Are you wondering what is Power Apps patch and its uses? Of course! This tutorial blog unveils the use of the Power Apps Patch function in greater detail with suitable examples. Know that you can modify and create records in data sources without affecting other properties of the records using the Patch function. Using this patch function, you can modify and change multiple records, merge records, and many more. Yes! You can learn all you need to know about Power Apps Patch functions and their uses in this tutorial.
Power Apps is one of the excellent tools used for creating business apps rapidly. Using Power Apps, we can low-code powerful apps to quickly modernize business processes and improve performance. Power Apps come with numerous functions to perform various operations rapidly. Power Apps Patch is one of the powerful functions of this tool.
With the Power Apps patch, we can modify and create records in a table using the power apps patch function. Not only that, we can merge records, alter and create multiple records, Upsert records, and many more. Note that data source, records, and data to patch are the three elements of a Power Apps patch function.
This tutorial discusses the Power Apps patch function and its uses in depth. You can learn Power Apps patch syntax, how to modify and create records using the patch function, and how to create and modify a record in the SharePoint list in greater detail.
We can use the Power Apps Patch function to modify and create records in data sources. The significant thing about the Power Apps Patch function is that we can update the fields of records without affecting other properties of data sources. We can use the Power Apps Patch function when updating records where no user interaction is allowed. Also, we can use this function while using forms with multiple screens.
Know that we can modify records in data sources using the Power Apps Patch function directly. But if we want to create records, we need to use the Patch function along with the defaults function.
Like modifying and creating records, we can use the Power Apps Patch function to merge records outside a data source. The return value of this Patch function will be created or modified records. Suppose the Power Apps Patch function creates a record and stores it in a data source, then the fields of the record will have the properties of the data source.
Modify or create a record in a Data Source using Power Apps Patch Function:
We can create and modify a record using the Power Apps Patch function. And we can create base records using the defaults function.
If we want to modify a record, the record must be in a data source. Also, the record must have some additional information to easily identify the record in the future if we need to modify the record.
Know that when we update a data source, errors may occur. So, we can apply IfError as well as IsError functions on the return values of the Power Apps Patch function to find and respond to the errors. Along with that, we can use the Errors function to deal with the errors that occur while working with a data source.
Modify or create a set of records using the Power Apps Patch Function:
Similar to creating or modifying a single record, the Power Apps Patch function can create and modify multiple records in a single call. In this Power Apps Patch function, the table of base records is included in the second argument. Also, change records are included in the third argument of the function. It is essential to note that the number of records in the base table must be equal to the number in the change table.
The return value of this Power Apps Patch function is a table with records. And the records in the table correspond to the records in the change and base tables.
Merge Records Outside of a Data Source using Power Apps Patch Function:
Know that we can merge two or more records using the Power Apps Patch function. Here, the records denoted in the Patch function are processed sequentially from the first argument to the following records. The result value of this Patch function is the merged records. Note that this Power Apps Patch function doesn’t modify the fields of records in data sources.
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Let’s look at the syntax of the Power Apps patch function for different cases in the following.
Create or modify a record in a Data Source:
Using the Power Apps Patch function, we can create or modify a record using the following syntax.
Note that all the arguments in the Power Apps Patch function are mandatory.
Create or modify a set of records in a Data Source:
We can use the following syntax to create or alter more than one record.
All the arguments in this Power Apps Patch function are mandatory.
Merge Records:
We can use the following syntax if we want to merge two records.
Record: It is a mandatory field of this Power Apps Patch function. Note that we need a minimum of two records to perform the merging operation. This Power Apps Patch function processes records from record1 to the succeeding records.
Let us Look at some of the PowerApps Patch Function Examples:
We can change one or more records in a data source using the Power Apps Patch function. Mainly, we can perform this action without affecting other attributes of the records.
Now consider the below table stored in a data source.
Table name: IceCream
ID | Flavor | Quantity |
1 | “Chocolate” | 200 |
2 | “Strawberry” | 300 |
Note that this table generates IDs automatically.
If you want to modify the quantity of chocolate flavor ice cream from 200 to 600, then you need to write the Power Apps Patch function as follows:
The result of this Patch function will be as follows:
If you want to create a record in the IceCream to add ‘Vanilla’ flavor to the table, then you need to write the Power Apps Patch function as follows:
The result of this Power Apps Patch function will be as follows:
You can observe from the above result that the Power Apps Patch function automatically generated the ID and assign the quantity as 0 for the created record.
Finally, after the execution of these two Power Apps Patch functions, you can get the updated table as shown below:
ID | Flavor | Quantity |
1 | “Chocolate” | 600 |
2 | “Strawberry” | 300 |
3 | “Vanilla” | 0 |
Consider another example. You can use this Power Apps Patch function to modify the fields in a record.
