Populate Text Box Based on Value Selected in Combo Box

[JoshAtBrotech]

Good Morning Power Apps Community,

I have spent a few hours Googling to try and find the proper syntax to rectify the issues I have been having this morning, with no luck.

I have an Excel Table, called ToolData, which contains several columns, one of which is called "Tool ID#", and another is called "Tool Description."

I have the "Tool ID#" column linked to a Combo Box input. I would like to use a Combo Box input because there are almost 800 rows in this table, and I want to allow users to search instead of having to scroll through the list. I have turned off 'Allow multiple selections' and I have turned on 'Allow searching.'

I have a Text Input that I would like to populate with the value in the "Tool Description" field dependent on which Tool ID# is selected from the Combo Box. Seems simple enough, but I have been unsuccessful so far in finding the correct Syntax.

Any help is appreciated.

[RandyHayes · Accepted solution]

@JoshAtBrotech 

What is the Items property of your Combobox?  If it contains the full record, then you can set your Tool Description Default property to :  yourCombobox.Selected.'Tool Description'

I hope this is helpful for you.

[JoshAtBrotech]

Hi @RandyHayes ,

That worked perfectly, but I was running into an issue where the search function on my Combo Box was not working. I resolved that issue by setting the Items property of my Combo Box to "ToolData.Tool ID#'", but that seems to have rendered my "yourCombobox.Selected.'Tool Description'" useless.

Do you have any suggestions on how to keep the functionality you helped me with but also make the Combo Box searchable?

[RandyHayes]

@JoshAtBrotech 

Yes, when you specify a column in the Items property, then you will end up with a table with only that column in it...and thus not having the Tool Description that you want.

Put your Items back to ToolData and make sure you have specified the Search column to be Tool ID in the properties.  You would specify the search fields in the SearchFields property, or in the Edit Fields link in the properties pane of the combobox.

[JoshAtBrotech]

@RandyHayes 

I do have the Combo Box SearchField set to my Tool ID# column, and the SearchFields property is likewise set to my Tool ID column:

However, when I attempt to search the Combobox, no results are shown upon searching:

Like you said, I cannot change the Items property of the Combo Box to "ToolData.'Tool ID#'", as that will disconnect the other columns from the table.

Any ideas on why my Combo Box search function is not working?

[RandyHayes]

@JoshAtBrotech 

Is Tool ID text or a number?  It needs to be text to be searchable.

[JoshAtBrotech]

@RandyHayes I had read the same after some Googling and yes, I changed the Tool ID# column to a text column. Still, the Combo Box search function is still not working correctly... Hmm...

[RandyHayes]

@JoshAtBrotech 

So Comboboxes (and other controls) get a little confused when you are changing their base schemas.

Most likely it is working fine, it is just confused.

A few things to try (and keep in mind for the future):

1) Cut (ctrl-x) the combobox from your app and then Paste (ctrl-v) it back.  This will cause the combobox to reinitialize itself.

2) Select the Items property and Cut it (ctrl-x), then change it to ComboBoxSample, then delete that and paste (ctrl-v) your formula back.  This causes the combobox to reinitialize its schema

3) If there are changes made at the datasource level - make sure you do a refresh on the Datasource in your datasource list.  If still no joy, then delete the datasource and then add it back.  You might need to perform 1 or 2 above after that as well.

[JoshAtBrotech]

@RandyHayes 

I tried all three suggestions multiple times, but still no joy. I suspect something else is going on.

Either way, you have been a great help!

[RandyHayes · Accepted solution]

@JoshAtBrotech 

Well, let's cut it off at the control.

Change your Items property to : AddColumns(ToolData, "_searchCol", Text('Tool ID #'))

Then set your Search and Display column to _searchCol

See if that helps.