Editor bug with regex? Type detection fails

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by MrNappa

241

I ran into the following problem while writing a formula. I boiled it down to the following simple example:

This works correctly:

Set( data, "regexdata" );
Set( regex, Match( data, "regex(?<h>.*)" ) );
Set( data, regex.h );

The global variable 'data' is assigned a text value, and after that the regular expression is used to update the value. (You could demonstrate this by displaying the value of the 'data' variable on a label).

However, if I add an extra line :

Set( data, "regexdata" );
Set( rawdata, data );
Set( regex, Match( data, "regex(?<h>.*)" ) );
Set( data, regex.h );

The editor starts throwing errors, indicating incompatible types.

Categories:

Building Power Apps

I have the same question (0)

All responses (7)

Answers (1)

timl 36,387 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report
Hi @MrNappa

Have you used the variable rawdata elsewhere in your app and assigned it a data value that isn't of type string? That would be a possible cause of the problem.

Can you rename rawdata to rawdata2 and see if the problem goes away? If so, that would confirm the hypothesis.

Set( data, "regexdata" ); Set( rawdata2, data ); Set( regex, Match( data, "regex(?<h>.*)" ) ); Set( data, regex.h );

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
MrNappa 241 on at

Like (0)

Report

No, this example was done on a new empty blank canvas app, I only added a button and put this formula in the 'OnSelect' handler.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
timl 36,387 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi @MrNappa

Unfortunately, I don't know what the cause of this problem is. "regexdata" and regex.h are both of type string, so the syntax should be correct. I think there might be a bug in the editor or PowerApps.

Perhaps someone else might be able to look at this and spot what's wrong?

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
MrNappa 241 on at

Like (1)

Report

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a bug too, the automatic type detection algorithm can be a bit off at times. The app where I first experienced this is a lot more complex, and I had the editor freeze on me in the formula that contained a structure similar like this. After that the app failed to load, so I had to revert it to a previous version 😅. (luckily not much was lost, this was the only formula I had been working on since the last stable save).

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

iAm_ManCat 18,228 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like (2)

Report

Hi,

Yes, I agree this is a bug with how the string within the Match value is being read against other string values - you can use a second variable to get around it though:

Set( Data,"regexdata" );
Set( rawdata, Data );
Set( regex, Match( Data, "regex(?<h>.*)" ) );
Set( Data2, regex.h );
Set( Data, Data2 )

Cheers,

Sancho

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
MrNappa 241 on at

Like (1)

Report

Yeah, thanks for the suggestion. Actually the extra variable is not necessary but I was having a bit of trouble with my regular expression so I added the extra variable to catch the 'raw' value of the string being regexed so I could debug it better. That's when I ran into this.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
timl 36,387 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (2)

Report
@iAm_ManCat - Thanks for the code. It's useful to see how setting a interim variable fixes the problem. It's extra evidence that this is indeed a bug.

Set( Data2, regex.h ); Set( Data, Data2 )

I also now notice that wrapping Text around regex.h removes the error.

@MrNappa - thanks for sharing this problem. Hopefully, Microsoft will fix this. If this sort of problem forces you to revert to a previous version, it sounds serious. I'm glad you didn't lose much work though.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No