Lookup function in Canvas Power Apps | Power Fx Formula Example

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!

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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!!

Accessing Cards in your Environment

All the Saved Cards appear here in the environment –

Navigate the the Cards section in Power Apps and click on Cards.

Microsoft Docs for Cards for Power Apps (preview) – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/cards/overview?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this was useful! As this continues to evolve in GA, I’ll write more about using Cards in Power Apps.

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

Thank you!

Using Environment Variables in Power Automate and Canvas Apps

October 16, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps, Power Automate, Power Platform environment variable in power automate, environment variables in canvas app, environment variables in flow, environment variables in power platform

Here’s how you can use Environment Variables in your environment in Power Automate and Canvas Apps!

In case you are looking to create Environment Variables, here’s the post: Environment Variables in Power Apps and Power Automate

Power Automate

Here’s how you can use Environment Variables in a Flow –

You can’t use/access Environment Variables in a Flow which is not in a solution –
Environment Variables are accessible in the Dynamic Content section on the very top of the list. [Since the below Flow is outside a Solution, you can’t see the Environment Variables]
Now, this Flow is within a Solution –
And then you access the Dynamic Content, you can see the Environment Variables.
And when you Run the Flow, the Environment Variable will show the value based on the Data Type set for the variable at appropriate places –

Canvas Apps

Unlike Power Automate Flow, Environment Variables in Canvas Apps can be utilized even if the Canvas App was created outside a solution –

In a Canvas App, click to Add Data Source.
On the Environment Variable Definitions/Values is added to the Canvas App as Data Sources, let’s take a simple Text control to read the Value from the Environment Variable used in the above Flow example –
I’ll use Lookup() function in Power Automate to fetch the value of the Environment Variable by it’s Schema Name –
Even if you only added Environment Variable Values table as Data Source, the Environment Variable Definition too will be added once you use the Lookup() function to fetch the value.

Hope this was useful!

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

Thank you!

Adding Image field on the form in Dynamics 365 CRM | Power Platform Modern Form Designer [Quick Tip]

August 24, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps image field in dynamics 365 crm, model driven apps, modern form designer, power apps

If you are predominantly working in Dynamics 365 CRM i.e. the classic Form Designer and have one of the below fields –

You won’t be able to find it to add it on the Form in the Classic Editor.

And you are wondering how you can get this field on the form, then this quick tip is for you!

Modern Form Designer

Given that you are aware of how to get to the modern form designer –

Once you open the Form from Power Apps (https://make.powerapps.com/), you can go to the Solution your Form/Fields are put in.
Then, open your Form from the Solution
And in your Form, if you look for the fields / Columns section to put on the form, you can see the Thumbnail field we created is present.
You can then double click it and add on the Form. And then, this field will also work when using Dynamics 365 CRM Apps like Field Service, Sales etc.

Hope this was useful!

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Modern Advanced Find in Dynamics 365 CRM | Model-Driven Apps

May 31, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps, Power Platform Admin Center dataverse search, modern advanced find, modern advanced find in model driven apps

Till now, you were using the classic Advanced Find experience in Dynamics 365 CRM from the very beginning. Now, let’s look at a brand new experience in Model-Driven Apps.

When Modern Advanced Find is not enabled, you’ll see your classic Advanced Find as usual. That’s how you identify that the new experience hasn’t been enabled yet.

Now, let’s see how the Modern Advanced Find will change things in your experience.

Turning On Modern Advanced Find

You can navigate to Power Platform Admin Center [PPAC] (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/) and then ensure the Dataverse Search (formerly, Relevance Search [Reference: https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/goodbye-relevance-search-hello-dataverse-search/?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911]) is enabled –

Navigate to Power Platform Admin Center and go to the environment’s Settings –
Then, navigate to Settings.
Turn on Dataverse Search. Here’s another post of mine which puts light on configuring Dataverse Search for your environment – https://d365demystified.com/2021/10/25/configure-dataverse-search-in-power-platform-admin-center/
Then, scroll further down to find the Modern Advanced Find option too. Assuming it will be off till now, turn it on and save the Settings.

Modern Advanced Find

Now, you’ll notice how Modern Advanced Find works –

You’ll first notice that the legacy one has been removed from the Navigation bar itself.
Now, when you click on the Search bar itself, having the Dataverse Search turned on itself, you’ll notice at the bottom the option for Advanced Find.
This will open up on a pane and the first thing expected is that you select the table you want to search in.
I search for Cases.
When you click Continue, you wait for a moment till the screen populates the Filters for you based on the current view you are on or the Default view for the entity.
In case you have used these filters before, you can continue to modify these and add more criteria.
Typically, your Advanced Find view can start to look like this, once you are satisfied with the criteria you need to filter with, click on Apply.
Once the results appear on the view itself like any other entity view, you’ll notice that the view name is now with a * mark. Like, an unsaved record/view. This view will have your custom results.
Now, when you expand the View menu, you’ll notice a few buttons at the bottom.
Save as new view and Manage and share views
I’ll save this into a new view and name it something relevant to me.
Once I save this, it’ll be my new Personal View denoted with a person glyph. Also, I can select the bottom Manage View option to take actions on the views visible to me.
In the Manage and share views pane, I can see all the System and Personal views and take actions on them.

