ComboBox within a Form and setting DefaultSelectedItems

[chris421]

Hi
 
I have an app that I'm trying to work on which deals with an "admin" controlled user profile list and can deal with training required/courses using Sharepoint Online lists (NOTE: I don't have access to Common Data Services).
 
I have a list for Courses -: ID, CourseTitle
And I'm wanting the user list to hold -: Username, Forename, Surname, Email, Active, Enrolled, Marks
(Enrolled needs to have a reference to all Courses that can be accessed by that user; Marks will (eventually) contain a list of marks gained in various courses etc (but if I can solve issue 1, then I can hopefully re-use the method)).
 
In order to edit user profiles, the admin user can view all users (or create a new one), which Navigates to an EditForm pointing to the UserProfiles list. What i'm trying to get at this point is the option for the admin to add/remove courses from the UserProfile depending on the individual and the courses required.

As the list of courses isn't a static list, I can just hardcode a ComboBox. So, currently I have my ComboBox2.Items set as

SortByColumns(Filter('Training-Courses',Active=1),"Title")

to display a sorted A-Z list of all courses where the Active flag is 1/true (just to cover for discontinued courses in future).
 
So I want to click the box, select a number of courses, and SubmitForm. So, in the SPO list, under Enrolled column, I require a reference back to the allowed/enrolled courses - which based on my Googling, is probably best as a comma seperated string stored in the list (I would've preferred another list stored within the enrolled column of the list, but this isn't possible with a SPO list). [see originally selected items.jpg and SPO list entry.jpg]

So, to this end, the for DataCard for the Enrolled field has DataCardValue8.Default set to

Left(Concat(ComboBox2.SelectedItems.Title,Title & ","),Len(Concat(ComboBox2.SelectedItems.Title,Title & ","))-1)

which picks up the selected courses as they are selected/deselected.

The user can then Submit, and the list gets a string input equal to DataCardValue8 (a CSV of course names).

However, if the admin then goes back into the UserProfile, then ComboBox2 needs to show the options available (as above), but it also needs to select the already selected options, which I have tried to do with ComboBox2.DefaultSelectedItems being set to

ForAll(coll_enrolledcourses,Result)

where coll_enrolledcourses is a collection of the courses stored previously after being split

ClearCollect(coll_enrolledcourses,Split(PlainText(ThisItem.Enrolled),","));

The issue here is that although the previously selected items ARE selected within the Combobox, they aren't listed in DataCardValue8 (except for the seperator comma) (so if I re-submitted now it nearly clears the field); but even within the Combobox, they are displayed at the top of the list (where selected items would go), but they aren't highlighted in the options list.....so I can add them twice. [see UserProfile after reloading (multi selected items).jpg]

Does anyone have any suggestions / pointers / thoughts as to how to get a dynamically selectable list in and, crucially, back out of a SPO list so that I can edit profiles. Like i said, I've got more things planned for this, but they are all going to hinge off of a similar method, but I just can't get this one working.

[v-xida-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @chris421 ,

Could you please share a bit more about your scenario?

Do you want the selected courses option to be shown up within the Enrolled ComboBox when you edit previously submitted record?

Could you please share a bit more about the Enrolled field in your SP List? Is it a Text Type column?

Based on the formula that you mentioned, I think there is something wrong with it. I have made a test on my side, please consider take a try with the following workaround:

Set the Update property of the Enrolled field data card in your Edit form to following:

Left(Concat(ComboBox2.SelectedItems.Title,Title & ","),Len(Concat(ComboBox2.SelectedItems.Title,Title & ","))-1)

Set the DefaultSelectedItems property of the ComboBox within the Enrolled field data card to following:

If(
   EditForm1.Mode = FormMode.New, // EditForm1 represents the Edit form in your app
   Parent.Default,
   ForAll(
          Split(ThisItem.Enrolled, ","),
          {
             Title: Result
          }
   )
)

Note: I assume that you set the "Title" column as display column value within your Enrolled ComboBox (ComboBox2)

Best regards,

[chris421]

Hi

Basically I'm in the (very) early stages (still doing a couple of proof of concept tests) of planning  an e-Learning/e-Training style system. I know that it's possible, as I've been reading the MS case studies, and SNCF put a learning platform together (which is kind of where the idea originated).

 

When the "admin" is adding a new user profile, then there will be no selected courses by default; but the admin will add one or more courses. If, and when, the admin edits the same user profile, it needs to recall the already selected courses (and highlight/pre-select them (so that admin can see what options are already selected)) and the admin user can add/remove courses accordingly.

e.g. user1 can access "Basic Health and Safety" and "Word 101" when they first start, but if they get promoted they can now access "Excel 101" and "Business Management 101", but don't need "Basic Health and Safety" anymore.

 

Currently the Enrolled field is a "Multiple lines of text" type (I chose this over "Single line" in case of a large list of options) - but I can change the type if required since this is still in testing/proof-of-concept stage. My intention for the courses field (list of comma seperated values) is to use this to determine which courses to allow to be visible to the user when they log in. 

 

I edited the Update field of the main DataCard for the Enrolled section as suggested, and I put in the code below for DefaultSelectedItems, but it wasn't liking the Type, so I ended up withIf( Form1.Mode = FormMode.New, ForAll( Split(PlainText(ThisItem.Enrolled),","), {Title: ""} ), ForAll( Split(PlainText(ThisItem.Enrolled),","), {Title: Result} ) )and it seems to be doing what I was hoping for.

When the user has NO courses selected, the field is blank, and the Combobox has nothing selected. The admin can select one or more courses, and Submit and it saves a CSV list to the SPO list. When the user profile is recalled, the Combobox is showing the selected items correctly and allowing adding/removing of courses, and Submitting correctly.

Now that I have this working, I can use a similar method for other section(s).

Thanks!