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Creating Group Event from PowerApps

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Posted on by Brammers

Hi All. Why does MS make simple things so difficult!

The difference between making a calendar event using the Outlook Connector and an event using the Groups Connector is staggering.

Using the Outlook Connector is simple - start dates, end dates, item body etc are all text values. Downside - Doesn't work for a Canvas App where more than one person has to write to the calendar (even if the other users have full permissions to the calendar etc - only I (the calendar owner) can write to it.

Now, using the Groups Connector - I've managed to create an event in a Group Calendar, that all members of the group can create, but there is NOTHING in the connector that allows getting / updating / deleting events!

Also, a lot of the values for body, location etc now have to be records, not just text! How on earth do I do that!! Below works OK, but it only works if the start and end date are in curly brackets, to make it into a record - even though that part doesn't say it has to be a record!!!

Set(
CreatedEventID,
(Office365Groups.CreateCalendarEventV2(
"xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
'Staff NameL2_Value'.Text,
{
dateTime: FullStart.Text,
timeZone: DateTimeZone.Local
},
{
dateTime: FullEnd.Text,
timeZone: DateTimeZone.Local
},
{importance: "High"}
)).id
)

Trying to add :body before or after importance simply won't work as it wants a record value! Ridiculous.

Microsoft REALLY need to do some work on this connector, or post a proper guide for it's usage like they do for other connectors.

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Building Power Apps

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v-yutliu-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @Brammers ,
Here's a doc about office365 group connector for your reference:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/office365groups/#create-a-group-event
The data type in a formula has been listed in the doc.
Anyway, thanks for your advice!
I suggest you express your views on PowerApps Ideas Forum. Your precious advice will be very helpful for our work.
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Ideas/idb-p/PowerAppsIdeas

Best regards,
Community Support Team _ Phoebe Liu

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Brammers

46 on at

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Hi @v-yutliu-msft

Thank you for your (possibly) sarcastic reply. My 'precious' advice has already been submitted to various channels.

As for the link you sent, that was the first place I checked. Unfortunately it is of no 'real world' use, as it does not provide examples... For instance, in the CreateCalendarEventV2 section -

Name Key Required Type Description

Group Id	groupId	True	guid	Pick a group from the drop down or enter group id.
Subject	subject	True	string	Title of the event.
Start Time	dateTime	True	date-time	Start time of the event (example: '2016-11-01T14:30:00').
End Time	dateTime	True	date-time	End time of the event (example: '2016-11-01T15:30:00').
Body	content		html	Body of the message associated with the event.

Yes, thats all very interesting, but it fails to mention that Start Time, End Time and Body will only accept Record values as it's syntax. Where are the examples of how to format this?

The Outlook Connector allowed for simple string values to propogate information into the Calendar Event. Why can't the Group Connector do the same?

Also, why is there NO options to Get / Update Group Events? This is just a half-baked connector from MS that should never have been released until all the functionality is there.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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v-yutliu-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @Brammers ,
I'm sorry that the doc is not very detailed.
You could refer this to see the full format of the Office365Groups.CreateCalendarEvent:
Office365Groups.CreateCalendarEvent( "GroupId", "Subject", {dateTime:Now(),timeZone:UTC}, {dateTime: DateAdd(Today(),2),timeZone:UTC}, {body:{content:"ferffsd",contentType:"Text"}, location:{displayName:"MichaelTest"}, importance:"Normal", isAllDay:false, isReminderOn:false, showAs:"Busy", responseRequested:false} )
Here's a similar issue for your reference:
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/General-Discussion/Office-365-Group-Connector-Available/td-p/69155
For now, this connector is not supported for these two functions: NO options to Get / Update Group Events.
You could create custom connector to customize functions.
Here's a doc about how to create custom connector for your reference:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/custom-connectors/define-blank

Best regards,
Community Support Team _ Phoebe Liu

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Brammers 46 on at

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Thank you @v-yutliu-msft - the example you gave will allow me to get it working as I need it.

Are there any plans to add functionality to the connector? Creating a custom connector is probably outside of my current ability with PowerApps unfortunately.

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v-yutliu-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @Brammers ,
I'm sorry, I'm not the develop team member. I'm not very clearly about the development planning.
I've searched the docs that I have access to and found that there's no plan about displaying group event for now.
You could search in idea plate to see whether there's plan about others functions about Office365 Group:
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=false&filter=location&location=category:PA_Comm_Ideas&q=office365%20group
The status inside one idea represent whether the idea is adopted。
For example:
You could also post your advice there. If the product team thinks that your idea is quite helpful, maybe they will adopt your opinion .

Best regards,
Community Support Team _ Phoebe Liu

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Ferminaterz 150 on at

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Thanks this works, had to make the time zone a string but how do you very the times? A Date Picker works in place of now but stuck on the time. Have used DateTimeValue and DateTimeFormat with no luck.

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