How to preform a check if email address already exists in dataverse table before end user form can be submitted

[ahilisa]

Hi, 

I have created a basic webform for user to populate, there is an email field on the form.  I want to be able to check that the email address being input on the basic form has not already been inputted into the dataverse table before the form is submitted.  If the email address already exists the user should get a message on the screen and the form cannot be submitted. 

Can this be achieved with out a plugin?

Thanks

[TA_Jeremy]

Yes, you will need to just create flow that either checks the Dataverse table daily or via trigger. 

However, to make this easier you can setup the page so that no duplicate email addresses can be used on registration. 

If this helps please accept it as a solution! 

[Idesofmarch]

@ahilisa  I'm also working on this problem. Are you using a Power Pages site? If I'm successful I'll let you know. All my research leads to using a webapi call to accomplish this. 

[aofosu]

@ahilisa There are a few ways to handle this:

1. Setting the Site Setting "Authentication/UserManager/UserValidator/RequireUniqueEmail" to true will enforce unique emails when a user signs up for the first time.
2. Setting a key on the contact table for the email attribute: This option will be available if there are currently no duplicates in the email column. Once activated, a server-side plugin will check the uniqueness before allowing the user to submit the form.
3. Writing a custom pre-validation plugin to check for duplication before the record is created.

Option number 2 should meet your requirements. The only caveat is that the error message cannot be configured server-side. However, you can use jQuery to rewrite and reposition it on the client-side.

[rfm1964]

@ahilisa  I found this in the MSFT documentation. It appears to do what we need. I'm going to try it. Keep you posted.
How to: Use the portal Web API | Microsoft Learn

[ahilisa]

@rfm1964 @Idesofmarch @aofosu @TA_Jeremy 

Hi all, 

I was able to achieve the duplicate check before form submission by setting a key on the email field and then I used the below code to change the error message that appears.

The entity key worked well because it is being used on a new entity that did not contain any data already and therefore no pre-existing duplicate records. 

         // Change error message for unique key validation
         $(document).ready(function () {
            ChangeUniqueKeyValidationMessage();
         });

         var ChangeUniqueKeyValidationMessage = function () {
            var errorMessage = $(".text-danger");
            if (errorMessage.text().indexOf("A record that has the attribute values Email Address already exists. The entity key Email Checker requires that this set of attributes contains unique values. Select unique values and try again.") > 0) {
               errorMessage.text("This email address has already been signed up.");
            }
         };
      });

[Idesofmarch]

@ahilisa looks great and thank you. In Power Pages Management, I placed it into the advanced "custom javascript" section of the page that contains the form. However, it's not showing me the alternative error message. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

[Idesofmarch]

@ahilisa I restarted the site and it worked. Yippy!!!

[ahilisa]

@Idesofmarch great news, glad it worked. 

I have found when using custom JavaScript it works best to put code into the additional Settings, Custom JavaScript section on the actual form (basic/advanced) rather then on the webpage. Some coding I used didn't work for me when it was placed on the web page under Advanced tab and in custom JavaScript. 

[Idesofmarch]

My quest continues. I have some duplicates that have a status of inactive. Those need to be ignored. I need duplicate email with status active. I'm looking into a flow with an http post request. It's the only thing I could think of but I'll take any suggestions.