Connectors Archives - Microsoft Power Platform Blog Innovate with Business Apps Tue, 01 Oct 2024 23:32:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Call SQL Server procedures directly in Power Fx (GA) http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/call-sql-server-procedures-directly-in-power-fx-ga/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:00:00 +0000 GA of calling stored procedures directly in Power Fx. Speed up app development. Speeds up Power App performance.

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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.

Getting started

To use this feature, you need to either create a new SQL connection to your app or already have one in your app. In the table selector, choose the ‘Stored Procedure’ tab and select all of the stored procedures you want to access in your app. Then you can directly access the stored procedure in your app by referring to the data source name and then ‘dot’ into the specific stored procedure in a Power Fx formula.

This feature is an extension to the tabular model. We allow the ability to execute stored procedures, but we do not allow the ability to run arbitrary SQL. This helps provides an additional level of security. Additionally, you can bind a stored procedure directly to a gallery or table by checking the ‘Safe to use for galleries and tables’ checkbox.   

See the article Connect to SQL Server from Power Apps for a discussion of how and when to select this option and other details on how to use this feature.

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Unlock new levels of productivity with Microsoft Dataverse and Microsoft Copilot Studio http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/unlock-new-levels-of-productivity-with-microsoft-dataverse-and-microsoft-copilot-studio/ Tue, 21 May 2024 15:30:54 +0000 Enhancing your AI business strategy with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Dataverse enables organizations to simplify the complex data integration, third-party data extensibility, and security guardrails organizations must have in place to assist in the implementation and adoption of AI.

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Microsoft Copilot is designed to enhance business productivity by leveraging AI to streamline routine tasks, allowing users to concentrate on strategic and creative endeavors. It boosts organizational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, freeing up time for the workforce, and enriching solution capabilities with integrated experiences in Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Teams.

Enhancing your AI business strategy with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Dataverse enables organizations to simplify the complex data integration, third-party data extensibility, and security guardrails organizations must have in place to assist in the implementation and adoption of AI.

At Microsoft Build 2024, we are excited to unveil Microsoft Copilot connectors. Microsoft Copilot connectors provide seamless and secure integration with your productivity, analytical, and operational data as well as empower users to activate existing business processes. Copilot Studio and Dataverse allow organizations to create actions, build knowledge, and integrate grounded data into their copilots with ease, all while easily meeting their compliance requirements with a rich set of security features.

Bridge the gap between enterprise data and Microsoft Copilot

The concept of enterprise knowledge in Copilot Studio is a groundbreaking addition that allows copilot makers to add specific contextually relevant knowledge sources to their copilots, thereby improving the reliability and accuracy of responses. Knowledge supports a wide range of data types, including public websites and Microsoft Dynamics 365 (powered by Dataverse) and brings simple discoverability and understanding of enterprise data, which is critical to scaling the delivery of agent copilots across an organization.

Modal image to add available knowledge sources
 

Figure 1: Makers can select enterprise data sources as their copilot’s knowledge.

Many Microsoft customers are seeing the benefits of adding grounded enterprise data into their copilot experience. From supply chain management, customer relationship management, and productivity insights, customers can increase the efficiency of business processes, make their workforce more productive, and provide rich customer experiences. Read below how Peppermint, EY, and Docusign have developed impactful solutions.

Law firms are challenged with optimizing workflow efficiency and delivering effective client services. Achieving this entails implementing a range of services, including case and matter management, document management, and client engagement. How can law firms, who are primarily focused on legal expertise, utilize technology to overcome this challenge and achieve their goals?

Peppermint Technology, a leading global independent software vendor (ISV) revolutionizing legal firms and departments, has built solutions that easily ground copilots with enterprise data stored in Dataverse and SharePoint to provide more relevant and secure business insights. Peppermint has been using Microsoft Power Platform to model their legal case process and storing their business data in Dataverse. With their existing integration, allowing Peppermint’s copilot to access enterprise knowledge and processes from Microsoft Power Platform, while maintaining user context security, requires minimal effort and allows rapid adoption of modern AI workloads for increasing productivity and automation

Screenshot of testing Copilot responses to custom connector.

