Create a Modern People Picker Experience in Power Apps | Combo Box Tips

[@Rich-hm9ux]

FINALLY! Yes! I will have to give this a try. Been waiting on this for a months!

[@RezaDorrani]

Hope you like it!

[@ryaniwanowski]

This is fantastic, Reza! Many of us have been struggling to get the new combo box to work as a people picker without much success. We just figured it was still in preview, and Microsoft just haven't worked all the bugs out, so we've been stuck using the classic people picker until now! Thanks! Now, I need to figure out how to use the new profile badge to show when we're available, as seen in your video here.

[@RezaDorrani]

I'm glad this helps! The new profile badge is great for showing availability and other useful information. To get availability info, you would need to query graph api or teams api.

[@ryaniwanowski]

@RezaDorrani by chance, do you have a video of how to do that or maybe planning on one in the future? Thanks in advance!

[@RezaDorrani]

I dont have one. No plans for it at the moment.

[@sankhlayashraj]

This was super Reza. Thank you once again for a great video.

[@RezaDorrani]

You're most welcome

[@moechaba5322]

Another wicked video. Thank you so much for all the videos for the last year Mr Reza. Happy holidays

[@RezaDorrani]

Happy holidays!

[@spen2431]

Always amazing. Thanks for sharing Reza ! ✨✨

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@aducaale328]

Thank you Reza much appreciated. You have just made understand a whole concept. Will forever indebted to tou 🙏🏽

[@RezaDorrani]

You are most welcome!

[@WillCooper1]

Very clever - thanks for the detailed instructions!

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome

[@dougydoe]

Very clean and useful insight, Reza. Currently using only a handful of the modern controls like the dropdown but hopefully expecting them to go GA so we can use them without fear. The feel are much more clean than the classic ones so looking forward to using them.

[@RezaDorrani]

I can tell you this much that GA is much sooner than you think. Hint: let's talk about it in the new year

[@dougydoe]

Can't wait.🎉🎉🎉

[@yoginathbadadale]

You answered my question setting up with default value ❤

[@RezaDorrani]

Perfect!

[@Poryotis]

Great videos as always. Even though the classic combobox is dated, it's still the only one you can use images in the items.

[@RezaDorrani]

Yes, the classic combo box does have the advantage here - displaying images.

[@MikeGlee]

Great video. It would be nice if the new "modern" control had the same functionality and ease of use as the classic control though 😁

[@RezaDorrani]

Then I would not be making this video 😉

[@koki2942]

Thanks, Reza! As always, your video was very helpful. I was having trouble with the Modern combobox, specifically the people picker. In my case, the people picker is multi-select, and I couldn't get the combobox to hold the selected values. I wish you would do a tutorial for multi-select as well. 😊

[@RezaDorrani]

Currently, the multi select option does not work well with modern combo box as the searching feature is not effective with modern combo box. That is the main reason why I did not include it in the video.

[@neeljithin8338]

Finally, we don’t need to import the classic combo . Thanks mate. Do we need to do parse json technique to find out what the office365 schema is ?

[@RezaDorrani]

The steps are as shown in video. There is no need of parse json.

[@Argentinian]

Hi Reza, thank you so much for the video and for all your contributions to the community. I wanted to ask: what if I want to use the combobox outside of a form so that it allows searching for people and saving those selections in a SharePoint list or Dataverse? I tried doing this a moment ago, but I couldn't get it to work.

[@RezaDorrani]

In that case you would more or less be using the patch function. Patch syntax would be similar to what I showed for default value of datacard

[@VASANTHKUMARC-u6f]

thanks for sharing, its awesome. How about the multi people picker patching using new modern control ?

[@RezaDorrani]

Currently, for multi select use classic combo box.

[@Wizard_puncher]

Thank you!

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome

[@olivlum]

Hello, thanks for all of your videos. There is something missing in this one : what about the multiple selection ??

