Showing posts with label powerapps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label powerapps. Show all posts

Tuesday 7 September 2021

Creating custom pages as contextual modal dialogs for model driven app entity records in PowerApps

This article explains an approach to build custom pages as contextual model dialogs, integrated to the command bar controls in PowerApps. 

In the previous articles, 

The solution, model driven app and a custom landing page for model driven app was created and demonstrated in the previous article. As a continuation from the previous articles, we will take dealership scenario for the model dialog demonstration in this article. The scenario considered here is to send a task to the dealer from the main grid view in model driven app, without navigating to the entity record form or associated views. This provides flexibility to send out quick actions/tasks for the business users, assuming this feature is most used actions in the business.


Building custom page for model dialog

Creating canvas app like custom page might be familiar for you. This can be done from the solutions on PowerApps https://make.preview.powerapps.com, create a new custom page by clicking on New -> App -> Page.

The following snapshot shows one simple view created to show the selected dealer and option to send out the quick actions/tasks to the user (entity record) in model driven app.

PowerApps custom page for dialog view in model driven app

The app is configured with the following.

  • The app onStart is configured to pick the records passed from the PowerApps model driven app entity grid view. 
    • Set(RecordItem, If(!IsBlank(Param("recordId")), LookUp(Dealers, Dealers = GUID(Param("recordId")))))
  • For saving/sending the activity to the dealer (contacts entity), the onSelect property needs to be configured as shown below. 
    • Patch(Tasks,Defaults(Tasks),{Subject:TextBox1.Value,Regarding:RecordItem})

Save and publish. The next step is to integrate the page with the model driven app.

Sunday 22 August 2021

Power Apps custom landing page with model driven entity views sample

In the previous post, the necessity for custom page which converges canvas app with model driven app was explained. 

In this article post, we will look at a basic example for convergence of canvas app as custom page with model driven app.

From PowerApps portal https://make.preview.powerapps.com/, create a solution under solutions tab.



Create/Add the model driven app, entities and page:

In this case I have leveraged the model driven app with dealer example created in one of my previous article.

From the solution objects, create/add the apps. 


The following high level steps shows what elements are added to the solution.

  • Model driven app: Add the existing solution from add -> app -> model driven app. search and add the model driven app.
  • Entities (Tables): From the solution, create the necessary tables (entities) for the solution. In this solution, the tables added are dealers/users, models, manufacturing units and vehicles.
  • Page (Landing page): From the solution, create a page as landing page for the solution. Creating the new page by click on New -> app -> page.

Wednesday 18 August 2021

Introduction to custom page on Power Apps

This article series explains the new low-code development concept/feature introduced on Power Apps. That is custom page on Power Apps, which is still a preview feature. Recently Microsoft has announced the release of custom page preview feature with Power Apps. we will explore more about this feature with some samples. https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/custom-pages-for-converging-model-driven-apps-and-canvas-apps/


Custom page for model driven apps:

Over the time, Microsoft has introduced multiple types of apps. Now Microsoft has introduced custom page which converges canvas app experience with model driven app.

  • That is, custom page is introduced to enhance the experience of model driven apps.
  • The custom page development looks similar to Power Apps canvas app development. 
  • So canvas app is not straightaway integrated with model driven app. Instead custom page option is introduced.


However there are also other points to note in comparing custom page with canvas app.

  • Only one screen can be created on custom page. The redirection in this case is mostly to entities/forms. However canvas app can support multiple screens, and redirection between these screens are possible.
  • Apps to be built with canvas apps type can stand alone, but custom page can only work with model driven app solution and cannot standalone.


What are various integration options available for custom page with model driven app on power apps?

  • You can create and add a custom page as landing page for model driven app, along with other standard entity forms/views.
  • You can integrate custom page to be available as dialog or side panels on click of command buttons on model driven app forms/views.


Migrating existing canvas app

What if you have already developed app with canvas app type, and you want to migrate this to custom page which can work with model driven app?

  • Answer is simple, copy and paste the screen from canvas app to custom page. This has been outlined here. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/powerapps/maker/model-driven-apps/model-app-page-overview#migrating-standalone-canvas-app-content-to-custom-pages
  • you should do this migration only, if you want the model driven features available for your solution.