Figure 2: Use natural language to retrieve matters stored in Dataverse.

Lawyers can now use LARA (Legal Analysis and Research Assistant for Peppermint) to efficiently prepare for upcoming meetings by identifying internal contacts for new accounts, accessing pertinent information, and taking necessary actions ahead of their meetings.

A cell phone with text on it from the LARA copilot


Figure 3: Use natural language to identify connections with new accounts.

“At Peppermint Technology, we are excited to utilize Copilot Studio’s enterprise knowledge to not only extract maximum value from corporate data but also significantly enhance our law firm clients’ ability to engage with their clients and increase billing efficiencies. This strategic adoption aligns perfectly with our business priorities of reducing risk and boosting client engagement, enabling our clients to offer superior service and achieve better outcomes.”—Mike Walker, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Peppermint Technology

Peppermint Technology's logo

Take your enterprise business processes further with Copilot connectors

With Copilot connectors in Copilot Studio, organizations can easily expand their copilot knowledge and actions with their business data. Copilot connectors allow organizations to bring together data from Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Fabric OneLake, public websites, and many other systems of record.

When incorporating Copilot connectors into your custom copilots, Copilot will work in the background on your user’s or organization’s behalf, and reason across structured and unstructured data to execute your business processes.

Microsoft Copilot connectors diagram
Figure 4: Microsoft Copilot connectors diagram.
Copilot connectors are part of the broader Copilot ecosystem, which includes Copilot Studio and Microsoft Copilot. They play a crucial role in the extensibility of Copilot, allowing developers to create custom AI solutions that are deeply integrated with Dataverse and Microsoft Power Platform. Some key benefits of Copilot connectors are:
  • Semantic search: Allows the connector to understand and interpret the text data, enabling more relevant and context-aware responses.
  • Data syncing and caching: Ensure your data is synchronized and cached efficiently, allowing for quick access, and reducing potential latency issues.
  • Extensive third-party service integration: With a few clicks you can access the ecosystem of more than 1,400 connectors so that even non-Microsoft data can be included.
  • Support for complex data types: The connectors can handle a variety of data types, including relational data and unstructured data, making them versatile for different business needs, and come with production-grade service levels.
  • Low-code and pro-code: Whether you want to create custom application programming interface (API) or existing prebuilt connectors, the choice is up to you.

Docusign expedites the workforce with Copilot connectors

By enabling the Docusign Copilot connector within Microsoft Copilot, Docusign delivers greater value to their customers by not only surfacing document details, steps, and processes, but also allowing users to ask queries with natural language, and drive results faster than before. Docusign’s integrations with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Copilot for Sales provide AI-powered agreement insights to help drive employee productivity, close deals faster, and manage renewals at scale. Customers across human resources (HR), sales, procurement, legal, and more can now use natural language to ask Copilot for agreement status and summarization, extract key information, send reminders to others, and more.

A screenshot of a enabling Docusign Copilot connector
Figure 5: Activate Docusign Copilot connector and find agreements with natural language.

“Through our partnership with Microsoft, we are revolutionizing the way organizations do business. Docusign’s integrations with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Sales harness the power of AI to drive intelligent automation and innovation, leveraging Microsoft Power Platform plug-ins and Microsoft Copilot Studio. Meeting people where they work, these integrations empower organizations to accelerate revenue, reduce risk, and create better experiences from the agreements that run their business. Together, we’re not just streamlining processes, we’re redefining what’s possible in the digital era.”—Janine Grasso, General Vice President (GVP) of Partner Development and Alliances, Docusign

Docusign logo

Gain visibility and increase your security posture

As organizations increase the complexity of their solutions and incorporate data from multiple systems of record through Copilot connectors, gaining and maintaining visibility of the security of that data is critical. Previously, fragmented experiences created barriers to customers assessing risks, and a lack of clear, defined guidance in achieving the defense in depth that organizations strive to maintain. Without security tools for both proactive and reactive governance of both citizen and pro developers’ applications, administrators may resort to solutions that stifle modernization, productivity, and business growth.

