The best way Patch

[PowerApps11]

Hi,
I wanted to put my app on to production but am still not confident to do it the reason is my patching is it correct or what is the best way to use it and better for performance wise also, at moment here is example my patch and it is working but takes time on run had to wait a bit? possible to improve performance and time shorten code? 

Set(gblTaskLS,
Patch(
        TaskLS,
        If(gblRecordState,
           Defaults(TaskLS),
           gblTaskLS),
        {
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes:DataCardValue13.Text
        }
    ));
Patch(
        NotesTaskLS,
        Defaults(NotesTaskLS),
        {
            Title: gblTaskLS.Title,
            Due: gblTaskLS.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblTaskLS.Notes
        }
    ));
Patch(
        IssuesTaskLS,
        Defaults(IssuesTaskLS),
        {
            Title: gblTaskLS.Title,
            Due: gblTaskLS.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            IssueType: DataCardValue13.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblTaskLS.Notes
        }
    ));
// and two more lists 

[poweractivate]

@PowerApps11 

The best way is to always use only 2 arguments to Patch, like this:

//To update an existing record
Patch
(
   YourDataSource
   {
       ID: YourID //PRIMARY KEY
       Field1: YourField1Contents
       Field2: YourField2Contents
   }
)

//To create a new record
Patch
(
   YourDataSource
   {
       //OMIT the primary key - leave it out - to create a new record
       Field1: YourField1Contents
       Field2: YourField2Contents
   }
)

See if it helps @PowerApps11 

[poweractivate · Accepted solution]

@PowerApps11 

Example

Instead of

Patch(
        TaskLS,
        If(gblRecordState,
           Defaults(TaskLS),
           gblTaskLS),
        {
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes:DataCardValue13.Text
        }
    ));

Write it like this instead

Patch
(
     TaskLS,
     {
         ID:If(gblRecordState,Blank(),gblTaskLS.ID),
         Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
         Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
         TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
         Notes:DataCardValue13.Text
     }
)

If the above has any issue, it may not like when you try to Patch in Blank() values, check if turning on the formula-level error management setting helps with this?

1. Click Settings

2. Click Upcoming Features

3. Toggle the Formula-level error management setting to On

Then just close the modal, see if it works.

The idea of putting the If statement inside the ID value is so that you don't have to use Defaults, and don't have to re-declare the entire record. When the ID is Blank, a new record is created anyway, using what you already provided, whereas if the ID is not blank, what you provided will be used to modify the existing record with the primary key given (ID). In SharePoint List, the ID column is the primary key column, so use the ID to identify a record uniquely for Patch.

Try to use this above guideline in rewriting your other parts of the formula.

See if it helps @PowerApps11 

[poweractivate]

@PowerApps11 

For these 

Patch(
        NotesTaskLS,
        Defaults(NotesTaskLS),
        {
            Title: gblTaskLS.Title,
            Due: gblTaskLS.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblTaskLS.Notes
        }
    ));
Patch(
        IssuesTaskLS,
        Defaults(IssuesTaskLS),
        {
            Title: gblTaskLS.Title,
            Due: gblTaskLS.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            IssueType: DataCardValue13.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblTaskLS.Notes
        }
    ));

Rewrite these as 

Patch(
        NotesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: gblTaskLS.Title,
            Due: gblTaskLS.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblTaskLS.Notes
        }
    ));
Patch(
        IssuesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: gblTaskLS.Title,
            Due: gblTaskLS.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            IssueType: DataCardValue13.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblTaskLS.Notes
        }
    ));

[poweractivate · Accepted solution]

@PowerApps11 If you still have slowdown after applying the above, I suspect it may be how you have done the app in general. For example, that fact that you set gblTaskLS and have the Patch functions inside may be indicative that you're doing it in a way that could be causing slowdowns. You could try and not use the variable at all and see if it helps. This may be difficult to do since you may be depending on the result of this variable currently.

If the above changes to Patch do not work, try eliminating your use of the Set function and eliminate the use of the variable entirely to see if something you're doing with the variable is causing a slowdown. It may be difficult for you to do this because it depends what you're trying to accomplish exactly. 

For example, if it's as simple as Patching directly from the datacards again directly to each List, try doing exactly that and don't use the variable at all.

//elsehwere in your app, have gblRecord just be the specific TaskLS record you want to change, or set it to Blank() if it should not be set at that moment.
Patch
(
        TaskLS,
        {
            ID: If(!IsBlank(gblRecord),gblRecord.ID,Blank())
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes:DataCardValue13.Text
        }
    
);
If
(
    !IsBlank(gblRecord)
   ,Patch
   (
        NotesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: gblRecord.Title,
            Due: gblRecord.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblRecord.Notes
        }
    
   );
   Patch
   (
        IssuesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: gblRecord.Title,
            Due: gblRecord.Due,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            IssueType: DataCardValue13.Selected.Value,
            Notes: gblRecord.Notes
        }
   )
)

See if this might help as well. The above version eliminates 2 unnecessary patch calls for new records

or try this version if you need to create everything even when it's a new Record - just reference the data cards yet again, it might be better that way:

//elsehwere in your app, have gblRecord just be the specific TaskLS record you want to change, or set it to Blank() if it should not be set at that moment.
Patch
(
        TaskLS,
        {
            ID: If(!IsBlank(gblRecord),gblRecord.ID,Blank())
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes:DataCardValue13.Text
        }
    
);

Patch
(
        NotesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes: DataCardValue13.Text
        }
    
);
Patch
(
        IssuesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            IssueType: DataCardValue13.Selected.Value, //???
            Notes: DataCardValue13.Text
        }
   )
)

In the above version, it raises some questions:

1. Why do you need to duplicate values across so many lists?

2. IssueType for IssuesTaskLS says DataCardValue13.Selected.Value which was in your original formula as well, but earlier in the same Patch sequence it was DataCardValue13.Text - why is that? The form can only be one or the other for DataCardValue13, right? So there may be an actual error there or the possibility for there to be one.

