The post SQL Server environment variables available for Power Apps appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>SQL Server environment variables (Entra) for Power Apps will save you time moving your solutions from one environment to another. For example, from an environment used for dev or test to a different environment used for test or production. Manually create environment variables in your solution or set a switch in your app to auto-create them for you when you add a data source to your app while in your solution. Note that this feature is specifically for Entra. Power Apps with shared connections (e.g., SQL Auth) continue with connection references.
There are two environment variables to set for SQL connections: server and database. The database environment variable depends on the server environment variable. First you create an environment variable for your server. Once that is created you can create an environment variable for the database that attaches to the server environment variable.
Use an environment variable by selecting to create data source and instead of creating a new server database combo, use the ‘Advanced’ tab to select the environment variable to bind to the controls in your app.
Use SQL Server environment variables (Entra) to easily enable professional deployment patterns. See the documentation for this feature for an in-depth discussion: Use environment variables in Power Platform solutions – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn
The post SQL Server environment variables available for Power Apps appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post GA announcement: 6 additional modern controls in Canvas! appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>Visit overview of modern controls to learn more about all modern controls.
As part of this milestone, we would like to highlight the following:
We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing the amazing apps that will be created with these controls!
The post GA announcement: 6 additional modern controls in Canvas! appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post User defined functions, user defined types, and enhanced component properties move forward appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>{ }
and you can then use the ;
(or ;;
) chaining operator.This is the last major update to UDFs planned before we start down the road to general availability. UDTs will be on the same timeline. Now is the time to take this functionality through its final paces and provide feedback before the design is locked; please leave feedback in the community experimental features forum. Both features are experimental and require turning on these switches in Settings > Updates > Experimental:
Named formulas depend on being declarative, something the system can defer and recalc based on changes in the app. They can’t have side effects, such as incrementing a variable, or this wouldn’t be possible. UDFs to date have built on top of named formulas by adding parameters, but still had to be declarative.
Obviously, that is limiting for an app. We need buttons, buttons that do important things like updating a database. We’d like to be able to put that logic in a UDF too. And now you can, by wrapping the UDF in curly braces:
CountUp( increment : Number ) : Void = {
Set( x, x+increment );
Notify( $"Count: {x}" );
};
This simple example will increment the global variable x
and display a notification with the result each time CountUp(1)
is called from, say, the OnSelect formula of a Button control.
This is a huge step for reuse and manageability. Now you can extract and parameterize your action logic and reuse it throughout your app, having only one source of truth for that logic that is easier to maintain.
For more information and examples, see Behavior user defined functions.
User defined types enable UDFs to take in and return records and tables. Until now, UDFs were limited to scalar data types, such as Number, Text, DateTime, etc.
The new Type function is the key. Use it to define a named formula for a type, using the same syntax you would use for a literal record or table value. For example, imagine you had a table of paper sizes:
PaperSizes =
[ { Name: "A4", Width: 210, Height: 297 },
{ Name: "Letter", Width: 216, Height: 279 },
{ Name: "Legal", Width: 216, Height: 356 } ];
We can define types for a single paper as a special kind of named formula that uses the :=
assignment operator and Type function. The syntax used within the Type function is the same as the literal record values in the PaperSizes definition, with specific values replaced by their data type names:
PaperType := Type( { Name: Text, Width: Number, Height: Number } );
We can now use this type to pass a single paper size into a UDF:
PaperArea( Paper: PaperType ): Number = Paper.Width * Paper.Height;
And we can call our UDF with:
PaperArea( First( PaperSizes ) ) // returns the number 62370
We can define a type for a table, matching the type of PaperSizes:
MultiPaperType := Type( [ PaperType ] );
And then define a function to filter a table of paper sizes:
LargePaperSizes( Papers: MultiPaperType ) : MultiPaperType =
Filter( Papers, PaperArea( ThisRecord ) > 70000
And then we can call it with:
LargePaperSizes( PaperSizes )
// returns [ { Name: "Legal", Width: 216, Height: 356 } ]
For more information and examples, see User defined types.
UDTs are great for UDFs. But they have another great use case: converting an untyped object to a typed object. Imagine that JSON was returned from a web API for another set of paper sizes:
MorePaperSizes =
"[ { ""Name"": ""A0"", ""Width"": 841, ""Height"": 1189 },
{ ""Name"": ""A6"", ""Width"": 105, ""Height"": 148 } ]";
You probably know that you can use the ParseJSON function to convert this to an Untyped object.
