2. Hello!I am April Dunnam
Owner & Lead Developer at ThriveFast
SharePoint, PowerApps & Flow Geek. Karaoke Queen.
You can find me at : @aprildunnam | Blog: www.sharepointsiren.com
3. × Discuss what PowerApps is and what is can do
× Compare PowerApps and InfoPath
× Walk through how PowerApps can be
connected and used in SharePoint
4. What is PowerApps?
× O365 Service for building custom apps
× Connect to over 200 different data sources
× Works across web and mobile
× Normal “citizen developer” can create apps –
no custom software development needed!
10. InfoPath vs PowerApps feature
comparison
InfoPath PowerApps
Drag & Drop Interface X X
Repeating Tables X X
Attachments X X
Conditional Logic X X
Multiple Data Sources X X
Offline Capability X X
External User Access X
Printing Capability X
12. Quick Tip: Rules in powerapps !=
infopath rules
× The rules pane is *supposed* to make conditional logic
easier but it’s just not there yet
× No easy way to point and click to create
actions/conditional formatting
× Only guides you to correct location to input formula
× Example: Show text box if radio button is yes. Set
Visible property to:
If(PerDiemEarnedYN.Value = true,true,false)
15. Using powerapps with sharepoint
on-prem
× On-Premises Data Gateway allows you to
connect to on-prem SharePoint & SQL
16. Creating powerapps using sharepoint
data
Two Options:
1. Customize the default
SharePoint List Form
(SharePoint
customized app)
2. Create a separate app
and add SharePoint as
a data source (Stand-
alone app)
17. Sharepoint customized app vs
standalone app
Customized
× Can only open from
SharePoint list, not in
PowerApp Gallery
× Can’t move between
sites/environments
× Can’t use if list contains un-
supported field types: Rating,
External Data, Task Outcome
Standalone
× Appears in PowerApp Gallery
and Mobile
× Can embed in SharePoint
Page
× Use anywhere
20. Working with SharePoint document
libraries
× Document libraries
aren’t fully supported
in PowerApps…yet
× Work-Around: Type in
Doc Library Name
× To Open File:
Launch('{Link}')
22. Attachment support
× You can now upload documents to SharePoint as list
attachments
× Still can’t upload directly to a document library
× Use Flow to move those attachments to a document library
× Flow Template: https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-
us/galleries/public/templates/1f4a2b1b99e64e8dbb81b7c47cc
5bb11/upload-a-file-to-sharepoint-from-powerapps/
23. Sharepoint web part
× Microsoft just released a
web part to enable you
to embed PowerApps in
your Modern SharePoint
sites
× Only available on Modern
sites
25. Important
noteOnly backwards compatible up to 6 months. Microsoft
recommends updating and re-publishing your apps every
6 months.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/save-publish-app
26. Learning resources
× Power Users Community
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/
× Guided Learning: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/powerapps/guided-learning/
× My Blog: www.sharepointsiren.com
× PowerApps Experts: Shane Young, Daniel Christian,
Paul Culmsee, Laura Rogers
I like to describe PowerApps as if Excel and PowerPoint had a baby that would be PowerApps. The way that you add functionality or “code” in PowerApps is with functions that are very similar to Excel functions. The interface reminds you a lot of PowerPoint with screens, shapes, controls, etc
PowerApps is part of the Microsoft Power Platform. This Platform consist of the Power User Tools PowerApps for forms/app development, Power BI for Reporting and Analytics and Flow for Workflow and Business Process.
POWERAPPS is Microsoft’s replacement for InfoPath. InfoPath is going away eventually… no more new releases. They have been gaining ground on InfoPath Feature Parody. The only things missing are external user access and printing capability. External user access is currently in the “Planned” status on the PowerApps Ideas forum. One thing I’ll say about PowerApps is if you find a feature missing I encourage you to go to the PowerApps Ideas Forum and vote for the feature you want added. Microsoft has been very good at monitoring this list and providing updates.
Microsoft did just announce at the Business Application Summit that in the October Release External Users will be able to utilize SharePoint List Forms that have been customized in PowerApps so that’s a step in a good direction for external user access
As you can see, although the technologies used are vastly different (goodbye XML)…the building blocks of PowerApps and InfoPath are pretty similar. You add your data sources to use in each tool. InfoPath has Views which are called Screens in PowerApps. Each tool has a set of controls that you add to be able to input data. And each tools have ways to create Rules to show/hide information and perform actions.
If you’ve messed with PowerApps at all you’ve probably noticed there is a “Rules” pane. If you come from an Infopath background then you probably think this Rules pain is similar to InfoPath with a point and click interface to create rules and conditional logic. Unfortunately that isn’t the case. All the Rules pane in PowerApps really does is guide you to the correct location to write out your formula’s.
For a long time there was no way to get files into SharePoint from PowerApps. At the North American Collaboration Summit this year, Cathy Dew announced the release of the ability to add documents to SharePoint as List Attachments. While that’s a positive step forward, most people want to be able to add documents to a library, not as a list attachment. Luckily, you can do that via Flow.
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/republish-your-apps-to-get-performance-improvements-and-additional-features/
This is something that most people don’t realize but when they do it freaks them out.
Microsoft is constantly updating and adding functionality to PowerApps. Because of the high rate of updates they can only guarantee a 6 month backwards compatilbily window. I’ve never run into any issue with my app going down but it is recommended to re-publish your apps every 6 months to take advantage of performance improvements and new features.
Microsoft is currently working on an auto-republishing feature but no ETA on when that will be released