Beginners Guide Combobox & PowerApps with Basic Form

Tired of combo boxes driving you insane? Check out this video on combo boxes making them simple!
Easily convert a single line text field into a combo box in just a few minutes! Come check it out!
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:08 Adding field to Power Apps
1:48 Add space to out of the box Power App form
3:13 Change Text to ComboBox
4:20 Why use a combobox?
5:39 Fix the red X's
7:05 Defaultselecteditems combobox
8:40 Allow multiple values combobox
10:20 Turn a combo box into a single line text
12:00 Conclusion

[@jray1429]

You can also use char(10) to insert a new line after each item instead of or with the commas Great video by the way, I found it very helpful

[@andrewhess123]

Thanks for sharing J Ray!

[@juliamarrocos9887]

Solved the problem I was having! Thanks for the video!

[@andrewhess123]

Nice Work Julia! Happy New Year!!!

[@PowerAppsTutorial]

Wow, I had never seen that spacing trick you showed at the 2 min mark. Very cool!

[@andrewhess123]

Yeah, its a nice little hidden secret! Thank you for your continual support Darren.

[@bryang4002]

Andrew, thank you for the video! It has been helpful!

[@andrewhess123]

Thanks bryan hopefully my response helps! Sometimes its so hard to make sense just in these short messages 😀

[@RicardoSadaJapp]

Thanks! Amazing explanations.

[@andrewhess123]

Thanks for watching Ricardo!

[@bryonbrill]

7m-8m40s in is GOLD!!

[@andrewhess123]

I Love Gold! 😀

[@ravishirsath4118]

thank you bosss! you have helped and demonstrated genuine issue big thanks ....

[@andrewhess123]

Thanks for watching Ravi

[@notonurnelly]

Really useful Andrew

[@andrewhess123]

Thank you Jamie!

[@javierpereyra7098]

Nice video Andrew

[@andrewhess123]

Thank you Javier, glad it's helpful!

[@user-xs2mt9gg7d]

Hi Andrew, i´ve a question for you, how you do the table form the screen 2 when you see when submit your form? and how can you edit? greetings

[@jmstampe]

This is awesome stuff! Was curious if there exists a search functionality in a multiselect combo box?

[@andrewhess123]

You mean at like 5:00 ?

[@jmstampe]

@@andrewhess123 Ahhh! I missed that part. That’s awesome thanks for that.

[@andrewhess123]

@@jmstampe yep np :) there's little secrets all through my videos. If only I had time to label them all

[@nitinmahul]

Exactly what I was struggling with

[@andrewhess123]

I got a few more vids on ComboBox's, feel free to check em out! Thanks for watching Nitin

[@nitinmahul]

@@andrewhess123 sure I will

[@andrewhess123]

@@nitinmahul Here's one that was recent and pretty neat: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3-xcmB9eqllsMU&t

[@TangoNovemberTN]

Hi Andrew - Great video!! I've seen another comment relating to this where after initial edit and then view of a record in the custom form, although the combo box shows the correct text (the correct default selected item), on save a blank value gets written to the field (this is even with the Datacard Update Value being set to the combo box in the same way as your video: MyComboName.Selected.Title)?? Pulling hair! ;-)

[@andrewhess123]

Hey Tom, I'm going to have to look into it more.. I'm not sure what's going on with everyones combo boxes, but maybe a new video could help

[@andrewhess123]

Maybe since I published this video Microsoft changed something, not sure, but with all the questions maybe this will be a great topic for Monday's video

[@RohitDevmore]

THank you Andrew. at 11:36 , if you notice, we see concatenated value inside combobox . So there is no way to remove single items from choices in EDIT . In addition, it allowes to select same value again in combobox inside. Any suggestion please?

[@omarrashed2005]

Yes, please

[@sairamanmolu8954]

Tnaks for the Video..but nnot working in Edit form, can you help me

[@victoriacabodevila2026]

I like your videoo. I have a question ¿Can I move the items selected in the combobox from one origin list to destination list in sharepoint?

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Victoria! Thank you! Yes. You can do this. Using a patch statement on the destination list.

[@shwetataral2049]

Thank you for amazing video. I was scratching my head for hours. It worked with your suggestion. My combo box is a required field when entering the data. But it is showing error on edit as it is required field. But I got the value on the combo box suggested in vide. can you please help

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Shweta, I have newer videos on combo boxes too. It depends on how they are set up, classic and modern comboboxes are different. In this link I talk about setting defaultselecteditems: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hX-zemyZm5d9grMsi=HQD7tEJ8cXLSIjJ4&t=464

[@Xyp9X007]

Hey can you help me with a dropdown with input field so that if the options are not present the user can enter manually

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Xyp9X, the key to doing this is using another datasource, like another SharePoint list. And allowing the user to add to it. Then using that list as your dropdown choices.

