Power Apps and Power Automate: Advanced Patterns

Creating responsive Canvas Apps

When you create Canvas Apps, they are not responsive by default. They either have a Phone or Tablet layout. You can tweak some app settings and work with formulas to start make them responsive. But to create truly response canvas apps, you will need to work with layout containers. In this chapter you will learn all about the available layout containers and how they can be used to easily create response Canvas apps.

• What is a responsive app?
• Working with responsive layout containers
• Configuring auto-layout containers
• Working with screen sizes and breakpoints
• LAB: Using layout containers to create response Canvas apps

Working with Components in Canvas Apps

Components are reusable building blocks for canvas apps so that app makers can create custom controls to use inside an app, or across apps using a component library.

• Creating Components and Component Libraries
• Defining Inputs and Outputs
• Using Components
• Canvas Component Properties
• Component library ALM
• Behavior Formulas for Components
• LAB: Creating and using Components

Creating Custom Connectors for the Power Platform

The Power Platform ships with a lot of built-in connectors, but what if you need to connect to a custom data source? In that case you can write your own custom connectors and use them in your Power Automate and Canvas Apps.

• Create a custom connector using the Connector Wizard
• Create a custom connector using an OpenAPI definition
• Using custom connectors
• Microsoft Power Platform Connectors CLI
• Coding standards for Custom Connectors
• Create Custom Connectors in solutions
• Use environment variables in Solution Custom Connectors
• LAB: >Creating and using Custom Connectors

Monitoring And Debugging Power Apps

In any application you write, you will need to add error handling logic and display error notifications. You also might want to collect and analyze telemetry data for your apps. See how you can integrate your apps with Azure Monitor. Last but not least, you will see how you can use the built-in monitoring tools of the Power Platform.

• Error handling and notifications in Canvas apps
• Integration with Azure Monitor
• LAB: Monitoring and debugging Power Apps

Unit Testing Power Apps

Testing is an important part of the Software Development Life Cycle. Testing can help ensure the quality of the app delivered to customers because it can identify issues or defects early in the release process.

• Test Studio Overview
• Creating and running Test Cases
• Working with Test Suits
• The upcoming Power Apps Test Engine
• LAB: Working with Test Studio and the Power Apps Test Engine

Storing Data using Microsoft Dataverse

Almost every Canvas app and Power Automate Flow will have to deal with data somehow. This chapter introduces Microsoft Dataverse as an easy to use and scalable data source compared to storing data in Excel files or SharePoint lists.

• Using Microsoft Dataverse as a data source
• Creating Tables in Microsoft Dataverse
• Creating Columns, Relationships and Views in a Table
• LAB: Storing Data using Microsoft Dataverse

Using Microsoft Dataverse in Canvas Apps and Power Automate

In this chapter you will see how you can build a Canvas app on top of tables in Microsoft Dataverse. See how to work with Lookup, Choice, Image... columns in your Canvas app. Learn about the Power Automate triggers and actions that are specific to Microsoft Dataverse.

• Using Microsoft Dataverse in a Canvas App
• Using Microsoft Dataverse in Power Automate
• LAB: sing Microsoft Dataverse in Canvas Apps and Power Automate Flow

Working with Low-Code Plug-Ins

Plug-ins allows low-code developers to define reusable business logic using the Power Fx language. This chapter teaches students how they can write a custom Plug-in in .NET and deploy it to Dataverse. Students also learn how to debug Plug-ins in Dataverse. Plugins allow These plug-ins are reusable, real-time workflows that execute a specific set of commands within Dataverse, running server-side and triggered by personalized event handlers.

• What are low-code plug-ins?
• Creating low-code plug-ins using Power Fx
• Creating Instant plug-ins
• Execute plug-ins for Canvas Apps
• Using plug-ins in Power Automate