The Security Hub is designed to solve these challenges and more, with intuitive experiences, and strategic guidance, administrators can navigate the complexities of managing security at scale. This centralized hub provides administrators with tools to assess the security posture of their tenant, identify and act on impactful recommendations, and proactively set policies to safeguard against vulnerabilities and threats all through the Microsoft Power Platform admin center.

The Security Hub for Microsoft Power Platform, in public preview, offers several benefits, including:

  • Enhanced security posture: Providing administrators with tools to assess and improve the security posture of their tenant, ensuring that data and applications are protected against vulnerabilities and threats.
  • Actionable recommendations: Identify impactful recommendations that administrators can act on to strengthen security measures.
  • Proactive policy setting: Proactively set policies to safeguard your environment, preventing potential security incidents before they occur.
  • Centralized security management: One centralized platform for managing security across Microsoft Power Platform, streamlining the process, and making it more efficient.

These features are designed to provide a comprehensive security solution that aligns with an organization’s security practices, contributing to the overall success of digital transformation efforts. For example, Security Hub identifies if minimum safeguarding is in place and guides you to set up the appropriate data loss prevention policies (DLP) around Copilot connector usage in your organization. In addition, administrators can expect to utilize the following generally available in the Security Hub: vNet for Dataverse plugins, privileged identity management (PIM), tenant isolation, IP firewall, IP cookie binding, and environment security groups, while the following features will be available in public preview: client application control and Dataverse audit enhancements.

Additionally, Copilot Studio makers can now ground generative answers to SharePoint site content—enabling copilots to surface labeled resources as labeled responses in Teams chat with Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels.

Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels are widely adopted by enterprises today to label and protect sensitive information in Microsoft 365 apps and Fabric, and they are coming soon to Microsoft Power Platform.

Watch our latest overview of Microsoft Power Platform and Dataverse security features.

EY prevents data exfiltration at scale with Microsoft Power Platform security controls

Data exfiltration prevention protects the unauthorized transfer of sensitive data from an organization to external parties. This allows a business to maintain business continuity, comply with regulatory requirements, and keep up with competitive advantage. This feature allows the security officer to allow or block what apps that their authorized users can run in a Dataverse environment.

“As an enterprise consumer of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform, I am thrilled to share my experience with the recent enhancements made by the Engineering team. Their diligent efforts have had a significant, positive impact on our Dynamics 365 launch with the necessary data controls to support our information security policies and data governance processes.
The introduction of data exfiltration permission controls was critical to comply with our Information Privacy and Data Governance policies. These controls allow us to grant permissioned access to the Dataverse while maintaining strict data security. Here’s why these features are crucial:

  • Foundation for Data Governance: The ability to control data exfiltration is at the core of our data governance strategy. With these controls, we can confidently manage how Dynamics 365 data is accessed and shared beyond our system boundaries.
  • Enterprise Data Controls: Microsoft Dynamics 365’s permissioned access ensures that sensitive information remains within authorized boundaries. We can now define granular permissions, restricting data flow to only those who need it. This level of control empowers us to safeguard our data assets effectively.
  • Privacy Compliance: Our member firms operate under stringent privacy agreements. The Engineering team’s work aligns perfectly with our commitment to data privacy. By enforcing permissioned access, we uphold our privacy standards and protect our enterprise information.

