Json formatting - How to use the Moderation Status field

Patrick Rote Microsoft added official support for Approval Status column in JSON formatting sometime back.

Due to this update, the @currentField and [$_ModerationStatus] will resolve to internal code (enum value) and @currentField.displayValue and [$_ModerationStatus.displayValue] will resolve to the localized string.

So, try using [$_ModerationStatus.displayValue] instead of [$_ModerationStatus] in your JSON or use enum values to compare instead of text value.

• 0 : Approved
• 1 : Denied
• 2 : Pending
• 3 : Draft
• 4 : Scheduled

Similar thread: Column Formatting with Approval Status

Update:

As per the current design of SharePoint JSON formatting, you can refer only those columns which are shown on list forms in your JSON.

Seems like Approval Status column is not visible in list forms hence you are unable to use its value in JSON formatting.

Similar thread: Can ID column be displayed when configuring a list form header using JSON?

Example:

For simple SharePoint list with only Title and Approval Status column, I can only see the Title column on list form and only below column values are available in page context while applying JSON in header layout: 

Related Read: How to find the Internal name of columns in SharePoint Online? 

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