[@PsYc87]

Hi Andrew, form is pointing to a SP list. Its automatically set my choice column in PowerApps as a 'DataCard' and the fx is Choices([@'Variation Tracking Register'].VariationDocuments). How would I write the function to point to datacard as its not a combo box? (I hope this makes sense)

[@andrewhess123]

I'm assuming a lot from your question, but I think you want to change your Update Property? On your card? The update property is what writes to SP.

[@skthalange]

Concat doesn't work. Any advice?

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Suresh, can you paste your Concat code? I've done many times successfully with the concat statement

[@bryang4002]

I have a combo box (CB) that pulls items from a separate SharePoint list and a DD that filters the items based on the CB. When I edit the form and don't change the data in the CB the form is acting like nothing has been selected. The CB shows the data, but the label (using to troubleshoot) doesn't show that anything was selected. How do you recommend setting up the CB so the data saved in SharePoint is not lost when editing. SharePoint Field: Single line text PowerApps: Combo box single item (I need the search option)

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Bryan, the DefaultSelectedItems property needs to be set up once that is set then it will populate the combobox based on the selection that was saved to SharePoint. In this example the label Concats the selected item, so if your combobox is working and the label is not, something must be wrong with the label. If you are just using combo box with one selection, you don't need to do all the label stuff and concat, just configure it like it was a dropdown. Hope this helps!

[@tharindaabeysinghe]

How do we patch multi selected items in combo box to excel?. it only patches a one item from combo box.

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Tharinda, you can convert that combo box to a text field with commas. Then patch it as a text as the one item.

[@notonurnelly]

Hi Andrew, Would having a multiselect people picker combo box connected directly to the Sharepoint People Data Type follow a similar method? I suspect its much harder to update the persons credentials to the field than writing the Concat Text selections to a text field. My use case is to select multiply colleagues and log their name in the SharePoint list people picker field.

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Jamie, I would try just using the out of the box people picker field directly with multi-choice. I'll have to try it out. I do know I've created my own people picker field using dropdowns before. Will check it out, not sure right off the top of my head.

[@notonurnelly]

@@andrewhess123 I have hit another problem when I return from the Gallery in edit mode after selecting an item my Combobox is populated but my label is blank. Therefore overwriting my next update with blanks or whatever new items I select in the Combobox. Any idea's Andrew I'm so close with this :(

[@notonurnelly]

The label is populated when I hard code a table into Items for the combobox ["Incidental","Coordinated"] but I want to use a SP column as the items for my combo box and get the value instead of the label.

[@andrewhess123]

@@notonurnelly I think when you say use the items for the combo box you are looking for a lookup type column like: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqq9aIGlbcecrZo&t

[@notonurnelly]

@@andrewhess123 Yes this is exactly what I have done for the Items in the combo box they are coming from a SP list. These items are being added and being removed from the label when I select them in the combo box and they are then saving to SP single line text field when I submit the form. The problem occurs when I return to the form in edit mode by clicking an item in the gallery. The label then appears blank thus either writing new selections to the label when I click them in the combo box or the label remains blank and this means I can submit but it overwrites SP with the blanks. Comobox Items = Filter('SP Site',FilterField="Filter Criteria").Label (Label is the field name) Label Text = Concat(cboSystemAccessed.SelectedItems,Label,", ") The above works perfectly when saving to SP from a newform. If I go back into the Form in Edit mode by selecting an item in the gallery the Label is blank. If I hard code a table into my combo box items rather than use a list (as you did in the video) Combo Box Items = ["Incidental","Coordinated","Third Option"] I then have to change the Label Text to swap Label for Value: (This works both ways fine) Concat(cboSystemAccessed.SelectedItems,Value,", ") Thank you for coming back to me on this.