The Engineering team’s dedication to building robust permission controls has enabled our data landscape. We can confidently deploy Dynamics 365 and navigate the complexities of data sharing, knowing that our privacy agreements remain intact and grant access to only approved systems and usage.”—Erick J. Kirchner, Associate Director, Markets and Business Development, Ernst & Young LLP

Looking ahead

As we continue to innovate and push the boundaries of what is possible with data and AI, Dataverse remains committed to providing businesses with the tools they need to succeed in an ever-evolving digital world. These new features are just the beginning of what is to come, and we cannot wait to see how organizations will leverage them to achieve new heights of productivity and security.

Join us at Microsoft Build to learn more about these exciting developments and how they can transform your business.

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Introducing public preview of the SAP OData connector http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/introducing-public-preview-of-the-sap-odata-connector/ Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:00:42 +0000 We are happy to announce that the SAP OData connector is now available in public preview in all regions for Power Apps and Power Automate. During public preview, you can test the ability to create Power Automate cloud flows that access SAP data through the SAP OData connector, a premium connector, and provide feedback. The availability of the SAP OData connector opens access to scenarios across the SAP product portfolio.

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We are happy to announce that the SAP OData connector is now available in public preview in all regions for Power Apps and Power Automate. During public preview, you can test the ability to create Power Automate cloud flows that access SAP data through the SAP OData connector, a premium connector, and provide feedback. The availability of the SAP OData connector opens access to scenarios across the SAP product portfolio.  
To learn more about the SAP OData connector please go to Microsoft learn. 
NOTE: There is a known issue with this preview within Logic Apps.  

Authentication  

Currently the SAP OData connector supports Basic, Anonymous, and API key authentication. We are working on additional authentication mechanisms to enhance the connector and expect to make this available as we approach general availability for the SAP OData connector this summer.  
The SAP OData Connector supports adding API headers in the request and works well with API Management solutions like Azure API Management or SAP API Management on the SAP Business Technology Platform. If your APIs are protected with API-Keys, you can add these keys to the SAP OData Connector in your cloud flow so that a verification in the API Management solution can be performed.  
If you have the necessary SAP licenses in place, this allows you to create Single Sign-On end-to-end solutions even today to access your SAP system in a secure way.  

Leveraging the on-premises data gateway 

In a lot of cases the SAP System (and the SAP OData services) are not accessible from the internet—and in turn are not accessible from Power Automate. To allow Power Automate to connect to these SAP OData services, you need to “proxy” / route them through the corporate firewall. Thanks to the on-premises data gateway you don’t need to make any changes to the firewall but can install the on-premises data gateway (see also, On-premises data gateway – Power BI | Microsoft Learn).  
Note: Unlike with the SAP ERP Connector (SAP ERP – Connectors | Microsoft Learn), you do not need to download and install the SAP .Net Connector. Installing the on-premises data gateway is all you need (but make sure to install the latest version). 
The steps needed are outlined below: 

  • Download the On-premises data gateway from Install an on-premises data gateway | Microsoft Learn (The February 2024 release is needed) 
  • When installing the on-premises gateway, make sure to install and configure it in the same region as your Power Automate environment.  

Once the data gateway is installed, you should see it in your Power Automate Environment  
Note: If you don’t see Gateways on the side panel, make sure to select on … More -> Discover all and pin Gateways to the side panel. 

 
At this point you are ready to create a new flow connecting to your SAP system through the on-premises data gateway. Create a new flow (as mentioned above) with a trigger of your choice and add the SAP OData query action. 

You will be asked to setup a connection to your SAP system. To connect to a system that is only available from within the company firewall (where the on-premises data gateway is installed), select your Data Gateway from the list: 

Provide the required information (but using the OData Base URI L from your local SAP System), e.g., https://mylocal.sap.system:50000/sap/opu/odata/iwbep/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/ 
Note: You can test this URL first internally https://mylocal.sap.system:50000/sap/opu/odata/iwbep/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/ and verify (e.g., with your Mobile device) that this URL is not accessible from outside of the intranet.  

You may now use the SAP OData Connector. Select the Entity that you are interested in, e.g., ProductSet, and run the flow as outlined below.  


