "En attente" },
        Tranche: { Id: cardTranche_1.Selected.ID, Value: cardTranche_1.Selected.Tranche }
        // ...
    }
);

Do you have any ideas on the possible cause of this sudden change in behavior, or on potential solutions?

Thank you very much for your help and advice.

Charles

[Yobeekster]

Hi Colonel,

I agree. Can we recap the specific issue as I am going to try to replicate it.

I believe this is specific to Patching to a Choice or Lookup column.  Is it the same whether it is a Form or Patch?

As a matter of practice, we don't use Choice columns except for discrete use cases. 

[yosefzav]

I met with microsoft support on Friday and they said that the dev team was aware of this issue. They helped me revert to an old authoring version of the editor (3.23105.17) and after republishing using that then the errors went away. As of today I cannot access that version of the editor anymore, which I have told support and am waiting to hear back. This implies that nothing is wrong with our code, but rather something wrong with the updates to the powerapp editor. I haven't heard any updates yet though on if there is a fix out or not. Not sure if there is much else for us to do other than wait for the microsoft devs to fix this.

[Yobeekster]

Thanks for the update. This is perplexing as I did have this issue, but not anymore (knock on wood). It was very disruptive to say the least. The only thought I have on this is that if it is isolated to Choice columns, to not use them. There are a few reasons why I don't use Choice columns, and have opted to mostly use single text columns as it is unlikely that they would ever fail. Its obviously not the right approach, but as a business, I need reliability over convenience. 

[LeeKengLeong]

Hi everyone, I tried with authoring version 3.23121.20 which is the recommended version in Power Apps now. 

So far, I have not encountered the patching error when I tried to update my Share Point list records using Power Apps. Do see if other users can confirm authoring version 3.23121.20 is stable to publish? Thanks!

[yosefzav]

Just tried that one and it isn't throwing me errors for myself so far which is a good sign, will update if any come through!

[Joel007]

Hi all

We are also affected by this bug, I am rating this as the most serious issue we've ever had! Here are my observations:

- I am getting the error with UpdateIf (it's not just Patch)

- I am getting the error with People/Group column (it's not just Choice or Lookup)

- The issue happens only the first time a user presses a button with the UpdateIf in it after I issue an update. The 2nd/3rd/etc. time everything works alright, until I publish another update and then it starts all over again. (i.e. I am stuck and unable to issue other updates otherwise users who stopped having the error will start getting it again)

- It only happens sometimes (literally no clue what drives this, there doesn't seem to be a pattern I can isolate). Don't we just love these bugs that happen "sometimes" and can't be reproduced....

- The bug still persists for me in version 3.23114.25

- The issue happens both inside or outside a form

@yosefzav , @ColonelDXB1 you mentioned that Microsoft is aware of the issue. Is there any public resource one could subscribe to and monitor Microsoft's progress (like a public bug report, etc.)?

[yosefzav]

It was working fine for a couple of hours, but seems to have come back in the afternoon and so far this morning still on 3.23121.20. For some reason I cannot get myself to recreate the error, although I do get email notifications when users do. It still seems like perhaps refreshing might fix it for some users, but hard to track now since I cannot get it myself to appear every time. What some of the users have said is now when they submit the form 50% of the time it works, and the other half throws them the error (same like you @Joel007 , happens "sometimes"). So they can still get it through (without refreshing or something like that), it just takes a few tries. Not sure what that could imply but, looks like it's back.

@Joel007 not aware of any public resources unfortunately that would track this.

[Joel007]

@yosefzav , your description matches very well what we are experiencing too.

- roughly 50% of users affected

- the issue seems to come in "waves", it seems to be resolved for a few hours, then it comes back and every new user (who hasn't used the currently published version yet) is getting i again. So, if it isn't happening for 1 afternoon, that doesn't mean it's fixed yet...

- I am not affected by the bug, so I have to set up constant testing sessions with users

For now, I have mass-emailed everyone who has had the issue (I also set up bugs to be emailed to me, just like you) and asked them to "kindly press the button again". What a shame that I have to give such instructions to my userbase, which, by the way, includes our CEO, CFO and many VP's.

This doesn't exactly help us advertise Power Apps adoption in our organization.

I did found this bug filed with Microsoft already - Seeing error "Network error when using Patch function: The specified column is read-only and can't b..., they think it's fixed with a suggested workaround to use a different authoring version. I think it was discussed enough here that that doesn't work now and it's not a permanent solution anyway.

 I'll be filing a support request tomorrow, we need to push this a bit.

[lcordov2]

Can I ask how you setup email notifications when user's receive the error?  I am having the same issue where I cannot reproduce it myself, and it seems to affect different users at random.  Republishing with a previous authoring version only seems to temporarily fix the issue. 

The lack of communication on such a critical issue is very concerning.  I don't understand how the known issue page that @Joel007 shared has this item as Resolved when it is clearly broken and in my opinion getting worse. We just started utilizing Power Apps at my org and this will make it increasingly more difficult to get buy in from leadership.

[yosefzav]

To track them I use both the form's OnFailure and the App's OnError, and inside of those I use two calls to a power automate script which gives me a nicely formatted email with the errors. But to make it quick and easy I think you can use the SendEmailV2 function I believe it was, that will send directly to your inbox.

On the App OnError I have it send: "Error: "&FirstError.Message&" - from the control:"&FirstError.Source

and on the form OnFailure I have it send in the email: "Error: "&Form2.Error&" - ErrorKind: "&Form2.ErrorKind

So I receive two emails each time it errors, but they give slighty different responses.

The App OnError gives me the error: "Error: Network error when using Patch function: Conflicts exist with changes on the server, please reload."

and the Form OnFailure tends to give me: "There was a problem saving your changes. The data source may be invalid. - ErrorKind: 6"

Definitely agree it seems this issue comes and goes in waves. It's been playing nice for me the last 2 or 3 hours, but then started up again from what I can tell, it's so bizarre.