Power Apps Collections Introduction

[@woolfordscott7933]

Shane, you are consistently my go-to resource for sorting out problems and learning new ways to do what I need to. Absolutely love your style and delivery- your examples and tips are pretty much always exactly what I need. Easy to follow, and fun to watch. Thank you so much.

[@ShanesCows]

Appreciate it! 😎

[@Gentlemiao]

I am a Chinese, your video is the best to me in term of English understanding, as well as the contents for sure. Thanks for the clear presentation!!

[@chrislloyd8365]

I’m on vacation this week but couldn’t resist learning something from watching one of your fantastic videos!!

[@ShanesCows]

Appreciate the support Chris. I hope vacation is going awesome!

[@SA-kt3wt]

Been watching your videos for years now as I dip in and out of PA so have to remind myself of a few things. You style is so clear and upu explain things so thoroughly - just wanted to say thanks!

[@ShanesCows]

Appreciate the kind words. Have a great day.

[@ginaramirez2313]

Shane, thank you for sharing your wisdom with the rest of us! I know you made fun of me for saying you are a gifted teacher....BUT you definitely are!

[@ShanesCows]

Thank you. I really do appreciate the kinds words, making fun is my form of kindness. 🤩

[@amtheagent6495]

Mate, your content is my go-to for everything PowerApps, keep it up!

[@ShanesCows]

Appreciate the support 🤩

[@vidalrick75]

Shane, those videos are so "to the point" and good, thanks for the time and effort to put them on for all of us!

[@ShanesCows]

Happy to help Ricardo!

[@vidalrick75]

@@ShanesCows thinking of enroll myself on the Power Platform University, but I got bummed that you're not going to be the mentor! LOL

[@jasonsealy4103]

Hey Shane, I have watched only a handful of videos but wanted to send my regards for the help you have given me. Previously I have been doing loads of Microsoft Canvas App courses and they were good but your videos have been life-changing. Thank you so much.

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks Jason. I appreciate the kind words 😎

[@marksmith8021]

Great refresher... I asked my team to review. A couple of new team members so I asked them to watch. Unrelated topic. If you have any juice with the MS PowerApps team, it would be great if when you expand the formula pane, if it didn't cover up the properties panel on the far right, and stopped at the right edge of the formula window pane itself... Make it happen Shane!

[@ShanesCows]

Great suggestion Mark! I have asked for similar. Hopefully one day :)

[@anthonyapodaca1332]

Collections the best bulk updaters! Great Vid!

[@ShanesCows]

Glad you like them!

[@oluwatobipaul6171]

Thanks for this refresher tutorial on collections. Thanks Shane

[@ShanesCows]

you are welcome 😎

[@yourface2616]

Thank you Shane!! You explain things so simply. Even I understand! Lol

[@ShanesCows]

Happy to help!

[@markbaker2418]

Gallery connection doesn't work the way it is demonstrated here. Ref: 3:56 - Using a gallery to display the Collection data, "There is nothing stopping me from typing in colStuff". Unfortunately, my data sources won't display any of my current app collections, only other external data sources ( i.e. collections do not show in gallery properties data sources or, when typing the collection name directly into the items property of the gallery). Shane, I appreciate the videos posted you post for this environment but, is this more of Microsoft's lab experiment called 365 where things are constantly changing or could it be a configuration setting? Any thoughts on this are appreciated, thanks

[@ShanesCows]

They are working on making it behave like this video again.

[@merristenzel7711]

You are amazing, Shane! THANK YOU!!

[@ShanesCows]

Happy to help🤩

[@KhaledKamalfouad]

Thanks so much Shane for your efforts.. you are awesome!!

[@ShanesCows]

My pleasure! Have a great day.

[@venkatakishore7907]

Thanks for the video Shane. Really Informative.😊

[@ShanesCows]

You are welcome.

[@skbauguess]

Crazy Coincidence. I was just watching your 5 year old version as this was added. :-) Thanks for the great videos!