If you have feedback, please go to https://aka.ms/sapodatafeedback  
SAP and Power Platform is an area of continued investment for Microsoft, to learn more, see these other useful resources:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sapodata/  

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/run-your-enterprise-on-power-platform-with-new-enterprise-application-templates/  

SAP Procurement template for Power Platform – Power Platform | Microsoft Learn 

Connect Power Platform to SAP on Azure – Training | Microsoft Learn 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/saperp/  

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Power Apps streamlined consent dialog begins rollout this week. http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/power-apps-streamlined-consent-dialog-begins-rollout-this-week/ Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:25:16 +0000 The new updated and streamlined consent dialog will make it easier for Power Apps users to know exactly what they are consenting to.

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We are excited to announce that a new streamlined Power Apps consent dialog is rolling out this week (April 15.)  This update consolidates key consent information, removes confusing UI, and makes it much easier to understand the exact consent a Power Apps app actually needs.  Previously, many of the consent descriptions exceeded the permissions that were actually needed.

Initially these changes are limited to the web – mobile and native will get these updates later. The updated dialog includes the previous improvement of showing only specific actions used by the app – rather than listing all the actions possible by the connector.  Additionally, now the permissions are shown in-line. Tabular connector actions (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) are listed in-line. Action connection capabilities are listed line by line.

The consent dialog performs two tasks. First it gets all of the connections ready for the app. Once all the connections are ready, it then asks for consent.  If all the connections are ready to begin with, then the consent dialog simply lists the actions necessary for the app and asks the user to allow them.

updated consent dialog showing all connections ready with allow button enabled.

However, if there are sign in issues, they must first be resolved before consent can be given.  For instance, if the user has never logged in to a site, the consent dialog will first ask the user to sign in.

Image of the updated consent dialog with one button asking for the user to sign in (for the first time.) Shows granular consent details.

Or, if a previously successful connection has failed for some reason, the UI shows a “Try again” button.
updated consent dialog #2. Showing the need to "try again" as previous credentials / sign in failed.
Once all connections for the app have been established, then the user can then consent.   Users can switch accounts by using the ellipses (‘…’.)  The combination of the previous improvements and this new streamlined experience will make this overall experience much easier to understand.

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Power Platform Advisor is generally available http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/power-platform-advisor-is-generally-available/ Mon, 15 Apr 2024 19:08:35 +0000 Announcing general availability of the Power Platform Advisor.

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We are thrilled to announce the general availability of Power Platform Advisor. For those who are new, Power Platform Advisor, introduced at Ignite last year, is your guide to personalized recommendations to optimize your Power Platform tenant. It analyzes resources within all Managed Environments in your Power Platform tenant, and provides customized recommendations to enhance security, operational efficiency and hygiene, and overall health.

For more details, you can refer to our documentation @ https://aka.ms/PowerAdvisorDocs. You can bookmark the link https://aka.ms/PowerAdvisor, to access the Power Platform Advisor.

During the preview, we observed hundreds of customers actively using Advisor to optimize thousands of apps. We’ve also got some fantastic feedback during our preview phase. Here are a couple of quotes from our customers:


“At Provoke Solutions, we’re thrilled about the transformative impact of the Power Platform Advisor offering. This advancement marks a significant leap, enabling our global customer base to manage and govern the Power Platform on an unprecedented scale. With the introduction of the automation options and recommendations, we’re not just boosting efficiency; we’re enabling a Power Platform administrator to deliver on the promise of delivering a well governed environment to their organization. The Advisor is a testament to the potential of innovative technology to redefine platform management and governance, promising to be a game changer for our customers.”

– Brendon Ford, COO, Provoke Solutions

 

At Chemours, the advisor is an essential component in the Microsoft Power Platform admin center for our governance processes. It helps us to quickly identify any orphaned applications, that can be business-critical and assign new owners to mitigate business process impact. The advisor feature, offers a comprehensive solution for admins to efficiently manage governance and security, ensuring data and applications are safeguarded at all times. We’re thrilled with the investment and look forward to the future, with advisor, and making advisor available in all products of the Power Platform.”

