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How to access alphabetic Name on sharepoint list within PowerApp

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Posted on by AmyF

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I am attempting to put a SharePoint document library folder into a gallery. When I view the SharePoint directory from SharePoint the Name and Title fields are alphabetic and look fine (ie: "Sahara Inc" ). But from within PowerApps I see numbers in these fields, not the alphabetic name (211123 or 211124 - these are in sequence). YET, when I choose to "Edit" the data on that connector, it simply brings me to the list where I see the alphabetic names, so I know I'm referencing the correct directory as data source. The directory (data source) has a URL that ends like this: .../Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx

The reason I share the url is because I'm not sure it's actually just a list with the word Forms in there. (newbie to SharePoint (and PA)) I'm still trying to understand the differences between lists, libraries, views, etc...)

So, how can I get this into a gallery with the Alphabetic "Name" showing and not the numeric "code" I have to match on that name but am unable to do so.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and solutions.

Cheers

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Building Power Apps

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AmyF 235 on at

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sorry the title is incorrect for this, I don't know how to edit or delete it.

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cha_cha 4,932 Moderator on at

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Hello @AmyF

Would it be possible for you to screenshot the screen/gallery you are talking about just to ensure we are on the same page? Please don't forget to blur any sensitive info.

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AmyF 235 on at

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I'll get a graphic up soon, I accidentally marked this as solved can I unmark it as solved? Or should I post a new question?

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cha_cha 4,932 Moderator on at

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It's alright, you can keep this question. Just look for the options of that accepted solution and you should have to option to undo accepting it as a solution:

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AmyF 235 on at

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Hey thanks for that, I unmarked it.
graphic attached

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cha_cha 4,932 Moderator on at

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Hello @AmyF

On the Gallery, update the Text property of the label that you want to display with Filename or Foldercode with this code:

If(IsBlank(ThisItem.Title),ThisItem.'File name with extension',ThisItem.Title)

Then on the Item property of the gallery, please use this code:

SortByColumns(Documents,"Title",SortOrder.Ascending,"{FilenameWithExtension}",SortOrder.Ascending)

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AmyF 235 on at

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cha-cha,
Will that work if the File Name With Extension is the same number as Name and Title? see attached in your example are you expecting File Name With Extension to have an alphabetic value? or is there some "magical" conversion of that number into its the alphabetic name?

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cha_cha 4,932 Moderator on at

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Hi Amy,

I was wondering if these numbers are actual files at the deep end of the library. I've been checking a couple of docu libraries on my environment but it looks FileNamesWithExtension should show the actual file names of the files which could mean that there might be files on that Shared folder that are named with numbers.

Just to see that we got our folders shown similar to the screenshot, can you please check what will be the output of having the code below in the Items property of the gallery?

Filter(Documents,IsFolder)

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AmyF 235 on at

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Hi cha-cha,
I did that and got a delegation warning about large datasets. BTW every item in this folder is a directory, when I display IsFolder as one of the items, it's true in every case. No where do I see any reference to the alphabetic name in the collection. Only the number which is in several fields including the URLs. I was under the impression that all items in SharePoint like this were actually numbers underneath because otherwise you'd have a hard time changing column names. But, I assumed I'd see that text string somewhere in the underlying fields. Where is this name maintained? Is there a cross reference table in the admin background??? I'm not an admin, btw (lol, like you couldn't tell). 😄
Totally appreciate you, cha-cha, for sticking with me through this.

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cha_cha 4,932 Moderator on at

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Hello @AmyF

Actually, the data is there but the thing is

-Your document library might be huge

-SharePoint document library is a flat directory. So even if a file is in multiple subfolders, it will appear in PowerApps as if they are in one single folder

-PowerApps can only read the first 500 or 2000 records depending on your app settings.

Thus the files named with numbers are probably actual files deep down in your folder structure and they happen to show up since these files will be on time if these files are sorted alphabetically.

Unfortunately, all fields within curly braces like "{Name}" and "{FileNameWithExtension}" are non-delegable like the "{IsFolder}" so they won't be of help to do a deep search.

A workaround that is commonly used is to create an indexable column in the library. This can be a text or a number. The example below is a Text column named IndexName. Once we filter the document using this column like Filter(Documents, IndexName=A), then it will show all folders with index name A. I hope I make sense to you.

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