How to Create a Power Apps Collection On OnStart Property?

Someone recently asked me if I could create a collection in Power Apps using the OnStart property. If yes, would this impact the app? For all these questions, I can say yes, we can create a Collection on the Power Apps OnStart property of the app without affecting anything.

In this article, I will explain how to create a Power Apps Collection on OnStart property using manually step by step. Also, we will discuss how to create a collection from a SharePoint list using Power Apps OnStart property.

At last, we will see how to sort a Power Apps collection alphabetically either in ascending or descending order.

Power Apps OnStart Property

The Power Apps OnStart Property runs when the user starts a Power Apps app. The OnStart property allows the user to get and store data in the collection by using the collect function.

Create a Power Apps Collection On OnStart Property

Here, I will show you how to create a Power Apps collection OnStart using two ways:

1. Create a collection OnStart of a Power Apps manually [without any data source]
2. Create a collection OnStart of a Power Apps using the SharePoint list

Create Power Apps Collection Manually

Here, I will show you how to create a Power Apps collection OnStart using the data manually.

I have a Power Apps canvas app related to furniture delivery. The app has a gallery control; when the user OnStarts an app, it displays the furniture arriving soon.

Follow the below steps to achieve this:

• Create a Power Apps blank canvas app.
• Insert two image controls of the furniture on the screen and turn off the visible properties of both images.

• In the Tree view, Click on the App [left-hand side] -> Select the OnStart property and apply the code below:

OnStart = 
  Collect(
    colNewlyFurinitureArrived,
    {
        Furniture: "Nest Sofa",
        'Arriving Date': "08/09/2023",
        Image: Sofa
    },
    {
        Furniture: "Dining Table",
        'Arriving Date': "11/09/2023",
        Image: 'Dining Table'
    }
)

Where,

1. Collect:- Collection function name.
2. colNewlyFurinitureArrived:- Provide your collection name.
3. Furniture, Arriving Date, Image: These are the columns where the new types of furniture, arriving date, and image will be stored.

• Click on the App, select the More options (…) -> Then click on Run OnStart

• On the left-hand side, click on the Variables (x) -> Expand the Collections -> Then select the Collection name, click on the More options (…) -> Then click on View Table.

• We can see that the Power Apps collection will be created without using any data source.

Now, we will display the Power Apps collection using a Flexible height gallery control.

• Insert the Flexible height Gallery, select the Items property, and then provide the code as the collection name:

Items = colNewlyFurinitureArrived

Where,

• colNewlyFurinitureArrived: Created Power Apps collection name

• Now, the gallery control will be connected to a created Power Apps collection as shown below:

This is how to create a Power Apps Collection OnStart manually [without using any data source].

Create Power Apps Collection Using SharePoint List

I will show you how to create a Power Apps collection OnStart using a SharePoint list here.

I have a SharePoint list regarding [iPhone Offers], which has different fields like:

Using that SharePoint list, we will create a Power Apps collection using the OnStart property.

• Create a Power Apps blank canvas app.
• Click on the Connect to data from the middle of the Screen page -> A dialogue box will appear [left-hand side], Click on the Add data.

• Now expand Connectors. Select the data source as SharePoint, then select the SharePoint site you want to connect to.

• Now, select the SharePoint list, Then click on the Connect button. Now, the SharePoint list will be connected to a Power Apps canvas app.

• In the Tree view, Click on the App [left-hand side] -> Select the OnStart property -> Then apply the SharePoint list collection formula.

OnStart = Collect(coliPhoneOffers,'iPhone Offers')

Where,

1. coliPhoneOffers: Provide your Collection name.
2. iPhoneOffers: SharePoint list name.

• Click on the App, select the More options (…) -> Then click on Run OnStart

• On the left-hand side, click on the Variables (x) -> Expand the Collections -> Then select the Collection name, click on the More options (…) -> Then click on View Table.

• Now, we can see that the Power Apps collection will be created from a SharePoint list as shown below:

Now, we will display the Power Apps collection from a SharePoint list using horizontal gallery control.

• Insert the Horizontal Gallery, Select the Items property, and then provide the code as the collection name:

Items = 'iPhone Offers'

Where,

iPhone Offers: Created Power Apps collection name

• Change the Layout section:

Layout = Tile and subtitle on overlay

• Now the gallery control looks like the below image:

• Click on the Offer field -> In the Properties pane, change the Color property to black and the Fill property to green as shown below:

When the user opens or runs the app, they should receive an iPhone offer which are available as shown below:

We can create a Power Apps collection using the SharePoint list as a data source by app OnStart property.

Also, you may like some more Power Apps tutorials:

• How to Filter Power Apps Collection
• Power Apps Collection Contains
• Power Apps Collection Contains
• add text input to Power Apps collection
• Sort Power Apps Collection

Conclusion

In this post, I have covered a main topic, such as how to create a Power Apps Collection using the OnStart property. We also covered how to create a collection using a SharePoint list with the OnStart property with a simple scenario.

Preeti Sahu

Preeti Sahu is an expert in Power Apps and has over six years of experience working with SharePoint Online and the Power Platform. She is the co-author of Microsoft Power Platform: A Deep Dive book. As a Power Platform developer, she has worked on developing various tools using Power Apps and Power Automate. She also makes Microsoft 365 videos and shares them on YouTube.