Connectors

Will custom page support connectors?

  • Yes, connectors are supported as like canvas app. 
  • But very limited standard connectors are verified. As of writing, only connectors like office 365 users, outlook, SharePoint online, SQL server, Power Automate, Teams, and excel online for business are verified.
  • Custom connector are also available which helps you to build your own actions for integrations with other API services or on-premise data.


The below snapshot shows the custom page app created on Power Apps, with options available.


We will look at samples of custom page integrations with model driven apps in the next articles.

Thursday 23 July 2020

Power Apps: Different type of Apps with Detailed Understanding

Power Apps provides options to create app based on the requirement and usage. There are three different type of apps available.
  • Canvas 
  • Model Driven  
  • Portal 

Power Apps with the above three type of apps, adds more value to the Microsoft power platform, along with Power Automate. With both of these services from power platform, some of the complex business scenarios could be achieved with no-code or less-code approach. You will get this fact at the end of this article.

Let us quickly understand these different types.


Canvas App


When power Apps was introduced few years ago, this was the only type available. This type provides options to customize the user experience. That means, you can build the app from scratch defining each and every aspect of it. That includes,
  • Design and UI elements –  
    • Helps creating screens and adding necessary controls with just drag and drop approach.  
    • Business logic can be  manipulated and achieved with functions/formulas with less-code or no-code scenarios. 
  • Data connectivity – 
    • There are default connectors available, providing flexibility to connect to multiple services without even writing code. This includes underlying common data service, and other SAAS services. 
    • On top of this, Power Automate provides greater flexibility in integrating the multiple services/systems data with no-code configurations. 
  • Users: 
    • This canvas type is available for Azure AD or external users. 
    • Only licensed users can only access the app. - The basic options available as of writing are for single app or multiple apps per user.

Sunday 28 June 2020

Model Driven PowerApp: 360 Degree View Dashboard to Monitor Data from External Systems (Azure AD and Azure Cosmos DB)

Problem: The business dealership information is being captured on multiple external systems. There is a need for business to capture 360° data view dashboard to keep track of information of dealers, sales data, and many other dealership information at one place. And this dashboard is for business users on the organization for monitoring.

Let us take an example of dealership architecture, where dealer identities/domain information are stored on external Azure AD, and basic details of dealership is stored on Azure Cosmos database.

Note: The dealership use case is an example for us to explore the possibilities. Similarly, this can be replaced with any other data model.

Design & Solution Considerations


The following elements/components are considered for building this solution.
  • Azure Cosmos Database, which holds dealership’s basic information 
  • Azure Active Directory, which holds the domain/identity information of dealership users [This is external/separate domain, holding only dealership users] 
  • Power Automate, to integrate and push the data to CRM system. 
  • Microsoft Common Data Service, which acts as intermediate storage and containing subsets of information from two other systems. [Azure Cosmos DB and Azure AD] 
  • Power Apps – model driven app, which has necessary dashboard for business users. 

The following shows high level design of 360 degree architecture, integrating data from multiple systems.
High level design for Dashboard providing 360 degree of dealership data
High level design for Dashboard providing 360 degree of dealership data

The following illustrates the design.
  • The necessary data model or entities are created on Microsoft CDS to capture the data from multiple system. For now in this usecase, let us focus on one entity, I.e., dealers.  
  • The flow configured on Power Automate runs as a scheduled job, to synchronize the data into CDS. Pulls minimal information from Azure AD and Azure Cosmos database, and synchronize the data subset into Microsoft CDS.  
  • Power Apps, which has views, forms and dashboards pulls and shows the information from entities, which is configured in the underlying CDS. 

Now let us get deeper into the solution, to see how these are configured.

Saturday 16 November 2019

Office 365 SharePoint List Data - Represented as Accordion View on Power Apps

Power Apps provides multiple ways to represent data with just out of the box configurations, without writing any code. In my specific case, there is a requirement to get accordion view of list data on Power Apps. Let us understand, how this could be achieved with elements available on Power Apps.

Let us get the data from SharePoint list, and show the accordion view. The accordion view has to be created by grouping the list items.  In our case, we will show the jobs list in the accordion view, grouped under each business/technical group. The jobs list present on SharePoint data contains title and category, where category is grouping element.

