Power Apps Developer Plan environments | Power Platform

February 22, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps, Power Platform Admin Center developer environment for power apps, developer type environment in dataverse, power apps developer plan

Developers can now have Environments of their own to test and review Power Apps / Power Automate etc. Here’s how you can get yours!

Learn More about Power Apps Developer: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/developer-plan?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

If you are looking to Sign Up for the Developer Plan, you can use this Link: https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/developerplan/?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Create Developer Environment

Given that you are Power Platform Admin Center, you can create a new Environment like so –

Go to Power Platform Admin Center and then Environments (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/environments). Click on + New to create a new Environment.

And then you can select the Type
Now, can you check what URL you want to provide and then click on Finish
Then, your environment will be initiated for creation like any other Environment. Notice the type is Developer.
Once created, if you go in the Environment, you can click the Edit to review the Settings for this Environment.
And you can see that the Security Group cannot be added to this Environment.

User’s Environment

If a User wants to create their own environment under the Power App Developer Plan (https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/developerplan/?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911), they can go to the Homepage of the Power Apps Developer plan and click on Existing User? Add a dev environment >
Then, you can enter your credentials and you’ll see this page.
Once this is provisioned, you’ll be taken to your Environment and I’ll look like below –
And in the Power Platform Admin Center, the Admins can see that the Environment has been created of Type Developer by SYSTEM.

Hope this helps!

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Thank you!

Custom Pages in Power Platform and adding them in Model-Driven Apps | Power Apps

January 16, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps, Power Platform custom pages, custom pages model driven apps, custom pages power apps, custom pages power platform, model driven apps

You Can create Custom Pages in as a Canvas App and add it to Model Driven App! Here’s a quick tutorial on how you can do this!

Creating Custom Pages

Here’s how you can create Custom Pages. Make sure you are in Power Apps and in the correct intended environment (https://make.powerapps.com/) –

Make sure you are inside a Solution.
Now, you can drop down from the + New menu and expand App. Then, you’ll find Page as an option which is different from Canvas App.
When you click on Page, you’ll get the Canvas App Studio with the capabilities of Canvas App to be added to your Page.
Now, let’s say you have designed the Page to serve your desired purpose. Make sure you Save and Publish the App, it’ll ask you to Enter the Name for the App (or rather, Page)

Enter a suitable name and click on Save.
Once Saved, make sure to Publish again and confirm the Publish just like you would do for a Canvas App.

And confirm the Publish action.
Now once this is done, you can go back to the Solution and check that the Page will appear.

and that’s how you have created a Page. Now, let’s consume this in your Model-Driven App!

Adding Custom Pages to Model-Driven Apps

Now, in the same solution, I’ll add the Model-Driven App so that I can configure the new Page I created in this Model-Driven App –

When I go into App section in the solution I’m working in.
And in that, I can click on Add existing button and expand App and then select Model-Driven App
Now, from all the Apps, I want to add this Custom Page to the Sales Hub App. It could be anything else in your case.
Once added, open the App.
Once opened, you’ll see the + Add Page button. Click it.
Now, the Dialog will ask what type of Page should be added. Custom Page is to be selected here.
Now, you will be given option to either Create New (which we could have done directly but I wanted to demonstrate how to create within the Solution itself first), or add Existing.
We’ll choose to add Existing Custom Page. And then, we select the Custom Page we just created i.e. Account Review Page.
For the Page to show in the Site Map, make sure Show in navigation is ticked.
Once you Add, you’ll see how the Page appears in the Model-Driven App. Publish your changes to this Model-Driven app is you are satisfactory.
Once this is done, your Custom Page is added to the Model-Driven App and here’s how it looks!

Here’s complete document on Custom Pages on Microsoft Learn – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/model-driven-apps/model-app-page-overview?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Adding Editable Grid using the New Power Apps Grid Control in Model-Driven Apps | [Preview]

December 11, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps Dataverse, editable grid, model driven apps, power apps, power apps grid, powerapps

If you are designing your forms in the Model-Driven Apps designer from the Power Apps Maker i.e. https://make.powerapps.com/, here’s how you can add the New Power Apps Grid (which is in Preview at the time of writing this post)

Scenario

For example, you are in Model Driven Apps designer and you are see the existing Grids, they have only 2 areas in Properties –

Select the Grid and you’ll only see 2 areas –
And if you expand them, you won’t find a way to change the control to, for example, Editable Grid.
That’s where the new Power Apps Grid Control comes hand. This is currently in Preview at the time of writing this post.

