We will learn and understand the usage of JSON function in Power Apps. Before we start, make sure to subscribe to CRM Crate so that you can stay up to date in the field of Power Apps.

What is JSON?

The term “JSON” stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data and is often used when data is sent from a server to a web page.

JSON Syntax Rules

1. Data is in name/value pairs
2. Data is separated by commas
3. Curly braces hold objects
4. Square brackets hold arrays

The below example defines an animal object: an array of 3 animal records (objects):

{
"animal":[
    {"name":"Elephant", "region":"India"},
    {"name":"Tiger", "region":"India"},
    {"name":"Kangaroo", "region":"Australia"}
]
}

Understanding JSON() function in Power Apps

The Power FX’s JSON function returns the JavaScript Object Notation representation of a data structure as text so that it’s suitable for storing or transmitting across a network. ECMA-404 and IETF RFC 8259 describe the format, which is widely used by JavaScript and other programming languages.

JSON(DataStructure [, Format])

1. DataStructure – Required. The data structure to convert to JSON. Tables, records, and primitive values are supported, arbitrarily nested.
2. Format – Optional. JSONFormat enum value. The default value is Compact, which doesn’t add newlines or spaces and blocks binary data and unsupported columns.

There are multiple JSONFormat enums available in Power Apps. You can specify the optional “Format” argument / parameter to control how readable the result is and how unsupported and binary data types are handled. By default, the JSON output is set as compact with no unnecessary spaces or newlines, and unsupported data types and binary data aren’t allowed. You can combine multiple formats if you specify the & operator.

Covert a Power Apps Collection into JSON

In our scenario, we will convert the collection’s data into JSON. In the below given example, we have first created a new collection named “CRMCrateData” as given below.

ClearCollect( CRMCrateData,
    { UserName: "Prashant Tirlotkar",    Country: "India", ID: 123 },
    { UserName: "Omkar Rane",    Country: "India", ID: 456 },
	{ UserName: "Priya Gupta",    Country: "India", ID: 789 },
	{ UserName: "Srushti Deshmukh",    Country: "India", ID: 333 },
	{ UserName: "Ishita Kothari",    Country: "India", ID: 444 },
	{ UserName: "Sourav Pal",    Country: "India", ID: 555 },
	{ UserName: "Prashant Miraje",    Country: "India", ID: 666 },
	{ UserName: "Vipul Kithani",    Country: "India", ID: 777 },
	{ UserName: "Vrinda Patel",    Country: "India", ID: 888 }
);

Later, a new variable is created which stores the converted JSON data as given below.

Set(varJSON, JSON(CRMCrateData,Compact))

The below animations demonstrate the implementation of Collection to JSON transformation in Power Apps.

Thus, we understood the JSON function & learned to convert a Collection into JSON in Power Apps.

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