PowerApps use Combobox search text to add a dynamic value to SharePoint Choice column

Do you want to let your user's search a combo box and then if they don't find what they want save the value? Then this is your video. If you are confused just watch the first minute to see the magic and get a better idea of the coolness of this video. Includes ComboBoxes, SharePoint Choice Columns, SearchText, Patch, Forms, and more.
Power Apps Consulting and training at www.PowerApps911.com

[@Bozo19660]

Super video Shane. I coped your scenario 2 exactly to pass dynamic text. However, it throwing back an error that it's looking for a table but finding a record. I think I've copied your set up correctly except that my combo box is inside an Edit Form.. What do think could be the problem? Thanks

[@ShanesCows]

This is because you set your column to be a multi-select instead of a single select. Use this video to see how you need to change the format of what send to be a table. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGWpk2htith9gqs

[@Bozo19660]

Thanks @@ShanesCows , regards to Chewy!

[@chriscook1145]

Thank You for these videos! I would definitely love to see the flow that adds choices to the list in the choice column.

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks Chris!

[@azuremcfarlane3126]

*chefs kiss* The perfect video I never would have figured out the search terms for! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@ShanesCows]

Thanks Baby Cloud!

[@pennyp5822]

Thank You Shane. Excellent Video

[@ShanesCows]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@moisisu7864]

thank you, very lucky to find this video when racking my brain to even just phrase this problem to google... (still trying to figure out why ForAll sending previously cleared collection to SP List)....I have to keep up with your channel! thanks

[@zamathembumneno7199]

Hi Shane, thank you so much for this tutorial, there is a lot that I have learned. However, Instead of updating an existing record, how do I use these functions for creating a new record and dynamically adding new values then save them on SharePoint?

[@Thor_Underdunk_Caballerial]

Unbelievable, Shane Young does it again!

[@ShanesCows]

Happy to help. Have a great day. 🐶

[@kendrayoder7171]

@Shane Young - thank you for this very helpful lesson and works great! I'd like to add a Search text input to this formula. How would I incorporate that into the existing code?

[@Nopealope23]

Great tutorial! I appreciated you showing three different ways. I have it working and its saving to my list item but the typed fill-in value isn't displaying in the Power Apps canvas form in edit mode. Do you have any suggestions. Thanks!

[@paolovr1970]

thanks amazing lesson.

[@ShanesCows]

Happy to help. Have a great day. 🐶

[@MuhammadAdnan2.0]

Well , keep upload these tricky vds sir 👍 power apps , galleries

[@ShanesCows]

Sure 👍

[@gregoryoliveira8358]

Thanks for sharing this! :-)

[@ShanesCows]

My pleasure!

[@shanekewa3767]

@SYoung, looking forward to the followup video on writing the new color into a sharepoint choice column. Thanks in advance

[@ShanesCows]

Hi Shane. That is what this video is about I thought? WHat did I not show? Thanks

[@golfnutt8]

Great video once again Shane. How would I do this if I am not using a gallery? I have a muliselect combo box and would like to update the choices in my choice field when a new value is entered.

[@anfu7965]

Thanks Shane! It works for me to patch the value. But I can't show it as default value in the combobox after submitting the form. I'm working with a text column (the one that is patched) and the items of the combobox are taken from a separate configuration list in SharePoint. How do I show the patched value in the combobox after submitting the form?

[@lurianayumi4436]

Thanks a lot for the content! I didn't find anything about it! However, I'm using a combo box that accepts more than 1 item... Could you please guide me through an alternative ? I'm having the issue that when adding a new item, it is about a text and not a table, as my field expects...

[@dbosset]

Hi Shane! I try to use text fields to store data in SP lists and then use a combobox on the canvas app form. The update property for my combobox is "DataCardValue.Selected.Title" and the item property pulls text from another Sharepoint list with "Locations.Title". Is there a way to allow user write-in in that scenario? Thanks for the video!

[@hoges510]

omg, how awesome is Coalesce!!

[@ShanesCows]

Not very commonly needed but when you do it is AWESOME!

[@ASHISHKUMAR-fi2kn]

Thanks for the video Sir. I'm stuck in one scenario, I have a combobox which is connect to a data source and based on the item selected in that combo box items are filtered in gallery. I want to select all the items in that combo box automatically when the page load where the combobox is placed. How I can achieve that?

