Solved: Forms, Lookups, Dropdownlists

arnonel · ‎10-12-2016

Hi

See above.

I have a form. Form has a dropdown list due to field being a lookup to "Client" Entity (Client Entity has 2 fields: ClientID, and ClientName. ClientID is the "Title" field)

The displaytext is the ID - how can I change the dropdownlist display text to be "ClientName", instead of the current "ClientID" ?

Vijeta · ‎11-30-2016

Thanks for trying that out. On your custom parent entity for example p1 did you add the field you want to display in the dropdown to the default lookup field group like this? Did you add a text type field or some other type?

Can you refresh the datasource in PowerApps web player/studio or try a new AFD. This is what I see on the lookup field/relationship for my child entity c1. I am assuming you are trying this in your new environment not the legacy environment.

View solution in original post

Perumal · ‎10-12-2016

I could not understand your question, are you refering to CDM entity which is used as source in the dropdownlist?. In that case, you just need to use "Items" in dropdownlist with "Client.ClientName".

arnonel · ‎10-12-2016

I have the following entities

Client Contact:
- ClientContactID: number sequence (title)
- ClientFullname: Text
- Client: Lookup (Client below)
Client:
- ClientID: number sequence (title)
- ClientName: Text

I want to create an edit form for Client Contact, so I:

Create new screen
Throw a form on it
Set data source to "Client Contact" entity above
Enable the following datacards:
- ClientFullname
- Client
  - When doing this, i choose "edit lookup"
  - Values displayed are "ClientID" - but I want it to display "ClientName"

Make more sense?

Perumal · ‎10-12-2016

I am just going to try this. Are you referring entity to CDM or Sharepoint list?

arnonel · ‎10-12-2016

CDM

hpkeong · ‎10-12-2016

Hi

As Perumal mentioned, just change from ClientID to ClientName.

But, before this, please remember to:

- UnLock (see the top menu, Advanced Tap, and you can unlock)

- Then, change the contents inside the card and related value.

Please refer to:

Understand Data Cards....https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/tutorials/working-with-cards/

In thid Understand Data Card section, it clearly explain how to manipulate this Standard Forms and modify to suit your needs. Just take note of each value, parent.value, etc. when chaing.

Hope this will further clarifies your doubts and helps.

TQ

hpkeong

Perumal · ‎10-12-2016

I tried it. It seems currently "Title" alone can be referred in the lookup fields. The possible solution, I found is to have another field which holds the Client.ClientName using LookUp function as below.

LookUp(Client,TextBox10.Text in Title).ClientName

arnonel · ‎10-12-2016

I have about 100 lookups going across 50 Entities.

This cannot be the answer. Is there a more "elegant" way?

hpkeong · ‎10-12-2016

Hi

If you have such a huge data and complicated look-up and entities, why not do:

- Manual Dropdown and do not set as LookUp in CDM Entities

- As PowerApps doesn't know what do you want, you have to do it manually.

Automatic FORMS (Edit, Display) are meant for simple apps set-up and then, expand from here to complicated apps.

Thanks,

hpkeong

arnonel · ‎10-12-2016

My app is not complicated.

The requirement above is a simplre requirement, and would assume its a VERY common use case.

A lookup to an ID (which is what Title is) should be common.

The issue is:

Make title field user friendly - then I cannot edit it (see my previous "bug" post)
Make titlel field an ID - then its not readable in a dropdownlist

So I am completely stumped.

In Summary - My requirement above is simple.

What makes it a big issue for me, is scale. If it have to do workarounds, I have to do many MANY workarounds due to the number of entities and forms I have.

The requirement should be VERY simple, and cannot understand the thinking behind this.

A dropdownlist in a datacard should allow you to set text (what the user sees) and value (what the user doesnt see)