Time Tracking from a manual entry form

[k3martin]

Hello everyone, hoping that you can help out with this specific problem.

Our company has a manual-entry form that was made in Power Apps , and recently we wanted to optimize it and track the time for how long a specific task is completed in.
Our app consists of multiple buttons , so I tried putting some patch function into our button that enables a user to enter a new form( its a button that puts out an empty form and also starts a timer on the screen), but I cant get the data from the form itself ( so the data the user needs to fill in) , I just get a new blank record in my sharepoint list with a start time and when I press submit, with the end time and the time spent as the difference between the two.
My main goal is to collect the data in the form ,as well as get the time difference between the start and the end time of the task into the sharepoint list (calculating the time spend). Is there a possible and an easy fix for this kind of problem? Looking forward for some of your replies and advice.

[turnerj3]

@k3martin ,

You will need a list with 2 date/time columns and a 3rd column of number value to put the calculation. The easiest way to do this would be to Patch/Submit New Form Now() to the Start time column and then patch/submit edit form Now() to the end time column. You could also either patch the 3rd column using a DateDiff function or make it a calculated column using datediff between the other 2 columns. How long will these items be open? Minutes or Days? If minutes you can just keep the form/record open, but if days you will need an input to select the Record to edit.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need more info.

[LucasAnjos]

Hi @k3martin , 

1. In the OnSelect property of this button, did you use the "NewForm( your_form_name )" function? It is also important to use the "SubmitForm (your_form_name)" function to submit your form. 

If you are already using it, please just ignore this and let's try to work out the timer situation:

    2. You have two fields (one for StartTime and the other for EndTime), right  ?

In the StartTime field of your form, you could use in the default property the Start Timer. Value, and the same for the EndTime field and End Timer.Value

Now you have the values of start and end time. 

You could use a third field for the difference between both start and end time. In the default property of this third field, you could use something like:

(EndTimer.Value - StartTimer.Value)

Please, let me know if this didn't work for you. 

[k3martin]

@turnerj3 Hi and thanks for your reply.

My application currently has 7 fields in the form that are there to be filled , and yes as you mentioned above I have the 3 needed columns that enable me to do the calculation thing.

The first thought process that was going on in my head was this:

I would click the icon (in my case it is a + icon) that resets my original form, gets me a new blank form and it starts the timer that is currently hidden.
Then I would then patch up the function and set a variable name for that patch function(the patch function included all the things the form has that are needed to be entered in their respectful card values renamed to suit their purpose;Example being field.1 = Name with its corresponding cardvalue name of Username) , and also that enables me to lookup a specific column in the submit card, compare if it is really the same ID that was entered ( the same instance of the ID) and patch the end timer of the time.In both cases i used the Now() function and I also calculate the datediff as you said in the example above.

The problem I was getting was after clicking the + icon in my example , in the SharePoint list I was encountering a patch that resulted in every single of the fields blank, except for the start timer column.
Afterwards after filling out the form I would get the form submitted as it is, and another blank row created this time with the end timer column only being filled, and the amount spent calculated for that particular column.

I hope I was clear enough explaining the problem, and looking for some more ideas of yours!

[k3martin]

Hi @LucasAnjos thanks for your reply!

As I explained above, I have all the columns above ready and they are working, the only problem that I am seeing currently with my application is the following:

I have set everything as you said, and I would patch the (+) icon in my case with all the fields in the form, with their respective and corresponding columns. I would also set the patch function as a variable that I can use to look up the specific ID ( the ID in the sharepoint list that provides the uniqueness of the row) and add the endtime.now + the datediff on the 3rd column.
The problem I was getting was after clicking the + icon , a blank row would appear in the gallery next to the form( a preview for the sharepoint list and all of its rows) and after filling the form I would get 2 more rows.
So it would look something like this
ID field 1 field 2 field 3 field 4 field 5 field 6 field 7 start time end time time spent on task
 87       -            -           -         -         -           -          -       00: 00 
 88     filled   filled    filled   filled   filled    filled   filled         -            -                       -
  89         -            -           -         -         -           -          -            -          02:00                 2

I couldn't think of a more visual and different way to express myself. Hopefully we can resolve this and I'm grateful for your replies.


                           

[turnerj3]

@k3martin ,

It sounds like you are on the right path. And since you are already using a Form you should do like @LucasAnjos stated and use Submit Form. Also with the Form, you can change the Mode from New to Edit when you need to. This will allow you to Submit the New Form on begin, then change to Edit Form mode and at the end you should only have to Submit Form again with the addition of the End time.

[turnerj3]

what is the code for your +icon? You need to use Gallery.ThisItem as the record for your form or each time in your subsequent patches use YourGallery.ThisItem instead of patching to Defaults(Yourlist).

[k3martin]

I currently use the following code on the most important icons:

+ icon ( onselect property)

ResetForm(FormEdit);NewForm(FormEdit); Set(newformy,Blank()); Set(varGalDefault,{});

UpdateContext({TimerGo: true});
UpdateContext({TimerReset: false});
submit button (onselect property)

SubmitForm(FormEdit);Refresh('testlist1');

UpdateContext({TimerGo: false});
UpdateContext({TimerReset: true});

Also the app is fully functional without the patch in it , and the timer is fully functional ( I have it on screen as an example of it to see if it is actually working)

[turnerj3]

So each time you are hitting that icon you are creating a NewForm so with the Submit you create a new row each time. You want to only create a new form the first time, then switch to EditForm for your next Submit. Does that make sense?

[k3martin]

That doesn't work in my case currently( I think?). I forgot to mention that I already have Edit mode and a View mode for my application.

The users of the application are by default in View mode, and can only start filling the form if they hit the (+) icon on the application.

The (+) icon transfers the application in Edit mode, which unlocks the form that they need to use, but a new row is not created until the submit button is clicked and the form is actually submitted.

So what I would like to do is when (+) is clicked, get the information of the timer (always 00:00) and place it in a column in the sharepoint list that is corresponding and the respective column for this parameter, fill out the full form and the required fields , and when pressing submit , creating a new row with all the required fields (the filled fields from the application) + the collected information of the start timer + end time and the calculated 3rd column gets the time spent on that particular task. After submit button is pressed the application is in View mode, and you can only fill out the form when (+) is clicked and the application is transferred to Edit mode.

I also have a edit icon that always switches to an Edit mode, that is why I always create a new form using the (+) icon instead of going into edit mode.

Let me know if this made any sense, and sorry for being such a pain. 😞