Office 365: PowerApps Examples of often used formula

Ben Prins Office 365

Microsoft PowerApps is part of Office 365 and provides users the ability to create and use mobile apps that are connect to data within and even outside of Office 365. PowerApps is a very powerful tool to help users on a day by day basis to do more, faster and easier. Every user can create basic PowerApps that can be used within in minutes, but the best Apps need a bit of customization.

PowerApps uses formulas, similar to Excel formulas, to create the desired behavior, design and interactions. In this blogpost I will share a couple of very useful customization, which we will be using quick often.

Search in a gallery

The default solution for search is that the value entered in the search box will search in the title field of the data in the gallery. This will already work when you created the PowerApp based on a SharePoint list

  1. Insert a Text input element
  2. Set the hint text to Search for items
  3. Set the default value to blank
  4. Set the Items property of the gallery to 
    Filter([Name of datasource], StartsWith(Title, TextSearchBox1.Text)
  5. The complete default code with sort funtion on the title field is as follows. You can use this if you have a button called SortDescending1.
    SortByColumns(Filter([Name of datasource], StartsWith(Title, TextSearchBox2.Text)), “Title”, If(SortDescending1, Descending, Ascending))

Search on multiple fields

For searching on multiple fields it is easier to use the search function than the filter function. It is possible to do it with the filter function but it will become a very long and complicated formula.

  1. Insert a Text input element
  2. Set the hint text to Search for items
  3. Set the default value to blank
  4. The syntax of searching on multiple field is as follows
    Search( Table, SearchString, Column1 , Column2, … )
  5. Set the Items property of the gallery to 
     Search(Tabel1_1, TextSearchBox1.Text, Title, Description)

Filter a gallery

Many PowerApp will use filters to provide users with a fast way to find the required data.

  1. Insert a Drop down control
  2. Name the drop down ddStatusFilters
  3. Connect the drop down to the status options, I will connect it to a collection called StatusFilters
  4. Create a collection called StatusFilters, that will be created on the Onvisible property of the screen
    ClearCollect(StatusFilters,{Status:”New”},{Status:”Approved”},{Status:”Rejected”})
  5. Set the Items property of the drop down to
    StatusFilters
  6. Set the Items property of the gallery to
    Filter([Name of datasource], ddStatusFilters.Selected.Value = Status)

Filter and search combined

  1. Create a search control and a filter control, see examples Search in a gallery and Filter a gallery
  2. Change the Items property of the gallery to
    Filter(SpecialistRequests, ddStatusFilters.Selected.Value in Status || TextSearchBox1.Text in Title)
  3. This will filter the status field on the selected filter in the drop down and filter the title field on the text in the search box.

Hide fields based on a condition

Field can be hidden based on a condition, this will help you make the form of a app more dynamic and easier to use. In this example we will hide the comment field if the status is new.

  1. Open the EditForm
  2. Change the Visible property of the Comment field to
    StatusDataCardValue.Text<>”New”
  3. StatusDataCardValue is the name my DataCardValue assosiated with the Status field.

Office 365: Microsoft StaffHub

Ben Prins Office 365

Microsoft StaffHub is a tool within Office 365 and you can start using it for your planning. Microsoft StaffHub is a cloud-based platform that works across all your devices. It enables firstline workers and their managers to manage time, communicate with their teams, and share content. The tool give you an easy and straight forward solution to created shifts for different groups and inform them what to do. You can create shift, request vacation or request shift swaps, communcate with the team and all by using the mobile phone!

Create shifts

Export to PFD or Excel

Requests

Communicate

Assign tasks

Add file or URL

 

SharePoint: Add a web part to a page layout

Ben Prins Office 365

When customizing SharePoint we often create our own page layouts for solutions like news, events or information pages. In some cases I add a web part to the page layout. Adding web parts to a page layout when you use your own editor (not SharePoint Designer) can be a bit difficult if you don’t know all the coding details. To make live a bit more easy I use the following steps.

Solution

The solution consist of two parts creating the required web part and adding it to a page layout, three if you us another editor than SharePoint Designer.

Creating the web part

  • Add the required web part to a test page
  • Configure the web part as required
  • Export the web part to your local computer
  • Upload the web part into the web part (galery), located on the site collection settings

Page layout

  • Open SharePoint Designer and open the site collection where you uploaded the web part
  • Create a new page layout or edit an existing page layout
  • Go to the location where you want to add the web part
  • Click on Insert, then web parts and select the required web part

Another editor

  • Open the page layout in your editor
  • Copy the web part code from SharePoint Designer and paste it into your editor of choice

User experience: Hyperlink redirection

Ben Prins Office 365

A customer had an issue with the accessibility of an important centralized reporting list. The list contains the status of different knowledge sites, but the list was not directly accessible from those sites. Users that needed to update the list often where unable to find it. We added a hyperlink to the centralized list (the specific item) with a ‘redirect’ back to the related knowledge site. This changed the user experience from a centralized, semi hidden list, to an easy to find and easy to use list.

Solution

  1. Create a normal hyperlink, for example. 
    https://myintranet.sharepoint.com/sites/planner/Lists/Tasks/EditForm.aspx?ID=1
  2. Add the source parameter after the hyperlink. 
    https://myintranet.sharepoint.com/sites/planner/Lists/Tasks/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Source=
  3. Add after the source parameter the redirect hyperlink. 
    https://myintranet.sharepoint.com/sites/planner/Lists/Tasks/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Source=https://myintranet.sharepoint.com/sites/otherlocation
  4. When the user clicks on the hyperlink the target location will be openend.
  5. When the users clicks a button (ok, save or cancel) the source hyperlink will be openend

 

SharePoint Online: Managed Properties User information not available

Ben Prins Office 365

During the development of a reporting solution that depends heavily on search, I encountered an issue with the crawled and managed properties on SharePoint Online.
The problem was narrowed down to two issues.

  • Not all the fields where showing up as crawled properties.
  • The crawled/mapped property for the user fields only contains the display name.

When a user field is added normally there are multiple crawled properties that will appear, the ows_[field name] and the ows_q_USER_[field name]. Only the ows_[field name] was showing up.
The ows_[field name] only contains the display name, but I needed the display name and e-mail. The the ows_q_USER_[field name] was required, which contains all the available user information. Both issues were resolved using by following the steps below.

Solution: User field

  1. Make sure the field is added to an item and contains a value, otherwise it will not be crawled.
  2. Determine the required managed property type, for a people field that is a string.
  3. Add the crawled property to a preset managed property, the name will be similar to ows_[field name].
  4. Map ows_[field name] to  RefinableString00.
  5. After about 15 minutes more crawled and managed properties will be available.
  6. For an user field we need the crawled property ows_q_USER_[field name].
  7. Connect this crawled property to a new mapped property or use the one that was automatically created.
  8. I recommend not to remove the mapping of the crawled property (ows_[field name]) to the preset managed property. In some cases, this causes the problem to reappear.

Solution: No crawled property availible

This solution works a little bit different.

  1. Determine the required managed property type, for a text field that is a string.
  2. Make sure the field is added to an item and contains a value, otherwise it will not be crawled.
  3. Force a reindex.
  4. Go to the advanced settings of the list or library
  5. Reindex the list
  6. Wait 15-30 minutes and see if the field has been crawled, the name will be similar to ows_[field name].
  7. If this did not work try the following steps.
  8. Add a (random) text field to a preset managed property, for example to RefinableString01.
  9. Wait 15-30 minutes and see if your field has been crawled, the name will be similar to ows_[field name].
  10. If so add the crawled property to your custom managed property.
  11. So far, these steps have always fixed my missing properties problem.