Introduction to Microsoft PowerApps

Background

In the present day, technology is changing at a very fast pace, one of the major trends in technology is low code solutions.  There are many companies coming up with low code solution which can help build a business solution with low/minimal coding. These low code platforms are built with keeping in mind that it is very easy to develop for business users. This does not mean that a core developer should ignore a low code platform. Generally, when we are automating a business process, it requires a certain level of understanding about programming concepts and we would have to build more than basic business applications. These are called rapid development tools which can be used to build easy to complex and secure business applications on top of the framework already being developed.

Introduction To PowerApps

PowerApps is Paas(Platform as service) offering from Microsoft for low code solutions.  It allows us to create a mobile app for android, ios and windows. One thing to note here is that to access a Power App on any mobile device, we would need to first install Power App from the app store and play store and then our custom app can be accessed by this Power App.  Power App development platform consists of some components such as Apps, Connectors, data sources. Using the PowerApps platform we can build apps that suit our business requirements. 

Components of PowerApps

To understand Power Apps , we have  3 main components in PowerApps that helps in constructing the application. Let us take quick overview of all one by one. 

App

An App is Power App is something which is the main application entry point and other screens.  A single App developed in Power Apps can have multiple screens and controls through which user will interact like any typical web, windows, or mobile application. We can create 2 type of layouts in Power Apps. Below is just an example of Power App with mobile layout. 

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Data Sources

Any application we developed would need a database where all the data would be stored. Database in Power Apps is accessed via a concept called Data sources which can be considered back bone of the PowerApps. This is the place where all the data will be stored that are accessed by PowerApps. An app in Power App can have one or more multiple data source like SharePoint list/libraries, OneDrive, Excel, PDF, SQK, Azure SQL, Web Service, Dynamic 365 etc. 

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Connectors

Connector are bridge between App and Data Sources. C0nsider connectors are the wrappers around API being exposed from the data sources.  There are so many out of the box connectors provided by Microsoft to utilize easily depending on the data operations and data source to which we wanted to connect.  And If we don’t find any connectors which are available for our use case for the external data source, we can create custom connectors if the external data source has provided webservices to connect to thier data. 

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What tools do you need to get started with PowerApps?

Basically, you just need a web browser and an internet connection to get started with the PowerApps. Once you have web browser and an internet connection, you can create an account in PowerApps.

The advantage of the PowerApps is, Microsoft allows developers/users to create a Trail account for the PowerApps. This will be discussed more in the next article of this series.

What kind of applications can be build using PowerApps

Using PowerApps you can build any kind of application that you need to create. Power Apps can be as simple as performing CRUD operations in a database for a table or it can be as complex as automating a business process. Below is just a list of simple use cases which can be implemented using Power Apps.

1. Help Desk Ticketing System
2. Survey Application
3. Leave Management
4. On-Boarding Solutions
5. Meeting Tracker
6. Assets Manager and many more.

Few sample snapshots for PowerApps

 

Some Notes

• PowerApps comes with a low code solution-making platform. If you have basic Excel formula knowledge and basic programming knowledge, then you can easily work with PowerApps.
• Once you have built a PowerApps, that is capable of running on IOS, Android, and browsers. What you have to do is, just have to download PowerApps on your device and the application will be available over there.
• The user needs a Power Apps license to access the application. you can read about licensing at the official Microsoft site here. 
• There are many organizations converting(re-creating) Infopath form-based SharePoint Customization to Power Apps. 

Summary

In this article, we have learned the basics of PowerApps such as how they look, for what they can be used. in the next article, we will start defining how we can start building the PowerApps and its technical concepts.