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.

The post Call SQL Server procedures directly in Power Fx (GA) appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

Introduction

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.

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.

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.

• Try out Public Preview
• Learn more about supported services within Power Platform Virtual Network support for Power Platform overview (preview) – Power Platform | Microsoft Learn
• Get started – Step by step instructions Set up Virtual Network support for Power Platform (preview) – Power Platform | Microsoft Learn
• Protect enterprise solutions with new Microsoft Power Platform security features  – Microsoft Power Platform Blog

The post Announcing public preview of virtual network support for Power Platform Dataverse plug-ins and Connectors appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

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.

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.

The post Call SQL Server stored procedures directly in Power Fx (Preview) appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

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.

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.

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.

Send a card for Power Apps to a specific Teams user

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

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!

The post Cards for Power Apps – Power Automate Connector is Generally Available appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.

Without this feature, it has been common for authors to use Power Automate to call Dataverse. However, calling Dataverse directly from Power Fx provides significant performance benefits (and ease of use) and should be preferred for direct transactional reads and updates.

This feature update also allows authors to work with untyped object fields for both inputs and outputs, On the input side, for instance, many Dataverse actions require an untyped object as an argument. You can now pass these arguments in by using ParseJSON to convert a Power Fx record into an untyped object. On the output side, for actions that return untyped objects, you can simply ‘dot’ into returned objects’ properties. You will need to cast specific values for use in specific contexts for use in Power Apps (such as a label.)

Working with untyped fields is not restricted to Dataverse. It works for all types of connectors and provides basic ad-hoc dynamic schema support.

For documentation details on how to use this feature, please see the Power Apps documentation on how to work with Dataverse in Canvas Apps. See also the formula language features that enable working with untyped objects.

The post Call Dataverse actions directly in Power Fx appeared first on Microsoft Power Platform Blog.