[@ShanesCows]

Appreciate it Shawn!

[@RicoTropico]

Massive thanks for sharing all this knowledge with us and updting videos from past

[@ShanesCows]

My pleasure! Have a great week Rico.

[@tonytseng7780]

Great video. What I'm struggling to wrap my head around is how to add additional columns to an existing collection. My use case is a multi screen app and want to capture data into an existing collection. I keep getting new records / rows added to my collection rather than to the same record. What is the best wa to do that?

[@ShanesCows]

You can use Patch to update the collection.

[@USpilla143]

Very Useful, Explanation is simply awesome 🎉

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks a lot 😊

[@yulinrirabadi2973]

Hi shane, thank you so much for your explanation, its really clear and easy to understand. I wonder, is that possible to create a collection without trigger button? if yes how to do that? Thank you

[@ShanesCows]

Sure, put the code in App OnStart 😎

[@mervecelebi6433]

Absolutely stunning explanation! It's so good and subscribed in a few seconds! But how you handle if you want to ask for elements in the collect (Gallery)? For example if you want to know if the Name in the Gallery already exists in a texfield outside the gallery? I want to know how i can set an iquiry of gallery elements. I'm Looping foraward to your next videos :)

[@ShanesCows]

A Collection is a table. So you could say something like Filter(Collection, "Shane" in NameColumn)

[@jeanpierreragequit1726]

Shane : always so didactic ! Thx a lot ! u would been a great teacher at university !!

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks 🥰 I actually did teach one Semester at the University of Cincinnati.

[@jeanpierreragequit1726]

@@ShanesCows Congratulations ! Because i am sure u r the best for teaching students as well as teaching us on KZbin !

[@thtoon8234]

Hi Shane, I'm a beginner and your videos are great and are really helping to get me up to speed with PowerApps. I have a problem with the Collections though, if I add records to a gallery based on a collection and then save the details back to the data source, this works fine. If however I try and delete a record from the gallery/collection and save the details, it doesn't remove the records from the underlying data source using the "Collect(datasource, collection)" method. How do we update the underlying datasource with the contents of the collection/gallery for additions and deletions? Many thanks

[@ShanesCows]

YOu need to add logic to yoru delete button that says delete from the collection and from the data source. Or you need to add a way in your collection to track deletions and then have a loop through do that.

[@thtoon8234]

Thanks for the reply Shane, much appreciated :) @@ShanesCows

[@DrSeethe]

Wow correct me if I'm wrong but these new controls they added after you made this video are a mess. At 6:36, you are using the old Text Input control. With the new Text Input control, you have to click outside the field first before clicking the Collect button for it to properly collect the text.

[@ShanesCows]

Yeah, the new controls have "challenges" for sure. I still don't use them for production apps.

[@jacksonbrumbaugh9706]

hey Shane! what video / series were you referencing when you were demo-ing the Expense Report app?

[@ShanesCows]

The journey started here PowerApps Repeating Tables like InfoPath Part 1 - Enter the data kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpjdn55qjdGDedE

[@antoniofelez4674]

Hi Shane, thank you for this video. When you say clearcollect will only cache the delegation limit (2000). What if it was pulling from a flow? Would that mean it’ll collect up to the pagination limit (100k)? Thanks

[@ShanesCows]

I have never tried to dump large amounts of data back from flow to Power Apps. In my head it will time out if you try to stretch the limits but just not sure.

[@markbaker2418]

As a follow-up, Re: when typing the collection name directly into the items property of the gallery, I found using single quotes to encase worked for the collection Items property as it had a hyphen in the collection name. The collections however, still do not show in gallery properties data sources.

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks Mark. I have passed along to Microsoft this is not ideal and I think we are going to get a fix. 🤞

[@gcooper642]

Ah ha! This collection thing finally makes sense! thank you

[@ShanesCows]

I'm so glad!

