Building a time picker in Power Apps usually means stacking hour and minute dropdowns or fiddling with input masks.
There’s a much cleaner way: the Sequence() function generates a table of numbers you can transform into anything — including a full list of time slots — in a single line of Power Fx.
Credit for the neat time-picker one-liner goes to Matthew Devaney, who popularised this pattern.
💡 Challenge
You want users to pick a time in 15-minute steps. The usual approaches — two linked dropdowns for hours and minutes, or a free-text field with validation — are clunky, error-prone, and take real effort to build and maintain.
✅ Solution
Feed a Dropdown with a Sequence()-generated table. Sequence(Records, Start, Step) returns a single-column table (column name Value) of sequential numbers. Wrap it in ForAll() to turn each number into a Time value, and you get every quarter-hour of the day with zero manual data.
Set the Items property of a Dropdown to:
ForAll(Sequence(96), Time(0, Value * 15 - 15, 0))
96 slots × 15 minutes = 24 hours, so the list runs from 00:00 to 23:45.
🔧 How it’s done
1. Add a Dropdown control to your screen.
🔸 Insert → Input → Drop down.
2. Set the Items property to the one-liner:
ForAll(Sequence(96), Time(0, Value * 15 - 15, 0))
🔸 Sequence(96) yields 1…96. Value * 15 - 15 maps those to 0, 15, 30 … 1425 minutes — exactly 00:00 through 23:45.
3. Format the display so users see a clean time.
🔸 If the values show as full date/times, wrap them: ForAll(Sequence(96), Text(Time(0, Value * 15 - 15, 0), "hh:mm")).
4. Read the selected value with Dropdown1.Selected.Value.
🔸 Use it directly in a Patch(), a variable, or combine it with a date via DateAdd.
🎉 Result
A fully working, scrollable time picker in 15-minute increments — built from a single formula, with no static data table to maintain. Change the interval by editing one number, and you’re done.
🌟 Key Advantages
🔸 One line, zero data: no hardcoded list, no extra collection to maintain.
🔸 Instantly adjustable: want 30-minute steps? Use Sequence(48) and Value * 30 - 30.
🔸 Reusable pattern: the same Sequence() + ForAll() combo generates far more than times (see below).
Bonus: more creative Sequence() uses
// Next 7 days (Microsoft Learn's recommended pattern)
ForAll(Sequence(7), DateAdd(Today(), Value, Days))
// Alphabet A–Z (65 = 'A')
ForAll(Sequence(26, 65), Char(Value))
// Countdown 20 → 1 (negative step)
Sequence(20, 20, -1)
// Odd numbers only
Sequence(20, 1, 2)
// Business hours, 30-minute slots from 08:00
ForAll(Sequence(21), Time(8, 30 * (Value - 1), 0))
// 12 calendar month names
ForAll(Sequence(12), Text(Date(Year(Today()), Value, 1), "mmmm"))
🛠️ FAQ
Q1: How many records can Sequence() generate?
Between 0 and 50,000. Values are rounded down to the nearest whole number, and 0 returns an empty table.
Q2: What is the column called in the generated table?
Value. That’s why the formulas reference Value inside ForAll().
Q3: Why Value * 15 - 15 instead of Value * 15?
Sequence(96) starts at 1, so without the - 15 the first slot would be 00:15 and you’d miss 00:00. Subtracting one step shifts the list to start at midnight. (Alternatively, Sequence(96, 0) starts at 0 and you can drop the - 15.)
Q4: Can I change the step size?
Yes. Sequence(Records, Start, Step) accepts a Step argument, and it can be negative to count down. For times, just adjust both the record count and the minute multiplier.
🔗 Related Tips
- #PowerPlatformTip 84 – Tabbing in Dynamic Forms — using
Sequence()for reliable gallery binding. - #PowerPlatformTip 93 – Add RowNumbers — dynamic row numbering with
Sequence().
Marcel Lehmann
Microsoft MVP