[@RezaDorrani]

It is not missing. It is something that I did not cover at all. For multi select - I would recommend to continue using the classic combo box

[@aishwaryagorthi5288]

Such an amazing video thankyou so much ! Do you think this modern control can support more than one search term I mean along with display name can we add mail id in the search criteria ? And display both mail id and given name in the combo box ?

[@RezaDorrani]

Search criteria for what is shown in video works with both display name and email. You can try it out. Currently, modern combo box control can only display a single value.

[@naidukumapatla1378]

Fantastic one Reza, I am currently using classic control for this. Is there a way we could show Display Name and Job Title below the display name in it, similar to the one classic control that allows for it? Have added both fields, however only the Top one is visible. Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

Currently, modern only allows showing a single value

[@naidukumapatla1378]

@ thanks Reza for confirming, much appreciated

[@gunasekaran4288]

The look and topic are great, but I need help connecting the combo box and People Picker to the respective gallery. Currently, the gallery displays data based on the default first value. Is there a way to include an "All" option in the combo box?

[@RezaDorrani]

I do not have a video reference on the mentioned scenario and would have to try it out to know the options. I will recommend checking or posting your query on forums in case someone has done something similar community.powerplatform.com/

[@manniberger989]

Thx for the Video. Great as always. But i have a problem with the new Combobox when using it as a people picker with multiselect on and search. When you first search for users you can multiselect (with checkboxes) the users, but what if i need to add other users with other names? How can i search for them? thx in adv.

[@RezaDorrani]

That's exactly the reason why I did not show multi select. Currently modern combobox is not a good option for that. I would suggest using classic one for that scenario.

[@manniberger989]

Thx 👍

[@zhisonghuo]

Thank you, Reza, for the video. I followed your instructions and noticed an issue with the modern combo box. It becomes difficult to display results when I search for text, and selecting a result from the search often leads to a blank outcome, especially when choosing a person. Could this be due to the functionality being unstable at the moment?

[@RezaDorrani]

If you see the video closely again, I do talk about this limitation and also demo it. There is currently no workaround for it other than using the classic combobox

[@brianremsing7961]

Any recommendations for multiple default selected users?

[@RezaDorrani]

It can be made multi select. However based on my experience, the Modern Combo Box is not well equipped to handle that scenario at the moment

[@uchandup6292]

Dear @Reza, we can use modern controls (its showing preview) for Production enterprise apps ?

[@RezaDorrani]

You can as long as you accept what challenges a preview feature can bring. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/canvas-apps/working-with-experimental-preview

[@albertomendoza3763]

Hola Reza, sabes como puedo cambiar de membresia bronze a gold?, muchas gracias.

[@RezaDorrani]

Channel membership details - check question 5 thepoweraddicts-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/rdorrani_thepoweraddicts_onmicrosoft_com/EbvjdBY80QRGkT6svJEmzZwBz64PNYQDRvKHm8eRHEYe6Q?rtime=c5EBcvvn3Eg

[@gunasekaran4288]

one doubt, how to join membership and if i join sliver. can i download learn this flow and Power apps.?

[@RezaDorrani]

Membership details thepoweraddicts-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/rdorrani_thepoweraddicts_onmicrosoft_com/EbvjdBY80QRGkT6svJEmzZwBz64PNYQDRvKHm8eRHEYe6Q?rtime=y_WHtcT33Eg

[@petervanvliet1192]

I was already using this people picker in my app. Your explanation is helping to make this better, but the empty selection remains strange. I understand how it works, so when you click outside the combo box it will fill in the name and when you tab out of the combo box . When you do nothing it will show what was found, but in the background it appears to be complete.

[@RezaDorrani]

That is definitely a bug that hopefully gets fixed once the Modern Combo Box control goes GA

[@petervanvliet1192]

Yes, for now in am informing the users with a text line telling what to do, click or tab.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@petervanvliet1192 good idea

[@erenatis]

@@RezaDorrani Really looking forward to some of the modern fields to go GA so we can reliably use them 🤞

[@RezaDorrani]

@@erenatis very very soon. I can tell you that much.

