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Creating an offline capable PowerApp

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Posted on by Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee

Hello,

I'm currently struggling to develop offline functionality for my powerapp. I understand that this must be achieved through collections paired with the SaveData and LoadData functions, but not sure where to start.

Currently, I have an app which contains a barcode scanner linking to a form. IF the scanner reads a barcode that is already in the dataverse table, it will view that record, IF NOT it will pre populate the barcode field of the form and allow for a submission when the rest of the fields are populated.

First of all, is it possible to have a form working offline? Also, is it possible to access dataverse data offline as this would be essential to the barcode scanner being able to read if there's a match to the data.

Thank you.

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Building Power Apps

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EddieE 4,641 Moderator on at

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@Anonymous

If you are building a model-driven app the Offline-first experience might work for you (Note: not available with Canvas apps)?

So other things

- when offline, no app can connect to a data source eg Dataverse**

- Forms don't work offline because they are connected to a Data Source. Form data sources cannot be collections.

** It seems that from reading the info on that link and related links that the Offline-first functionality will always keep your app data up-to-date, meaning

- a user could leave the office with the latest barcode data in their app

- do their offline work with the barcode scanner

- return to connection and the app will update your data source

The same could work for a Canvas app and Load/Save Data but users would need to update using a button

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Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee on at

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Hello, yes this is a canvas app

So you say 'when offline, no app can connect to a data source eg Dataverse', so does this mean that if users want to scan barcodes offline, the app won't be able to read the existing barcodes in the dataverse?

And also you say forms don't work offline, so will I have to change my approach regarding data entry, and instead of a form use a patch function for input fields?

Could you also explain how to use the SaveData/LoadData functions to recreate the experience in a canvas app? Thanks in advance.

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EddieE 4,641 Moderator on at

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@Anonymous

So you say 'when offline, no app can connect to a data source eg Dataverse', so does this mean that if users want to scan barcodes offline, the app won't be able to read the existing barcodes in the dataverse?

Correct. In Offline mode you are not able to connect to any data source. The only 'data source' the app has available would be a collection of data downloaded to a device whilst the device has a connection to the data.

For your next two questions I'll refer you to an article by @mdevaney regarding the building of an offline app. Matt does use an Edit Form in his example, so it can be done - you just need to mindful about the type of functions you use. For example, Matt only uses the Updates property of the form and never the SubmitForm function. He uses Patch instead.

Matt's example walks through how to use the Load/Save data functions for you.

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