In order to follow this and all the subsequent chapters in this book, you will need to have access to Microsoft PowerApps. As we will be exploring both standard and premium features, I would recommend that you sign up for a PowerApps Community Plan at https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/communityplan/.

PowerApps is an ever-growing part of the Microsoft Office 365 ecosystem, where developers and business users alike are empowered to create apps. In the past, for this to be achieved with SharePoint, you would have to use products such as InfoPath, where you could combine custom logic with a number of visual components to extend the user experience:

PowerApps are created using visual tools that are provided through the browser and remove the dependency on needing additional applications to be installed on the desktop. However, this also builds into the Microsoft vision of mobility, where a user can work on their app anywhere in the world, at any time, from any device.

PowerApps aren't written with code; instead, they are created with formulas, similar to Microsoft Excel, a tool that the majority of the modern workforce are familiar with. For example, if we wanted to combine or concatenate strings in Excel, we...

There are a number of options available when it comes to licensing PowerApps. Like all of Microsoft's products, there are differing levels of license available, which will govern what functionality you can use or what connectors you have available to you. As of 1^st October 2019, PowerApps licensing has undergone quite a radical change, and the following sections will explain what the key licensing aspects are.

Seeded apps

PowerApps is not included with the home versions of Office 365; however, it is included with most of the business licenses and all of the enterprise licenses. This means that the majority of Office 365 users will have the ability to create and use PowerApps to enhance, extend, and customize their Office applications. This is now what is known as seeded apps; that is, they are a part of the Office 365 and Dynamics 365 licenses.

Since they are a part of the Office 365 and Dynamics 365 packages, they do not cost you or your organization...

When creating a PowerApp, there are two distinct types of app, both of which have very different applications. Before you start creating apps, you should have a clear understanding of what these two types are and what benefits they bring. This will allow you to make the right selection and therefore create a great app that will add value to your organization. Both types of app are designed to be codeless and therefore within the realm of the ability of IT professionals and power users; however, developers can add a lot of value by developing code and calling it in various ways.

The two types of app are as follows:

• Canvas apps
• Model-driven apps

Both apps allow you to easily build apps and share access to the CDS:

Understanding what the different types of app are will help you to make the correct decision when you are developing. Let's start by looking at canvas apps.

Canvas apps

Canvas apps are the...

To start your PowerApps journey, we need to navigate to the start screen. Office 365 has shown that Microsoft is being much more consistent in terms of its user experience development throughout the whole ecosystem. Therefore, like other applications, PowerApps is either available from the Office 365 portal page (portal.office.com) or from the app launcher, which is located at the top left corner of the Office 365 portal, as shown in the following screenshot:

Regardless of the navigation approach you take, you will find yourself on the PowerApps welcome screen, which will provide you with a wealth of options so that you can start developing.

The Home screen

The home screen is the first page that you will be presented with and provides you with a number of navigation options, including the ability to create new apps, open recent apps, and any apps that have been developed by someone else and shared with you:

Microsoft provides an expanding gallery of templates that you can use to get your PowerApps journey started. Each template is more than just a scaffold of an app – they are fully functional PowerApps that integrate with various aspects of your Office 365 tenancy to provide immediate functionality. In this section, we will look at two of my favorite apps, but it is recommended that you review the functionality that's contained in the others as there are lessons that can be drawn from all of them.

Leave request app

The leave request app is a good example of a generated PowerApp that can quickly add value to organizations that don't rely on an already established system so that you can manage leave requests. It creates a number of screens that show you how you can use various controls and methods of navigation to achieve quite a common business use case.

This PowerApp creates two connections: one to Outlook in order to save and retrieve leave information...

PowerApps Studio is your primary developer tool for creating, updating, testing, and deploying canvas apps. In this section, we will explore PowerApps Studio, which is where you will take your app ideas from their conception and deliver them. It is important that you know your way around the studio so that your development time is spent creating the app rather than looking for options and controls. Understanding your development environment will vastly improve your development experience and will also allow you to greatly expand the functionality that's available within your app.

By the end of this section, you will know about the key areas of the PowerApps Studio, including the primary menu area and the formula bar. You will also learn how to view your screens, use the canvas, and find and review the properties of your PowerApp.

PowerApps Studio is completely browser-driven and is supported by all modern browsers, unlike other developer tools. Everything you...

In this chapter, we looked at the various types of apps that can be created using Microsoft PowerApps and the differences between the canvas apps and the model-driven apps. We explored the ways in which we can get started, whether that's by using a blank app or by using one of the excellent templates that are provided by PowerApps.

As we explored the left-hand side menu, we came across connectors, data models in the form of entities, and Microsoft Power Automate, which is our business logic platform. We can combine all of these to create a powerful app without having to write any code.

We also looked at the key elements of PowerApps Studio, which is the key development tool on your PowerApps journey. We looked at various menus and how they can be used to apply basic styling and configuration to our app and components. We investigated the insert menu and the types of controls that can be added through those menus, which range from screens to media controls.

Then, we looked...

1. What are the two types of apps that we can build?
2. What is the name of the underlying database?
3. What is used to bridge PowerApps and Flow to other systems?
4. What technology can be used to access on-premises data sources?
5. Which type of app gives you full control over the layout of your components?
6. What can be used to control the potential values of a data field?
7. Who do I need to share the app with to make my app an org app?
8. If I want to use the data gateway, which license do I need to buy?
9. Which submenu should I use to insert a pen input control?
10. What two views can we use on the screens list?
11. Which menu should I select if I want to create a connection to Flow?
12. Where would I go to check my data sources?
13. What would I use to create conditional logic for a control?

• What is PowerApps? by Microsoft: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/powerapps-overview
• Formula reference for PowerApps: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/formula-reference