– Akash Patel, Business Application Governance and Innovator, The Chemours Company


These quotes highlight the impact Power Platform Advisor has had in optimizing their Power Platform tenant and enhancing their overall governance experience.

What’s Next?

As we move forward, Power Platform and Environment admins should expect several additional recommendations coming to the Advisor. We are continuously working to improve and expand the capabilities of Power Platform Advisor based on your feedback and needs.

We Value Your Feedback

Your feedback is invaluable to us. As you start using Power Platform Advisor, we encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences. Your insights will help us enhance this feature and better serve your governance needs. Thank you for your continued support and happy optimizing with Power Platform Advisor!

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Announcing public preview of virtual network support for Power Platform Dataverse plug-ins and Connectors http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/announcing-public-preview-of-virtual-network-support-for-power-platform-dataverse-plug-ins-and-connectors/ Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:00:48 +0000 We are excited to announce that the virtual network support for Dataverse plug-ins and connectors within Power Platform is now available in public preview for all our customers in public cloud! This feature allows you to protect your outbound connections from Power Platform services like Dataverse Plug-ins and connectors to resources within your private network.

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Introduction

We are excited to announce that the virtual network support for Dataverse plug-ins and connectors within Power Platform is now available in public preview for all our customers in public cloud! This feature allows you to protect your outbound connections from Power Platform services like Dataverse Plug-ins and connectors to resources within your private network. Virtual network support for Power Platform is based on Azure Subnet Delegation. With Azure Subnet Delegation, you can delegate your subnets to the Power Platform and configure it to run the services within your delegated subnet. This way, you can securely manage your egress traffic from the Power Platform according to your network policy. We plan to continue extending the virtual network capabilities to other connectors.

Power Platform Approach to securing outbound connectivity

Virtual network support for Power Platform is optimized to handle API (Application Programming Interface)-centric workloads, and hence is the recommended approach for outbound connectivity from Power Platform services to resources within your network when using Dataverse plug ins and Power Platform Connectors. For Power BI and Power Platform Dataflows (PPDF), the recommended approach is to use virtual network data gateway, which is optimized to handle ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) workloads.

Overview of the feature

This feature is particularly useful for customers who have security and compliance requirements to secure their data by protecting outbound traffic from Power Platform.
With virtual network support, you will be able to solve following key problems.
  • You don’t have to expose private end protected resources within your VNet to internet to allow Power Platform services to connect to these protected resources, thereby protecting your data.
  • You don’t have to allow-list sets of Power Platform IP’s ranges or service tags to allow Power Platform services to connect to resources within your vNet, thereby protecting the resources from unauthorized access.
Currently, you can use secured private outbound connectivity from custom 3rd party Dataverse plug-ins and connectors to enhance the security of data integration with external data sources within your secured private network from your Power Apps, Power Automate, and Dynamics 365 apps.

Unlocking Secure Data Integration with Copilot Studio in Power Platform

In today’s interconnected world, secure data integration is crucial for organizations. Copilot Studio offers robust solutions for fetching and processing data securely. Let’s explore two scenarios where Copilot Studio demonstrates the network security capability of Power Platform:

Scenario #1: Fetching Customer Data from a Web API Hosted in Azure

Imagine you need to retrieve customer data securely from your Web API hosted in Azure. Copilot Studio seamlessly orchestrates the process:

  1. Copilot Studio Initiates a Power Automate Flow: Copilot Studio triggers Power Automate flows through a command that include Dataverse unbound plug-in action.
  2. Dataverse Plug-in Calls a Web API: The Power Automate flow makes a secure call using Dataverse Plug-in to a private endpoint-protected Web API. This ensures that customer data retrieval remains secure.