[@jeanlouisterranova2042]

hi Shane , I saw in your video you can add a collection to a share point list. I also saw a video from you to do same action but thanks to the Patch function. So what are the pros and cons of both solutions ? Thank you

[@ShanesCows]

This video explains all of the nerdy details. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJzTaoCod62BY9U

[@andybolton7345]

Awesome video, just looking at adding collections into my app. Thanks Question...How would you add a multi-select combo box/drop-down selection into the collection pls?

[@clairevoyance26]

Hi Shane, I understand that collections cache from datasource. But i still dont understand if its better to use a collection or a datasource directly for a gallery? I have a gallery where i update it. Wouldnt there be a performance hit if i use a collection as the items for that gallery instead of directly using the datasource? Cause i would be ClearCollecting or Refresh the gallery for it to get updated after patching

[@ShanesCows]

Typically I start with using the Data Source directly in most cases. Power Apps does a lot of cache on its own. Start thinking Collections if you are building offline or have a Data Source that is truly static.

[@davidcamacho5285]

Hey Shane, wonderful video! Question, I followed your series on the expense app you showed in this video. For the Expense Item portion, instead of an input text box, I made a combo box where the user can select from a drop down (only one selection) of choice from a SharePoint list. However, when I click on the save icon, the expense item combo box is erased. After I submit the form the choice does indeed write correctly to my SharePoint list but how can I make the combo box still show my selected option after clicking the save icon ? Hope that made sense

[@ShanesCows]

You need to make sure you are setting the ComboBox DefaultSelectedItems properly. ThisItem.Record. This video should help kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4mkk6Cvbt-Mirc

[@davidcamacho5285]

@@ShanesCows Hey Shane, thank you so much. I did end up figuring it out and set the DefaulSelectedItems to {Value: ThisItem.WhateverMyCollectionRecordIs} Thanks, again :)

[@RyanSmith-mh1lj]

Hey Shane, great video and understood the concept, but you have mentioned, do not create collection if SPO list has more than 2000 items, so what you suggest if you have list over 10000 items? Its just a question and trying to understand, appreciate all you information!

[@ShanesCows]

Collect() Will only get up to the first 2000 items. :( You can learn more about delegation and limits here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHe0oIema7eLrcU But ultimately if you want to use a collection you are going to want to get under 2000.

[@RyanSmith-mh1lj]

@@ShanesCows , appreciate your answer, it made it clear for me now, and thank you for the link to watch the delegation video! Awesome work by the way!

[@ivanpalacios3965]

Thanks as all ways Shane just a question, how clearcollect to a Currency sharepoint field :(

[@ShanesCows]

SharePoint Currency and Number fields are the same thing as far as Power Apps is concerned. So just pass a number, no Currency symbols.

[@mtamitolanga]

Hi Shane, is there a way that I can save then logout and continue later? Thank you.

[@ShanesCows]

Look at SaveData/LoadData like you were building an offline app. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKjFopd3bs9re80

[@ophemtech]

Hey shane, thank you for this video, its quite my exact go to resource but I have a problem and i dontknow how to solve or what is going wrong. ClearCollect(mycollection, MyDataSource) doesnt find the data in the table. I keep getting "we diddnt find any data", and i need to use this function on the onStart App of the app, but it doesnt work. What do you think the problem is or how do i solve it

[@ShanesCows]

James what is your data source? That is weird. Have you tried same syntax with a different data source like a SharePoint list?

[@ophemtech]

@@ShanesCows my data source is the business online excel sheet. Though I'm working on using SQL as that's gonna be the final data source but should that be the cause

[@NessieAG]

First of all I love your content, you basically teached me to use power apps from zero! But i have a question about collections! I normally use collection as cache for all my apps, but i was building a new one that will involve patching data and while searching for a few thing i run with a comment of someone saying that would be slower to write this way, because it would be adding the time required to sync the changes to another data source to the collection, and that will always be slower than working with the data source directly. So when you built your app to have data patch its better to work directly with sharepoing (my case) or with collections? Do you have a preference? The data i will be using, and i normally use, have less than 2000 rows.

