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Help Needed: Search Button in PowerApps Platform Only Returns Results with First Part of Username

I am experiencing difficulties with Microsoft Power Pages platform Search Button in Power Platform Only Returns Results with First Part of Username When using the search functionality for usernames, the search only returns results if the first part of the username is entered. Ideally, I would like the search to work as a "like" search so that any part of the username can be typed in, and the corresponding user will appear in the results.

For instance, if the product name is "Big Chicken" and we type "Chicken" in the search, no results will be shown. The search only returns results when the first part of the name, "Big," is entered.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could guide me on how to update the search behavior to work as a "like" search, where any part of the username can be entered to return matching results.

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@SK-04031016-0

You're experiencing an issue in Power Pages where the search functionality only returns results when the first part of the username or product name is entered. For example, searching for "Chicken" won’t return "Big Chicken", but searching for "Big" will. You’d like to implement a “like” search that matches any part of the string.

This is a known limitation of the default search behavior in Power Pages, which typically uses starts-with logic rather than contains logic. Here's how you can address and improve this behavior.

✅ Recommended Solutions

1. Use Custom Filters with Contains Logic

You can override the default search behavior by implementing a custom filter using Liquid and FetchXML or JavaScript. This allows you to use contains or like operators instead of startswith.

A helpful guide from PascalCase explains how to build custom filters that support partial string matching. You can:

Create a custom search form
Use JavaScript to capture the input
Use FetchXML with condition attribute="name" operator="like" value="%Chicken%" to query Dataverse

2. Modify the Search Component (Preview Feature)

If you're using the new Search Component in Power Pages (currently in preview), you can configure it to support more flexible search behavior:

Go to Design Studio
Add the Search Component to your page
Customize the Search Result Page and Search Summary settings
Remove legacy search snippets from the Header web template to avoid conflicts
2

Documentation: Add a Search Component – Microsoft Learn

3. Use Power Fx or Delegated Search Logic

If your data source is SharePoint or Dataverse and you're using a gallery or list component, you can modify the Items property to use Search() or Filter() with in or Contains() logic. For example:

Filter(Users, TextInput.Text in DisplayName)

🧩 Additional Considerations

Delegation: If you're working with large datasets, ensure your filter logic supports delegation to avoid performance issues.
Security: Ensure that your custom search logic respects user permissions and doesn’t expose unauthorized data.
Performance: Use indexed columns and limit result sets to improve responsiveness.

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists. ✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems. ❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

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