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Power Apps Choices() Function for Dropdown Menu - Need an Initial Value of 'Select a type'

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I am designing a Power App using a SPO list as the data source. I have a dropdown on the screen and a few text controls with a submit button that uses a Patch to write the data to the SP list. My dropdown's Items property uses the code below to populate the dropdown from the choices in my 'Employee-Type' list column.

This works great however the dropdown is always pre-populated with a value and I want the initial value to be "Select an Employee Type". Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Choices('SPO-List-Name'.'Employee-Type')

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Pstork1 69,554 Most Valuable Professional on at

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The way I've done this in the past is to dump the data source field into a collection after I add the one additional choice that I want at the top of the collection. Then use that collection in the Choices() formula.

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mdevaney 29,991 Moderator on at

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@Anonymous

We have to add "Select an Employee Type" to top of the list of available options since there is no placeholder text property in a dropdown.

Put this code in the OnVisible property of your screen.

ClearCollect(myDropdownOptions, {Value: "Select an Employee Type"}); Collect(myDropdownOptions, Choices('SPO-List-Name'.'Employee-Type');

Then use the collection in the Items property of your dropdown

myDropdownOptions

Finally, write your placeholder text string in the Default value of the dropdown

"Select an Employee Type"

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Drrickryp Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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Hi @Anonymous

The easiest way is if you can access your SharePoint list, add _Select an Employee Type as an option and sort the list Ascending in PowerApps. If not, you can create a collection that includes this option and then collect the rest of the data from SPO.

Collect(emptype,Distinct(SPO-List-Name','Employee-Type')),Collect(emptype,{Result:"_Select an Employee Type"})

You would put this formula in the OnVisible property of your screen. you can then use Sort(emptype, Result) as the items property of a dropdown control.

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Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee on at

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Thank you @mdevaney for providing a detailed solution!

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