Recent change: submitform() clears Gallery.Selected.Item

[DylanEvans]

Hi folks.  I have a powerapp with a gallery starting page.  Clicking on an item opens a detail page for it.  Clicking another button from there submits the form on the detail page and opens a second action page.  

I noticed today that submitform() resets gallery.selected to the first item in the gallery.  This is a pretty big change for me (I used submitform to ensure people's work was saved) and it took me a couple hours to hammer out.  Looks like going forward, only use submitform() when you're really done with that record.  I'm not sure how you save progress without leaving the record you're on.  Patch, maybe?  That can generate etag error situations.  @Msft  can you let us know if this is intended behavior?

[RandyHayes]

@DylanEvans 

If you are seeing this happen, then there is an issue within your app.  This is not the normal action that the selected item is changed when you SubmitForm.

SelectedItem on the Gallery is a component of many factors.  If you are using the Default property of the Gallery to attempt to set the SelectedItem, then your formula there might be at fault.  

I would take a look at your Default property first.  Then, if there is anything else that would change the records returned to the Gallery in any way, it will cause the gallery to reselect the first item.  If you are Refreshing the Datasource for the Gallery - it will sometimes cause it to reselect the first item (depending on several factors).  If you have any calculated columns (AddColumns) in your Items formula, this will also impact selection.

Many factors impact selection, so hunt through your scenario and see if you can identify which is causing the problem you are seeing.

I hope this is helpful for you.

[DylanEvans]

Thanks, Randy.  I verified that there were no refresh() triggering on the underlying dataset, and that gallery.default was blank, and there are no AddColumns anywhere in the app. 

I did want to ask more about your phrase, "anything else that would change the records returned to the Gallery".  Part of the point of submitting/saving a record is changing it, and a top use case for galleries is to show a selection of records for a user to potentially change.  Is that what you're talking about?  Or do you mean, "anything else that would change whether the current record is part of the gallery's displayed records."  I am doing the former, but my submitted form does not have the fields upon which I'm filtering in the gallery.  It would not be possible for users to submit changes via the form that would affect a record's inclusion in the gallery.    

I also created a test app with a simple gallery and Edit screen.  Submitting in that gallery did not exhibit the behavior I'm seeing in my production app.   Even still, aside from moving my gallery from a collection to a direct filter and the change in platform version, I've made no changes that could have generated this submitform issue.  

[RandyHayes]

@DylanEvans 

Yes, as you see in the test app you created, the normal action is that it does NOT change the selection.

So, I would take a look over any formulas you have in the original app, both within the gallery controls as well as any subsequent actions you are doing when submitting the form.  They are most likely impacting in some way.

Yes, when I say "anything else..." I am referring to, as mentioned above, subsequent actions you might be doing.  If there is something in your Gallery that is deriving from something that has changed, it *could* likely be a culprit. 

Unfortunately, these are sometimes hard to track down.  And then, in some cases, you find that what is causing it is something that you still want to happen.  In those cases you need to implement a strategy to force the selection.  This is also fairly easy to do, but it is highly dependent on many factors in the app.

Without knowing your app, it is a challenge to give you better direction than that, but it should be a good starting point and game plan.