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Embedding a Canvas App in a Model Driven App - "Getting your data..."

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Posted on by davenull311

I've created a canvas app and (mostly) successfully embedded it into a tab in a model-driven app. However, there are two issues... First, there is a large dark-gray space above and below the tablet-sized app. I'm not sure why it's there, and as the canvas app is embedded in the first field in the tab, the first gray block is even more confusing. (Attached "Gray space.jpg" image)

The bigger problem is that my app simply reads "Getting your data..." and never updates. It's in the same environment, the data is loaded via an "Edit" form, and is linked to the proper entity. There are no errors listed for the app, and in the Studio, everything works perfectly. (Attached "GettingYourData.jpg" and "PAStudio.jpg" images)

The app fields pull/post data from grant application records in the CDS. All of the pages in the app load, and the built-in navigation works. It's just that no data ever loads.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? What better information can I provide to help diagnose this issue?

Thanks!

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PowerAddict 7,316 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Here are a few suggestions and questions:

1. For the gray space, have you turned on the "Optimize embedding appearance" under App settings?

2. What is the Item property of the form?

I have a series of blog posts on embedded canvas apps. The main challenge and suggestion is to never trust the results of an embedded app inside the editor. Here is the series: https://thepoweraddict.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-embedded-canvas-apps/

Anyways, let me know answers to these questions and we can solve this together.

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Hardit Bhatia

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davenull311 24 on at

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Thanks, @PowerAddict !

I hadn't noticed the optimized setting for the appearance - that solves the gray space issue!

This is a total noob question, but where is the item property, and is it of the editable form itself? I don't see anything other than the unique name...

Thanks!
PowerAddict 7,316 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Awesome, glad we have knocked out one issue.

For the other one, this is where the Item property is for a form (it basically tells you which record to display):

Let me know and we can solve this one as well!

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Hardit Bhatia

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davenull311 24 on at

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The Item property for every editable field is blank. So that certainly explains it... What should that be pointing to, and is that a default setting when creating the form, did I screw up, or did the system leave that blank? That's bizarre!

Also - That Retro Tennis game is AWESOME!!!
PowerAddict 7,316 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Nice! Glad you liked it! It's a very simple model that can be reused for a lot of games e.g. soccer which is what I am working on right now.

Anyways, the form should have an Item property. Select your form (not a specific data card) and in the Advanced section on the right side pane, you can see the Item property. I am sure you have something there because you see data within the editor.

Easiest would be to take a screenshot of the Advanced Properties of the form.

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Hardit Bhatia

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davenull311 24 on at

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This is with the editable form selected. The Item property is blank - and it's like this for the other 5 forms on the other screens as well.

I apologize for the blurring. I'm not sure what of this is open for release, so I just took all of it out. I left the ">" arrows so that you can see the individual DataCards and other screens.
PowerAddict 7,316 Most Valuable Professional on at

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That's fine. If your form doesn't have an Item set, the form doesn't know which record to display, which is why it will be stuck at Getting data. I am pretty sure that within your editor, if you hit the play button to preview the app, you will see the same behavior.

Since this is an embedded app, do you expect to display the record from the form where this app is embedded? If so, it should be:

[@ModelDrivenFormIntegation].Item

Let me know if this helps.

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Hardit Bhatia

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I'm still getting an exception: "Name isn't valid. The identifier isn't recognized."

Is this something that needs to be added to each individual field instead of the form Item property?
davenull311 24 on at

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Per the Docs page...

"Known issues and limitations with embedded canvas apps
The canvas app custom control is only supported for use with the Web client type. Currently, the Phone and Tablet client types aren't supported."

I believe when I set this up, the only options available were "tablet" and "phone," so I chose tablet... Could it really be that simple (and by simple I mean soul-crushing that I have to redo the entire app)?
PowerAddict 7,316 Most Valuable Professional on at

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We need to take a few steps back and start from the beginning. How did you start the process of embedding a canvas app in a model-driven app?

Did you choose a mandatory field on a model-driven form? Did you add the Power Appd control to that field? Tablet and Phone options are disabled by default. You can only select Erb which is you need to select as it is not selected by default. Then when you click on what I believe is called Customize, it opens the Power Apps studio with the ModelDrivenFormIntegration control added to the app so you can fetch the contextual record. My blog post here talks about the entire process from the beginning. https://thepoweraddict.com/how-to-embed-a-canvas-app-in-a-model-driven-form/

Let's review these steps first. And don't worry about your existing app, we will not let it go waste. Let me know if you want to get on a call/screen share session.

Thanks,
Hardit Bhatia