And that’s it!
Further, I’m waiting updates on how we can do the following which we used the classic Advanced Find for –

Export to Excel buttons (although, you can use the main ribbon’s Export to Excel buttons) – It would take a moment for you to realize if you are used to using the Advanced Find window’s buttons themselves.
XML Export

Hope this was useful!

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

Thank you!

Reflecting Metadata changes in Flow for Dataverse connector

March 28, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps dataverse metadata, dynamics crm metadata in flow, power automate metadata

If you’re building a Flow that uses Dataverse connectors, you might need to change the metadata and it doesn’t reflect in the Flow and the issue continues to occur even after publishing the changes.

Scenario

Let’s suppose you are using Add a row action to create a new record in Dataverse/Dynamics CRM –

And when the Flow runs, the record is not created because you end up having this error where the length of the field enough to store the data.
Now, in order to fix this –
Now, even after I changes the above length – the error still occurs.

Issue

Let’s look at the issue –

The issue is, at the time of creating the step, Flow stores the metadata with an ID and when you change the metadata in the backend, it is not reflected back on the Flow.

Workaround

Here’s what you need to do in order to fix this –

You need to delete the step and re-do the step in your Flow
And now, it will have the latest metadata with the new Metadata ID to it –

Hope this helps!

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Thank you!

Enable Power Automate Pane in Canvas Apps Studio | Preview

March 27, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps, Power Automate canvas apps, flow in canvas apps, power apps, power automate in canvas apps

Now, you can start creating Flows from within the Power Apps itself and add Power Automate as a Pane on the left hand navigation.

Let’s check out how –

Enable Power Automate Pane

In the App Studio, here’s how you can turn on the Power Automate pane –

In the App Studio, you can see the Settings button, clicking on which will open up the Settings area.
Go to Upcoming Features tab and look at the Preview section since this feature is still in Preview.

You’ll find the Enable Power Automate pane option turned off by default.
Before you turn it on, you’ll see the left hand menu doesn’t have a Power Automate icon/section added already.
And when you Turn it On, you’ll see the Power Automate section added.
Now, when you expand it, it appears like you can create a Flow from here.
When you click on Create new Flow, you’ll get the option to start creating from a Template or create a new one like you usually do in Power Automate app itself.
I clicked on Create from blank in the above step, you’ll then get the Flow editor right there and PowerApps as the trigger since this will be triggered from your Canvas Power Apps.
Now, you can continue to build you Flow and once done, it’ll be available in the list to be used.
And you can then use this Flow as per requirement.

Existing vs New Method

Let’s see the subtle difference between the existing and the new method -1

Once you enable this, you’ll find 2 Power Automate buttons (Perhaps this will change in the near future)
Once will open the new pane and the other existing one will open in the old way in context of the Screen being used.
Additionally, the existing method will open the Power Automate portal itself in the new tab as opposed to opening the Flow in the Canvas Apps Studio itself.

Hope this helps!

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

Thank you!

Showing Sandbox or Non Production Apps in Power App mobile app

November 2, 2021 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft PowerApps non production apps, power apps mobile app, sandbox apps

In some scenarios, as a consultant or developer, you end up working on Sandbox or a Trial environment for Power Apps which you have created.

Environment Type

Now, this is because you are using a Trial yet and don’t see the Apps from other environments which are Sandbox/TrialThe environment’s Apps which I’m expecting to see are this one. A Trial environment.

Power App mobile app

Now, let’s see how you can show these Apps

This is the App you are using on your mobile device.
And if you see the below i.e. only Production apps or No Apps (Because all you have are Sandbox/Trial environments in your tenant)
And the reason this is the mobile app is disabled to show you Non-Production Apps.

Click on the profile picture icon on the top left to show the main menu
Look at the bottom and you’ll see the Show non-production apps is disabled.
Flick it to on, you’ll be asked for confirmation.
Once you turn this On upon confirmation, you’ll see the Apps across different Sandbox/Trial environments show up.

That’s it! Hope this was useful.

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

Thank you!

Scenario

Lookup() in Canvas App

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Setting up Billing Policy

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Check Licenses in Power Automate

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Cards in Power Apps

Accessing Cards in your Environment

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Power Automate

Canvas Apps

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Modern Form Designer

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Turning On Modern Advanced Find

Modern Advanced Find

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Scenario

Issue

Workaround

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Enable Power Automate Pane

Existing vs New Method

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Environment Type

Power App mobile app

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