New Power Apps Grid Control [Preview]

Now, click on the Components section to reveal all the Components that you could add to the Model-Driven Apps form –

You’ll see the More Components section under which you’ll find the new Power Apps Grid Control.
Now, once you drag is on the form where you want it to be, you’ll be asked to select the records it should hold. It’ll ask you to select the Table which you want to display in the sub-grid.
Once you click on Done, make sure the Show Related Records is selected as well and ensure the Table and View selected is correct.
Now, look for Components section and expand the same. Expanding the Components, you’ll be able to select the Editable Grid.
Expand the Components section and you’ll find another button to add more components that are made available.
Now, you’ll be able to select the Editable Grid here.
Now that you have added Editable Grid, click Done.
And once you add, you’ll notice that the Mobile, Web etc will be shown under the new grid. Means this is now set as default and not the other 2 views.
Finally, you can save your changes and publish.
And that’s how you are able to add Editable Grid on the modern Power Apps Model Apps designer using the new Power Apps Grid Component.
And here’s how you’ll be able to add an Editable Grid on the Form using new Power Apps maker.

Here’s the Microsoft Learn link for the same – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/model-driven-apps/the-power-apps-grid-control?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Filter, Search and Lookup functions in Power Fx | Canvas Apps

November 20, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps canvas apps formula, filter, filter in power fx, lookup, lookup in power fx, search, search in power fx

Here’s how you can use and understand the difference between Filter, Search and Lookup functions if you are new to making Canvas Apps. I’ve tried to explain the usage of these in simple examples!

These functions are part of the Power Fx and are used in Canvas Apps.

Lookup Function – Lookup function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example
Search Function – Search function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example
Filter Function – Filter function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

Differences between Filter, Search and Lookup

	Filter	Lookup	Search
Results in	Multiple Records	Single Record	Multiple Records
Search Type	Criteria Based	Criteria Based	Text Based

Here’s Microsoft Learn link for detailed criteria & documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/power-fx/reference/function-filter-lookup#syntax?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Filter function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

November 20, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps canvas apps, filter function, filter in canvas apps, power fx

In case you are looking for how you use Search function as opposed to using Lookup() function in Power Fx in Canvas App, check this post!

Lookup Function – Lookup function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

Search Function – Search function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

Scenario

I have a Gallery control which is populated with Accounts data from Dataverse.

Then, I have another Gallery control to demonstrate how we can filter and pick records that satisfy one or more criteria in the Filter formula.

Filter() in Canvas Apps

Let’s see how we can use Filter in Canvas App based on the above scenario –

Start by typing Filter while the target Gallery is selected under Items property and you’ll see that it’s a valid function in the list. And the first thing in the parameter after opening the bracket is the source.
Now, Accounts is the table which I’m looking to filter on. I selected this from the Auto-complete when I types Accounts and then press comma (,) for the next parameter.
Next, I’ll be asked the criteria to check for in order to Filter from the source data.
Here, I want to select all the Account whose Annual Revenue is under 750,000.

So, when I start typing the field name, the list will show the correct name which I can select.
Then, I complete the formula.
Optionally, I can have multiple criteria to be Filtered for.
In this example, I’ll still keep only 1.
Now, based on the completed formula, you can see below that the matching records have been filtered in the new Gallery control we added.

.And that’s how you can use Filter() function in Canvas App to select the records which match the provided criteria.

Here’s Microsoft Learn link for detailed criteria & documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/power-fx/reference/function-filter-lookup#syntax?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Search function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

November 20, 2022November 20, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps canvas apps, search, search function in power apps

In case you are looking for how you use Search function as opposed to using Lookup() function in Power Fx in Canvas App, check this post!

Lookup function – Lookup function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

Filter function – Filter function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

Scenario

I have a Gallery control which is populated with Accounts data from Dataverse.

Then, I have another Gallery control to demonstrate how we can search and pick records that satisfy the criteria in the Seach formula.

