Using IF function as a workaround for limiting datepicker

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I hope you can help me with this minor issue. I'm building a simple PowerApp, wherein users among other things are asked to choose a date when filling in a form. This date cannot be in the past, and it has to be a Tuesday - simple enough. However, there are to my knowledge no ways of actually restricting the datepicker itself but instead I've opted for the workaround of making the visibility of the "SubmitForm"-button be dependent on the following (note: the DatePicker is referred to as 'DataCardValue2'):

If(
Or(DataCardValue2.SelectedDate<Today()),
Or(Weekday(DataCardValue2.SelectedDate, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2),
false, true)

But alas, it is not working as intended. The Submit button is invisible when I choose Tuesdays in the future, and becomes visible when I pick a Monday one week past from today. There must be something I'm missing here. Any thoughts?

Any help is appreciated. 

[RandyHayes]

@Anonymous 

Please consider changing your Formula to the following:

DataCardValue2.SelectedDate<Today() || (Weekday(DataCardValue2.SelectedDate, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2)

I would recommend however that you base your visibility from the EditForm value rather than directly from the datacardvalue2 control.

YourEditForm.Updates.DateField < Today() || (Weekday(YourEditForm.Updates.DateField, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2)

I hope this is helpful for you.

[Anonymous]

@RandyHayes 

Thank you for replying. I am not sure exactly what you are suggesting? 
Currently, the IF statement I have quoted in the OP is used in the "Visible" property of an icon with SubmitForm(Form1) as its "OnSelect" property. The idea is that if the date chosen by the user is either in the past or not a Tuesday, the SubmitForm-button will remain invisible to the user.
When I try to use your suggested edit it returns an error message saying "the function WeekDay has some invalid arguments"? This is what I pasted and edited into the Visible property of the Submit-button:

If(
    EditForm.Updates.Datefield < Today() Or (Weekday(EditForm.Updates.DateField, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2), 
    false, true
    )

 Do I need to reference the actual DatePicker (i.e. "DataCardValue2") instead of just putting in "Datefield"?

[RandyHayes · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous 

First, you do not need the If statement for this to work, so your formula should be the following in the Visible property of the submit button:

EditForm.Updates.Datefield < Today() Or (Weekday(EditForm.Updates.DateField, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2)

NOW...you need to replace some things.  First, all of the "EditForm" references above need to be the name of your actual edit form - replace those.  Then the "DateField" in the above needs to be replaced with the actual name of the field that is assigned to the datacard where your datepicker control is located.

So, if your edit form was called Form1 and your Date field in your datasource is called TheDate, then you would change the formula to the following:

Form1.Updates.TheDate < Today() || (Weekday(Form1.Updates.TheDate, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2)

Also, you might want to consider (from a user interface perspective) to change the button to be simply disabled rather than invisible.

You can do this using the DisplayMode property of the button:

If(
    EditForm.Updates.Datefield < Today() || (Weekday(EditForm.Updates.DateField, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2),
    Disabled,
    Edit
)

Again, replacing the formname and field name in the formula.

[summitb]

You can keep a label with error message and it's visibility can be set according to your requirement. Also the submit button you can keep its display mode as disabled if it doesn't meet your requirement.

If(
    EditForm.Updates.Datefield < Today() || (Weekday(EditForm.Updates.DateField, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2), 
    false, true
    )

[RandyHayes]

@Anonymous 

Sorry...just realized I had my logic backward (after writing the formula for the Disabled/Edit).

The original Visible property should be this...

!(Form1.Updates.TheDate < Today() || (Weekday(Form1.Updates.TheDate, StartOfWeek.Monday)<>2))

Again...replacing the Form1 and TheDate in the above with your actual names. 

[Anonymous]

@RandyHayes and @summitb ,

Thank you both for your suggestions. I got it working, though it took me a while to do so properly. I appreciate your concerns with respect to UI/UX perspectives to use the Display.Mode (disable) but I decided to use both it and a function in the Visibility property, as the former doesn't present a visual change on the interface when the requirements are met or not met. My workaround for this is to keep a functionless copy of the submit icon at 50 percent opacity right behind the actual submit button. That way, the user is given a visual cue, when the requirements are met and they can proceed with submitting the form.

Thanks again for your help,

Benjamin

[summitb]

Hi @Anonymous ,
I'm glad that you've found the solution. Cheers!