Microsoft Power Apps is a well-known choice for developers developing low-code applications. Do you know, Forrester and Gartner ranked Microsoft Power Apps as the best option for developing low-code app platforms?
In fact, Power Apps brings low-code app development, automation, and self-service analytics together into a comprehensive, single platform.
Now, some of you might be interested to know more about Microsoft Power Apps. Right? In this write-up, we are covering all essential information about Power Apps.
What is Microsoft Power Apps?
It is an initiative by Microsoft with which you can quickly develop and share low-code apps. Microsoft Power Apps is a suite of services, apps, and data platforms, which helps you in application development to build custom apps as per business requirements.
In this, you can develop business apps, which connect with your business data either on a data platform (common data source for apps) or on-premises (Excel, SharePoint, Office 365, and much more).
It is a platform as a service, which allows you to develop apps that support all browsers or mobile devices. Moreover, developers, as well as non-technical guys can use this.
Main Reason Behind the Development of Power Apps
The reason why Microsoft developed Power Apps is to make the users develop apps with new capabilities devoid of coding.
Initially, Microsoft touts a visual design for Power Apps with drag and drop feature. It is connected with several applications based on Microsoft, as well as 3rd party. The applications include SQL server, OneDriver, and SharePoint in the Office 365 productivity suite and Google Docs, Dynamics CRM, Dropbox, and Oracle.
Features of Microsoft Power Apps
Easy Integration
It integrates easily with other Microsoft services like SharePoint, Excel, and OneDrive.
Canvas and Model-driven Apps
Canvas and Model-driven are the two methods by which you can build applications in Power Apps.
In the canvas method, you can design the applications by just dragging and dropping elements onto a canvas.
In the Model-driven method, most of the layout is identified and designated by the components that you add.
CDS (Common Data Service)
With this feature, you can store and manage data used by business applications safely. Data stored in the CDS is in the form of entities. When it comes to apps, CDS consists of a set of legal entities, which include usual scenarios. However, you can create customized entities and populate them with data with the help of Power Query.
Note: An entity is a collection of records, which store data like a table in a database.
User-friendly Interface
It has a user-friendly interface, which helps you develop apps without any hassle even without coding experience. Moreover, the Power Apps create interfaces, which support performing CRUD operations.
Creation and Sharing of Application
Creating apps is easy with Power Apps as it has a drag-and-drop interface. Additionally, it supports sharing with anyone.
Cloud Connectivity
Connecting to cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, SQL, etc. is easy using the Power Apps.
Budget-friendly
Developing rich business apps becomes cost-effective with Microsoft Power Apps as it supports building such apps.
How to Develop Apps with Power Apps?
1. Begin with the SharePoint list, which contains the consulting interventions.
2. After that, click on the Power Apps menu and choose- Create an app.
3. Choose your Environment from the list given on the screen.
- Power Apps Site- In this, you have to create and manage apps.
- Power Apps Studio – In this, you can design and adapt applications, which you develop as per business needs.
- Power Apps Mobile – It is accessible on tablets, as well as mobiles, and allows you for executing applications of Power Apps.
- Power Apps Admin Center – With this, you can develop and manage DLP (Data Loss Prevention) strategies, environments, as well as user roles.
4. Now, choose the type of your Power Apps Application. Power Apps has two types- Model-driven and Canvas.
5. Then, click on your preferred storage type. After that, connect the app to online or on-premise Data Sources.
Drawbacks of Power Apps
- It supports retrieval of a maximum of 500 items only by default. However, it can be extended to 2000 but it will affect the performance to an extent.
- Integration of JavaScript is not possible in Microsoft Power Apps forms.
- If you’re working on the Canvas Application, then you only can work at a time.
- Attachment control will work with SharePoint running in the background but not with custom SQL.
- You can share this only with the internal users of your organization as it is for your internal business purposes.
Final Thoughts
Microsoft Power Apps is one of the best options for developing low-code apps. The enhancements introduced to Microsoft Power Apps enable businesses to develop complex applications. Apps developed using this are accessible from tablets, desktops, and mobile devices.
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