I think the duplication of the data across many Lists, especially with all Lists you provided appearing to have essentially almost identical schema and receiving almost identical data may be a sign that you should model the data differently on the SharePoint List side. If you need to duplicate everything so much, then you may be using Patch calls to multiple Lists unnecessarily, causing the slowdown also unnecessarily.  If that's the case then for what you need to do differently, that really depends what you actually want to do.

I am not sure the purpose of your given Lists TaskLS, NotesTaskLS, and IssuesTaskLS - they seem like duplicates of the same thing from the Patch formulas you provided, so I don't understand their purpose at all in the first place just from what you provided.

Just based on just what you provided I'd just remove all the other Lists and use just TaskLS, and then not Patch to any other List to make less Patch calls since I don't see a purpose for those Lists based on what you provided.

However, maybe those other Lists you are using do have a purpose - perhaps they have other columns that are important to you as well.

If so, then you might need to provide detail on a high level what exactly do you want to do?

I'd recommend modeling something like this

Instead of duplicating all the fields again, keep an ID of which TaskLS it is. Wait - you don't have to - it already has an ID out of the box!

Instead of duplicating the same columns and data in NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS, just have one column called TaskLSID - or TaskID - or something like that - inside both Lists, and in it you can patch the ID of the TaskLS which contains the other information you need. Then you can always lookup the ID of the TaskLS even directly from NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS.

However, this only makes sense if NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS actually have any other columns at all to begin with besides the ones in TaskLS.

If NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS really had no other columns, besides the same ones in TaskLS that you are trying to duplicate all the time in your Patch formulas to NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS  as you gave them - then just delete these Lists altogether and don't bother patching to them, only patch to TaskLS then!

Similarly, you could just move all columns from NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS  directly to TaskLS then remove both Lists NotesTaskLS and IssuesTaskLS

By the way, I wasn't sure if you were going to have more than one NotesTaskLS per TaskLS Record and more than one IssuesTaskLS per TaskLS Record.

If so, then these Patch statements don't look right at all, and the data model of your SharePoint Lists also does not look correct currently.

If you were trying to really do that (i.e. have one or more NotesTaskLS Records associated with a single TaskLS Record) you'll need to do something like what I was saying where you have a column called TaskID, so NotesTaskLS might have a TaskID column for example. So now zero, one, or more than one NotesTaskLS Records may have a TaskID that is the same across multiple  NotesTaskLS Records. So from any one NotesTaskLS you can always look up which specific TaskLS Record it is associated with using

LookUp(TaskLS,ID=myCurrentNoteRecord.TaskID)

If not associated with any Record, this above LookUp returns Blank(). If it is associated with a record, it always returns exactly one Record.

To get all the multiple NotesTaskLS attached to a particular TaskLS you can do this then: 

Filter(NotesTaskLS,TaskID=myCurrentTaskRecord.ID)

to get a Table of associated NotesTaskLS by the TaskLS Record's ID. 

When there are no matches, the Table should be Empty

And when you Patch to NotesTaskLS you should remember on new record creation to specify for TaskID column which Task it is (i.e. specify which record of TaskLS it is by its ID), so that later you can LookUp a Task from a Note, or use Filter to get all the Notes attached to a single Task.

See if it helps @PowerApps11 

[PowerApps11]

Hi @poweractivate 
Thank you for you clear information , you right some of the patch statements was just copy not the actual the one using, wanted to know why taking time for the patching, put it looks as you said no need to use defaults that helped the speed also below helped me thank you so much.

ID: If(gblRecordState,Blank(),gblTaskLS.ID)

For sure you made me understand how to use patch correctly.
@poweractivate  in the come days will create new thread asking the best way to use ForAll and how to add ForAll a variable to reuse it like get all ID's just patched ForAll and attached them on to another list like notes.

Do you mind if I tag you?

[poweractivate]

---

@PowerApps11 wrote:

Hi @poweractivate 
ForAll and how to add ForAll a variable to reuse it like get all ID's just patched ForAll and attached them on to another list like notes.

Do you mind if I tag you?

---

You may tag me.

If you do not use the output table of ForAll, try not to use it at all.

Try not to use ForAll as a for loop.

In general use ForAll inside Patch,    do not use ForAll outside of Patch,

In general use Patch outside ForAll,  do not use Patch inside ForAll

it's better to Patch just once on a whole Table,

than patch multiple times inside a ForAll whose outer table is never being used.

You may give a specific example if you want of your use of ForAll so I can check it, the above advice may be hard to apply sometimes.

Here is a general advice I have for using Patch outside ForAll:

//usually bad
ForAll
(
   Patch
   (
      //BAD
   )
)

//usually good
Patch
(
   ForAll
   (
      //GOOD
   )
)

[PowerApps11]

@poweractivate 
Yes I use 

Patch
(
   ForAll
   (
      //GOOD
   )
)

But hard to find how can I add variable inside the ForAll so I can reuse it and get the id's just just patched ForAll
for example my case 

Patch
NotesTaskLS,
ForAll(galMulti.AllItems,
        {
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            Notes: DataCardValue13.Text
        }
    
);
Patch
(
        IssuesTaskLS,
        {
            Title: DataCardValue7.Text,
            Due: DataCardValue4.SelectedDate,
            TransType: DataCardValue12.Selected.Value,
            IssueType: DataCardValue13.Selected.Value,
            TaskLSID: xxxxx.ID // i want the id of the NotesTaskLS
            Notes: DataCardValue13.Text
        }
   )
)

Is that looks right for you? or I need to do differently please?