Forms -field adding by users

[Axex336]

Hi everyone,

I am quite new with the power platform and am trying to develop a model driven app for simple project management. For the time being, the app should basically consist of 1 main long form (approx.  100 columns-fields). I have managed to create the form, elements, flows and business rules as I needed, however, I am facing some difficulties.

One of the elements that I want to incorporate into the form is for the users to evaluate the case at hand on an annual/quarterly/monthly basis and document whether the costs of that specific project have changed. I want to see the documented changes in that case. Furthermore, I want specific fields to auto calculate the value movements, when the new figure is entered into the same case by the user.

I have tried 2 approaches on creating such a function:

1 - To add columns - fields into the main form for each year/quarter/month going forward. Whenever the user will update the form, they will just fill be next row in the form for that year. It is easy to set the calculations, in order to get the movement values. The issue with this, however, is that I cannot add infinite fields into the form, for all the months/quarters/years going forward.

2 - To create a separate table, with separate form, where the values can be documented. I have set the relationship between in the main tables to the second table as many-to-one and brought in this form into the main form as a subgrid.  This way, the user can click e.g. "add value" button on the subgrid in the main form. New form pops up, and the user can fill that form with the year/quarter/month they are updating and include the value. This is then displayed in the main form in tne subgrid. This approach seems great as the users themselves can add new values as they wish, without the need of having so many fields in the main form, However, the issue with this approach is that I dont know how to pull the latest-current value from the subgrid in to the main form. When I am exporting the data into the excel, I can only export the columns in the main form and not the columns in the subgrid. Also, I dont know hot to create business rules between the two forms which are in two separate tables (if that is even possible).

If possible, the best option for me would be to have one form, where the users themself can click a button - "add value" and a new field would pop up in the main form where they can enter the data, as they wish. The data is stored in the main form. 

Could anyone be able to help me with this? I have tried Google, YouTube, Microsoft, etc, however with no success in finding anything on this. I would appreciate any guidance on this - even if just providing me with the name of the thing that I am looking for :)) 

Thank you and regards,

AX

[cchannon]

You don't want a dynamic field addition capability on one form. It is possible but it would take a lot of custom code and would be difficult to maintain.

Your second option there is much more scalable and maintainable, you just need some more tools that are already in the platform. 

There are a few ways you might do this, but I think the easiest one is just to bring a Power Automate Flow into the story. Have a Power Automate Flow run whenever a new "costs" line item is added (I assume these are always added chronologically). Then that flow runs, finds the "Project" the cost is associated to and sets a new relationship--let's call it "current cost"--to the cost line that was just created. Now from "Project" you have a lookup to the specific "Cost" that is the current, or latest one. From here you can use a Calculated Column to display the cost from the "Current cost" on the Project form, or you could use a Form Component Control or a Quick View Form to display the data from that one record quickly and easily.

[Axex336]

Great, thanks a lot for the reply and feedback. That makes perfect sense. 

Is it possible to create an automated flow in model driven apps without creating a business flow first. I dont think it would make sense to incorporate a business flow, given that this will be a repetitive process where the user will be updating one case in the main  form, through adding updates in the "subgrid" though a second form. Could I also use power automate to pull the automatically generated ID from form the main form into the newly created update in the sub form (this way I would know to which case the updates relate if anything goes wrong)?

What do you mean by maintainable?   Maybe it would be the easiest for me to just create a main form with multiple columns (e.g. for 10 years going forward) and then the user would just fill in the column for that relevant period. Once the space runs out, I could add additional columns to the main form. 

Thanks again and best,

AX

[cchannon]

Yes, Power Automate Flows and Business Process Flows are two entirely different things, and they do not rely on each other. Power Automate Flows are an automation tool that let you inject arbitrary logic anywhere into the running operation of your business. You can read more about them here.

If you are only doing one per year, then yes, it is possible to just add 10 fields or whatever and that would be maintainable (I was assuming you needed more frequent data entry than that). But, it would be a mediocre user experience to have years 1-10 listed out in fields on the form and just ask the user to pick the right field (spoiler alert: they often won't). You could make this a bit better by using Business Rules to hide/show fields based on what is populated, and to lock fields once they've been filled out so people can't overwrite past entries. That would help, but you should also validate that with the business... they might have complex conditional rules that govern when you can and cannot update a previously entered value.

[cchannon]

I should also add that, as a professional developer, my preference in situations like this is still always to use the related entity, even if I know that "10 columns will cover me for 10 years" or something like that.

There are three reasons for this:

1. By pushing the entry off onto a related table, you enable each entry to store its own metadata, such as the exact date and time it was entered, who entered it, or even custom values like what is the "type" of entry.
2. It makes it readily possible to capture events that you might want to know about in the future, such as when a new value is entered, or when a prior year gets updated
3. And it provides you with some convenient manipulation options, such as the ability to deactivate entries more than 2 years old, or to quickly calculate a total for all entries on this record less than 4 years old and created by Jane Doe.

In your specific case, it sounds like just sticking 10 columns in the form is a perfectly adequate option (as long as you control the UX with Business Rules), I am just trying to give you ideas for the next time. Happy coding!

[Axex336]

Great. Thanks alot for your recommendations Cchannon. I agree with your comment. The power automate solution does sound much better and user friendly. I have tried implementing this, however, I dont have any ideas on how to bring power automate into a model driven app. I was also unable to find anything good online. Based on the research that I did, it seems that the only way to implement power automate into the model driven app. 

Do you maybe have any materials/open treads on this that you can share? 

Best