Help using Office365Users

[dhalpin]

Hello all,

After typing a long-winded question, I was able to distill it down.  Please see below the asterisks for further details if you like.

I have a collection which contains Office365User information for a sub-set of employees in a column called "OutlookInfo", pulled from a Sharepoint List (type: People).  How can I select people using a dropdown, preferably using DisplayName?  collection.'OutlookInfo'._______________ does not return any auto-complete suggestions.

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I am making a Project Management app for my team.  I would like to allow the user of the app to choose Project Leads from a dropdown menu.  The list of individuals on this list would be very small - maybe 10 people.  Then each Project Lead will have their own dashboard showing projects which have been assigned to them. 

Because I was/am confounded by the Office365Users concept, my initial solution was to create a Sharepoint List which is manually populated with the columns "Name" (type: text), and "Outlook Info" (type: Person).  The Outlook Info is not used anywhere else, but I added it to the SP list in the hopes I could leverage that information in the future.  The future is now 😉

So, in PowerApps, I have the following for OnVisible:

ClearCollect(projectLeads, (Sort('Project Leads',SortingOrder,Ascending)))

Then the dropdown pulls from the collection: projectLeads.Name.  That works great for the purpose of the dropdowns, but now I am making the separate dashboards for each Project Lead and I realize I cannot filter by Office365Users.MyProfile().DisplayName because the dropdowns use a manually-entered text field which might be misspelled or otherwise different from the official employee record.  This is my current (non-functional) filter for showing a person's projects on their dashboard's dropdown:

Distinct(Filter('Active Project List', 'Project Lead'= Office365Users.MyProfile().DisplayName), 'Collection Name')

So, I think my issue could be solved if I could populate the dropdowns with Office365Users.DisplayName (which is contained in the collection, but I don't know how to access nested tables' values). 

[RandyHayes]

@dhalpin 

Can you expand more on what you mean by "the dropdowns use a manually-entered text field which might be misspelled or otherwise different"

I have the impression that you have a separate list called 'Project Leads' and that the name is being entered there.  Can you control that list entry to validate the name?  If you have mismatched names, then it will be very difficult to lookup the 365 user by the display name. 

Also, while you're at this stage, consider using the email rather than the display name as the display name is not guaranteed to be unique, but the email is.

Also, in your formula, you are trying to compare a user column with a text value...this will not work!  You need to compare either record to record or text to text.  So, in the case of the DisplayName, then this formula will get you closer to results: 

   Distinct(Filter('Active Project List', 'Project Lead'.DisplayName= Office365Users.MyProfile().DisplayName), 'Collection Name')

HOWEVER, Please be aware that a SharePoint user record DOES NOT match an Office 365 User record.  There are ways around this easily, but before going into all of that, tell me more about the above so I can provide a more accurate solution for you.

[dhalpin]

Thanks, as always @RandyHayes!  Please see my responses below in green:

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Can you expand more on what you mean by "the dropdowns use a manually-entered text field which might be misspelled or otherwise different"

I have the impression that you have a separate list called 'Project Leads' and that the name is being entered there.  That is correct.  Can you control that list entry to validate the name?  If you have mismatched names, then it will be very difficult to lookup the 365 user by the display name. 

Also, while you're at this stage, consider using the email rather than the display name as the display name is not guaranteed to be unique, but the email is.

The Sharepoint list just serves to define a group of roughly 10 Project Leads from our giant company (over 10k people).  The "Outlook Info" column, being a People-type data field, presents a directory to the user as they're filling it in.  So, the data is validated assuming the user picks the correct person.  The "Name" column only serves as a text field for populating the dropdown in PowerApps.  It is actually unnecessary if I can figure out how to extract the appropriate information from the Office365 data.  This was just my noob workaround, and I see now that it is inherently flawed.

Also, in your formula, you are trying to compare a user column with a text value...this will not work!  You need to compare either record to record or text to text.  So, in the case of the DisplayName, then this formula will get you closer to results: 

   Distinct(Filter('Active Project List', 'Project Lead'.DisplayName= Office365Users.MyProfile().DisplayName), 'Collection Name')

HOWEVER, Please be aware that a SharePoint user record DOES NOT match an Office 365 User record.  There are ways around this easily, but before going into all of that, tell me more about the above so I can provide a more accurate solution for you.

