Power Apps – Concurrent edits overwrite data (SharePoint)

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by CU16011136-1

Hi everyone,

I’m having an issue in a Power Apps app where multiple users edit and save the same SharePoint records at the same time. Data entered by one user sometimes gets overwritten and lost when another user saves.

I implemented this so far: I am comparing the currently opened record with the latest version from SharePoint before calling Patch()

If identical → patch as usual
If different → refresh the record and then patch

The problem is that refreshing the record removes all unsaved changes of the current user.

Therefore I thought of tracking the changes via OnChange variables and patch only modified fields, but this feels very complex (many fields, forms, attachments, people fields, etc.).

A locking mechanism is not desired by users.

Question:
Is there a recommended best-practice approach in Power Apps to handle concurrent edits and prevent overwriting other users’ changes when using SharePoint?

Thanks!

Categories:

Building Power Apps

I have the same question (0)

All responses (4)

Answers (0)

Sort by

Suggested answer

WarrenBelz 155,838 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
Hi @CU16011136-1,

You need to save the unsaved data and then put it back before patching so you are going to need a Table Variable. You would do something like
If( ThisItem.Modified <> Lookup( SPList, ID = ThisItem.ID ).Modified, UpdateContext( { varSavedRecord: { Field1Name: Control1.Output, Field2Name: Control1.Output, . . . . . . . . } } ), Refresh(SPList); Notify( "Please save again as the record has been modified since you opened it", NotificationType.Information ), Patch( SPList, YourPatchHere ); UpdateContext({varSavedRecord: Blank()}) )

Then the Default (or equivalent) of each control
Coalesce( varSavedRecord.FieldName, ThisItem.FieldName )

Also put at Screen OnVisible
UpdateContext({varSavedRecord: Blank()})

This way, you are temporarily storing the input and putting it back.

You could also include a label under each field showing the current valueand make it Visible if it was different to the one in the Variable.

Please ✅ Does this answer your question if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find it more readily. It also closes the item. If the content was useful in other ways, please consider answering Yes to Was this reply helpful? or give it a Like ♥
Visit my blog Practical Power Apps LinkedIn

1 people found this reply helpful.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
WarrenBelz 155,838 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @CU16011136-1,

A quick follow-up to see if you received the answer you were looking for. Happy to assist further if not.

Please ✅ Does this answer your question if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find it more readily. It also closes the item. If the content was useful in other ways, please consider answering Yes to Was this reply helpful? or give it a Like ♥
Visit my blog Practical Power Apps LinkedIn

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
CU16011136-1 2 on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @WarrenBelz,

thank you so much for your answer. I thought about this solution but it seems quite complex for me. I have so much fields in the app, I would need to check every field if there were made changes. I tried it as I said with the OnChange property to save the changes in an variable to just patch then the fields that were changed after a refresh, but I got directly error with the field types etc. And thinking about to do this for 50 fields seems quite inconvenient.

I thought about again to implement a locking mechanism (although the users are not happy about that), because I think this might be the best solution then in this case..

Happy to hear about your thoughts!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
WarrenBelz 155,838 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @CU16011136-1,

A locking flag always has the issue of a user exiting the program and not removing the flag.

You could set the Variable OnChange of each control, but this is probably just as much work as what I suggested first.

Please ✅ Does this answer your question if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find it more readily. It also closes the item. If the content was useful in other ways, please consider answering Yes to Was this reply helpful? or give it a Like ♥
Visit my blog Practical Power Apps LinkedIn

Was this reply helpful? Yes No