The PowerApps app works in edit mode, but not in "Play" mode, I can't share the app

[mzhang]

Hi, PowerApps Team,

I am using the latest PowerApps version 3.18042.20. I have a field "Item_Qty" with data type of int. I would like it to have a default  of null deliberately set. Otherwise, the value could be carried over from other records in different form. In the data card for this field, I used "" for the default instead of "ThisItem.Item_Qty".

This setup works out fine in the edit mode, but when I ran the app in the "Play" mode, I encountered two problems; (1) instead of null value in the field, it got a value of zero (0) showing up, and when I tried to enter a value (other than 0), it would not take it. It looked like this field would not take any input from the keyboard. This is a required field, and the form couldn't be submitted as a result.

In summary, the app in Edit mode works, and the app in "Play" mode does not work. This means I can create an app for myself, I can't share it with others. In the past I have had occasions that the behaviors of the app have been different between Edit and Play mode. 

Can you offer some help?

[Jswanson]

At the time the big thing was turning all the experimental features off and that solved my issue.

[amcgarity]

Thank you. We tried that and it still didn't work. 

FYI - Solution

After several hours working with support they rolled out a revision which fixed my issue. I think their code wasn't set up for the number of combo boxes / sharepoint list lookup fields I had.

[Anonymous]

@amcgarity

Just curious if you were able to remedy the situation outside of them patching it? We just had this start happening since the most recent release 3.18081.22.

I may have to open a ticket, but would like to exhaust all my options first. 

Specific Lookup Fields will not populate data play mode and not sure how or why this is happening since they are default Form Combo box Lookups and seem to work fine in Edit Mode. 

[Jswanson]

In the experimental features the explicted column selection was the issue. I had to turn that of save and all was well.

[Anonymous]

@Jswanson

Tried this the other day and didn't have any effect on the issue, unfortunately. 

[Dpalmer]

I've got this too.  Seems to have started with PowerApps V 3.18093.28.  This also happened with a previous version of this same app and I rebuilt the form from scratch.  I really don't want to do that again.  I unselected the "Explicit Column Selection" setting, refreshed data sources (Azure SQL with local collections).  All was well and then out of nowhere this happens.  Any ideas for solutions?

Thanks,

David

[Jswanson]

I have had to recreate a couple times usally what I do is a Save AS to the app  and save it as a different name and that fixes the issue. Also you have to reassign your users.

[Dpalmer · Accepted solution]

OK, It seemed to be a syntax issue and how I had different commands ordered.  Working now.

[tommyly]

@shekz

I know this post was done some time ago, but there seems to be several posts related to this and I didn't want to start a new one.

I'm getting a bug that behaves in this way (this description is hypothetical, by the way, but it still illustrates my issue):

• On screenGallery, I have gallery1 that lists several records from spoList1
  • In each gallery1 cards, there is a buttonEdit array button that sets globalVarID to thisItem.customID (since "ID" is a native SPO column) and navigates to screenEditRecord
  • At the bottom of screenGallery is a buttonAddNew button that sets globalVarID to TEXT(NOW(), "yyyymmddhhmmssff") and navigates to screenEditRecord
• On screenEditRecord, there is form1 with datasource linked to spoList1
  • Item is set to First(Filter(spoList1, customID=globalVarID))
  • On screenEditRecord's OnVisible event, there is an instruction that says:

    If(IsEmpty(Filter(spoList1, customID=globalVarID)),
      NewForm(form1),
      EditForm(form1)
    )

  • My form1 > customID (datacard) > textbox is set to If(form1.Mode = New, globalVarID, Parent.Default)

So the gist is that if you edit the gallery1 item, it send an ID of an existing object; if you add new, it sends a theoretically new ID. And when you navigate to the editing form, the OnVisible event tells the form whether to behave as a NewForm or EditForm. And if it's a new form, it automatically throws in the new ID for the new record.

This is how it actually behaves for me:

• When I navigate via screenGallery > gallery1 > buttonEdit, screenEditRecord, (with intentions to edit), form1 works as intended in FormMode.Edit
• When I navigate via screenGallery > buttonAddNew, screenEditRecord (with intentions to add), form1 works as intended in FormMode.Add
• Here's where it glitches: when I navigate via screenGallery > gallery1 > buttonEdit... and then once I save or navigate back... the subsequent attempt to add via screenGallery > buttonAddNew will behave in this way:
  
  • It will appear in FormMode.Add (this is correct behavior)
  • DataCard for customID will be given the new unique ID (this is correct behavior; and it suggests that my datacard's if statement is working as intended as well since it puts in the new customID while in FormMode.New)
  • Once I submit the form1, it will say "An Entry is required or has an invalid value. Please Correct and try again" (this is incorrect behavior)
  • Once I navigate back to screenGallery and then reattempt via screenGallery > buttonAddNew, it will submit just fine.

So it seems that there is an inconsistency with the transition between EditForm and NewForm. From my observations, it appears that invoking EditForm, navigating away, and then invoking NewForm results in an unstable state that yields the error message (and prevents SPO new records). During this unstable state, navigating away, and then back to NewForm resolves this unstable state.

Yet, if I add items, I can add repeatedly with no issues. If I edit various records, I can do so with no issues. It's only when I edit and then add that I incur this unstable state.

I've tried to stack ResetForm, NewForm, EditForm in various combinations in the same event to see if it would resolve this unstable state, but it does not appear to. For now, if I'm adding after editing (which results in the unstable state), I have to remind myself to cancel the first add attempt and then readd again. This gets the job done, but it's very unorthodox. I hope this makes sense.

[Audrie-MSFT]

Thank you for reporting this. I have seen something similar related to customize form OnVisble, although not exactly what you are describing here. In this case, since you have discovered an issue that requires troubleshooting with you, please open a support ticket so that our support technicians can validate if this is a bug, and work with you to determine whether it requires a hotfix. You may use the link below to raise a ticket - in which case we'll also need the session id and app id to follow-up with you. 

Link to support ticket:
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/support/pro/ticket

Getting session id:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/get-sessionid

Thank you,

Audrie