Uploading Files to Document Library using PowerApps

[Sidhant_02]

Hi everyone,
I was working on a requirement wherein I had to upload files (file type can pdf,jpg, txt,etc and it can be more than 1) using Power Apps. So for that I created a Document library in my SharePoint site (named: DEMO_PowerApps) and the document library is named ('IZ'). In this Document library I have created few sub-folders like the following:

To upload files in the Document library I am using Power Automate Flow which is as follows:

So here basically I have created an Instant cloud flow and created a condition (which always evaluates to false) and have used the SendEmail activity in which I am defining the attachments (like name of File, Folder path, content) have used Dynamoic Expression : Ask in Power Apps (for the Yes Part) and then I am using the same defined parameters in Creating a SP file in the Document library.
Now one is issue is  when I am uploading the file in the Folders I am able to only see till Level-1 folders like in my Document Library (Intelizign) there are the following levels:
Main Level:
Folders: PLM, Software Services

(In Software Services: Mendix , Polarion). So currently the drop-down is only showing till Main level the other nested folders are not displayed and the second thing is there are duplicates:

So the flow is working fine (like I selected Intelizign/PLM) and uploaded a file pdf it gets uploaded properly in that file location.

So my final expectation is like this:

In the main drop down it will list all the folders at the very first level (here it will be PLM, Software services). Based on the selection made in drop down 1 (Suppose users selects PLM) then only the respective file or sub-folders should be shown (like in PLM there is only one sub-folder so it only show that folder in the second drop-down).
For Type: Drop down there will some choices that will be shown user can select one or more and that should be associated with all the attachments.

2. Associating Types with all the attachments
Now my upload screen looks:

I want to add another column in the document library named: Type which is a choice column (which will have certain choices) and the choices will be dependent based on the Destination choice selected.
Example:
Assume we have following choices: security, implementation, data-consume, certification, api.
So if user selects PLM then only show: implementation, data-consume, certification.
For Software Services: security, implementation, api.
And then after clicking on Upload the selection (type) should also get associated with the uploaded file, if user has uploaded 3 files and has chosen Type: security,implementation should get that value associated with it (multi-selection).

Do let me know on how to proceed further, hoping for some help for this topic.

Regards,
Sidhant.

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

1. To get all level 1 folders, you can use the below function in the Items property of the dropdown:

Filter(IZ, CountRows(Split('Folder path',"/"))=3 && IsFolder)

For the second dropdown, you can then use:

Filter(IZ, StartsWith('Folder path', DropDown1.Selected.'Folder path') && IsFolder)

It is worth noting that neither of these are delegable because system columns are used.

2. In case you want to limit choices, you will have to define somewhere which choices are allowed per Destination selection. This can be hardcoded in the app, but also in a separate data source, for instance in the Items property of the Type Drop Down:

Filter(
   Choices(
      IZ.Type
   ),
   Value in Switch(
      DestionationDropDown.Selected.'Folder path',
      "Intellizign/PLM/", ["implementation", "data-consume", "certification", "api"],
      "Intellizign/Software Services/", ["implementation", "data-consume", "certification"]
   )
)

Again this is not delegable.

To be honest I would advise against the use of folders because of the delegation issues.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
Thanks for the quick response, so in my flow it is saving the attachments/uploads in the level-1 (which is inside the root sub-folders) after making the modifications will my Flow will still be able to store at the destination as per the selection in the drop-downs. Are there any modifications required?
You also have mentioned that using folders (system folders) is not delegable so is there any better option that can satisfy my requirements. Because the thing is currently to upload any file (of a specific category/service) I am creating a folder then a sub-folder if it has a specific type (like Low Code -> Power Platform -> File 1, File 2). So the uploading of file to a specific that I want to be done by using Power Apps so the end user can directly upload the files in the specified destination and then implement search (by adding a Tag/Type) through which filtering is done easily instead of manually looking into each folder.

Regards,
Sidhant.

[Sidhant_02]

Also do you have any other method through which the expression can be delegable which follows some structure similar to the folders, in the end what I want is to implement a storage space in SharePoint where users can upload their files in particular to which is relevant to.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
Currently what I have done is I have created another screen (Screen 3) and a new Document Library named Contracts with some additional meta-data (tags to associate with file Contract Date and Contract Type) 

And created a new flow to upload files to the SharePoint Document library with the some extra information (meta info) for which I have created 2 new variables (ContractDate and ContractType). Here I am not observing any warnings, so were you mentioning something like this and how can this be used as per my main requirement.
Also the other I noted is the expression for the second drop-down is showing blank value (the count is correct but there are no values)

Also now on the upload button if the files need to uploaded in the mentioned path (selected in the two drop-downs) what changes need to be made to my old flow:

Regards,
Sidhant.

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

Instead of using folders, I would use categories and sub categories. Both of them can be implemented as a choice type column in SharePoint and can be made delegable.

As for your last question, I suggest you use the PowerApps V2 trigger instead of the one you are using in your flow. This trigger will allow you to easier configure the arguments you wish to receive from PowerApps. When combined with the suggest (sub) category fields, you can simply pass the selected categories as an argument from Power App to be used to populate the corresponding columns using Power Automate.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
Which flow you were referring to?. 
If possible could you illustrate with an example (as per the information/screenshots provided earlier) when you have some time (and why are the values not being populated in the 2nd drop down) that will help.

Regards,
Sidhant.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
I have created another copy of my flow:

As I said the file is getting uploaded in the main Level but the tags are not getting associated with it, I have added 4 arguments but even after selecting it, that is not reflected in the SP document library.

Update:
I am able to add the tag value added another action in the (No flow) where in I am taking the value by asking in power apps and in the flow have added another parameter which is the Tag drop down, like:

But this Flow is quite complicated (in my opinion), so do you have any other option for it. And one more thing that I have observed the number of parameters keeps increasing when we choose 'Ask in Power Apps' (as Dynamic expression) even after removing that parameter from the flow it is still there as option in Dynamic expression in Flow, which is the reason I had to add another dummy value "xyz" to satisfy the parameters expected.

Regards,
Sidhant.

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

There are alternatives to using Power Auomate, but I think those are more complex to set up, for instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3mhe88BI34

To add the tags to the file in the flow, use the "Update file properties" action after the "Create file" action.

Using the "PowerApps (V2)" trigger instead of the regular "PowerApps" trigger will take care of the issue you mentioned where the amount of parameters grows.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
So you are suggesting to go for two choice columns (as Category and Sub-category) to make it delegable.
So suppose if we have to implement the tree like structure with the help of drop-downs can we make that delegable?. 
Example: Main root: Services -> it's  sub-folders have 2 types Power Automate and Power BI  -> So if use categories choice column how will we associate it with respective types. Currently assume we have 2 levels but later on the level increases how to manage them.
I was thinking of using the drop-downs for each level like the cascading drop-down structure i.e. based on the selection in previous drop-down - current drop-down values are altered
Like: Main Level -> Level 1 -> Then all the folders/categories in the selected level should be shown.
So need some help for this.

Also for level-1 the formula that you provided is displaying the count, but values are coming as blank.

Regards,
Sidhant