Scenario #2: Securely Accessing Azure SQL Database

Suppose you want to access enriched customer data stored in an Azure SQL database. Copilot Studio simplifies this process:

  1. Copilot Studio Initiates a Power Automate Flow: Copilot Studio triggers a Power Automate flow through a command.
  2. Power Automate Uses a SQL Connector: The Power Automate flow securely retrieves data from the private endpoint-protected Azure SQL Database using the SQL connector.

In both scenarios, Copilot Studio empowers you to handle data seamlessly while maintaining the highest level of security. Whether it’s APIs or databases, Copilot Studio keeps your organizational data safe and protected.

Copilot securely gets the data from Web API and SQL Database using Dataverse plug-in action and SQL connector

Securely Managing Customer Data with Virtual Tables and Power Apps

In a world where data security is paramount, Virtual Tables and Power Apps provide robust solutions. Let’s explore a scenario where you can securely manage customer data stored in an Azure SQL database:

Scenario: Leveraging Virtual Tables for Secure Connectivity

Suppose you need to securely manage customer data using Power Apps:

  1. Virtual Tables: Power Apps uses virtual table.
  2. Virtual Network-Supported SQL Connector: By leveraging the virtual network-supported SQL connector within Virtual Table, you can securely connect to your Azure SQL database.
  3. Power Apps in Action: Power Apps interacts seamlessly with the virtual tables and Azure SQL Database, allowing you to manage customer data securely.

In summary, with Virtual network support, you can securely manage customer data stored in an SQL database through Power Apps using Virtual Tables.

Power Apps uses virtual table with virtual network supported SQL connector to manage the customer data from SQL database.

Availability and Licensing

Virtual network support for Dataverse plug-ins and Power Platform Connectors is available for public preview in public cloud. We will be announcing licensing requirements near general availability.

Call to action.

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Call SQL Server stored procedures directly in Power Fx (Preview) http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/call-sql-server-stored-procedures-directly-in-power-fx-preview/ Thu, 29 Feb 2024 18:30:45 +0000 Calling stored procedures directly in Power Fx. Speed up app development. Speeds up Power App performance.

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We are excited to announce that you can now directly call SQL Server stored procedures in Power Fx.  You no longer need to call a Power Automate Flow to use a stored procedure. This feature is in preview and currently in all regions.  This makes development of Power Apps for SQL much easier. And your apps will be faster.  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.

SQL table selector with tables / views and also stored procedures.

Getting started

To use this feature, open a Power App and enable the preview switch in ‘Settings / Upcoming features / Preview’.  Then, create a new SQL connection to your app. You can add to the existing connector already present in the app. In the table selector, choose the ‘Stored Procedure’ tab and select all of the stored procedures you want to access in your app. Then you can directly access the stored procedure in your app.

Formula calling a stored procedure directly. Prefix the stored procedure with the name of the connector.

This feature is an extension to the tabular model. We allow the ability to execute stored procedures, but we do not allow the ability to run arbitrary SQL. This helps provides an additional level of security. Additionally, you can bind a stored procedure directly to a gallery or table by choose the ‘Safe to use for galleries and tables’ checkbox.   See the article Connect to SQL Server from Power Apps for a discussion of how and when to select this option and other details on how to use this feature.

 

 

 

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General availability of Secure Implicit Connections http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/general-availability-of-secure-implicit-connections/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 17:22:19 +0000 Power Apps secure implicit connections now generally available.

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We are excited to announce that secure implicitly shared connections are now generally available and are available in all regions.

This highly anticipated feature provides a secure layer of protection for fixed credential connections such as SQL Server basic auth (i.e., connection string username and password.)  All new apps now use this feature.  Older apps must be converted to use this feature (if not already converted) and previously shared connections unshared.

With this new feature, connections are no longer shared with other makers. Instead, the app now interacts with a connection proxy object that only allows queries from the app and also only allows the types of queries that are in the app.  The most prominent use of implicitly shared connections is for SQL Server. Admins can use a report available in the COE toolkit to find apps that do not use this feature.      