Consider one more example. It helps to create a new record in the SharePoint List as ‘employee details’.
Know that you can change or update multiple records using Power Apps Patch function.
Consider the below ‘Employees’ table. If you want to change a few fields of the records of the table, then you can perform this using the Power Apps Patch function as follows:
Table Name: Employees
ID | Employee Name | Employee Number | Year of Joining |
1 | Alice | 1001 | 2010 |
2 | Benjamin | 1003 | 2013 |
3 | Catrina | 1005 | 2015 |
4 | David | 1007 | 2017 |
5 | Einstein | 1009 | 2019 |
You can use Power Apps Patch function along with the ClearCollect function to modify multiple records in the following way.
The result of this path function will be as follows. The updated fields are shown in bold case.
ID | Employee Name | Employee Number | Year of Joining |
1 | Alice | 1001 | 2010 |
2 | Benjamin Franklin | 1003 | 2013 |
3 | Catrina | 1005 | 2015 |
4 | David | 1007 | 2018 |
5 | Einstein | 1009 | 2019 |
You can merge two records using the Power Apps Patch function. Note that the records exist outside of a data source.
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Consider the example in which the Power Apps Patch function merges two records.
The result of this Power Apps Patch function will be as follows:
If you want to create multiple records using the Power Apps Patch function, you can accomplish this using the ForAll function.
Consider the following example. SharePoint, a data source, contains the ‘Employees’ table. Now, you need to add a few records in the following table with the existing records using Power Apps Patch function.
Table: Employees
Employee Name | Employee Number | Year of Joining |
Alice | 1001 | 2010 |
Benjamin | 1002 | 2011 |
Catrina | 1003 | 2012 |
David | 1004 | 2013 |
Einstein | 1005 | 2014 |
If you want to add three records to this table, you must write the code in the following way.
As a result, you will get the updated table as follows:
Employee Name | Employee Number | Year of Joining |
Alice | 1001 | 2010 |
Benjamin | 1002 | 2011 |
Catrina | 1003 | 2012 |
David | 1004 | 2013 |
Einstein | 1005 | 2014 |
Mary | 1006 | 2015 |
John | 1007 | 2016 |
Kate | 1008 | 2017 |
If you want the item ID of a product, you can use the Power Apps Patch function for the same. You need to use the following Patch function for this case.
As a result, you can get the ID of the item.
We can use the Power Apps Patch function below to create a new record with a choice field. The record type must have "id and value" for the choice field. Similarly, you can patch a record with the choice field using the Power Apps Patch function.
In this Power Apps Patch function, ‘Job Title’ is the chosen field. It will have the record that is selected from the dropdown list.
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If you want to upsert records in a table, you can use Power Apps Patch function to perform the same.
Consider the below example. The table contains the records of employees.
ID | Employee Name | Employee Number | Year of Joining |
1 | Alice | 1001 | 2010 |
2 | Benjamin | 1003 | 2013 |
3 | Catrina | 1005 | 2015 |
You can write the Power Apps Patch function in the following way with the upsert function. By applying this patch function, you can modify the existing records as well as create new records in the table.
The result of this patch function is shown below. The modified and created records are shown in bold letters. ID is generated automatically.
ID | Employee Name | Employee Number | Year of Joining |
1 | Alice | 1001 | 2010 |
2 | Martin | 1002 | 2013 |
3 | Catrina | 1005 | 2015 |
4 | John | 1006 | 2017 |
5 | Shankar | 1008 | 2019 |
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Let’s look at the procedure for how to create and modify a record in a SharePoint list below:
Patch (DataScource, BaseRecord, ChangeRecord1 [, ChangeRecord1,.....])
You can add patches or records in a data source using the above patch function.
Patch (DataSource, BaseRecord Table, ChangeRecordTable1 [, ChangeRecordTable2,.....])
Let’s wrap off! We can conclude that the Power Apps patch function is used to modify and create a record in a data source without changing the other properties of the data source. you can use the Power Apps patch function for various uses, such as merging, choice fields, return values, and so on. We hope that the examples shown in the blog might have helped you to understand the concepts clearly. The tutorial must be helpful to create a record in a SharePoint list easily. If you want to learn more about Power Apps and patch function, then no worries. MindMajix offers courses on PowerApps Training. We are sure that you can attend the courses and enhance your knowledge level to greater heights, undoubtedly.
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Madhuri is a Senior Content Creator at MindMajix. She has written about a range of different topics on various technologies, which include, Splunk, Tensorflow, Selenium, and CEH. She spends most of her time researching on technology, and startups. Connect with her via LinkedIn and Twitter .