[@JosephMarindi]

Create a combobox item on canvas app form and Populate the Combobox items on a canvas app form (not a model driven app) from a dataverse text column? Why is nobody doing that @Andrew Hess, please do a video on this

[@andrewhess123]

The main reason I don't have too many dataverse videos is because of the cost. But I can probably do a video in Dataverse for Teams. The premium license feature is too much for my company when we have

[@KM-hx2pv]

Hello, would you please help me with a suggestion? How would I be able to add each of the selected items of the combobox as an individual record to the collection? Is that possible? Thanks in advance :)

[@andrewhess123]

Hi K M, totally possible and probably much easier. Explaining through this comment would be difficult though :). Just create collection and give the columns a name and for each column/field you would write in the combo boxes items that are selected if true or false. It would be more difficult if there were a bunch of options in the combo box though, but if the combo box is only around 10 items, it would be much easier.

[@KM-hx2pv]

@@andrewhess123 Hi Andrew, thanks for your reply. I appreciate it. But I think I wasn't very clear on my question, maybe cause Im a little new to PowerApps. What I meant is: Lets say I have a collection with two column, Column A which gets values from a text input and Column B which gets values from a combobox. What I want to achieve is my collection to be populated with as much records/rows as the selected items of the combo box. So if I have chosen on the combobox item_1, item_2, item_3 and on the text input something like : ''text'' I would want my collection to look like this, thats bcs my end goal is to create some sort of a bulk load form. ---- Column A ----------- Column B ---------- Test | Item 1 Test | Item 2 Test | Item 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------- What I currently get is : --- Column A ----------- Column B ---------- Test | Item 1, Item 2, Item 3 Test | Item 1, Item 2, Item 3 Test | Item 1, Item 2, Item 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------- I dont wanna be a pain in the neck for you with my question cause I know its impossible to explain it via comment. But do you have any hint on how this could be done or if you have created any video on the past for this? Many thanks :)

[@andrewhess123]

@@KM-hx2pv Hi K M, looks totally possible, but I would have to try it out. The way to do it would be through a for each function. and for each item in column b you would write column a, and then This.Record for Column B. This may be a video I could do in the future. I will write it down. An no worries not annoying, this is perfect! I love people who give me ideas for content to make.

[@KM-hx2pv]

@@andrewhess123 Hello Andrew, FYI I solved it using this formula ForAll(Combobox.SelectedItems,Collect(collection_name,{ColumnA:TextInput.Text,ColumnB:ThisRecord.Value}))

[@andrewhess123]

@@KM-hx2pv Very nice, thanks so much for sharing! I appreciate that!

[@mustafahussainmohsin320]

I have followed the same thing but when I popluating the Combo Box Again by using {Value: Parent.Default} its populating it as a single value selected not as two for example: Region in table: Dubai, Sharjah in ComboBox it shows Dubai, Sharjah as a whole not like (Dubai) (Sharjah) as two different values selected. help??

[@andrewhess123]

Hi Mustafa, I will have to look at this closer I think I have fixed it in the past, but will need to double check how I did it.

[@jtprog7020]

Hi Andrews, I was debugging a PowerApps form that has a combo box for a SharePoint text field like your example. Everything is working but it throws a required field error for the combo box as soon as you open the update form even though there’s a valid value in the combo box. I deleted the original combo box and rebuilt it using your video approach but in the end it did not fix the problem. After a review I found the difference is that my form's combo box Items property uses a query and a result instead of a defined list and the datacard Update property has a .Result instead of a .Value for example CB1.Selected.Result. If I use the defined list like you did if works ok. Have you run across this or do you have any thoughts on this. Thanks

[@andrewhess123]

I believe .Result happens when you use a Distinct in your formula?

[@jtprog7020]

@@andrewhess123 You are correct.... here is some additional information. SharePoint list: People, Text Field: PR Items: SortByColumns( Distinct('People',PR), "Result") Datacard Update: cbPR1.Selected.Result

[@andrewhess123]

@@jtprog7020 so did you make the field required in SharePoint? If possible can you remove the required in SharePoint, and use logic in Power Apps instead, to make the submit button disabled until the field is not blank? Sometimes when things are required in SharePoint, Power Apps gets little bugs in it if you make the field required after creating the form.

[@jtprog7020]

I did confirm that the SharePoint list PR field is required. I don't think its an option to change that. Today I tried setting the "SortByColumns( Distinct('People',PR), "Result") " in a collection on the Screen OnVisible function and then I used the collection as the combobox Items list. The list works just fine but it still requires a Update .Result and the problem remains. I am wondering is I can convert the query results or the collection into a string to look like this ["Red", "Yellow", "Green"] and then use that for the Items so it will evaluate to .Value.

[@andrewhess123]

@@jtprog7020 Hi JT, would something like this work, in the update property? { Value:DataCardValue1.Selected.Result }