In Dataverse, the primary column serves as a key identifier that plays a crucial role in how data is displayed and managed. Whether you’re working with important data or adding records manually, the primary column must contain a unique value.
If you need to update a column value using JavaScript, especially the primary column within a model-driven app, here’s how to do it effectively.

Scenario: Imagine you are importing data into a Dataverse table by copying and pasting from external sources. During this process, there’s a risk that the primary column might end up with incorrect or missing values.

This issue becomes particularly problematic when handling more than 1,000 records manually correcting the primary column would be time-consuming and inefficient.

Since the primary column in Dataverse is essential for uniquely identifying records, you need a way to fix or assign values to it automatically.
This is where changing the primary column value JavaScript becomes extremely useful.

In the case described here, some phone numbers and ID column values have been swapped. While the correct IDs are stored in another column, “Student ID,” you cannot set that column as the primary one. This leads to inconsistencies in how the records are identified. To address this issue, we need a workaround to copy the values from the “Student ID” column to the primary column (referred to as the “ID” column in this scenario) using JavaScript when the form loads.

Here are the steps to automate the process using JavaScript, ensuring that the primary column is populated with a unique and non-modifiable value for each record.

Step 1: The following JavaScript code is used to copy the Student ID column values to the ID column.

…
function setIDValue(executionContext) {
// Get the form context
var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext();

// Get the value from the ‘cr32f_studentid’ attribute
var Id = formContext.getAttribute(“cr32f_studentid”).getValue(); // Use getValue() to get the value

// Set the value in the ‘cr32f_id’ attribute
formContext.getAttribute(“cr32f_id”).setValue(Id);

// Save the form to persist changes
formContext.data.entity.save();
}
…

Step 2: To run JavaScript updates data in a table column, you need to add the internal names of both columns. To find these, go to the Dataverse table, then navigate to the columns section, and copy the logical names of both columns.

Step 3: After saving the JavaScript, go to the Dataverse table, navigate to the form, click on ‘JavaScript’ from the left navigation pane, and then click on ‘Add Library’.

Step 4: After clicking on ‘Add Library,’ click on ‘New Web Resource,’ select the file, provide a name for the file, and then click ‘Save’ and ‘Publish .’

Step 5: Now, search for that file, select it, and click on ‘Add.’

Step 6: Select the form, then click on ‘Events’ on the right side. In the events section, click on ‘On Load.’

Step 7: After clicking on ‘Event Handler,’ select the JavaScript file, enter the function name, and check ‘Pass execution context as the first parameter.’ Then click ‘Done,’ and save and publish the application.

Step 8: After that, when you click on existing data, the script will run and set the Student ID value to the ID column.[JP5]

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can automate the process of updating the primary column with the correct values from another column, ensuring that each record in your Dataverse table has a unique and accurate primary identifier. This approach not only saves time but also improves data integrity, making your data management more efficient and reliable. For organizations working with complex Microsoft ecosystems, especially those guided by SharePoint Premium Consultants, this kind of automation ensures seamless integration, better governance, and smarter data handling across platforms.

If you’re building a user-friendly app with Power Apps, chances are you’ve used Table control to display lists of data in a clean, tabular format. However, one limitation developers often face is the inability to directly add custom columns like you would in a gallery. But don’t worry, there’s a simple workaround!

In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to add a custom column to a Table control by extending the data source using calculated fields. And yes, we’ll keep it easy and beginner-friendly!

Real-World Scenario

Let’s say you’re working with SharePoint data, and your list contains columns like:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Joining Fees (which is a currency column)

Now, when you connect this list to a Power Apps Data Table control, you might notice two things:

1. The Joining Fees column shows up as just a number it doesn’t look like currency.
2. There’s no way to show a Full Name by combining the first and last names.

That’s where a small trick using Power Apps formulas comes in handy.

This is the SharePoint data that I want to display in the Power Apps table control.

I have now added a custom column in Power Apps and populated it with the data, which is visible in the table control shown in the image below.

As we can see here, the ‘Joining Fees’ column in SharePoint is a currency column. However, when we add it to the table control in Power Apps, it doesn’t appear as a currency column. So, we’ll explore how to format this using a custom column. We’ll also look into how we can merge the ‘First Name’ and ‘Last Name’ columns in this Power Apps table column guide.

