Collections with distinct NOT working

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Posted on by CU14112135-0

I am trying to create a collection to hold all the distinct values in a column called Status in a table called "AWP1.workordersform"

In the App's "OnStart" formula I added:
"

ClearCollect(cllStatus,{Result:"All"}); 
Collect(cllStatus,Distinct('AWP1.workordersform',status))

Then in a dropdown called "DropdownCanvas3" I updated the "Items" formula to be just "cllStatus"

The correct Status values are "Cancelled" etc. The drop down box is showing just numbers which have no meaning to me. However when I try selecting on of the values of this list of wacky numbers it appears to correctly select the corresponding status values and show only the rows on the table that are cancelled.

This PowerApps is horrible. So many examples like this that should work, don't work and its not obvious how to fix and there is notthing but out-dated information that does not help me fix anything, I just have to try a million times until days later you stumble on the stupidity that fixes the issue. BTW: the above is pulled directly from a YouTube video from 2022 which is now total crap.

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Building Power Apps

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SpongYe 5,909 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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Hello,

I have tested your use case in my environment.

Have you tried setting the value of the dropdown to the correct field?
When I add the dropdown, I also receive numerical values.

But when I select the correct field in the Fields property I get the correct value:

End result:

Hope this helps.
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SaiRT14 1,992 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at

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When using Distinct() with a choice column, Power Apps often defaults to returning the numerical ID of the choice option rather than the display text. To avoid this, explicitly reference the Value property of the Status field. Modify your OnStart formula

ClearCollect(cllStatus, {Result: "All"});
Collect(cllStatus, Distinct('AWP1.workordersform', status.Value))

Use cllStatus Directly in the Dropdown -your dropdown’s Items property to: - cllStatus
WarrenBelz 156,754 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi CU14112135-0

Some guidance here - one issue is that the output of Distinct is .Value, not .Result. You did not state your data source, however if status was a Text field in a SharePoint List, you would do it all with.
ClearCollect( cllStatus, Table( {Value: "All"}, Distinct( 'AWP1.workordersform', status ) ) )

Also try with a Classic Control - Modern Controls are still in Preview and are really not production-ready presently.