[@ShanesCows]

If I am building an Offline app or one that needs to work with a poor connection then collections are a great way to go. If I am building an app that always has solid internet then I default to working directly against the data. Sometimes I might us a collection to cache reference data but usually not transactional data.

[@NessieAG]

@@ShanesCows Thank you so much for the explanation!! Understood now, and its going to make change a few apps now ahah. Once again, love your videos, always learning with you!

[@howardcallahan1054]

Can you use this method to load a collection without using a button. Does this work in the app onstart?

[@ShanesCows]

Yes, OnStart or OnVisible are both places you can load a collection without someone clicking a button. :)

[@GPZ_Biker]

Shane, I'm new to powerapps and enjoying your videos. I am unable to see the results of the collection in the coding section of the window. Do you have something enabled to allow it to display? thanks

[@minxu8004]

Hi Shane, nice to learn from your great channel. May I know how about Collection Table Usage for "Checkbox" Type? And in my case, the columns need to be collected are more than 10 values, by view and interface difference, so I tried to use "Table" rather than "Gallery"..... Do you have any guideline could share related to Collection Function for: 1)Checkbox Type and 2) By Table, not by Gallery? Thank you so much........

[@valeriecowen4618]

Weird scenario, need to be able to enter a few fields and then a number field....need it to create that number of items on a SP list using all the same data collected in the previous few fields. Putting it in a collection first seems like the way I need to do but I have not been able to sort it out. Is this even possible?? Love your videos!! Recommend them to new users all the time.

[@dillioncastillo7517]

Can you go into further detail on your last comment about collections not playing with forms?

[@ShanesCows]

Forms don't support Collections as a data source. There is a hacky way to make it work but I don't teach hacky ways so I say not possible. 😊

[@radiosonicfan1726]

Are there any shortcuts when creating a collection? and you have say 15-20 columns. At a certain point typing all the columns becomes a pain.

[@ShanesCows]

Nope, typing is the answer. Sorry

[@esthercepero3114]

Is it possible to create a collection from a data table? Having trouble populating a word template with the data table information.

[@ShanesCows]

I would have guessed yes but now that I tried quickly I don't think so. You could use whatever you have in the DataTables Items property to make a collection. Just another reason I never use data tables.

[@esthercepero3114]

@@ShanesCows thank you for responding, and unfortunately collections can't pass to a flow to populate a word template with a repeating section. And when I use the data table items it only outputs 1 row instead of repeating, Any thoughts?

[@philippeco2670]

Hello, thanks for yours videos. I have a question for you. Is it possible to use a variable in a collect function ? In my case I 5 five SharePoint's list and I want to create a single app who add/modify records in a list that I choose with a combox. I currently have a local collection and I want to update my SharePoint's lists. Thank you for your help. Regards. Philippe

[@kellycason8893]

Shane, does the bulk upload back to your data source only work with SharePoint? I attempted the same action but with Dataverse and am running into issues.

[@ShanesCows]

Kelly I thought I did it with Dataverse also. Are you maybe having a challenge getting the columns to line up exactly right? Not sure.

[@kellycason8893]

@@ShanesCows Hmm.. I didn't see Dataverse in this video but I'll triple check. Currently seeing rows added but the data is blank.

[@ShanesCows]

@@kellycason8893 Kelly I just did a test. It works the same. You just need to make sure you are getting teh column names correct and your data is correct. But it does work. 😎😎

[@hollymomo123]

Hi Shane, why can't we stack the collection? I have 100,000 rows of data with delegation issue.

[@ShanesCows]

I don't recommend it but I have heard of people doing it before.

[@suryaraochowdarykoduri]

Is there row limits on collection. How long can you keep the records in collections.

[@TahmidChoudhury-h1d]

How can I convert a EditForm which is set up to a excel datasource to a collection? I want to export the excel sheet instead of storing it there first (due to data loss). I was wondering can I still use the normal EditForm for saving data into collections?