That is interesting.  So you're saying Sharepoint is pulling from a different pool of employee data than PowerApps when using Office365User.... ?  The Sharepoint column is a "Person or Group" type (I previously incorrectly identified it as "People" type)

[RandyHayes]

@dhalpin 

Ah, very good.  I did not get that you actually had a Person column in it.  I assumed, for some reason when you mentioned 365 user, that you were trying to lookup users based on that display name.

So, yes, SharePoint Person columns have a different record schema than a 365 user.  Keep this in mind as you have to convert between them when needed.  

Side Note: SharePoint has always had its own user management system in it (which is what all its user information is based on).  365 has a totally different one.  On a somewhat frequent schedule, information is synced between the two (not something you have to deal with)...just an FYI.  So, the information will match and sync, but the record types are totally different.

So now, let's go back to your original dropdown - are you expecting to filter the 'Project Lead' list in that dropdown based on some condition (project chosen, etc.)?  Or are you just going to have all the names in that list displayed in the dropdown?

As I see it, you have actually no need for the 365 user information as you already have the information you need in the 'Project Lead' list Person column AND it is already a SharePoint user that you can use for your filter.

So, for your Dropdown, the items would be 'Project Lead' and the filter on your dashboard dropdown items property would be:

Distinct(
    Filter('Active Project List', 
        'Project Lead'= yourProjectLeadDropdown.Selected
    ), 
   'Collection Name'
)

There is no need for any collections or variables.

See if this moves you further along.

[dhalpin]

Thanks @RandyHayes .  This seems like it will help when I need to filter "Active Projects" by the current user's name.  However, I am still stuck with the initial task of specifying an individual as the Project Lead in the first place.  I do have a SP List with a Person or Group column (column name 'Outlook Info').  I am trying:

dropdown Items = 'Project Leads'.OutlookInfo.DisplayName

but I'm not having any luck. 

dh

[RandyHayes]

@dhalpin 

In my last post there was a question that is outstanding:

So now, let's go back to your original dropdown - are you expecting to filter the 'Project Lead' list in that dropdown based on some condition (project chosen, etc.)?  Or are you just going to have all the names in that list displayed in the dropdown?

Also, please clarify that this is a Dropdown and not a Combobox.  Is your underlying record in the datasource a multi-person selectable column or single person?

[dhalpin]

Yes, it is a dropdown.  There is no filtering necessary at this point, since the SP list is curated to only include individuals that should appear in the dropdown.

[RandyHayes]

@dhalpin 

Well, actually it's not.  Even though your list may only have the people in it you choose, it still is based on ALL users.

One other unanswered question :  "Is your underlying record in the datasource a multi-person selectable column or single person?"  This is significant to the operation and also the choice of control.

[dhalpin]

"Allow Multiple Selections" and "Allow selection of Groups" are both turned off.

[RandyHayes]

@dhalpin 

So I am a bit confused.  And maybe I am overcomplicating what you have in my mind.

Let me clarify what I know at this point:

- You have a list called 'Active Project List'

- That list has a 'Project Lead' person column in it which is single select.

- That column is populated with the Project Lead information when :

    "I would like to allow the user of the app to choose Project Leads from a dropdown menu."

- The Dropdown list is populated from the 'Project Leads' list and displays the Name column from that list for user selection.  

- The 'Project Leads' list has a column called 'Outlook Info' that is a person type column.

- That column is populated manually.

- You are creating a screen for the project manager that will show the dropdown with just the persons name in it as it would be seen in the 'Project Leads' list.

- You then want a filtered list of those projects relevant to the project lead.

My confusion:

1) Is there some other form of project entry and lead assignment?  As I assume now, you must have some sort of "manager" that is "assigning" the lead and then the leads see their dashboard.

2) If #1 is true, then my question would be, why bother with the dropdown, just filter the project list.

3) And I think you just confirmed this with your last reply - can multiple leads be assigned to a project? - the answer would be "no".

Please clarify and/or correct anything above that I am lost on.