[@izumi45]

Hi, how to do this on a multiselect combobox? Adding new value when text search not found in choices?

[@sundrapillay6668]

Thanks Shane

[@ShanesCows]

Of course. :)

[@lukasvolkel6696]

Thank you for this video, Shane! But what if her favourite colors were green, blue and hazel? Is it possible to patch selected values AND search text together? Which function would you recommend in this case?

[@ShanesCows]

It would be possible. The key is you have to think about the fact that you need to send a table of data. kzbin.info/www/bejne/naTOYmd6YqiMiKc shows how to patch the And scenario. Then you need logic to add the record for the search text. If it was me I would look at putting the selected items in a collection and then adding a row with SearchText

[@messycook]

Please make a video for the flow, thanks!

[@ShanesCows]

I am looking at it now :)

[@franciscomoralejo176]

thanks for the video, really helpfull. how would you do the same thing but in a way that it allows for multivalue?

[@ShanesCows]

The key is multi Value is a table. Structure is here kzbin.info/www/bejne/naTOYmd6YqiMiKc

[@TyRey]

Thanks. I WOULD like to see how to add the new colors to the choices in SharePoint.

[@ShanesCows]

I am tinkering with it this morning. 😀 Hopefully Monday it comes out but still no promises..

[@vedantdashora2528]

Can we use this option with sql connection? It does not have selection type column

[@Liam-fb4tu]

Thanks you for such amazing content! I have a quick question though if that’s ok… I have a list of company names as a choice, what I want to do is if the company name is not in the list allow the user to add it (like you did here) but then next time that value will be available in the drop down list itself. Is that possible? Thanks again

[@ShanesCows]

Hey Liam, yes and that is what the video shows. After you add the Choice via the api with flow then you would need to Refresh inside of Power Apps so it knows about the new Choice. It is one of the rare times you have to use Refresh.

[@ba6_maistora]

Thank you for the tutorial! Is it possible to achieve the same using the modern combobox control? From my testing, as soon as I enter a new value and click away, the value disappears.

[@ShanesCows]

I haven't used the Modern combo box yet. I am still using the Classic controls until the Modern controls get more mature. Sorry it isn't working for you.

[@khrystinameier2981]

Hello, how do I add multiple manual items to a combo box? I thought you could type in your value and enter like you do in SharePoint but that is not working. Thank you.

[@kearley8792]

Yes, please add the color using REST

[@julireid9574]

This is great! It doesn't work with the Combobox in Power Apps for teams though. SearchText is not an available option when putting the value of the combobox into a label. Bummer.....

[@ShanesCows]

Juli will you email this to remind me. I need to pass that on to someone who can hopefully fix that. 😎

[@carolinaaya4806]

Very helpful!! For now it works, but just for one option, when I need 2 entries, I'm separating them with ", " but is been read as one, example: Word1, Word2, besides they are 2 entries, is read as 'Word1, Word2", how can I solve this?

[@ShanesCows]

I am guessing you would have to adapt the logic to split the Word1, Word2. That would produce an array (table) that you could then loop through and do similar to the video. Sorry, another one I haven't tried but it should work in my head.

[@Bozo19660]

Super video Shane. I coped your scenario 2 exactly to pass dynamic text. However, it throwing back an error that it's looking for a table but finding a record. I think I've copied your set up correctly except that my combo box is inside an Edit Form.. What do think could be the problem? Thanks

[@ShanesCows]

This is because you set your column to be a multi-select instead of a single select. Use this video to see how you need to change the format of what send to be a table. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGWpk2htith9gqs

[@user-in4vu8hf4m]

When I type in combobox and move further on other controls.. the combobx search text get blank

[@michalwabnik8851]

I have added the option as a list, when user wants to add the new option that new option is also save to the list and it's then avalaible to others 🙂

[@ShanesCows]

I like it!

[@bradmiller2945]

Hi Shane, thank you for the video! It gives me more options on this topic. Was wondering if you could give me your recommendation on "drop down" field management. My client wants a drop down/ComboBox with specific items that will change over time. In using SharePoint Lists, is it better to use a Choice field and have them notify me (or the admin) when they want a new item added? OR create a separate SharePoint list for the dropdown items, wire up the Dropdown/ComboBox to display this list with the idea a "superuser" can manage the items in the list. Thoughts? Is there another way?

