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We have a development SharePoint online site >> and its lists' forms have been customized using Nintex forms. Now we are on the stage of converting the Nintex forms to Power Apps. and we have 2 approaches to follow:-
1) Customizing the SharePoint list forms using Power Apps, as follow:-
2) Build a Standalone Canvas App, and use the build-in SharePoint lists' forms as is.
but we have the following issues:-
1) If we follow the first approach >> then when we finalize the development work on the development site and we need to create the live site >> then we will have to rebuild the customized forms, as currently there is not a way to export and import the customized Power Apps forms.
2) If we follow the second approach to be able to import and export the power apps from dev to live >> then users can still interact with the SharePoint lists using the SharePoint built-in forms, so any business logic implemented inside Power Apps (like cascading drop-downs, hiding fields, make fields as disabled) can be over passed by users when they create or edit list items using SharePoint built-in forms.
so how we can fix these issues? for example is this scenario achievable:-
To build a power app standalone >> so we can Export and Import them between different sites >> then inside the standalone app to define deep linking >> and finally , to define a redirect from SharePoint list to the standalone app. So if the user click on edit link inside SharePoint list view Or click on the edit button , as follow:-
to redirect the users to the standalone power app instead of opening the built-in forms? is this approach achievable? if not then which approach of the above 2 approaches we should follow? and why?
Thanks in advance for any help.
@Pstork1 anyway thanks a lot for your supported and useful replies.
@Pstork1 i am a professional developer with 16 years of experience in SharePoint + .NET development.. seems the issue is not within SharePoint or within power apps. but rather with the integration between them...
@PowerRanger seems an interesting approach "There is a way to redirect users to a standalone app. In Short you would create a standalone app, you would also create a custom Form. In the custom form you would edit the OnEdit and OnNew properties and use Launch() to open your Standalone app. You would also disable quick edit in Sharepoint List Settings." where i can read more about it? thanks
Second question i have .. if you can advice on it.. do you prefer to create standalone apps and define a redirect?or customize the forms and use the hack approaches to do import/export?
There are also hacks available for turning a mobile app into a Desktop/Tablet app. But they also aren't supported. The fact that there are ways to hack it doesn't mean that you should or that it will ever be supported. The bottom line is that Microsoft built Power Apps and SharePoint for a non-professional developer audience. That dictated the way it is designed to work and that hasn't (and probably won't) change.
@johnjohn123 There is a way to redirect users to a standalone app. In Short you would create a standalone app, you would also create a custom Form. In the custom form you would edit the OnEdit and OnNew properties and use Launch() to open your Standalone app. You would also disable quick edit in Sharepoint List Settings. This will prevent the User to interact with the list build in ui edit possibility. But ofcourse there are several other ways a User could interact with that list. They could easily create their own powerapp to create their own edit form. No way you can prevent a User of doing that. Powerapps always requires that the logged in user has permissions on the underlying datasource as it always run in a User context.
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@Pstork1but seems there are work around to export/import customized forms @ https://blog.aterentiev.com/migrating-power-apps-sharepoint-list-form + https://poszytek.eu/en/microsoft-en/office-365-en/powerapps-en/importing-powerapps-package-as-a-sharepoint-list-form/
So your argument is basically that the customers have chosen and paid for the technology, but you don't like its feature set. I'm not here to debate what PowerApps/SharePoint should be. MS didn't ask me when they built it. I'm just trying to explain what can be done. Not justify the limitations of the product.
1) yes, I believe it will work
have you done such a thing before?
2) If you want to create a true enterprise application then use a real database like dataverse or SQL.
our customers already have SharePoint licenses, they are not interested in buying extra licensing..and it is good to know that Power Apps are not suitable for enterprise applications that use SharePoint as back-end.. at the end SharePoint is capable of handling enterprise applications that have million of records
3) Using custom list forms isn't going to make it much better. You'll still need to build 60+ forms in 20+ sites. Changing the connection to point to a new list in a regular Power App is much easier than trying to do it with a custom form.
it will make our system more robust and secured (which is more important that been easy) ,,, that users can not over-pass all the business logic inside our power apps by simply creating/editing the list items using the SharePoint built-in forms..
4) If you don't like the tooling available then choose a different product. The problem is that is either expensive custom development or a pricey third party tool. That's why people continue to use Power Apps and SharePoint.
our customers already chose their technologies and they are expecting it to work for them at-least for the next 10 years... but i am start to feeling the issue... anyway i asked another question about the future plans to be able to export/import customized forms. maybe we can customize the forms and wait for this feature to be available. i am having a real issue that we are now in 2022 and we still can not export/import our work between similar sites/environments..
1) yes, I believe it will work
2) If you want to create a true enterprise application then use a real database like dataverse or SQL.
3) Using custom list forms isn't going to make it much better. You'll still need to build 60+ forms in 20+ sites. Changing the connection to point to a new list in a regular Power App is much easier than trying to do it with a custom form.
4) If you don't like the tooling available then choose a different product. The problem is that is either expensive custom development or a pricey third party tool. That's why people continue to use Power Apps and SharePoint.
@Pstork1 do you think such an approach really work from a Design perspectives? and have you implemented such a thing before? i consider this as a bad workaround that i will stay away of it... espically if we are talking about having 60++ lists inside each of our sites (and we have 20 sites).. to be honest i am starving to know how developers all around the world have been using Power Apps with SharePoint without handling or complaining about these serious issues...
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