Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi. I was wondering what the general best practice is for data collection. I have been using submitform or patch to send data but I was wondering if it would be more efficient to use a collection instead. Here are my thoughts

- Collections use local data so submissions are much faster

- Collections are local so everything can be done without internet

- You only need internet for a little bit to send everything off without issues of data not getting sent because of bad reception

Do you guys mostly use collections due to the above reasons (or others) or do most people use patch like I have been doing?

Categories:

Building Power Apps

@dyee4613

It really depends on your design.

If you are working toward an online/offline application, then you need them.

If you have to process information from the datasource and will use it often in your app, they are helpful.

If you need to display information from a datasource, you don't need them.

If you need to shape your data in a way that will be consumed in multiple places in your app, they are helpful.

If you have a delegation issue, they are essential.

Those are some of the highlights, I'm sure others can share more of their views.

Personally, most of my apps are always connected. I avoid collections unless absolutely necessary. I tend to use Galleries more in place of collections as I can shape the data and display the intended results at all times. In many cases I will put these galleries on a dedicated APP page that the user never sees but serves as a place to "document" and gather all important actions and formulas. Then, when needing to use data from the gallery "collection", I reference the AllItems of it.

In cases where we do disconnected Apps, collections are the only answer. But again, most of ours are always connected.