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Question about optional repeating tables

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Posted on by juphi17 Microsoft Employee

Hi there,

I have a InfoPath digital asset request form that I'm currently trying to convert to PowerApps. In the InfoPath form, there is a section that has checkboxes for the category of asset required (e.g. Emails, Web Banners, Ebook). When a user clicks a checkbox, an Optional Section appears with a Repeating Table to specify each asset (with fields specific to that type of asset).

For example:
[X] Emails

- Email Name; Language, Deployment Date
- Email Name, Language, Deployment Date
(add another email >)
[ ] Ebook

[X] Web Banners
- Banner Name; Banner Size; Language; FileFormat; Link;
- Banner Name; Banner Size; Language; FileFormat; Link;
(add another banner >)

The various Repeating Tables only show up when the corresponding checkbox is checked. In InfoPath, this was super-easy to setup as it was all stored in the InfoPath file in the SharePoint Library.

However, with PowerApps, this is much trickier as we're using SharePoint Lists to store the data, and I'm assuming we'll need various Gallery controls to imitate the Repeating Table functionality of InfoPath, but it seems a bit more cumbersome, especially with storing the data in the list. Does anyone have any recos on setting this up? I don't want to have to create a separate table for each asset type.

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Building Power Apps

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mdevaney 29,993 Moderator on at

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@juphi17
There's actually a video about this exact topic by Shane Young entitled "PowerApps Reating Tables Like InfoPath." Watching this would be the best way to learn because it's too complex a topic to describe step-by-step in the forums. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgznk4XlPCo

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juphi17 Microsoft Employee on at

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Thanks for sharing this video. I think it's great and walks through the whole process which is awesome!
I'm trying to think how to store the actual data from the various tables into SharePoint Lists, while keeping this is as simple and lightweight as possible. Since there is multiple 'repeating tables' (one for each asset type and that only shows up if they select that asset type), does that mean I need a Details List for EACH asset type because each asset type has different fields in their corresponding repeating table or is there a way to just create ONE Details List for all the tables?
mdevaney 29,993 Moderator on at

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@juphi17
My guess is that using the same repeating table for each asset type would be difficult if they have different field names between them. This sounds more like a data-modelling problem rather than a repeating tables problem to me.

If you want to try to get away with one table you are going to have to standardize your asset type columns and bring all the columns into a single details list. For instance lets say I have two asset types: Car and Building. Car has the columns (purchase price, purchase date, engine type). Building has columns (purchase price, purchase date, floor area sqft). You could put them in the same details list like so:

asset type, purchase price, purchase date, engine type, floor area sqft
car, $20,000, 2019-01-10, "V8", null
buidling, $500,000, 2016-11-08, null, 7500

Then in the repeating table you could make the asset type, purchase price and purchase date columns always visible. engine type and floor area sqft would only be visible when the corresponding asset type is chosen.

This is just a general idea of how I would do it. Others may have a different opinion. The best way to find out what works is just to go ahead and build it so I encourage you to do so @juphi17 !