[@Rich-hm9ux]

I am curious what Power Apps authoring version you are running. I am on version: 3.24111.12, which shows as "recommended" but I do not see the "Trigger Output" option under the Combo box control properties.

[@RezaDorrani]

Use the highest version you see in that list.

[@Rich-hm9ux]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks, yes, I did and it all seems to be working! I like how you thought of how to make sure you can save a blank value for the person column. That was something I was struggling with previously. Great job on this! And thanks for including the steps for showing the user image. Oh and BTW, I went to TechCon Dallas 2024 a few weeks ago and all the Power Apps users know who you are. You are a genuine Power Apps celebrity, sir.

[@RezaDorrani]

​@@Rich-hm9ux Thanks so much and 💗 to everyone

[@crullmar]

Why is the modern people picker not already set up like this like the legacy one.

[@RezaDorrani]

Because it is in preview + even the legacy one has challenges as shown in video

[@elseb]

You have good ideas but the solutions are far from clean, It's possible that the reason is the preview status of the controls, but just like your table video when you cut the video because of the random resets, here you have to select option twice at 10:55 because it doesn't work correctly. I've tried using modern combo with office365 connector a while ago and the search is very clunky, sometimes you have to delete a letter to show results. Unfortunately all that is a no go for good UX, hopefully this will change with more modern controls going GA.

[@RezaDorrani]

Please check video again as I do show that clunky experience in the demo (later in video) and Yes this is because it is in preview. I made this video as a lot of folks asked me if this is even possible with the modern controls. Sometimes it is not about clean solutions but what options are available.

[@elseb]

@@RezaDorrani Fair enough, don't get me wrong I love your vids, and I'm all for creative solutions, although again some of them have a really good use case now, some unfortunately we have to wait to be usable at all.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@elseb I understand. This one is specific to a ton of asks I received on this topic.

[@surrealist26]

Hello Reza, it could work so well, but currently it is not productively usable. After entering and selecting the target person, the display name is not adopted in the COMBOBox. After the COMBOBox loses focus and the person is then selected, the name is adopted. This behavior is unacceptable for UX....

[@RezaDorrani]

Hopefully the combo box focus challenge is resolved soon. Note: it is a preview control and I made this video as I had a lot of folks asking for this.

[@jadam2438]

I agree with this point i am not using the combox as people picker for this specific reason. When you select it, it doesnt give the indication that it actually selected. I tried it with real users and they were very annoyed with the glitch

[@Rich-hm9ux]

Reza, I have been testing your solution for the past day and here are my observations. When you start to type someone's name and wait for results, no results show. You have to start typing a second time or maybe delete some letters and then it will show results. Then when you click on a result, it does not show as the selected user. You have to click out of the control and then click back in the control and click the result again and then the user's name will show as the selected user. I'm sorry but I don't think this is usable.

[@RezaDorrani]

Please check the video again. I do show and mention the behavior. Note: control is in preview. I made this video because many folks wanted my take on this topic.

[@Rich-hm9ux]

@@RezaDorrani yes, I recognize that you did mention the behavior. I don't want to come off as ungrateful. The community really appreciates your videos and thanks for showing the progress with this control.

[@kimczym]

Hi, How can we fix the bug from: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2GrhJSlec2Mmsksi=6n79j1othqfS_Z7f&t=658 it seems that you need to click twice: 1) when you search for someone and select found person > it does not populate the filed 2) when you click the picker for the second time > now it will select user I know that this is a preview but the UX of this picker is way worse than the old one, will this be changed/ updated ?

[@RezaDorrani]

The reason why I showed it in video is to make you aware of the current situation. I'm not aware of any workarounds at the moment or when this would be updated in product.