[@ShanesCows]

I like the separate list idea. Sounds solid to me 😎

[@shiubham34]

@@ShanesCows I am new to Power platform !! I was just wondering , if we create a separate list for dropdown items, Will all the App users require access to that list as well (to show the items id app dropdown) ?

[@TechChaitu]

@@shiubham34 Yes atleast read access is needed

[@user-rr6mx6wj9p]

Thanks Shane, excellent tutorial. This was exactly what I was looking for to get my combobox to submit custom values. I have one issue, however, that I hope you know the answer to. My combobox is configured to allow multiple selections, allow searching, and is set to required (both in my SharePoint backend list and in the app). When I implement your fix to allow custom values, by modifying the datacard Update property, the required validation for the datacard stops working. So, if my combobox is empty, I can still submit it despite my field being required. Do you know of a fix that will restore the required validation using your solution?

[@ShanesCows]

Add some logic to the card that checks to make sure either the search is populated or the combo box selected items some empty. Basically build your own validation for that part. Shouldn’t be too bad.

[@antoniogambogi5017]

Thanks for the video :) but I have a question. I did the same as the video, but when saving the new text, in the next registration this text remains as an option, would it be possible to just leave the default options without the manually typed text?

[@ShanesCows]

I think you wnt to Reset(controlName) to set it back to Default.

[@evelinalmeida3437]

Hey Shane! Thanks so much for the super video! I have a doubt... I'm trying to copy your scenario on a new form, my sharepoint list has a column that must be filled that is called "Title" but what I'm trying to do is on "Project" column. When I use Patch formula I get the error message that "Title field is required" but I dont understand why the Title column affects on my Project column.. Hope you can understand :) thanks!!

[@evelinalmeida3437]

Oh, another thing.. I would like to insert the new input of fav color, for exemple, in my choice list, is that possible?

[@3rafamolina]

Dude you are a fucking champ!! because of you i now have a much better job

[@ShanesCows]

Awesome Rafa! Congrats on the new job 😎

[@marcoschade352]

How would you do this if you have an SQL as data source with a datatype Nvarchar ?

[@ShanesCows]

Not sure on this one, sorry.

[@Ammuveda]

Please tell us about flow also sir. How to show the updated choice item in the datacard. It very help full me i am having businness same like this. Please..... sir.

[@ShanesCows]

From your other comment I see you found the video. :)

[@TheThreepointshooter]

Did you ever make the video with the flow??

[@ShanesCows]

I did not. I didn't get much interest from people on it. Kind of nerdy to do, requires messing with a Merge and sculpting some JSON.

[@peanuttv6748]

Hi, can you create a video How to use Combobox search text to add a dynamic value but in the Form control?

[@ShanesCows]

Noted.

[@peanuttv6748]

@@ShanesCows looking forward Sir

[@ParagSinghparagpankajsingh]

Is this Possible to Connect Multiple Gallery to One Form is so Please can you make Vedio on it....That would be helpful to understand ..As Usually vedio was great

[@ShanesCows]

If all of the galleries are from the same datasource then yes. Set varRecord. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGqUoYWvh62KeLc

[@keepinitreal551]

Hi Shane, is there a reason I cannot search for a number? ComboBox only lets me search text but not numbers. I tried formatting excel numbers as text, but it still will not search for a number in combobox.

[@ShanesCows]

Search function, which Combo box uses under the hood, only works on Text columns :( You could try something like Addcolumns(exceldatasource, "TextNumber", Text(NumberColumn) and then use TextNumber to search against.

[@keepinitreal551]

@@ShanesCows thanks!

[@stanleym69]

Yes for that flow!! Also have you got http request webhook vids ? Just diving into it now

[@ShanesCows]

I haven't done anythign with webhooks. Feel free to give me some ideas. Might be easier to email them to training@ 😀 I like new idea.

[@sirishanerella]

can we still not do this with Dataverse?

[@ShanesCows]

I haven't tried with Dataverse. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work, their choice columns are different under the covers.

[@theelectricsheep8204]

7:18 😮 What the ?!?

[@ShanesCows]

Right. That gives you all types of new ideas hopefully.

[@xiaotang07]

Hi Shane, I tried your method but the code below is giving me error. Coalesce(ComboBox.Selected, { Value: ComboBox.SearchText, '@odata.type':"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.Sharepoint.SPListExpandedReference" } ) The different thing I did is I used Distinct(Datasource,ColumnName).Result instead of Choices.