Search() in Canvas App

Let’s see how we can use Search in a Canvas App based on the above scenario –

Start by typing Seach while the Gallery is selected and you’ll see that it’s a valid function in the list. And the first thing in the parameter after opening the backet is the source.
Now, Accounts is the table which I’m searching into. I selected this from the Auto-complete when I typed in Accounts and then, press comma (,) for the next parameter
Next, I’ll be asked the text value of what I have to search for. It works like a “contains”. Anything that matches the pattern will be returned instead of the exact match.
Finally, the last parameter is the Column on which the Search should be performed on. Since, I’m looking for Name of the Account in which I expect to find XYZ, I’ll select “Name” from the list.
Now, the Formula is completed. I’ll get the below Formula on the new Gallery control’s Items property which has multiple records.
And below is the result. All the rows that have XYZ in the Name of the Accounts will be populated in the new Gallery control I selected.

And that’s how Search() function can be used to select records that have the phrase entered in the forumula.

Here’s Microsoft Learn link for detailed criteria & documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/power-fx/reference/function-filter-lookup#syntax?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Lookup function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

November 15, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps canvas apps, lookup, lookup function in power apps

Here’s how to think about and use the Lookup function in Canvas Power Apps!

Lookup is used to fetch a single record that matches a criteria from the source (usually a table)

Scenario

I have a Gallery control which is populated with Accounts data from Dataverse.

Then, I have a Textbox (Text Input) in which I’m going to pull up a field from a record from Dataverse table which matches a certain criteria.

Lookup() in Canvas App

Let’s see how we can use Lookup in a Canvas App based on the above scenario –

Start by typing Lookup and you’ll see that it’s a valid function in the list. And the first thing in the parameter after opening the bracket is the source.
As you can see, suggestions are also seen in the list below. Here, you have the select the Table / Entity from which you want to fetch the record.
Now, Accounts is the table which I’m looking into. Hence, I’ll select that and press comma (,). Next, I’ll be asked the condition.
Here, you need to mention what record you want to retrieve based on what criteria.
So, I want to retrieve an Account whose “Account Name” is equal to <value>. So, below is how I write it.
In this example, I’m trying to fetch an Account record whose ‘Account Name‘ field has value “Coffee House”
Further, once I have this condition satisfied, what field I want to retrieve so that it can be shown in the Text Input box I have inserted (for which I’m writing this Lookup)

So in this case, I want to retrieve the ‘Main Phone’ field.
And once my formula is complete, I can end it with a closing bracket.
And as you see the result below, the Main Phone from the matching criteria Account has shown up.

And that’s how Lookup() function can be used to pick a record’s value based on a certain criteria.

Here’s Microsoft Learn Link for the same: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/power-fx/reference/function-filter-lookup#syntax?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Setting up Billing Policy for Dataverse Environments in Power Platform for Azure Pay-As-You-Go plan | Microsoft Azure

October 31, 2022October 31, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft Azure, Microsoft PowerApps, Power Platform Admin Center Dataverse, Microsoft Azure, power apps, power platform billing policy, power platform pay as you go

Pay-as-you-go has been recently announced with Azure and I too wanted to explore this topic myself on my trials Dataverse/D365 Sales environment as well as my Microsoft Azure trial subscription which I started.

Disclaimer: Please note that I’m exploring this topic and sharing as I go on. Hence, I’ll continue to write further topics as I proceed. Please try on your Dataverse trial & Microsoft Azure trial subscription to identify / estimate the costs your actual implementation will incur.

I also recommend going through the below Microsoft Learn Pages for detailed information on pricing and meters of the Pay-as-you-go model –

Detailed Microsoft Docs for Pay-as-you-go: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pay-as-you-go-overview?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Power Apps Pricing: https ://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

Pay-as-you-go Meters: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pay-as-you-go-meters?tabs=image?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Let’s see how we can get started!

