Collect works when hard coded into the function, but not when the exact same value is pulled dynamically

[dtadam123]

I have populated a text field with a JSON schema in SharePoint as a multi line plain text field and would like to use that for a collection.  When I pull in the value dyanmically i.e. 

It treats the collection as a single item


If I paste in the exact text which is returned from my Approval Record field, it works as expected.

What am I doing incorrectly or am I missing something?

[timl]

Hi @dtadam123 

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to parse JSON in this way. There was a post about this the other week which you might be interested in.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-PowerApps-Formerly/Parse-JSON-string-in-Power-APPS/m-p/... 

A workaround would be to use Flow. There's also a post in the Ideas forum that you can vote on.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Ideas/Parse-JSON-in-PowerApps/idi-p/359563 

[dtadam123 · Accepted solution]

@timl Thank you for confirming my suspicions, I will mark your reply as the answer.  It is extremely frustrating that everything useful in Flow seems to be hidden behind a premium connector.  If we were able to return Arrays to PowerApps without having to utilize the premium Response connector I would be much happier.  I spent a bunch of time trying to get around having to pay for the Common Data Service premium connector by storing/bulding this as JSON myself, but it seems that Microsoft thought of how to prevent these workarounds.  I am starting to understand why every Flow example I have seen is so simple and not realistic.

Anyways sorry for the mini rant and thank you for the response!