SharePoint Online List Form PowerApp zip file difference between PS5 and PS7

Question

We have several SharePoint Online List form Power Apps. We export and import them to different site collections in our tenant [DEV/TEST/ACCEPTANCE/PROD]. This requires to change the datasources.json file that is in the zip file when you export the app. We use a script to achieve this. This script unzips the export, unzips the .msapp file. changes the datasources.json file in the .msapp file and makes a new .msapp file with zip. We rezip the entire app which we import in Power Platform. This was working fine.

We now moved to PowerShell 7 on our dev machines. Since this change the zip file can be imported but the app doesn't work after import. We get a file not found error when editing the app. When we revert back to PowerShell 5 the app can be imported and works fine.

We make use of the default Compress-Archive cmdlet to zip the file. When inspecting the zip files we see that there is a difference. When we user Compress-Archive in PowerShell 5 file paths are combined using a "". In PowerShell 7 file paths are combined using a "/".

Why can't we import a zip file that is using "/" as a seperator? I think both should work.

Answer 1

The best practice is to use pack/unpack features of Power Platform CLI.

But, as your initial question is about to zip/unzip, it's better to use tools like 7Zip or tar. Native PowerShell (Compress-Archive) or .NET function ([System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory) will not work as the file will not be recognized.

Sample to recreate a zip with tar:

tar -a -c -f "my-powerapps.zip" *

Sample to recreate a zip with 7Zip in PowerShell:

$aZipfile = "my-powerapps.zip"
$aDirectory = "C:\repos\my-powerapps\"
[string]$pathTo7ZipExe = "$($Env:ProgramFiles)\7-Zip\7z.exe"
[Array]$arguments = "a", "-tzip", $aZipfile, $aDirectory, "-r"
& $pathTo7ZipExe $arguments

Tested with my team for years, but now you use PAC CLI!

Answer 2

I found this post on StackOverflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/77501267/how-to-authomatically-modify-msapp-files-using-azure-function-apps

It pointed me in the direction of this dotnet Power Platform CLI tool: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerApps-Language-Tooling/blob/master/README.md

I am now unpacking and packing my .msapp file using this tool and rezipping the app using Compress-Archive and I can import, edit and publish my app.