MoreUntyped = ParseJSON( MorePaperSizes )
From which you can extract individual elements from the JSON by casting them explicitly or implicitly at the point of use. But since the structure is untyped and potentially heterogenous, it cannot be used with functions such as AddColumns which requires a homogenous Power Fx table:
AddColumns( MoreUntyped, InStock, true ) // error
With UDTs, we can now convert this JSON directly to a Power Fx typed object by providing the type as the second parameter to ParseJSON:
MoreTyped = ParseJSON( MorePaperSizes, MultiPaperType )
And now we can add a column:
AddColumns( MoreTyped, InStock, true ) // OK
The IsType and AsType functions have also been overloaded to take an untyped object and type arguments. Web APIs that return an untyped object can now be easily converted to a typed object.
These are experimental features, and for good reason, we are still making changes. There are a lot of nuanced details with UDFs and UDTs we want to make sure we get right. We’d love to hear your feedback on how it works, please let us know in the community experimental features forum.
The post User defined functions, user defined types, and enhanced component properties move forward appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post Unlock new possibilities by customizing Copilot chat in your apps with Copilot Studio (Preview) appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>We are thrilled to announce the public preview of Copilot chat extensibility for model-driven apps. This new capability empowers partners and customers to tailor and extend the in-app chat, making it more context-aware and more aligned with organization’s unique needs.
By harnessing the capabilities of Copilot Studio, you can incorporate additional topics, knowledge sources, connectors, custom prompt guide and more, greatly enriching your Copilot chat experience. A dedicated agent is provisioned when customizing the Copilot chat to ensure that each model-driven app has a tailored and context-specific AI assistant. This extensibility approach ensures that your AI solutions are not only more pertinent but also scalable in tackling your unique business challenges.
It’s easy to get started. Go to https://make.preview.powerapps.com in any early release environment. Open the model-driven app whose Copilot chat you want to customize. Click on the ellipsis (…) in the left navigation bar and then select Configure in Copilot Studio. You will be directed to Copilot Studio with the appropriate agent ready for customization.
The animation below demonstrates a use case where, with just a few clicks, makers can enhance Copilot chat capabilities to answer any question from the Power Apps official documentation. Additionally, they can easily customize the Copilot UI to assist end users through prompt guides.
For more information about the capabilities being made available with this release, please refer to the Power Apps documentation under Customize Copilot chat using Copilot Studio. Please use Power Apps Pro Dev forum or reach out via LinkedIn for any feedback or questions.
The expansive potential of extensibility is truly exciting. We look forward to this journey with our partners and customers, as we incrementally roll out additional features.
Note: This feature is currently available in early release environments and will be gradually rolled out to all makers over the coming weeks.
The post Unlock new possibilities by customizing Copilot chat in your apps with Copilot Studio (Preview) appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post React and Fluent based virtual code components are now generally available appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>Key Benefits:
Note that code components created earlier via preview are backward compatible and will continue to work. Please rebuild them using the latest version of PAC tooling so that they are ready for future platform library upgrades.
You can find more details about this feature including supported platform library versions in our documentation for React controls & platform libraries. Please use Power Apps Pro Dev forum for any input or questions.
The post React and Fluent based virtual code components are now generally available appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post What’s new in Power Apps: November 2024 Feature Update appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>Summary: Welcome to the Power Apps monthly feature update! We will use this blog to share what’s new in Power Apps. A summary of product, community, and learning updates from throughout the month so you can access it in one easy place. This month we’re excited to shared a simplified approach to writing Power Fx with Copilot, Performance improvements to the Canvas designer, Studio visual updates, and smart paste for model driven apps!
Jump into Power Apps to try the latest updates, you can use an existing environment or get started for free using the Developer plan.
This month, it’s all about adding that shine! Power Apps Studio has a fresh new look, we’ve given you more ways to add web resources, and now you can customize your modern themes to get exactly the right color at each step of the ramp. Get in the know with this month’s Power Apps Pulse!
The latest update to the Power Apps formula bar introduces a new “Create a Formula” option, allowing users to craft Power Fx formulas using natural language. This innovation simplifies the formula creation process, making it more accessible for users of all skill levels. Enable this preview feature in your app settings, and then by typing a desired action in plain language, the AI suggests the appropriate formula, which can then be applied to the selected control and property.
