Hi @BrianHFASPS & @PaulD1
Can't answer why it may be suddenly changing throughout the app (although My experience is that when you open and refresh an App it may enable some of the preview features, which Display Column Names is currently pushed into), however I think I can give some thoughts on the other parts.
I use SharePoint currently as a storage medium due to current company requirements, so I don't use the Search function as it's not delegable from SharePoint, So, I can't really know for sure what the backend of PowerApps does when dealing with these, but if we look at the documentation for these functions we can assume some kind of answer by making an educated guess:
Filter( Table, Formula1 [, Formula2, ... ] )
LookUp( Table, Formula [, ReductionFormula ] )
..So both of these functions are looking for a Formula, and my gut tells me that due to this, when searching by Display Name, a function will be able to discern the internal/static name from that.
- I am also going to suggest here to never ever Ever use Display Name within your code - This is only a suggestion, but will save an infinite amount of potential issues that may arise should some person come along and decide that 'this column should have a more appropriate name' and then suddenly half of your apps no longer work and need to be republished/refreshed/etc. It's best practice to use a static name wherever possible 🙂
So, getting back to the topic at hand,
Search( Table, SearchString, Column1 [, Column2, ... ] )
Description:
- Column(s) - Required. The names of columns within Table to search. Columns to search must contain text. Column names must be strings and enclosed in double quotes. However, the column names must be static and cannot be calculated with a formula. If SearchString is found within the data of any of these columns as a partial match, the full record will be returned.
So we can see there that it outright states that column names must be static, so from the database side I would think it is only going to look for the internal/static name of the column, and they must be enclosed in double quotes.
So, I would think (going back to original question) that it would depend on whether you are using the Search function rather than Lookup/Filter as to whether it wants:
'Name Name' or Name_x0020_Name - which are usually interchangeable within Lookup()/Filter() due to it looking for a Formula (which I am Assuming can do intelligent lookups)
or
"Name_x0020_Name" - which will be looked for as an internal/static name by Search()
If either of you have any counter-examples of this where the preview feature is disabled please do share, as this whole reply is going on my assumptions on how PowerApps is viewing and dealing with internal/static/display names within these functions based on the documentation provided 🙂
Cheers,
@iAm_ManCat
