sharepoint power app form patch row multiple times but dont create duplicate records?

[dperez13]

I have a button that patches a column value in my sharepoint list. if the user wants to change this, or undo it, the next patch function makes a new row/record instead.

how can i prevent this from happening? 

ive thought of submitting the form after the patch and entering the form in edit mode

submitform(formname);

editform(formname);

but that isnt working

[dperez13]

okay, im going to try this, out of curiosity ,why arent my update /updateif functions working? theres no errors in the formula? 

i basically copied this to a T

Update(Weathers, First(Filter(Weathers, Humidity > 50 )), {Temperature: 99});

vs

Update(Weathers, First(Filter(Weathers, ID = ThisItem.ID)), {Temperature: 99});

[RandyHayes]

@dperez13 

First of all, Update will replace the entire record with the record specified.  In your case, you are wiping out all the data and only providing a record with a single column (Temperature).

Next, you should never user First(Filter in combination like that as it is a tremendous performance issue as your app will need to Filter ALL the records and then it just returns the first one.  Use LookUp to get the first matching record to your criteria.

Finally...again, this is all something you can just handle directly in the Form.  Keep it simple!!  PowerApps forms will provide so much for you and you will increase your proficiency by using them as intended.  Doing separate patches or updates for what the form is also going to patch/update is just double the work and double the amount of data interactions that your app has to do.

[dperez13]

also what if i have multiple drop downs (so many datacard multi selects) that need to change the 'ColorStatus' column? how am i supposed to point the switch statement to change the ColorStatus property based off all those fields?

[dperez13]

okay , that makes sense, now for my use case. i have color drop down, red or blue, that is asked multiple times, each time its asked, its its own data card.

so if person 1 selects red on datacard 1 , and person 2 selects blue on datacard 2, i need column ColorStatus, to update each time accordingly based off the person who last selected (overriding the first persons red with their blue in the colorstatus column in sharepoint). from what im seeing, ill have colorstatus datacard only listening to one other datacard, and thats where my problem arises, right?

[RandyHayes]

@dperez13 

Depends on the scenario.  Typically I recommend that Switch and If statements not be used and instead let your data from the choices govern the final values needed.  But without knowing more about your scenario, I can't make a recommendation on that.

But, going with the prior example, you can incorporate the other values in the formula except you would use an If statement instead.

Example:

If(yourColorEntry.Text = "Red" && yourOtherEntry.Text = "Purple", "Red/Purple Status Set",
   yourColorEntry.Text = "Red" && yourOtherEntry.Text = "Green", "Red/Green Status Set",
   yourColorEntry.Text = "Blue" && yourOtherEntry.Text = "Purple", "Blue/Purple Status Set",
   yourColorEntry.Text = "Blue" && yourOtherEntry.Text = "Green", "Blue/Green Status Set",
   ...etc..
)

Of course that is not highly efficient to put in place and is a pain to maintain, but without further details on how the choices are made and what the resultant logic is for them, the above is a general idea.

[RandyHayes]

@dperez13 

Whoever the last person is to update the status on the form is what the record will have.  

You will get into some error scenarios having the users all editing the same record at the same time though.

[dperez13]

right, it shouldnt ever be at the same time, and thats a problem for later, but right now, the issue im forseeing is

If(DataCard1.Text = "Red" set ColorStatusColumn to Red
   DataCard2.Text = "Red" set ColorStatusColumn to Red
   ...etc..
)

based off the value of multiple data cards, how am I supposed to keep overriding the same column if i have a switch statement only listening to one datacard? all the datacards pose the same question, just for different people to choose from.

[RandyHayes]

@dperez13 

I don't understand your scenario.  But you don't "set" values in PowerApps. Instead your values are all derived.  

So the ColorStatusColumn in the example would be getting its value based on the logic in the formula.

If(DataCardValue1.Text = "Red", "Red",
   DataCardValue2.Text = "Blue", "Blue"
   ...etc..
)

But that logic doesn't really make much sense as it is written - only to emphasize that your values are derived from your logical formula.

I don't know what you mean by datacards with questions and how different people are involved.

[dperez13]

i have a datacard drop down for color red or blue like 7 times. 7 different people will select red or blue in this one form, with the last person who makes a choice regardless of their number , being reflected in another column called colorStatus.

i need to update another column based off the persons latest selection. so if person 2 is the last person to go back and select blue on datacard 2, i need some logic that listens to this and updates ColorStatus to blue.

i need ColorStatus to be changing based off the selection of many different datacards , but they do all ask the same question, more or less. but not exactly, thats why i had a patch statement for each datacard , but this isnt feasible nor do I want to do it that way anymore, because of the duplicate record problem.

[dperez13]

I decided to instead of use patch, just update the datacards selection with set Variable and then use the update property, as you pointed out a page ago, to update the value with the variable that is set by the datacard selection.