Category: Forms

Forms - How to set the value of a field to todays date for new records only

A common requirement is to set the default value of a form field to today's date, only when a user enters a new record. In edit mode, the field value should remain the same. This post walks through how to carry out this task.

Apps - How to create an app from a hand drawn image

One of the most exciting announcements at the Build Conference was Express Editor - the feature that builds apps from PDF or hand drawn documents. How does this feature work and how well are theresults? In this post, we'll find out.

Forms - How to highlight user modified field values on a form

This post provides a simple walkthrough of how to highlight form values that have been changed by a user.

Forms - How to append text to field in a data source

This post describes a solution to a question that occasionally arises - how to append text to a field when a user saves or edits a record through a form.

Forms - How to calculate values (eg sums and products) and store the results in SharePoint or other datasource

A simple and basic question that often arises is - how do I perform calculations against fields and store the results in SharePoint or a database? This post walks through how to carry out this task with forms.

SharePoint - How to programmatically set and clear single select choice items in a combo box on a form

There is often the requirement to programmatically set and clear combo box values with formula, and the syntax to do this may not be entirely clear. This post walks through a use case scenario of how to set and clear combo box values depending on the value of another control.

SharePoint - How to clear datetime fields/set an empty datetime value on a form

A problem that some app builders encounter is that on edit forms, clearing the value of a datetime field doesn't work. This post describes this issue in more detail.

Forms - How to convert a display form to an edit form

If you want to convert a display form to an edit form, there's unfortunately no way to do this through the app designer. However, we can accomplish this through code and this post describes how to carry out this task in more detail.

Forms - How to copy/save an existing record on a form as a new record

A handy feature is the ability to make a copy of an existing record. The typical use case scenario of this is to speed up, or to simplify data entry. This post describes a technique that we can use to carry out this task.

Forms - How to show Office 365 user profile details on a form

For business apps that are designed to facilitate collaboration, there may be the need to display the details of the currently logged on user, or some other specific user. This post walks through how to display user details on a canvas app form.

Forms - How to hide fields that are blank, or have not been completed

Screens that display many fields can look messy when many of the values are incomplete or empty. We can tidy up the appearance of these screens by hiding empty fields, and this post describes how to carry out this task.

Forms - How to select-all / unselect-all checkbox or toggle controls on a form

When building data entry screens, we can simplify data entry by adding a feature to select all, or to unselect all true/false values on a form. This post walks through how to build this feature.

Forms - How to set the data source of a form to a collection

It can be difficult to build edit forms that are based on collections, because the designer disables the button to add fields to the form. This post describes this behaviour, and explains how we can configure an edit form to save and update rows in a collection.

Forms - The best practice for setting the data item on a form

When building apps, a 'best practice' is to minimise dependencies between screens. Therefore, it's best not to set the item property of a form to a value that's defined on a gallery (or some other control) outside of the screen. This post describes this topic in greater detail.

Controls - How to set default control and form values

A common requirement is to set default values on data entry screens. In this post, we'll cover three common requirements. How to adapt a form to apply default values when a user creates a new record, how to set a default value based on other values on a screen, and how to set default values through the click of a button.