People Picker default selected

[qwicker]

Hi All,

I'm pretty stumped with what I think should be a very simple task.  I have a SP list with a column which is set as "People or Groups".  I have a canvas app which lets you choose a person from an O365 group (this person is called the "relationship owner").  I use a combo box and I have added a collection for the particular O365 group and the choices of the combo box to the collection.  The drop down works as expected pulling the members of the O365 group.  I initially encountered difficulty getting the update to actually save into the SP list with the usual ComboBox.Selected in the "update" field.  I found a solution here in the forums and pasted that into the update field.

{Claims: "i:0#.f|membership|"& ComboBox1.Selected.mail,Email:ComboBox1.Selected.mail,DisplayName:ComboBox1.Selected.displayName,Department:"",JobTitle:"",Picture:""}

So, the form works and a user can select the right person and it saves into the SP list column.  My current issue is I cannot set the default selected value.  This is problematic because if someone views the list item it will always show "Relationship Owner" as blank.  Worse, if the user edits the item (and does not re-select the person in the dropdown) and save it, it saves back a null value because no one is selected.  I currently have the datacard set to ThisItem.'Relationship Owner'

I'm learning that a person object isn't very simple but can't seem to figure this out.  Appreciate any help!

[qwicker · Accepted solution]

OK I guess the rule is as soon as you make a post asking for help you figure it out!  Haha.  After 2 days of trying to figure it out, I got it.  The issue is the SP list uses fields "DisplayName" and "Email" whereas the O365 object uses fields "displayName" and "mail".

I'm not sure I understand why this is the case but what I did was basically reverse the field I have in "update" and put it in DefaultSelected.  Hope this helps someone else.

[andersLeng]

Sorry to bother you now, I have a similar problem, let's say I have a piece of data in SharePoint itself, the person selector selects lisa, I need the default value of the person selector in apps to display lisa, can you help me?

[qwicker]

So let me see if I understand you.  You have a sharepoint list with some data and one column has selected "Lisa"?  You then have an app and you are looking to make the default selected value of a people picker in the app default to "Lisa"?  Is that right?

If so, you will have to manually map the SP fields for CLAIMS like I highlighted above.  For the app you need to set default to reverse the text I have above so it might be something like displayName = DisplayName.  I'm just simplifying, of course.

[andersLeng]

Oh thank you so much for answering my question, I found the solution on youtube, thanks again qwicker

[ShazAm]

@qwicker 👍Hi Just what was looking for, thank you. Please can you show (expand) on the code , on what you said " but what I did was basically reverse the field I have in "update" and put it in DefaultSelected.".... I used a For All in my scenario to loop through as i needed to do a multiple selection of combob values. But NOW am trying to show the default values of that datacardvalue (combobox) when in edit form.

@andersLeng 👍 Hi can you share the youtube link , much appreciated! 

[ShazAm]

Hi @qwicker I figured it out thanks