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Patching a defaulted selected item in combo box

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Posted on by senna

217 Season of Giving Solutions 2025

I have a combo box (cb_lineManager) that is a lookup to a person field in a sharepoint list. This field will be defaulted to a value from another list or the user can delete that value and select another from the dropdown of users listed.

The defaultedSelectedItems for the field is like so;

If(varNewApplication,First(myPersonalDetails).lineManager,
CurrentItem.Line_Manager)

My problem is, if I want to take a value from that field to patch, like so - cb_lineManager.Selected.Mail it will be blank as I assume nothing is selected, its defaulted instead.

Any solutions?

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Power Apps Pro Dev & ISV

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MS.Ragavendar 7,249 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @senna,

The issue is that cb_lineManager.Selected.Mail only works when a user actively selects an item. However, since you're using DefaultSelectedItems, the selection is not explicitly made by the user, so Selected does not capture it.

Use SelectedItems Instead of Selected

Patch(
YourSharePointList,
Defaults(YourSharePointList),
{
Line_Manager: First(cb_lineManager.SelectedItems).Mail
}
)

Please click Accept as solution if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find it more readily. It also closes the item

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MS.Ragavendar 7,249 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@senna,

You can explicitly set the selection in the Combo Box

In the screen’s OnVisible property

Set(varDefaultLineManager, LookUp(myPersonalDetails, YourCondition).lineManager)

Assign This Variable to DefaultSelectedItems

If(varNewApplication, [varDefaultLineManager], [CurrentItem.Line_Manager] )

Patch remains the same.

Hope it helps!

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senna 217 Season of Giving Solutions 2025 on at

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@MSR@08012015 thanks for that replay.

I've tried using the variable varDefaultLineManager and that will work for most of the use case, but the user can manually change the combo box to a different user, so I just need to handle that, i was thinking something like onChange of the combo box using

Set(varSwyDefaultLineManager, Self.Selected)

but that doesn't seem to update the variable to what the user has now selected?

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MS.Ragavendar 7,249 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@senna,

You need to update the variable only if the user selects a new value, but also retain the default value if they do not select anything

Set(varSwyDefaultLineManager, cb_lineManager.Selected)

DefaultSelectedItems

If(
!IsBlank(varSwyDefaultLineManager),
[varSwyDefaultLineManager], // Use user selection if available
If(varNewApplication, [varDefaultLineManager], [CurrentItem.Line_Manager]) // Use default otherwise
)

Patch

Patch(
YourSharePointList,
Defaults(YourSharePointList),
{
Line_Manager: First(cb_lineManager.SelectedItems).Mail
}
)

revert me if doesn't work.

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senna 217 Season of Giving Solutions 2025 on at

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@MSR@08012015 thanks again for the response.

Where are you placing this line

Set(varSwyDefaultLineManager, cb_lineManager.Selected)

I'm also aware i have interchanged varSwyDefaultLineManager and varDefaultLineManager, those are just 1 variable in my code, maybe I need 2 variables here?

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MS.Ragavendar 7,249 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@senna,

The set variable in the OnChange of ComboBox.

No, you don’t necessarily need two variables. However, using two can provide meaningful experience in the code maintenance.

varDefaultLineManager → Stores the default value (from another list or record).

varSwyDefaultLineManager → Stores the user-selected value.

If you keep just one variable (varSwyDefaultLineManager), then modify DefaultSelectedItems like this

DefaultSelectedItems = If( !IsBlank(varSwyDefaultLineManager), [varSwyDefaultLineManager], // Use user-selected value If(varNewApplication, [First(myPersonalDetails).lineManager], [CurrentItem.Line_Manager]) // Use default if nothing is selected )

Hope this helps!

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senna 217 Season of Giving Solutions 2025 on at

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Thank you @MSR@08012015

I was pulling my hair out and then I realised i was using "varSwyDefaultLineManager.Email" and getting a blank so assumed the variable was not set as I knew the user selected had an email address. But when I changed it to "varSwyDefaultLineManager.Mail" it now displays their email!!

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