Power Apps App Creation and Design

Power Apps App Creation from Data

• Power Apps allows creation of apps from various data sources.
• Multiple data sources are supported in a single app.
• Connectors allow accessing multiple tables/elements within a resource (e.g., multiple tables in an Excel file).
• Initially, apps are built from one table, but others can be added.
• Each table is a separate data source, even if connected to the same source.
• Apps can use one or multiple data source connections, for incoming and outgoing data.
• Multiple data sources can be combined. Example: Combining product inventory from various branches for a chain-wide catalog.
• Different connections can be used for different tasks. Example: Retrieve data from one source, update data and save it to a cloud Microsoft Dataverse database.

Designing User Experiences with Controls

• Controls are the visual elements within an app screen (e.g., title box, buttons, data panels).
• Studying automatically generated controls (from templates/data sources) is beneficial.
• Example app (FlooringEstimates) showcases galleries, details, and editable screens.

Example Controls in Power Apps (FlooringEstimates App)

• Gallery: (BrowseScreen1) Displays table data as a scrolling list. Each box represents data from a row. - Primary control (BrowseGallery1). - Expandable, containing controls for box contents.
• Detail: (DetailScreen1) Shows all data for a selected product. - Primarily uses card controls to display data from individual cells.
• Edit: (EditScreen1) Enables user modifications. - Uses text input controls (within an edit form control) for editable data.

Control Properties and Customization

• Controls have properties defining their appearance and behavior.
• Power Apps Studio displays control properties on a right pane.
• Properties are modified using text boxes, buttons, and drop-downs.
• An equation bar allows interacting with property values via drop-down and input.
• Example: Data Source property for EditForm1 identifies data origin (e.g. "@FlooringEstimates").

Control Insertion for App Design

• Power Apps Studio includes an insert bar for adding more elements.
• Insert Bar Options:
• new screens (e.g., list, form, email, calendar formats)
• labels (text boxes for display text)
• buttons
• various text input types
• controls for data input (text, dropdowns, etc.)
• media controls (images, audio, video, camera, barcode)
• chart controls (column, line, pie, Power BI)
• icon controls (plus, pencil, checkboxes)
• custom components
• AI Builder functions (business card reader, form processor, object detector).