Building Canvas Apps with Microsoft Power Apps

Introduction to the Power Platform

The Microsoft Power Platform consists of Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI And Power Virtual Agents. These applications are powerful alone, yet together, they can be used to create end-to-end business solutions. In this module we will see how Power Apps and Power Automate fit within this Platform.

Topics:

• Overview of the Microsoft Power Platform
• Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Virtual Agents & AI Builder
• Connectors and Connections overview
• Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365
• Real world use case of the Power Platform

Power Platform Licensing Guide

The licensing for the Power Platform is not easy to grasp at first. This chapter will provide a nice overview of the licensing system and provide you with all the information you need to calculate any costs.

Topics:

• Licensing Overview
• What is included with existing licensing models?
• Standard vs Premium connectors
• API Call Limits

Getting started with Power Apps

In the world of the information worker you will handle information that is probably stored across different software suites, like SharePoint, Salesforce, Excel files, Access databases, and so on. Typically, you would like your end-users to be able to browse and/or modify this data in a general user-friendly, and preferably mobile, way. Microsoft Power Apps allows people, without any development skills, to build applications that are mobile friendly on top of their data. Other people can then be allowed to use the built application to browse the data and maybe even modify it.

Topics:

• What is Power Apps?
• Canvas Apps vs. Model-Driven Apps vs. Power Apps Portals
• Getting started with Canvas Apps using templates
• Generating Canvas Apps from your data
• Power Apps on mobile
• LAB - Creating Basic PowerApps

Building Canvas Apps with Power Apps

In this module, we'll explore the capabilities when building a canvas app using Power Apps Studio. It also introduces students to PowerFX, an open source formula language that allows app makers to add logic to Power Apps. The participants will get familiar with connecting to data sources, creating pages, adding controls, bindings, behavior, ...

Topics:

• Creating Canvas Apps with Power Apps Studio
• Working with connections
• Adding Screens and Screen Controls
• Working with Galleries
• Introduction to Forms
• Working with PowerFX
• LAB - Customizing a Canvas App

Connecting with popular data sources

In this module you will get an overview on how to connect with popular data sources from a canvas app. We will discuss SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Exchange, Planner, Teams, AzureAD...

• SharePoint list items and documents
• Microsoft Teams Channels and Messages
• Managing tasks in Outlook and Planner
• Sending Emails with Outlook, GMail, ...
• Office 365 Users
• Manipulating Excel
• Microsoft Dataverse database and Dynamics 365
• LAB - Working with popular connectors

Forms in Canvas Apps

In Applications, we often want to view data from some kind of table or list, or add new data to it. In Microsoft Power Apps, this is done using Forms. In this module, we will have a detailed look at the different types of forms that we can use in Power Apps.

Topics:

• Customizing Edit- and Detail Forms
• How do data cards work?
• Data card templates and customization
• Input validation
• Dynamic controls: use formulas to make fields required, hidden, etc.
• LAB - Working with forms

Power Apps data sources and local data

When creating Power Apps, you will always use data. Sometimes you will need to integrate multiple data sources. In this module we will have a detailed look at local data and data sources and how to modify this data using functions. You will also learn how to integrate a second data source into your forms.

Topics:

• Configuring data sources
• Using variables and collections
• Data source manipulations
• Manually patching data sources
• Handling and preventing errors
• Refreshing data and searching
• Data source delegation
• LAB - Take control of data sources

Configuring and Publishing Power Apps

There are several options to configure Power Apps. Think about the screen size and orientation, or about implementing a responsive design. In this chapter, we will have a look at those options. We will also see the possibilities for sharing and embedding Power Apps.

Topics:

• Configuring Power Apps
• Saving, sharing and publishing Apps
• Sharing and permissions
• Use your Power App from SharePoint pages
• Embed your Power App as a Teams app
• App analytics
• LAB - Publishing and Sharing a Power App

Customizing SharePoint Forms

SharePoint will often be a data source used in Power Apps. Just like InfoPath was used to customize SharePoint forms on SharePoint Server, we can use Power Apps for this purpose in SharePoint Online. This chapter will show you how to customize the SharePoint list or library forms.

Topics:

• Customizing a SharePoint form
• SharePoint Integration Control
• Differentiate your form based on the mode: view, edit, new
• Adding dynamic behavior
• Wide screen SharePoint forms
• LAB - Customizing a SharePoint List Form