What’s new in experience

1. New floating menu includes styling options (Bold and Italic) and formula options (curly brackets, strikethrough, subscript, power, and underline). Keyboard shortcuts also work for Ctrl + B, Ctrl + I, Ctrl + U.  
2. Edit options are now added for linkshttps://www.microsoft.com/images/videos/balloons/coachmarks. To edit balloons and coachmarks, select the link and find the edit option in the floating menu. During editing time, use Ctrl + Click to preview coachmarks and balloons.

Learn more about the feature: Custom help pane feature documentation.

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Components now get access to all API data sources included the app containing the component definitions.

Sharing components with data sources is simple. A connection consent dialog prompts confirming adding the connections when importing a component with data sources.

Check out sample components made with data sources.

1. Outlook inbox (download link)

Connector: Outlook

Function: View list of emails, read emails, and reply. This component is made responsive as shown.

Note: Ensure ‘Formula-level error management’ is turned on in app settings.

1. Outlook send email (Download here)

Connector: Outlook

Function: Send email.

Note: Ensure ‘Formula-level error management’ is turned on in app settings.

1. Office user card (Download link)

Connector: Office User

Function: Search people in the organization and view contact card.

Check out more examples at community canvas component gallery. Learn about component feature (link). Share your feedback and ideas on the community forum with #component.

The post Canvas components get support for connectors appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

OnReset

In a component master, select the component itself. Go to the drop-down list of properties on the right side of the formula bar. Select OnReset and then enter one or more formulas.

To trigger OnReset on a component instance, configure a control to Reset the component. Here are two examples.

Reset time picker

In this example, OnReset is used to reset a time picker.
You can download the time picker component here.

In this time picker component, there are two variables used to display the time _selectedHour and _selectedMinute.  When the picker gets reset, these variables should be reset to a default value, say 12: 12.  The OnReset property for the component has the following formula:

Set(_selectedHour,12); Set(_selectedMinute,12)

To trigger reset, go to a screen and insert an instance of the component. Add a button and configure OnSelect of the button to call Reset() on the component instance:

Show and dismiss a dialog

Building dialogs in canvas apps can be tricky, as a dialog visibility can be changed from inside the component (e.g. an ‘OK’ button) or outside it (show/hide the dialog). OnReset to the rescue!

You can use OnReset property to toggle the visibility of a component.  The key steps are: (a) exposing a variable as an output, (b) wiring it with the Visible property of the component instance, and (c) using OnReset to reset the variable. The full app is available for download here.

Here is how to build a simple dialog component. In the component master, configure:

• Dismiss button:

OnSelect = Set(visible_variable, false)

• The component’s OnReset:

 OnReset  = Set(visible_variable, true).

• Create a Boolean output property. In the advanced pane, type visible_variable as the property formula.

In app screen:

• Insert an instance of the dialog component.
• Add a button and configure:

OnSelect = Reset(Dialog_1)

• Configure Dialog_1 as:

Visible = Dialog_1.Dialog_1.CustomProperty1

Custom properties trigger OnReset when value changes

Besides resetting a component instance from the outside of the component, there is another method to trigger the OnReset from the inside. “Raise OnReset when value changes” is an option when creating a custom input property, and it allows the value changes of this property to trigger OnReset of the component. This method is designed to set and reset default value easily. Here is an example.

This is an example of reviewing order numbers and updating the numbers. (Download the example app including the component here.) The numeric up and down component is used to increase or decrease number of orders. When selecting the gallery on the left, the default number of numeric up and down component is reset to display the order number of selected tool. “Raise OnReset when value changes” made it possible to reset the default value when the input changes. Here is how:

1. Check “Raise OnReset when value changes” of the default input property
2. OnReset of the component is set to:

OnReset = Set(_numericValue,'Numeric up down'.DefaultValue)

And in the text input control:

Default = If(IsBlank(_numericValue), 'Numeric up down'.DefaultValue, _numericValue)

Being able to reset default value and set behavior for component is important to make components flexible in various scenarios. It was also one of the top questions and asks for components. Share your feedback with us and check out examples shared in the community component gallery. Happy building!

The post Introducing OnReset property of component appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

Clicking on Import components as shown below now opens a dialog instead of a local file explorer.

The dialog shows all apps that contain components and that you have permission to edit. Selecting an app and clicking the Import button will import the most recent published version of all of the components in that app into your app. Once they’re imported you can make edits to your copy or delete the ones you don’t need. You can also import components from as many apps as you want!

If you want to share components with others you must first, publish your app with components and second, add who you want to share with as co-owners of the app (see: share a canvas app).

