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Text to text literal?

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I'm trying to use a combobox to show a certain column of a certain table based on variables set earlier.

Sheet is the name of the columns in a certain table defined as so:

Set(sheet, Text(Dropdown1.Selected.Value))

However when trying to use it in this command:

ShowColumns(TableName, sheet)

The error is that there is no text literal. How do i get this command to work, still using these variables?

Kind regards,

Colleen

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Building Power Apps

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Rick72 385 on at

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Hi @Anonymous,

What happens when you add a static value in ShowColumns? I think using a variable is not allowed in ShowColumns (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/functions/function-table-shaping).

As a workaround (depending on the amount of possible values), you could use a switch function based on sheet.

Rick

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v-xida-msft on at

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Hi @Anonymous,

Do you want to show a certain column of a table based on a variable?

I agree with @Rick72's thought almost. The ColumnName(s) argument part of the ShowColumns function is required to fill a string wrapped with double quotes (e.g. "Name").

More details about ShowColumns function, please check the following article:

ShowColumns function

If you want to show a certain column of a table based on a variable using ShowColumns function, I afraid that there is no way to achieve your needs in PowerApps currently.

If you would like this feature to be added in PowerApps, please submit an idea to PowerApps Ideas Forum:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Ideas/idb-p/PowerAppsIdeas

Best regards,

Kris

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Rick72 385 on at

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My workaround is something like:

Switch(sheet,
"One", ShowColumns(TableName, "One"),
"Two", ShowColumns(TableName, "Two")
)

That is possible. When there are many options for sheet (or when it is dynamic), the workaround will not be an option.

Rick

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Thanks both @Rick72 and @v-xida-msft for your help and yes Kris to your question, that is the hope!

@Rick72 your solution looks promising however i don't quite understand what it is doing. The documentation for the switch function has always confused me. At the moment there seems to be a problem:
The function "Show Columns" has some invalid arguments. The specified column "One" does not exist.
Am i meant to exchange one, two etc for column headers? If so that is not an ideal solution as there are about 50!

Thanks once again for your help so far,
Colleen

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Rick72 385 on at

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"One" and "Two" are just examples. It are possible values of the variable sheet, Does this make more sence now?

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Community Power Pla... on at

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@Rick72 I think so.. Does that mean i need to replace "one" and "two" with every possible value of sheet?

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Rick72 385 on at

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For every possible value, there has be to be a "line" yes. If you have many options, this workaround may as mentioned not be useable. How many options do you have?

Another example:

Switch(sheet,
    "Sheet1", ShowColumns(TableName, "Sheet1"),
    "Sheet2", ShowColumns(TableName, "Sheet2"),

    "Sheet3", ShowColumns(TableName, "Sheet3")
)

Please note that the last "line" has no comma at the end.

Rick

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Ah i see - thanks for that. Yes there's a fair few options it could be.. around 40-50. Would you see this as the only solution in this case?

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Community Power Pla... on at

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I have gone through and adapted your code with my sheet names however have spotted an error - any sheet with a space is not being recognised:

Is there a workaround for this/ is this a powerapps bug?

Many thanks,
Colleen

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Rick72 385 on at

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Using " is good. I guess your column definition is different. What do you see when you go to "File" in the menu and then select "Collections". What is shown for "TableName"?

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