Additionally, the update enhances the formula explanation capability, enabling users to select a portion of a formula and receive a plain language explanation of the selected part. This is particularly beneficial for understanding long or complex formulas. The Copilot in the formula bar now supports more languages, broadening the feature’s accessibility.
In the effort to provide better out of the box accessibility, performance, and alignment with Microsoft product set we’ve updated the Power Apps Studio across both the canvas and model driven designers. This milestone creates a modern look and feel, as well as improved coherence throughout the Power Apps authoring experience for makers working across multiple app types, the plan designer and data workspace. No action is required to see the new updates, rolling out now.
While you edit or play your app in Studio, a continuous analysis of app elements and their interactions is happening in the background. For example, this allows us to know that if you change an expression `Set(x, 5)` to `Set(x, {Lorem: “Ipsum”})` that the type of `x` is now a record instead of a number, and any references in your app to `x + 1` will therefore be marked as erroneous.
To improve performance and reliability while building apps, we released the updated analysis engine, Generally Available and will be on by default for all Canvas apps, starting February 2025. To migrate ahead of this, go to app settings, and turn on ‘New analysis engine’ setting under Updates > New.
Performance Boost: The New Analysis Engine optimizes how we approach that analysis, complex Canvas apps that previously took minutes to load should now load much faster. Note that this is an authoring load time and edit time performance improvement and has no impact on app run time performance.
Accuracy: The New Analysis Engine enables more accurate determination of variable and collection types, reliably identifies the columns used in your app, and enhances Data Source call performance in published apps.
Smart paste is designed to make form-filling in model-driven apps as simple as copy & paste. Now you can effortlessly fill forms based on the information you already have, transforming the tedious task of filling forms with a smarter, faster, and more intuitive way to handle forms. We are also introducing citations so you can easily identify where suggestions come from, and expanding form fill assistance (including the new smart paste) to quick create forms.
To learn more, read the blog at New smart paste makes filling forms as easy as copy & paste – Microsoft Power Platform Blog and documentation at Use Copilot’s form fill assistance feature in model-driven apps – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn.
Updated Training
The post What’s new in Power Apps: November 2024 Feature Update appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post Creating and explaining formulas with Copilot now even easier appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>Copilot can now also explain partial formulas, which is especially useful for longer formulas where you need an explanation on a specific part of the code.
And to top it off, Copilot in the formula bar will now support more languages, enabling most of our worldwide makers to take advantage of these powerful features.
With the new “Create a Formula” feature, you can now generate Power Fx formulas directly from natural language. Simply select the Copilot button, ask it to create a formula, type your desired action in plain language, and the AI will suggest the appropriate formula and append it wherever the cursor was located when the request was made after you click apply.
This functionality is perfect for both seasoned developers and those new to Power Apps, providing a seamless experience for all users. Remember, formulas are specific to the control and property that is selected, and some actions require working across controls and properties.
Additionally, the maker can use the thumb up/down icons to provide feedback that will help to make the product and AI interactions better over time. By sharing the prompt and response along with your feedback, it helps us understand what we can do to improve.
To enable the Create a Formula Capability, turn on the “Copilot for formulas” flag in Canvas App Settings > Updates > Preview.
In addition to creating formulas, we’ve expanded our formula explanation capability to include the ability to explain a partial formula.
By selecting a formula before clicking the Copilot icon, instead of the “Explain this formula” option, you have the option to “Explain this selection” and get a plain language explanation of what the selected portion of the formula does.
The selection does not have to be precise either, as the Copilot knows when to include context surrounding the selection in order to provide an explanation. This is particularly useful for understanding long or complex formulas that benefit from a more granular explanation.
Copilot support in the formula bar now supports 18 languages. To find out if your language is supported, or to learn more, take a look at the product documentation.
We hope you find these new features as exciting and useful as we do. We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing the innovative ways you use them in your apps. Stay tuned for more updates and enhancements in Power Apps!
The post Creating and explaining formulas with Copilot now even easier appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post Introducing Git Integration in Power Platform (preview) appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>It just takes a few seconds to connect your Dataverse environment to Git. You can connect and use Git integration within Power Apps, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Power Automate, and Power Pages. You’ll also need access to an Azure DevOps Git repository.
