Retreieve a record, edit and submit as new

[CVannest]

I've built my PowerApp and it's almost ready for production.

During the testing, one request came in that I would like to incorporate.

When a submitter comes back to the form to update a submission, I'd like to have a dropdown box where they could select a previous "Ticket Number" and it will pull the details of that ticket number into the form so they can edit items and re-submit it as a NEW entry into the SharePoint List.  I don't want it to EDIT the previous entry, just re-use some of the data so they're not re-entering all the fields again.

The form is "Form1" and the field I want them to be able to search on to retrieve the old information is DataCardValue17 from SP List "Outages,'What is the Ticket Number"

[BrianS]

You could add logic to the OnChange property of the Ticket Number drop-down that would perform a Lookup on the ticket number and read that info into a Collection. Then use the Collection to populate the form. Since the form will need to be in "New" mode you would need to set your Default values to the collection fields. You would need to do a ClearCollect on the collection when the page loads so that if they are adding a new ticket they would not have to erase other values.

[CVannest]

What I was able to do was edit my gallery view screen so when a user selects EDIT on an item it takes them back to my Edit form with all the data from that entry populated in edit mode.  What it doesn't do though is if you change the data, it won't create a new record, it just updates the existing record.  Is there an option for the OnSubmit function to force it to always create a new record?

[RandyHayes]

@CVannest 

What is the Item property of your form?

If it is based on a variable (set from your Gallery), then you can easily create a new record from the form even with a prior record in it.

To do so, just blank out the Primary Key of the Item record.

So, for example, if the Item property is based on a glbCurrentRecord variable, then this formula at some place that you choose, will turn it into a new record:  Set(glbCurrentRecord, Patch(glbCurrentRecord, {ID: Blank()}))

This assumes your primary key is ID.

At that point, when the form is submitted, it will create a new record with all the information from the other record.

I hope this is helpful for you.

[BrianS]

The OnSubmit uses the FormMode to decide whether it creates a New record or Edits a current one. If you are using a Form, the Form will create a new entry when the FormMode is New, if it is Edit it will edit the current record. If it is in the New mode it will set all the fields to their default. If it is in the Edit mode it will pull in the data from the record. That is why I suggested the method I did. You can also create the inputs manually and use a Patch function which allows you to create a new record or edit a record depending on how you structure the command. 

[RandyHayes]

@BrianS 

Actually, this is not entirely true!  The FormMode does not dictate what the OnSubmit will do - it is the primary key that makes all the difference to how it will submit (because it uses the same logic as Patch).

There is no difference between New mode and Edit mode except for one thing - in New mode, it ignores that Item property and will generate its own Defaults(yourDataSource) record internally.  You cannot access the record to alter it.

In Edit mode, you can create new records all you want as long as the Primary key is blank.  If there is a primary key, the form will update the record.  If the primary key is blank, it will create a new record.  This is identical to the patch function - the form and the patch are the same in regard to the primary key.

Creating new records from existing is very easy to do in the form - all you need to do is blank out the primary key.

The primary thing to avoid is NewMode - there is no need for it unless you don't care about manipulating the new record that is automatically created when the form is in New mode.

[CVannest]

Call me dumb....but....the primary key is the row from my SP list that's default and can't be changed from required?  if so, that field would be "Latest Update" on my form.  

I would really like it to always create a new record, but at the end of the day the process behind all of this that sends the email with the latest update is what matters and right now that is working since my Flow is based on the SP list getting a new record or an updated record.

[CVannest]

In the second screenshot you see the gallery (Gallery1) where previously submitted items can be viewed or edited.  The pencil is set OnSelect: EditForm(Form1):Navigate(Home,SecreenTransition.None)

When you click that, it takes the contents of that record and puts them into the first image you see with all the data from that record.

I did set the App's OnStart behavior to ResetForm(Form1) so it wouldn't have old data in there on start and added a ResetForm button to the top.

[RandyHayes]

@CVannest 

In SharePoint, the Primary Key is the ID column!

What is it on your form screen that will dictate that the record would be written as a new record or an update to the existing?  And what is the Item property of the Form?

[CVannest]

This is the List Settings for "Outages" list in SharePoint
As for what dictates if it's an update or new..  I want all records submitted to be NEW records in the SP List, even if you go to the History and select the EDIT PENCIL on an item and bring it back to the form to modify.  The reason I wanted that in there is to make it easier for the next update on that outage so the submitter doesn't have to re-select all their items from the original entry.