Uploading Files to Document Library using PowerApps

[Sidhant_02]

Hi everyone,
I was working on a requirement wherein I had to upload files (file type can pdf,jpg, txt,etc and it can be more than 1) using Power Apps. So for that I created a Document library in my SharePoint site (named: DEMO_PowerApps) and the document library is named ('IZ'). In this Document library I have created few sub-folders like the following:

To upload files in the Document library I am using Power Automate Flow which is as follows:

So here basically I have created an Instant cloud flow and created a condition (which always evaluates to false) and have used the SendEmail activity in which I am defining the attachments (like name of File, Folder path, content) have used Dynamoic Expression : Ask in Power Apps (for the Yes Part) and then I am using the same defined parameters in Creating a SP file in the Document library.
Now one is issue is  when I am uploading the file in the Folders I am able to only see till Level-1 folders like in my Document Library (Intelizign) there are the following levels:
Main Level:
Folders: PLM, Software Services

(In Software Services: Mendix , Polarion). So currently the drop-down is only showing till Main level the other nested folders are not displayed and the second thing is there are duplicates:

So the flow is working fine (like I selected Intelizign/PLM) and uploaded a file pdf it gets uploaded properly in that file location.

So my final expectation is like this:

In the main drop down it will list all the folders at the very first level (here it will be PLM, Software services). Based on the selection made in drop down 1 (Suppose users selects PLM) then only the respective file or sub-folders should be shown (like in PLM there is only one sub-folder so it only show that folder in the second drop-down).
For Type: Drop down there will some choices that will be shown user can select one or more and that should be associated with all the attachments.

2. Associating Types with all the attachments
Now my upload screen looks:

I want to add another column in the document library named: Type which is a choice column (which will have certain choices) and the choices will be dependent based on the Destination choice selected.
Example:
Assume we have following choices: security, implementation, data-consume, certification, api.
So if user selects PLM then only show: implementation, data-consume, certification.
For Software Services: security, implementation, api.
And then after clicking on Upload the selection (type) should also get associated with the uploaded file, if user has uploaded 3 files and has chosen Type: security,implementation should get that value associated with it (multi-selection).

Do let me know on how to proceed further, hoping for some help for this topic.

Regards,
Sidhant.

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

Using cascading dropdowns is an excellent method to use in combination with what I suggested, but then it's easier to use Text type columns instead of Choce columns.

A way to managed the relations between the items in the dropdowns is to use a separate list. This will enable you to add further levels down the line as well:

CategoriesList

Level 1	Level 2	etc.
PLM	implementation
PLM	data-consume
PLM	certification
PLM	api
Software Services	implementation
Software Services	data-consume
Software Services	certification
etc.	etc.

The first dropdown's Item property should display all unique values in the Level 1 column:

Distinct(
   CategoriesList,
   'Level 1'
)

 The second dropdown should show all unique values in the level 2 column, filtered by the selected in dropdown1:

Distinct(
   Filter(
      CategoriesList,
      'Level 1' = DropDown1.Selected.Value
   ),
   'Level 2'
)

You can continue using the same pattern to add further levels.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
Thanks for the response, to be more precise I was looking for something like this:

So as you can see if the first drop-down is selected then value is filtered -> Again if user wants to filter more data and select some value in 2nd drop-down (which is based on the drop-down 1 selection), similar to what we had done earlier in the uploading file part:

Like there will be the following drop-downs based on that filtering is done. 

Also have you created a separate list named CategoriesList which has 2 choice columns Level -1 and Level-2, I did not get how the Level-1 and Level-2 is related in a list.

Previously we did this:

Regards,
Sidhant.

[Sidhant_02]

Like the Document Library structure will be like this:

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

With this new solution, you can get rid of folders and all is saved in the root of the Intelizign list. New columns are are to be added to this list: 'Level 1', etc. that will have a value that corresponds with the options that are managed in the CategoryList. As mentioned in my previous post, it's easier to implement this using Text type columns.

This makes the Intelizign list look something like:

Intelizign

Name	Level 1	Level 2 (Tags)
Capture11.png	PLM	Implementation
FilteUploadWithTags1.png	PLM	data-consume
pdf.pdf	PLM

The 'Level 1' (etc.) columns in the Intelizign list can then be used for filtering.

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
So as you suggested I have created a new list named CategoriesList with the two text columns named Level -1 and Level -2:

Then for testing purpose I have a created a new Document library named IZ, in which I am using the Lookup column that references the column values from the categories List but here the issue that I have seen there is repetation of the values 

But in Power Apps on using the expression that you suggested the duplicates are avoided

And now once this is done how to filter the records and then also provide an option to view them in a new tab.
And to provide an option to add new files.

Regards,
Sidhant.

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

The issue you describe would be avoided if 'Level1' and 'Level2' columns in the IZ list were implemented as a Text type column, not a LookUp type. 

In any case you should encourage users to use the Power App instead of the SharePoint User Interface. If you want this to work as well in the SharePoint UI, perhaps you better ask the question in the SharePoint community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/bd-p/SharePoint_General

[Sidhant_02]

Okay, the thing is I was just using the SharePoint UI interface to create some test data and then most of the part was going to be done in Power Apps, so add the test data instead of creating the columns (single-line text) I decided to make use of the same values from the CategoryList
But I will ask about this in the SharePoint community as well.

Previously (for uploading files) to SharePoint Document Library based on Levels you had suggested some expression:

(For the main Level it works but there is repetition of values so I tried using Distinct but gives an error, so how to avoid this). Also for the level-1 (sub-folders inside on selection of the main level you had given the following expression, but it is displaying blank values)

Is there anything that I have missed. 

Regards,
Sidhant.

[BCBuizer]

Hi @Sidhant_02 ,

The whole point of using categories is to get rid of the use of folders so things can be made delegable. Please store all your files in the root of the library and use categories (Level1 etc.) for storing / retrieving files.

[Sidhant_02]

Yes, I got your point that at a later stage Folders in the Document Library wont be delegable so it is better we upload all the files in the root level itself add some meta-data like Tags and Levels to differentiate it. 
Currently I have created a document library where I am storing in the root level have added the Leve-1 and Level-2, for the repetition on the SharePoint UI side, I will ask about this on the SharePoint community.
 

[Sidhant_02]

Hi @BCBuizer ,
Figured out the blank value being displayed it was due to the value by default was pointing to Compliance Id which I changed it to Name and got the values.
But now I was implementing the cascading drop down structure: 
Scenario: Main Level: India, Germany
(Folder: India) : Sub-Folder : Training , File1 Tag: security, File2  Tag: implementation [Training {Folder}: PPT <- filename]
(Folder:Germany): Sub-folders: Security, POC's
POC's : LoginPoc.docx   Tag: implementation
Security: Azure.docx   Tag: security

So based on the selection in the main drop-down all the files and folders should be displayed in the gallery and the level-1 drop-down will only be displayed if there are any sub-folders else it won't be shown.

So I created a collection On-start of the app which keeps all the folders in one collection and files in one collection:
ClearCollect(foldersCollection,Filter(TrialLibrary,IsFolder=true));
ClearCollect(filesCollection,Filter(TrialLibrary,IsFolder = false));

//Here: TrialLibrary is the name of the document library
So now to display the level-1 files and folders on the On-Change property of the level-0 drop-down I am trying to concatenate both the collections based on the selection made:

So I am not sure how to resolve this, is there anything wrong with this?.

Based on the collection I was going to use the same to decide whether the Level-1 dropdown should be shown or not (if there are any more sub-folders in the Level-0 selection)
like this: CountRows(SelectedFolderCollection) > 0