Setting up Billing Policy

Here’s how you create Billing Policy in Power Platform –

In Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/), you can see Policies section. If you expand the same, you can see Billing Policies.
Here, you can start by creating a new Billing Policy
You can give it an appropriate name. And it doesn’t allow you to have spaces.
Next, you’ll be asked to select the Subscription you wan to assign the Billing Policy under.
Notice the error below. My Free Trial Azure Subscription doesn’t have a Resource Group created yet. Hence, this need to be present.
Since at this point, I don’t have a Resource Group under the Azure Subscription I selected, I need to go to Azure Portal (https://portal.azure.com/), search for Resource Groups
Since you might not have any Resource Group right away, you can create one.
I’ll just give it a name which I can identify with.
I’ll validate and Create the same in Azure.
Resource Group will be created here.
Now, when I come back to Power Platform, if I reselect the Azure Subscription, I’ll now see that the Resource Group I created is showing up.
I’ll select the same and select United States as the Region.
And click on Next.
In the next steps, I can select which all Environments should be included in the Policy. Then, I can click on + Add to policy.
You can see the Added to policy tab now showing your environment. Once you are satisfied with the selection, you can click on Next.
Final step is to now Review and confirm the policy you are creating.
It’ll take a moment to start provisioning. Then, you’ll see the status as Provisioning.
Once completed, the status will show as Enabled.
Now, when you go back to Azure Portal and open the Resource Group, you’ll find a Deployment show up
Open it up and you’ll see a Deployment created.
And if you open the Deployment, you can see the DataverseBilling which we had set up in Power Platform.
And this point, you are now setup with using Pay-As-you-go plan for your Dataverse environment(s).

Note: Further, I’ll write follow up posts as I explore Pay-as-you-go scenarios and experience myself.

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Check which Power Automate or Power Apps Licenses are assigned to you | [Quick Tip]

October 28, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps, Power Automate licensing, Power Automate, power automate licenses

In case you are using Power Automate for your own use or asked to build something for the team, here’s how you can check what capabilities you are entitled to –

Check Licenses in Power Automate

Here’s how you can check licenses assigned to you in Power Automate –

When in Power Automate, click on the Gear icon.
Now, select View My Licenses.
Here, you’ll clearly see all the licenses and the capabilities you have with the Power Automate license assigned to you.
Another example is a User with only Power Automate Free license assigned to them. This is what they will see –
This simple and clear distinction helps you identify with the capabilities you have in Power Automate.
Here’s the Power Automate Pricing Link provided in the “Learn how to add capabilities” section at the bottom.
https://powerautomate.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/
Here’s a Bonus! Same applies for Power Apps as well. If you are in Power Apps (https://make.powerapps.com/) or in the App Designer in a Canvas App, you can see the Plan(s) option under the Gear Icon.
And you’ll see the Capability available to your user.

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Cards for Power Apps [Preview] | Power Platform

October 18, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Adaptive Cards, Microsoft PowerApps, Microsoft Teams Adaptive Cards, adaptive cards designer in power apps, adaptive cards in power apps, cards in power apps

So Cards are finally in Power Apps! As of writing this post, Cards is in Preview in the Power Apps (https://make.powerapps.com/)

Here’s the official page of Adaptive Cards – https://adaptivecards.io/

In case you are new to Adaptive Cards and figuring out how they work with Teams, you can check my post here – Adaptive Cards for Teams to collect data from users using Power Automate | SharePoint Lists

Cards in Power Apps

Here’s how you can start creating Cards in Power Apps –

In the appropriate environment having correct rights, you can see Cards section –
Then, you can click on “+ Create a card” button in the Create section of the menu.
Give the Card a suitable name. In my example, I’m calling it Swag Kit Card. You can name it based on your application/use.
It’ll take a few moments for your card to be created. You’ll see the below dialog while it’s getting created in the backend.
Once the process is completed, you’ll be taken to the Editor itself and this is what it looks like –
And as you can see on the left hand-menu, the controls which you can get are the ones you could see in the Adaptive Cards IO designer.
In the Data, you’ll see only Dataverse at the time of this being in a Preview release.
In this example, I’ll keep things simple and generate a static card which can be used.
Once I save this card, you can see how the JSON is built out
You can copy the selected part which is expected in the below used Teams action in Power Automate
And as an example, since this Card currently supports for Teams – I can simply copy this from the JSON view and paste it in one of the Actions for Teams i.e. Post adaptive card in a chat or channel.
So, when I Run the Flow, I can get the Adaptive Card show up as a message from Flow Bot.

And that’s it!!