[@khalidmullawns]

Hi Shane I am trying to create a greeting card app to wish on festival. I have an image which i am able to send over email through html I have a text which also goes fine over email But when what i see on app 'Text over image' in centre is not reflecting on the mail image. The text is either above or below the image. How do i merge these items when sending over email.

[@JohnGilbert-x7q]

Hi Shane, what did MS do with Collections and Variables? They have moved from the three dots at the top to an icon on the left. When you click the collection and 'view table', the screen turns into a hot mess with no header names, no formatting, nothing. Is there any way to go back?

[@skaterman8180]

Can you still push a collection to a SharePoint list using this formula? It is not letting me do this. Has something changed?? Thanks Collect(SPList, colList)

[@ShanesCows]

Yea, that should still work. Do you possibly have a column or two that is conflicting?

[@ShanesCows]

Try this video for tips on that style PowerApps Performance Optimization - Use Monitor to understand Patch of data sources kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJzTaoCod62BY9U

[@skaterman8180]

@@ShanesCows thanks for the quick response. So I figured it out. I got an error saying SharePoint Title column expected text and I was giving it a control. When I was collecting I forgot to do .text after the control. Dummy me

[@joseantoniocalabuiggonzale5097]

Congratulations, Shane, you are a gold mine, you are great, so, in the same collection I use about 2500 order lines, filtering the unnecessary, I know that they give about 1200, on these lines I am filtering about 15 between combo boxes, list boxes , searches and checks, and I also perform groupings, if I do not filter, marking a check takes 1 second, when using these filters and groupings, marking the check takes a few more seconds, it would be convenient to change the origin of the gallery, with the collection, for each filtering or grouping, that I use the clearcollect and use smaller parts in said collection, so that the check marking of each line does not take so long?

[@Firestorm3436]

You are amazing. Thank you so much!!

[@ShanesCows]

You're so welcome!

[@Adam-m3g5f]

I want to know how you prevent users from creating duplicate entries in the collection. I've set up a collection that displays, but I think I can expect a user to click the button more than once.

[@ShanesCows]

This video should help kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6GWkHiXbq1rmJI

[@mukeshsaroj8416]

How you are putting user profile picture in the list or gallary

[@ShanesCows]

They are stored in a document library in SharePoint. Then the list has a Hyperlink column set to Picture with the URL to the image.

[@majayong-r3n]

Hello! I'm Cha from Korea. And Many thanks to you! We've learned a lot of things from you and have a fun with powerplatform journey! So, May I ask you a question? I'm struggling make a collection when I put the data in the gallery because no button and no event function. Could you please advice me how to put the data in the collection? I mean make a collection using gallery without button. Thank you in advance!😂

[@SmartLearningAI]

so the collection is like an array in memory that gets saved to a table but cannot be used on forms...and it helps to cache data and save on network bandwidth....basically?

[@ShanesCows]

I like it!

[@HeyTezza]

I'm using ClearCollect to grab data from a sharpoint list, this is in On Start, the data is there on the home screen, however when I navigate to another screen, it's not there, I've placed a gallery on my home screen referencing the Collection, it shows On Start, however when I go to the other screen with the exact same Gallary I copied over, there's no data. I cant figure out what I'm missing, this seems to be working in Dev mode, but on my phone and the PowerApps I've installed on my PC (not browser) it's not working, I'm so lost. Also, if I use a button and paste in the exact same code that's in On Start, it does work. Anyone come across this and have any solutions to what I'm doing wrong? I've added a Clear button to remove everything in case, but still not working.

[@ShanesCows]

I have got nothing. I Have never seen a thing where teh collection is populated and then is empty on the next screen UNLESS there is some code that is clearing it as you go to that next screen.