Updating apps to be enabled for cloud sharing

For older apps, you will need to open the app that contains component masters, save and publish it again.  This will tag the app appropriately so it shows up in the import dialog list.

More improvements on the way

We plan to unlock many new capabilities for components soon! What’s on the way includes: embedding data sources in components, reset property, component events, and more.

And we want to hear from you! Please leave any comments in this blog, or post in PowerApps forums with #component.

Try out progress indicator component samples

This component is a circular progress indicator. You can use it to display progress of any sort or use it to get user input. Download it here.

The second component is a partial circle version of the progress indicate with the same functionalities and similar properties. Download it here.

If you are interested to learn how to compose this component, check out this article by David Nissimoff.

The post Import components from cloud apps appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

What are components?

Advanced customization

Getting Started

1. Open the PowerApps Studio.
2. Go to App settings > Advanced settings.
3. Turn on “Components” in Experimental features.
4. In the Tree View, select “Components” and you will land on a square canvas.

Import and Export a Component

1. Download this msapp file for a Header Component.
2. Start a new blank app in PowerApps.
3. Click Insert > Components > Import component > Browse for the .msapp file.
4. The component will appear on the dropdown menu for inserting components.
5. Click Insert > Components > Header to insert the header.

Making App Building Easier

• Instance: a master-instance of a component is scoped to the app. It is a local master. This means that changes you make to the master-instance only affect the copies of the component within the app. The changes do not affect the copies in other apps.
• Images: it is not yet possible to package media files when importing a component, but this feature is coming soon.
• Collections: using Collect within a component is not yet fully supported.
• Data sources: data sources are not saved with components.

Resources

The post Introducing canvas components appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

With today’s update for PowerApps, you will find something interesting happening in the formula bar. While typing expressions, syntax highlighting displays different colors depending on the category of terms. This feature is meant to help you understand long formulas and improve readability of expressions. Here are some samples and color codes for syntax highlighting.

Data Source Icon and Information

So far, connections only displayed the name of table in the ‘Data souces’ pane. It was not intuitive since you could forget what connection it was. In this new design, we replaced the universal icon with the actual connection icons. Connections with data entities now show the name of table and connection name. More improvements to the ‘Data sources’ pane are on their way.

In addition to these, the new update also brings other new features. You can find details for those here:   

Entity form control (experimental feature) for Common Data Service

Making it easier to use Azure APIs in PowerApps

Add push notifications to your apps built using PowerApps

New additions to PowerApps admin center

Connect to Oracle Database from PowerApps, Flow and Logic Apps

Please engage with us and let us know your thoughts via our forum.

The post Syntax highlighting in PowerApps Studio, data source icons, and more appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

Let’s take a look at the system requirements and the PowerApps experience on Windows 10 Mobile to help you get started.

System requirements

OS build: Anniversary update Redstone 1 (10.0.14267.1002) or higher required

Memory: At least 2GB of RAM

Sign in

The first time you open PowerApps, you can sign in if you have a valid license or sign up by following the link.

App filters and sorting options

After signing in, you will be taken to the list of apps available to you. On top center of the screen, you will find a dropdown menu to switch app categories. Apps have been categorized into four lists to help you quickly find a specific app.

• All: All apps you have access to, including apps you have authored and apps that others shared with you.
• My Apps: Apps that you have run at least once.
• Samples: Sample apps from Microsoft to showcase real application scenarios with fictitious data and to help you explore design possibilities.
• Favorites: Apps that you’ve marked by using the “…” option of each app. You can unmark an app to remove it from this list.

After you choose a category, you can also sort it by when apps were recently opened or modified. These preferences are retained when you close and reopen PowerApps.

Open and exit an app

Tap on an app’s icon to open an app. Click on the “…”, for options to view the detail of the app or pin this app to the mobile home screen.

To exit an app from Windows 10 Mobile, use the back button on your phone to exit.

Feedback

PowerApps for Windows 10 Mobile is in preview and we would love to hear your feedback. For known issues, please see the Common issues list. For any feedback or questions, reach out the community forum.

-PowerApps Team

The post PowerApps for Windows 10 Mobile is in Preview appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

Favorite Apps

Favorite feature is added to the three-dot dropdown options of an app. By clicking the Favorite, the app is marked as a favorite app. 

Favorite apps have a star mark on the top left corner of the icons.

We’ve also added a Favorites list in the dropdown app lists.  You can find all your Favorite apps here.

Pull to refresh

In mobile clients, pull down on the screen can refresh the app list. The refresh is based on the current app list option and sorting option.   

