Combo Box - Server side (delegated) or Not? Am I missing a setting?

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Posted on by Snowshovel

Hi All,

When I read ...

"A Combo box control allows you to search for items you will select. The search is performed server-side on the SearchField property so performance is not affected by large data sources." from Microsoft Docs Combo box control in Power Apps - Power Apps | Microsoft Docs.

I think it means I can use a SharePoint list with more than 2000 items as a data source for a Combo box, and that the user will be able to type in text to find and select any one of the 2153 items in the list. This is not what happens, instead you can type in text to find and select and of the first 2000 items in the list, but 2001-2153 are not findable.

I even tried a creating a collection from the data source since I thought that would work around the delegation limit, but that didn't work either.

I would appreciate any tips or clarification that members of the community can offer. Thanks Greg

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Building Power Apps

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Pstork1 69,665 Most Valuable Professional on at

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The issue in your scenario is that Search() is not a delegable function in SharePoint. If you hook up a combobox to a Dataverse data source then you will find that it works as described. The Combobox itself dispatches Search(), but if the data source doesn't support delegation of that operation then there is no way to make it Server Side.
Snowshovel 21 on at

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Thanks for your speedy reply Paul. Is there a work around for using a Combo box with a SharePoint list with more than 2000 items? I tried creating a collection and then using the collection as the Data source, but that also seems limited to 2000 items. That struck me as odd since I thought a collection was NOT limited to 2000 items, but is generally discouraged as a delegation work around since it can negatively impact performance. Thanks for your responses and I may see you at Educon.
Pstork1 69,665 Most Valuable Professional on at

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If you are at EduCon Stop by and Introduce yourself. I'll try it with a collection. As you said, collections aren't subject to delegation limits so it should work. It does work with Dataverse. I tested that. How many items should the search return? There is a limit on how much data a comboBox will show. That's why the search exists. But if the filter will get you down to just a few records it should work with a Collection. I'll test it. As you said the issue with the collection is that it can be time consumming to load.
WillPage 2,339 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Instead of a combo box, consider a list box with a separate text input, and use a formula like Filter(MySharePointList, StartsWith(MyColumn, TextInput1.Text)) as its Items property. StartsWith is a delegable function on single line of text columns in SharePoint so you'll get results from the whole list, but the UX will not be quite the same as a combo box.
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Pstork1 69,665 Most Valuable Professional on at

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I just did a test with my 5,101 record SharePoint list. When I add it to a collection the dropdown will show even the 5,101st record using Search. So its not limited by delegation. Make sure that the way you are loading your collection is actually getting all the records. Loading a collection is also subject to delegation. And the easy way that many people suggest ID < 500, ID< 1000, etc. won't work because only ID= is delegable.
Snowshovel 21 on at

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Thanks Will - I want to use the ComboBox so I can find a value from a data source (2-3k items) and then use that selection with StartsWith on a larger datasource (19 - 20k items).
Snowshovel 21 on at

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Hi Paul - I have a list with 2153 items (let's call it 'List01') the values I want to find are in the Title column. The syntax I am using is Collect(AllAccounts,List01). Do I need to do anything else to get all items from the lists into the collection? For testing I created a gallery from the collection and used countrows which shows that only 2000 items are in my collection. How do I make sure my collection contains all items in my list?
Snowshovel 21 on at

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Hi Paul - I think I am getting there. I used the example in How To Overcome PowerApps Delegation Limit? | Power Apps (devoworx.net) to create a new collection by combing two collections. I appreciate your answers, as it got me looking in the right direction. Thanks - Greg
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Pstork1 69,665 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Collect(AllAccounts, List01) will be subject to the data row limit since you aren't filtering the list below that with a delegable function. I have a list of people's names that I bring into a collection for testing. To do that I use the following.

ClearCollect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"A")||StartsWith(Title,"B"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"C")||StartsWith(Title,"D"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"E")||StartsWith(Title,"F"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"G")||StartsWith(Title,"H"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"I")||StartsWith(Title,"J"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"K")||StartsWith(Title,"L"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"M")||StartsWith(Title,"N"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"O")||StartsWith(Title,"P"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"Q")||StartsWith(Title,"R"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"S")||StartsWith(Title,"T"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"U")||StartsWith(Title,"V"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"W")||StartsWith(Title,"X"))); Collect(myPeople, Filter('People List',StartsWith(Title,"Y")||StartsWith(Title,"Z")));

The point is that you need to load the collection in chunks that are smaller than the data row limit. My list is 5000+ items.