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Lookup column with multiple values

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Posted on by MM-05080756-0

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I know I am not the first to ask, but other threads and Youtube tutorials I've found seem to address other issues than mine.

I have a Sharepoint list with a lookup column.
The lookup allows multiple values.
In the connected Powerapp form, this is not supported out of the box.
Lookup columns with only one value allowed work just fine.

I found this PowerApps SharePoint Multi-Select Lookup Columns - YouTube but I don't really see how to customize this. Also, I found information somewhere that combobox does support this since some time back, but I do not understand how to use it.

Should I use collections? Variables? Or something else? And how?

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Ami K 15,687 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@MrtnM - SharePoint multi-select LookUp data types are supported by the Edit Form control.

What is your question? Or what is the issue you're trying to resolve?

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MM-05080756-0 442 on at

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Thanks!
I have never used the Edit form control. I want to use the multi-select lookup column in the connected Powerapps form: click the dropdown, make multiple choices, save - just like a "normal" multi choice column.

This is my form, and the multi select lookup columns are circled in red.

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Ami K 15,687 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@MrtnM - I understand you have never used an Edit Form control, but it certainly looks like you've embedded three Edit Form controls into a Customized SharePoint Form. Could you take a screenshot of the Tree/Object view your app please.

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MM-05080756-0 442 on at

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Well, I haven't used it conscoiusly, anyway 😎 The controls are all ootb datacards from Sharepoint list. The only customizations I've made is visibility and displaymode on some of the cards, and also the checkboxes are modified dropdowns (following this tutorial Convert Multi-Select Choice Field to Checkboxes in Power Apps (youtube.com))

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Ami K 15,687 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@MrtnM - ok so we can establish that SharePointForm1 is an Edit Form control.

If you simply add the multi-select LookUp field again into the Edit Form as a DataCard, a multi-select ComboBox control is automatically generated inside the DataCard. This is out of the box behaviour because multi-select SharePoint LookUp fields are supported.

Please provide better context on what you're trying to do, because in one reply you have stated you want "click the dropdown, make multiple choices, save - just like a "normal" multi choice column", but then in another reply you're talking about Checkbox controls.

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MM-05080756-0 442 on at

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Thanks,
maybe I was unclear earlier. The checkboxes have nothing to do with the lookup field/dropdown list. I mentioned the checkboxes just to clarify the structure of the entire form, but that was unnecessary.

What I really do want is "click the dropdown, make multiple choices, save - just like a "normal" multi choice column". And I can't make that work. I have done as you suggested:
I add the datacard to the form and the dropdown field is displayed
Save, publish to Sharepoint
But in the form, the dropdown menu shows Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, Item 4 … A workaround I found for this is to set Reset to true on the dropdopwn/DataCardValue. This does not help.

Before today, I also got an additional error, but now this seem to have disappeared: On some multi choice Lookups I get this error in the datacard Default (see image). I do not get this error on all multi choice. The error disappears when the Lookup column is set to single values only. When I try to save an item in the Sharepoint list, the form gives the error “Network error on using the function Patch: unknown error” (my translation). But as I mentioned, this error seems gone now.

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Ami K 15,687 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@MrtnM - when you add a Combobox control in your app, by the default the Items property includes sample data which contains "Item 1", "Item 2" etc.

However, as mentioned, simply adding a multi-select LookUp field into the Edit Form will automatically generate a DataCard with a ComboBox. The Items property of that Combobox will already contain the correct items you can select from.

Could you insert an Edit Form into a new screen and set the data source property to the same SharePoint list. Then add the LookUp field into that Form and confirm if the Combobox control displays the correct options.

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MM-05080756-0 442 on at

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Thanks,
I think I must take this back to the beginning.

This is how I've been working with the form all along:
In Sharepoint list: Integrate>Power apps>Customize forms.
Power apps open. I add the datacards I need from Fields>Add field.
I add a multi select Lookup field datacard. This generates DataCardValueX, which is a Combobox. This Combobox defaults Items to Choices([@'ListName'].LookupColumnName). But this Combobox does not contain the correct values. Instead: sometimes the Combobox shows Item 1, Item 2; and sometimes the dropdown does not open at all.

In this example, UppslagFlerval is a multichoice column, and UppslagEnval is a single choice. UppslagEnval displays correct values. UppslagFlerval does not display any values.

But after deleting the UppslagEnval datacard and adding it once again, not changing anything else, the dropdown shows Item 1, Item 2.

When I follow your instructions "insert an Edit Form into a new screen and set the data source property to the same SharePoint list. Then add the LookUp field into that Form and confirm if the Combobox control displays the correct options", the form gets stuck on "Getting your data ..."
I tried this in a few lists, and the result is the same. This is an example from a test list:

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Ami K 15,687 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@MrtnM - what happens if you reselect "Value" from the ComboBox property pane?

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MM-05080756-0 442 on at

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Lo and behold - it works!

I did as you suggested and reselected Value for all the multi-select Lookup columns , and the dropdowns are populated exactly as they should!

(But now I realise that there is a limit of 12 lookups in Powerapps, and I must use 13 or find another solution 😧 so all work was in vain 😫)

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