After following the steps/configurations, the final accordion view will look like the following snapshot.
SharePoint list data - Accordion view with collapsible option
SharePoint list data - Accordion view with collapsible option

Let us look at the step by step approach to configure app to get the accordion experience.

Monday 11 November 2019

Modal Dialog Experience - Office 365 People Data on Power Apps

In my past articles, we have seen various ways to show people data. Here let us take another approach to show people/user information. Similar to modal dialog on SharePoint, we will see how to provide modal dialog like experience on Power Apps.

Let us leverage people search section from our previous articles. Build the people search as explained in my previous post.
http://www.techwithnakkeeran.com/2019/10/powerapps-app-to-show-microsoft-teams.html

On click of any user in the Power Apps user list, we will try attaching modal dialog screen. The following picture depicts the modal dialog view.
Modal Dialog View on PowerApps
Modal Dialog View on PowerApps

Sunday 27 October 2019

Building Organizational Chart with Office 365 data on Power Apps

Here, you will see how to build organizational chart on PowerApps.

Let us consider to have users list along with search box, to enable simple user search. On click of any user from the list, organizational chart will be shown.

Let us include following elements, to show organization structure on the PowerApps.
  1. Text box for search
  2. Gallery list for showing users
  3. Gallery list for showing manager information
  4. Gallery list for showing user reportees.

The following snapshot shows the preview of organizational chart.
Final Result: Organization Chart shown on PowerApps [Content Morphed]
Final Result: Organization Chart shown on PowerApps [Content Morphed]

Thursday 10 October 2019

PowerApps - App to Show Microsoft Teams members using MS Graph API


Microsoft PowerApps helps business/teams in building quick OOB apps. This post helps understanding, how to get access to Microsoft Teams data from PowerApps using custom connectors.

Why there is a need for custom connector? Microsoft has introduced lot of connectors on PowerApps interface to get access to the data. The Office 365 connectors included in Microsoft PowerApps are office 365 users, mails, etc. The custom connectors are created for the data, which is not exposed as connectors readily. The custom connectors are common for both Flow and PowerApps.

We are leveraging Microsoft Graph API as data sources for this app, and to be connected as custom connectors on Microsoft PowerApps. 

The following snapshot shows the end result, showing data from MS Teams on MS PowerApps using MS Graph API.
Demo App to Show MS Teams Data
Demo App to Show MS Teams Data

Let us look at step by step approach for achieving the functionality.

Wednesday 26 June 2019

Capture and Document User Information with Image on SharePoint - Part II


This is second part of article on capturing and documenting user details on to Office 365 SharePoint. The previous article shows setting up the Microsoft Flow to capture and creation of document with user details.
In this article, recording of user details is discussed. PowerApps forms are used to capture the user details. The details includes user name, picture, etc. Then integrating the form with Microsoft Flow is discussed.


Setting up the User Form

In my scenario, there are only two user entries recorded.
  • User Name
  • User Picture
Let us set the form.
  • Navigate to PowerApps portal/ app, and then select blank app.
  • From insert option, select two screens-
    • New blank screen - For user input
    • New Success screen - For showing user success message.
Screens & Controls Configured on the Form
Screens & Controls Configured on the Form

Tuesday 18 June 2019

Capture and Document User Information with Image on SharePoint - Part I


In this article, let us see how user details including user picture could be captured and saved onto SharePoint as documents using PowerApps and Microsoft Flow.

Here is the detailed scenario: User details like Name, picture, etc. needs to be captured and documented, and has to be made available on SharePoint. This process could be automated with the help of Office 365 SharePoint, PowerApps and Microsoft Flow.

The following points depicts this automated flow.
  • Using PowerApps, Custom Form needs to be created showing the required fields.
  • Microsoft Flow will be used to capture the information entered into the Form.
  • The flow once captures the information, it will format the data and creates the document, before saving it to SharePoint. 
    • Creation of documents is not straight forward approach. So in this case HTML file needs to be created. [The proper formatting could be done by taking HTML file creation approach.] 
    • Then HTML file is converted into required format. Then the target document could be uploaded into SharePoint library.
Note: One Drive for Business connectors provides necessary actions for creation and conversion of documents. The same will be leveraged in this samples.