For more information, see the article on Secure Implicit Connections

 

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Cards for Power Apps – Power Automate Connector is Generally Available http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/cards-for-power-apps-power-automate-connector-is-generally-available/ Mon, 20 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000 Announcing General Availability of Power Automate Connector for cards for Power Apps to share cards in Teams chat or channel or send it to a specific Teams user via a flow.

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Cards for Power Apps (generally available since March 2023) are micro-apps with enterprise data and workflows and interactive, lightweight UI elements that other applications like Teams can use as content.

Today, we are announcing General Availability of Power Automate Connector for cards for Power Apps that allows makers to post cards in Teams chat or channel or send it to a specific Teams user via a flow.

Easily create your card flow from card’s Play page

With this update, makers can jump-start card’s flow creation in the Studio. Use Send from a flow option on the card’s Play page to launch a Power Automate flow template for sending cards in Teams. Next, modify and save this template as a new flow to post your card in Teams chat or channel or send it to a specific Teams user.

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Create a card instance in a flow using Cards for Power Apps Connector

In the flow, makers can use cards for Power Apps Connector to create a card instance to share in Teams from Power Automate.

  • Create card instance – Enables the user to select a specific card to create an instance of with customizable input variables. Returns the card instance as Card dynamic content.
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Post a card for Power Apps to Teams chat or channel

The Create card instance action in cards for Power Apps Connector produces Card dynamic content. This Card content can be used to share a card for Power Apps to a Teams chat or channel.

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Send a card for Power Apps to a specific Teams user

Alternatively, you can post a card for Power Apps to a Teams user.

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Learn more

Learn more about cards for Power Apps capabilities in Cards for Power Apps overview – Power Apps and Card designer overview – Power Apps!

Join our Power Apps community to share your feedback and provide your comments!

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Public preview of new custom connector enhancements http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements/ Mon, 25 Sep 2023 17:28:52 +0000 We are announcing the public preview of two new custom connector enhancements including service principal authentication support as well as the ability to use environment variables in policies.

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We’re thrilled to announce the Public Preview of two new custom connector features:

Service principal authentication

One of the key highlights is the introduction of service principal authentication. This feature enables you to authenticate as a service principal rather than using a user account. The advantage of this approach is that service principals do not rely on short-lived tokens that expire, making them an excellent choice for scenarios where you require continuous and uninterrupted access for automated processes, such as those within a Power Automate Flow. Using service principal authentication ensures that your automation remains unaffected even if the user associated with it leaves the company or becomes disabled. Custom connectors supporting OAuth 2.0 with Azure Active Directory as the identity provider can now be configured to enable service principal authentication. It’s as simple as checking a checkbox, and your custom connector will seamlessly support Service Principal Authentication, similar to some of our standard connectors like Azure Key Vault.

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Enable service principal authentication
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Service principal authentication option in a connection

When service principal authentication is chosen, you can provide the necessary values for Client ID, Client Secret, and Tenant ID:

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Service principal authentication connection parameters

IMPORTANT: While Power Automate already has support for service principal authentication, this is not yet supported for Power Apps. For more information, click here.

Environment variables in policies

Environment variables play a vital role in facilitating application lifecycle management (ALM) scenarios, particularly when migrating an application or Flow between Power Platform environments. In this context, the application or Flow remains identical except for a few critical external references differing between the source and destination environments. Previously, environment variable support in custom connectors was limited to certain fields like Host, Base URL, and security properties. Now, we’ve expanded the scope of environment variables to include custom connector policies as well. You can reference an environment variable using the syntax:

@environmentVariables(“<EnvironmentVariableName>”).

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Environment variables in a custom connector policy

We value your feedback and encourage you to explore these enhancements. Your input is invaluable in helping us refine and improve these capabilities further.

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