Step-by-Step Guide to Add a Custom Column

Step 1: Use the Add Columns Function

First, select your Table control and go to its Items property. Instead of just binding your SharePoint list directly, use the AddColumns function to create custom columns:

This creates two new columns: Full Name and Formatted Fees.

Step 2: Update the Table Fields

Click on the Table control, then go to the Fields property pane on the right.

• Click Edit Fields
• Remove the old columns (like First Name, Last Name, and Joining Fees)
• Click Add field and select the new custom columns (Full Name and Formatted Fees)

Step 3: Rename the Column Headers

You can rename the column headers to make them user-friendly:

• Click on each column in the Table control
• Go to the Header Text property
• Change it to something like “Full Name” or “Joining Fees”

What You Get in the End

Now, your Table control will display:

• A clean Full Name column combining first and last names
• A Joining Fees column formatted as currency

This not only makes your app look more professional but also improves the user experience.

Bonus Tips

• You can use the same method to add columns like Age (from Birthdate), Status Labels, or even calculated totals.
• Keep your formulas simple for better performance.
• Always test on a small set of data first.

Conclusion

Customizing a Table control in Power Apps doesn’t have to be complicated. With a simple formula and a few clicks, you can shape your data the way you want. By using AddColumns, you gain the ability to enhance your app’s visuals and functionality all without using collections or complex logic.

This trick is especially helpful when you need to merge fields, apply formatting, or display user-friendly data views. Keep experimenting, and you’ll discover how flexible and powerful power apps development services can be.

Handling large or complex datasets in Power Apps can quickly hit limitations—especially with Power Automate’s manual trigger inputs capped at 20. This can complicate efforts to automate processes that involve SharePoint or other data sources. Fortunately, by using JSON parsing within Power Apps, you can work around these restrictions and unlock far more flexible, scalable data handling.

In this guide, we’ll show you step by step how to set up and use Parse JSON Power Automate and Power Apps, so you can retrieve, process, and display SharePoint list data efficiently in your apps. Whether you’re building internal tools or streamlining business workflows, this approach will help you get the most out of the Power Platform.

Follow these steps to set up your SharePoint list and Power Apps flow for JSON parsing:

Step 1: Create a list in the SharePoint site with the following columns:

•   Student Name: Single Line of Text
•   Birth Date: Date Only
•   Course Name: Single Line of Text
•   Course Price: Currency
•   Course Expire Year: Number

Step 2: Create a new blank canvas in Power Apps. Then, from the left navigation menu, click on Power Automate and create a new flow.

Step 3: After clicking “Create new flow,” click “Create from blank.

Step 4: After creating the flow, add an action to “Get items” and select the site and list from where you will retrieve the data.

Step 5: SharePoint Get Items action returns up to 100 records by default. To increase the limit, go to the action’s settings menu, turn on pagination, and enter a number in the threshold field. The maximum value is 5000.

Step 6: Add a “Select” action from the Data Operation after the “Get items” action. Using the “Select” action, you can specify which columns you need.

Step 7: Add a “Power Apps – Respond to a PowerApp or flow” action at the end of the flow. Add a text type output called “Results.” Note that the “Select” action output does not appear in the Dynamic content.

Step 8: To get the output, there are two ways. First, add a “Compose” action and put the “Select” output in the “Compose.” Then, put the “Compose” action output in the “Respond to a PowerApp or flow” action.

Step 9: Another way you can manually type the expression like this.

Step 10: Now, add a button to the screen in Power Apps. When this button is pressed, we want to load the flow output into a collection. On the button’s On Select property, we need to create a collection.

Step 11: To display the data on the screen, we have added a data table. In the data table’s data source, we selected the collection we created. Then, we chose the fields we wanted to show in the table.

Conclusion

This guide offers a thorough walkthrough for integrating power apps Parse JSON to manage data in Microsoft Power Automate. By following the steps, users can set up Parse JSON in power automate, streamlining automation and data handling. From creating SharePoint lists to displaying data, it enhances workflow efficiency in the Power Platform ecosystem.

For businesses looking to optimize these processes, partnering with power apps development services can further improve solution design and implementation.