Getting Value of ComboBox when the value was populated with DefautSeceletedItem

[spsolutionsgrp]

I have a form and the combobox is populated with the DefaultSelectedItem property.  This means that no one actually clicked the dropdown and selected something but the combobox does display a value in it visually.   This is important and ultimately the cause of my issue.    When this data gets saved through a patch function I am using comboboxname.Selected.Name to populate a SharePoint list. when someone physically selects something from the compbobox it works but when they leave the default value it does not.   How do I get the value of that combobox when comboboxname.Selected.Name does not work?

[spsolutionsgrp]

@thekhristy_ I happened to be working on another app with a similar issue and your suggestion worked with a choice as the DataSource but it is not working for my current example.

[RandyHayes · Accepted solution]

@spsolutionsgrp 

Match means that a record must be identical.  This is how DefaultSelectedItems works.  You provide a full record that would have the same schema as the records in the Items property.  It would then compare column by column to determine if there is a matching record with the values provided.  If so, then it will select it. 

So, reviewing all of what you have provided...

You are stating that you are submitting a form, and then you are attempting to patch another list with records from a gallery.

So, how are you doing this process and what is your patch statement?  

You stated that you are using the comboboxname.Selected.Name record-column to store into your list.  What kind of column is the column you are writing this to - a text column?

As was mentioned in the other post, if you only have a single text value, then you need to equate this to a record.  That was why the Filter was suggested there.  So, if your Items is based on full records from the colProjectList, then you need to get the associated record from that list.

If your combobox is multi-select, then a filter is needed.

   Filter(colProjectList, Name = ThisItem.Name)

If your combobox is NOT multi-select, then you need a LookUp

   LookUp(colProjectList, Name = ThisItem.Name)

Also, in your Items property for the Combobox, you should eliminate the .SelectedText property for the dropdown reference.  That property has been deprecated and should be avoided.  You would be getting to the .Selected.columnName of that control instead.

So going all the way back to your first post - the reason you were seeing the item in your selection, but it would not patch back was because it was not really selected.  The combobox can fool you sometimes in that it will show something in the selection, but if you dropdown the combobox choices list, you will see that it is actually NOT selected in that list. 

This happens when the DSI record does NOT match the records in the Items property.

I hope this is clear and helpful for you.

[spsolutionsgrp]

Thank you for the detailed explanation.