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Ryan_B
Resolver III
Resolver III

Ampersand from SharePoint list appearing as &

Might be a simple answer but I haven't been able to find it on here or online.

 

I have a SharePoint list with a choice column and a single line of text column in which some values contain an ampersand (&). When it appears in the drop down on Power Apps it shows up as "&". Is there a way around this?

19 REPLIES 19

@C-Papa 

How are you adding the values? Grid view, New button, or Editing the column > Add choice?

RandyHayes
Super User
Super User

@Ryan_B 

Well, my first question would be - are the values in your Choice column defined directly in your choice list, or are you adding additional ones?  (i.e. the Allow Write-Ins option is on for the column)

 

 

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@RandyHayes 

The column does allow write-ins and I've been adding values with the New button, not editing the column > Add choice. Also my Power App isn't doing any sort of patching or updating. All the entries are being created solely within SharePoint.

C-Papa
Solution Sage
Solution Sage

Ok, forget the white space it doesn't do anything, go to edit column settings => Edit => add choice. then add it in and it works as expected. looks like the issue happens when values are added when the column is created

RandyHayes
Super User
Super User

@Ryan_B 

So the thing is, this is due to an issue with the Choices function.  It is the culprit for returning bad values.  I assume that you are using that function in someplace like a dropdown...which is where you are primarily seeing the &

 

Is the above correct?

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Ryan_B
Resolver III
Resolver III

@C-Papa @RandyHayes 

Looks like we've figured it out. It's a series of specific ways you enter the choice values that matters.

 

  • If you add the values with just the New button and typing the choice value in, it's not really adding it to the Choice field - if you look at the values when editing the column there are actually no choices being listed.
  • If you remove the "Can add values manually" option it will remove any options that were added using the above method and only show values added by clicking the column > Column settings > Edit > Add choice
    • Any values added now will display correctly, ampersand and all

So basically the solution is to uncheck "Can add values manually" and add the choices by clicking the column > Column settings > Edit > Add choice. Doing this I added two values and they are displaying correctly now.

RandyHayes
Super User
Super User

@Ryan_B 

So then you never needed to have fill-in values for your choice column??

If that is the case, then yes, just turn it off and enter them manually in the settings.  

As I mentioned the problem with the ampersand only comes from the Choices function for added (fill-in) values.  Putting them in by hand in the settings is not an issue.  Adding them from your app is.

However for the future - there is a workaround for it that is quite simple.

 

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@RandyHayes 

I have to manually enter many of these values up front and was trying to do that easily without needing to constantly go into column settings and adding choices there. I wanted to be able to add the entire row in one fell swoop by adding new values and using ones already added. By utilizing the "Can add values manually" I was able to achieve that goal. But of course I didn't realize that it was going to cause a problem until I ran into ampersands.

RandyHayes
Super User
Super User

@Ryan_B 

Yes, as you saw, doing that process does not really "add" them to the choices list.  It just adds them into records and they become part of the available choices for the column (not defined - just added).

The ampersand causes and issue in this case (and again....long running bug with the Choices function).  And then it compounds, because if you write that & back to a record, then it doubles it and so on.

The trick (although you don't need it at this point) is to substitute on the choices values the & with an &

Then all the selections are accurate and work properly.

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Venomtver
Advocate II
Advocate II

Might be helpful for someone.

If you use dropdown or any other control, try this:
Substitute(PieChart1.SeriesLabels,"&","&")

It worked for PieCharts, didn't have such problems with dropdown.

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