Delay action during text entry

With build 2.0.511, we are enabling fine control over when to trigger the changes happening live in text input as the user is typing. For calculation purpose, you may want the calculations to start along with typing inputs. However, if it is a search, instead of searching incomplete word, you may want to start searching after the user finishes typing a word. Those are just two examples. To switch between the behavior, you’ll need to select the text input control and set its DelayOutput property to true of false. Here are two main use cases:

Scenario 1: the changes need to trigger a search or other query on the data backend

In this case, set the DelayOutput to true. Here is an example. We have an app generated from data. Notice that changes in TextSearchBox1 would trigger a search on the Company entity. To optimize the performance and utilize network efficiently, we need the search to trigger at the time when user take a brief stop from typing, which usually imply that user has finished typing a word or phrase.

Set DelayOutput of the input box to true to delay action during text input.

Scenario 2: The input box changes are changing the state of other controls without triggering any backend operations

In this case, by setting DelayOutput to be false, any change in the canvas can trigger instantaneous changes. Here is an example, the Total in the picture below is equal to Price times Units. Setting DelayOutput to false, you can trigger live updates with the Total while user is still typing.

When users are using the app, the Price is 4 and calculation starts while typing 100 in Units. This is a simple calculation and the result is given when user finishes typing 100. 

Mathematical functions added

For your calculating pleasure, we have added more mathematical functions. There functions have the same names and arguments as their counterparts in Excel.

• Calculate sine, cosine, tangent, and other trigonometric values.
• Easily access the value of π.
• Convert between units of angle.
• Calculate natural exponentiations and logarithms.

For more information, see Trigonometric functions and Numerical functions.

The post Mark favorite apps, pull to refresh and more appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

Single sign-on

With this update, PowerApps users are automatically signed in to connections for Microsoft services like SharePoint, Office 365, One Drive for Business. You no longer need to type your login multiple times – your PowerApps login is used to establishing the connection.  

Improved authoring tools

Define Min and Max for percentage bar

Data cards represent fields in a table connected to PowerApps. After connecting a form to a data table, you’ll find options for changing the control on each data card as highlighted in the red box in the picture, including the option to choose a percentage bar. You can find max and min functions in the drop-down function list also as highlighted. A percentage is calculated based on the max and min you input. For example, the data card imported below has a value of 3. Add a percentage bar, set the min to be 0, and max to be 3. This data card shows up as 100%.

Customize the star rating

When you create an app that uses the rating control, you can now customize the control to set the number of stars by changing the max value of your star rating. This feature provides the ability to use 3-star, 5-star or even 7-star ratings.

Play Videos in PowerApps

A video control bug has been fixed, and now you can play videos in PowerApps. Choose Insert Video from Media and add the video link in double quote in the function input.

Improved app list for tablets

This update improves the app list view on your iOS and Android tablet devices. Switching between portrait and landscape orientation, the apps fit the orientation better.                                                                                                               

iPad portrait

iPad landscape

Updates to PowerApps.com

My apps: filter by ownership

Now it’s easier to quickly find the app you need. Filter your app list by ownership: Apps I own, Apps Shared with Me, Apps Shared to Org. From the My apps page on web.powerapps.com, click All apps in the top left corner to view a drop down with the filters. Here are example screens of “All apps” and “Apps shared to me”.

My apps: tile and list views

We’ve also added the ability to toggle your app list between a tile view and a list view. The tile view shows the icon and author of the app, and it provides a straight-forward access to your app list. The list view presents information including permissions, modified date and other options. You can sort by these columns to quickly get to your most recently-modified apps or find apps created by a specific user.

On top right of the page, you can easily find the toggle buttons to switch between two views.

Bug fixes and data update

• Camera auto-focus on Android is no longer a pre-requisite to install and run PowerApps from Google Play Store. Due to the requirement of auto-focus capability, some Android devices could not download PowerApps. If you had an issue downloading PowerApps, this should be resolved now.

• We’ve fixed a bug with saving and loading data in published apps. Creators using the SaveData function to collect information from users (e.g., with a “Submit” button collecting the results of a list box or drop down), and the LoadData function to display those collections will now find these features work as expected. 

• Showing “Something went wrong” in error cases was not very helpful. We have updated error messages across web.powerapps.com.

• We’ve improved the custom API creation experience, including validation of parameters and validation of Swagger.

• For large data sets, delegation now supports filtering and sorting used together and also the SortByColumns function. See the Delegation section of the Filter or Sort functions documentation for more details.  More support for delegation is on the way.

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