[@HeyTezza]

@@ShanesCows I know right, I’ve checked all the code that could happen before after, nothing, it’s a new build and I’m so particular about adding random code, I feel like it’s something to do with not using the data source in the main screen. I thought there may have been some feature I hadn’t turned on/off. I’m going to continue building and contact you guys at the end to help me clear up anything I can’t streamline, so thanks for replying I’ll be in contact :)

[@EugeneNaumenko_Music]

Hi Shane!I am here since you got a few thousand of subscribers! Question: You mentioned that big amount of data is not a good way to store in a colleaction. But what about Dataverse? For example in my recent project I moved all data from Sharepoint to Dataverse and I guess I don´t need to be woried about delegation problems and I don´t need to store tables in variables because Dataverse is already fast way to get data, right?

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks for the support Eugene. Yes, if you are using Dataverse the performance might be fast enough that you don't need collections. :) That is Microsoft's direction. So try it out and go that route unless proven otherwise. :)

[@hdpredator11143103]

Shane can you please make a full tutorial on making a power app that utilizes being online but works in the event it loses internet connection? Ive only ever made one app and i have no idea why my job tasked me to create apps when i dont even know how to program. I literally have to read through a list of power app functions and then figure out how to make it work.

[@ShanesCows]

Did you see this video? kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKjFopd3bs9re80 😎

[@hdpredator11143103]

@ShanesCows Thank you!! You're so awesome dude!!!

[@joeparks812]

Where can I download this app?

[@ShanesCows]

Joe we have it available if you subscribe to the KZbin library at training.powerapps911.com But since you are a channel subscriber if you send me an email I will send this to you tomorrow

[@MrBubbles868]

Great video Shane

[@AnotherSociety2010]

Great Video Shane as always, when are you making the shenanigans video 🙂

[@ShanesCows]

I need to 🤣

[@kivah]

Collect logged in user with the rest of the stuff?

[@ShanesCows]

User().FullName would grab the logged in user's name. Learn about that function and others in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmWYXquqiZ2slZI

[@yuvpav210]

I'm having multiple records in my data source and some records having same Task ID's . If I edit any one record that changes has to be update automatically on another record which have same task id... Sir can you please help me with this... I tried multiple way If any one having idea please respond

[@laurengray6275]

Doing a power platform course on Coursera and I hear your voice!

[@ShanesCows]

Lauren which course? I have never done a Coursera class so a bit disturbing. 😳 Feel free to email shane at PowerApps911 dot com. Thanks

[@raf0809]

MVP indeed

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks 🙏

[@tricacole]

Collect(Test, Dataverse) with dataverse i get wierd numbers and ???

[@Grizzly2099]

Same - I had to switch to direct Dataverse Connections. I hope Microsoft will fix it soon.

[@Ifudjdjdkdjfjdjdj]

I love how you have gold nuggets scattered across your videos. Thank you so much for being truly awesome 🫡

[@ShanesCows]

Thank you so much for watching and appreciating the nuggets!

[@Ifudjdjdkdjfjdjdj]

You are more than welcome. I did follow your advise on using the collect function to bulk upload multiple records to a sharepoint list. Encountering some issues were some columns have been populated and others did not. All columns have the same name, not sure where my mistake is

[@aducaale328]

Thank you at least I know how collection now.

[@ShanesCows]

Awesome 🤩

[@gtoledo019]

Little help How to make a collection with a combo box choices

[@ShanesCows]

Collect(colStuff, ComboBox1.SelectedItems) that would do it 😊😊

[@annalan1895]

Hello, could I cooperate with you on promotional video about software? Thanks

[@ShanesCows]

No thank you. 😎 I don't do promotional videos.

[@michaelkelly3017]

Is there a Shane young but PowerBi 😅

[@jozw126]

Guyinacube are mvp in PowerBI

[@ahmadjamil15]

Guyinacube is the correct answer here.

[@jamesdouglas1787]

It says a lot about the maturity of this audience that this question got a clean answer :-D

[@ShanesCows]

I agree Guy In a Cube.

[@Loves-f3y]

Big dogs! :)

[@ShanesCows]

My favorite type of dogs. 😍

[@DomiVersaix]

uh-oh...this is my first app...I stacked collections...augh!