Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

I'm building a Power Apps application with a screen (TimeCardApprovals) that displays a list of time card entries for a manager's team. The entries are pulled from a data source (TimeEntries) and include fields like Title, WeekStart, EmployeeTxt (employee name), Status.Value (status of the entry), and Manager.Email. The goal is to filter and display entries based on the selected employee, time card title, and status.

Requirements

Filter Data Based on Selected Item: When a user clicks an arrow (NextArrow5) next to a time card in a gallery, it should set that item as the "selected" time card (selectedTimeCard) and navigate to another screen (TimeCardContinue).
Dynamic Filtering on the Target Screen: On the TimeCardContinue screen, I want to filter the TimeEntries data based on the properties of selectedTimeCard (like Title and EmployeeTxt) and the status passed through a variable (varStatus).
Interactive Filtering on the Main Screen: On the main screen (TimeCardApprovals), I'd like to add additional dropdowns for filtering by status, employee, and possibly by date, to dynamically update the displayed data based on the user's selections.

Current Setup

OnSelect for NextArrow5:
- Sets selectedTimeCard to the current item (ThisItem) in the gallery.
- Navigates to TimeCardContinue, passing varStatus based on the currently selected tab.
OnVisible for TimeCardContinue:
- Attempts to filter TimeEntries based on selectedTimeCard properties (Title and EmployeeTxt) and varStatus.
- The filtered data is stored in a collection (selectedTimeEntries), which is bound to the gallery on the TimeCardContinue screen.

Problems Encountered

Field Not Recognized (EmployeeTxt):
- selectedTimeCard.EmployeeTxt is not always recognized or accessible. It appears as if EmployeeTxt is sometimes not present in selectedTimeCard, causing filtering issues.
Inconsistent Filtering Behavior:
- When the TimeCardContinue screen loads, the selectedTimeEntries collection does not consistently reflect the correct, filtered data. Entries from other employees or statuses sometimes appear, indicating a filtering issue.
Dynamic Filtering Complexity:
- Adding dropdown filters (e.g., for status and employee) on the main screen to further refine the entries displayed has introduced complexity. The goal is for these filters to update selectedTimeEntries in real-time as users make new selections.

Attempts to Resolve

Field Verification:
- Verified field names in TimeEntries and ensured that EmployeeTxt and Title exist and match exactly. However, EmployeeTxt is still inconsistently accessible from selectedTimeCard.
Debugging with Labels:
- Added temporary labels to display selectedTimeCard.Title and selectedTimeCard.EmployeeTxt, confirming that these fields sometimes don’t populate as expected.
Workaround Attempts:
- Tried setting selectedTimeCard in various ways and wrapping fields in Text() to enforce type compatibility, but without consistent success.

Desired Outcome

Reliable Filtering: Ensure that when navigating to TimeCardContinue, only entries related to the selected employee (EmployeeTxt), time card title (Title), and status (varStatus) appear in selectedTimeEntries.
Dynamic User Filtering: Allow users to filter TimeEntries dynamically on the main screen (TimeCardApprovals) using dropdowns for Status, Employee, and possibly date range, with results updating in real-time.

Community Help Needed

I'm looking for advice on:

Ensuring Consistent Access to selectedTimeCard.EmployeeTxt for reliable filtering.
Best Practices for Setting and Using Filtered Collections across screens in Power Apps, especially with complex filtering criteria.
Dynamic Filtering Techniques that allow users to interactively adjust filters on the main screen and have the gallery update immediately.

Any insights or workarounds that could help resolve these filtering issues would be greatly appreciated!

Categories:

Power Apps Pro Dev & ISV