Rollout is in-progress. Git integration is currently available in public geos outside the US. Your environment must be enabled for early access and accessed at https://make.preview.powerapps.com.
As the team develops, Dataverse tracks everyone’s changes. When ready, commit your changes to a branch in the connected Azure DevOps Git repository. A commit link is provided to view the changes within the repository and compare diffs. You’ll notice solutions and solution objects are now stored in human readable formats in the repo.
Professional developers can work in source control while others work in one or more environments. It’s easy to pull others’ changes into other development environments which are connected to the same source code location. This allows team members to build without others editing in their environment and share changes once they’re ready. Connect multiple development environments using the same repo, branch, and folder. Then, in each environment create or import an unmanaged solution with the same name and publisher.
When committing and pulling changes, conflicts may be detected – meaning someone else made conflicting changes to the same object. You’ll need to choose whether to keep the version that’s in your environment or bring the version from source control into your environment. You can also revert changes in the repository, then pull the prior version into your environment.
When the team is ready to deploy to test or production, you can use Pipelines in Power Platform for the release. Building and deploying using developer tools isn’t available yet for this new format.
We hope you enjoy the preview. There are many current limitations and you shouldn’t use this feature in environments or Git folders where you’re developing production solutions. Please leave your feedback below, in the community forums, on social media, or another outlet of choice. We look forward to hearing what you’d like to see prioritized next.
Overview of Power Platform Git integration
The post Introducing Git Integration in Power Platform (preview) appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post Microsoft named a Leader in 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>Source: (Gartner, October 2024)1*
We are excited to share that Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms** for the sixth year in a row. This recognition, we feel, reflects the trust of millions of users who continue to build on Microsoft Power Platform—a comprehensive low-code solution that spans application development, process automation, external websites, and intelligent copilots.
Learn why Microsoft was named a Leader.
The success stories of our customers demonstrate the tangible impact of Microsoft Power Platform in real-world scenarios. A few examples include:
These companies—and many more—are using Microsoft Power Platform to transform their operations by building solutions on a secure, scalable platform that effectively handles and streamlines AI integration, governance, security, and enterprise data connectivity, a platform that enables developers to build with natural language, visual interface, or code, and deploy powerful solutions to web, mobile, or Microsoft Teams with ease.
“[Microsoft] Power Platform enables us to carefully control the data that feeds our AI models and, through [Microsoft Azure] Active Directory and [Microsoft] Dataverse, also control who can access which data through those models”.
Thomas Bilbo, Principal, Product Owner, PG&E
Let’s dive into the factors that we believe set our platform apart as a Leader.
Microsoft Copilot in Power Platform is transforming how people use and create software, making Microsoft the low-code application platform (LCAP) of choice for customers who need to rapidly modernize their application estates for the age of AI.
Makers can harness Copilot in Power Apps to turn natural language descriptions into functional solutions quickly. Copilot helps makers from the beginning, when they build a plan for their solution, and continues to assist with tasks like working with data models, adding new tables, creating relations between data, adding new screens and controls within the canvas experience, and crafting complex formulas in Microsoft Power Fx.
“Building the prototype from scratch would have taken 6-8 hours. We were able to just describe in natural language and build in a few minutes.”
Ron Colvin, Director of Innovation, CONA Services
End-users benefit from out-of-the-box Microsoft Copilot capabilities when using apps built on Dataverse. And with Copilot streamlining actions such as drafting text inputs, filling forms, and filtering records, users are saving significant time on manual and repetitive tasks.
To date, over 480,000 organizations have used AI-powered capabilities in Microsoft Power Platform. For instance, Nsure.com significantly improved efficiency and reduced costs by using generative AI to automate complex business processes, cutting manual processing time by 60% and associated costs by 50%.
Through Managed Environments, the suite of advanced governance capabilities that comes with Power Platform premium licenses, the platform provides a robust control framework for secure, scalable low-code adoption. Leading organizations like PG&E, Equinor, Shell, T-Mobile, Lumen Technologies, Zurich Insurance Group, and HSBC manage extensive developer networks and solutions globally with exceptional visibility and control.
Since 2022, Deutsche Bahn (DB) Group has been using Managed Environments to drive innovation at scale across the world’s largest railway company. At Rabobank, more than 55% of their 40,000 employees use Microsoft Power Platform solutions. Similarly, Accenture has over 200,000 employees using applications built on Microsoft Power Apps every month.
Each of our coworkers has a [Microsoft] Power Platform license to create, to solve problems for his or her team, or even for the whole company. It’s very easy to make your own app, and very fast.
Thomas Czierpke, Head of Adoption and Change Management, Microsoft 365, DB Group
We continue to invest in Managed Environments as customers drive greater scale and sophistication on the platform. In the past year, we have introduced comprehensive application lifecycle management, including Git integration and source control, a proactive intelligent advisor for risk management, and advanced administration options. We’re equipping administrators and experienced developers with advanced tools, and our upcoming release plan will continue to add new functionality in application lifecycle management, enterprise-scale administration, licensing and capacity management, monitoring, security, and compliance.
In the journey of digital and AI transformation, every maker and every developer plays a crucial role in driving innovation. It’s amazing to see 83,000 participants in our partner bootcamps and airlifts, with Microsoft Power Platform communities growing to 5.8 million monthly active users! It is all of you—our community—that make this journey so rewarding.
We are grateful to all the organizations, customers, the community, and partners for this recognition—thank you for everything that you do! As a next step, dive into building with Power Apps Developer Plan. Learn more about our position as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms report.
1. Gartner®, Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, October 16, 2024, Oleksandr Matvitskyy, Kimihiko Iijima, Mike West, Kyle Davis, Akash Jain, Paul Vincent
2. Microsoft Fiscal Year 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call
*This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms.
**Gartner is a registered trademark and service mark and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The post Microsoft named a Leader in 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>The post What’s new in Power Apps: August 2024 Feature Update appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>Summary: Welcome to the Power Apps monthly feature update! We will use this blog to share what’s new in Power Apps. A summary of product, community, and learning updates from throughout the month so you can access it in one easy place. This month we’re excited to share Copilot updates, GA of some key features for our makers and a huge set of Learning and Documentation updates.
Jump into Power Apps to try the latest updates, you can use an existing environment or get started for free using the Developer plan.
We’re delighted to share with you a new series highlighting incremental improvements each month aimed at making app building faster, easier, and more delightful for your app users. Check out these updates and get making with Power Apps Pulse!
We are excited to announce that Power Apps application runtime users can now use Copilot to filter to quickly filter, sort, and search the items in canvas app galleries with SharePoint. Copilot to filter uses your natural language to generate a query to the database that scopes the current view of records in a gallery so you can quickly find the records you need. This feature is available only for Power Apps canvas web apps and only at runtime for all applications that have been republished after version 7.4 which is expected to be available starting on July 29. It will be fully rolled out to all regions several weeks later. This premium feature is on by default and authors may disable if required.
Join us on Copilot Learning Hub as we dive into the latest Copilot capabilities within Microsoft Power Apps. In this episode, Dona welcomes April Dunnam, a Power Apps expert, to showcase the innovative features that are transforming how users interact with Power Apps. From a comprehensive walkthrough of the new capabilities to practical demos, this episode is packed with insights for both beginners and advanced users. Discover how to leverage Copilot in Power Apps to enhance your productivity and streamline your workflows. Don’t miss out on this informative session.
We are excited to announce that calling SQL Server stored procedures in Power Fx is now generally available in all regions. You do not need to call a Power Automate Flow to use a stored procedure making development of Power Apps for SQL easier for authors and faster overall performance for both authors and end users. The ability to call stored procedures for the SQL connector directly is an extension to the existing tabular model and gives users access to tables, views, and stored procedures. This feature extends our ongoing support of SQL Server as a primary development target for Power Apps.
Admins can take advantage of a modern and accessible UI to manage application users. Admins can do this by using the Application users page in the environment settings in the Power Platform admin center. Application users can be added, updated (or refreshed), and deactivated. Now deactivated application users can be deleted. Admins can also view the list of platform application users with their respective security role assigned.
Previously, stub users, unlicensed, or removed Microsoft Entra group users couldn’t be deleted from a Dataverse environment. These types of users remained in a Dataverse environment with a disabled status and were unable to log into the environment. You can now delete these users with the disabled status in your environment to comply with privacy laws, regulatory requirements, and to free up storage space.
Updated Training
The post What’s new in Power Apps: August 2024 Feature Update appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.
]]>