{"id":25911,"date":"2023-09-25T09:28:52","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T17:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/"},"modified":"2023-09-25T09:28:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T17:28:52","slug":"public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements","status":"publish","type":"power-apps","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/","title":{"rendered":"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We&#8217;re thrilled to announce the Public Preview of two new custom connector features:<br\/><br\/><strong>Service principal authentication<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<p>One of the key highlights is the introduction of <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/azure\/active-directory\/develop\/howto-create-service-principal-portal\">service principal<\/a> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/connectors\/custom-connectors\/azure-active-directory-authentication\">OAuth 2.0 with Azure Active Directory<\/a> as the identity provider can now be configured to enable service principal authentication. It&#8217;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.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"graphical user interface, text, application, email\" class=\"wp-image-25912 webp-format\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp\" srcset=\"\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp\"><figcaption>Enable service principal authentication<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"graphical user interface, application\" class=\"wp-image-25913 webp-format\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ServicePrincipalAuthOption.webp\" srcset=\"\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ServicePrincipalAuthOption.webp\"><figcaption>Service principal authentication option in a connection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>When service principal authentication is chosen, you can provide the necessary values for Client ID, Client Secret, and Tenant ID:<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"graphical user interface, application\" class=\"wp-image-25914 webp-format\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ServicePrincipalAuthParameters.webp\" srcset=\"\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ServicePrincipalAuthParameters.webp\"><figcaption>Service principal authentication connection parameters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>IMPORTANT: While Power Automate already has support for service principal authentication, this is not yet supported for Power Apps. For more information, click <a data-id=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/power-apps\/maker\/canvas-apps\/connections-list#azure-active-directory-aad\" data-type=\"URL\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/power-apps\/maker\/canvas-apps\/connections-list#azure-active-directory-aad\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>Environment variables in policies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/power-apps\/maker\/data-platform\/environmentvariables\">Environment variables<\/a> 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&#8217;ve expanded the scope of environment variables to include custom connector <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/connectors\/custom-connectors\/policy-templates\">policies<\/a> as well. You can reference an environment variable using the syntax:<br\/><br\/>@environmentVariables(&#8220;&lt;EnvironmentVariableName&gt;&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"graphical user interface, text, application, email\" class=\"wp-image-25915 webp-format\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnvironmentVariablesInPolicies.webp\" srcset=\"\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnvironmentVariablesInPolicies.webp\"><figcaption>Environment variables in a custom connector policy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>We value your feedback and encourage you to explore these enhancements. Your input is invaluable in helping us refine and improve these capabilities further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":25912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","power-apps-category":[1540,1570,1591,1656,1664],"power-apps-tag":[1578,1590,1595,1665,1669],"coauthors":[2235],"class_list":["post-25911","power-apps","type-power-apps","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","power-apps-category-alm","power-apps-category-connector-guidelines","power-apps-category-dataverse","power-apps-category-new-features","power-apps-category-uncategorized","power-apps-tag-custom-connector","power-apps-tag-dataverse","power-apps-tag-developer","power-apps-tag-power-apps","power-apps-tag-power-automate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Public preview of new custom connector enhancements - Microsoft Power Platform Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements - Microsoft Power Platform Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Microsoft Power Platform Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"408\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 min read\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Dana Martens\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/\",\"name\":\"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements - Microsoft Power Platform Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T17:28:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-25T17:28:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp\",\"width\":780,\"height\":408,\"caption\":\"graphical user interface, text, application, email\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Power Apps\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Power Platform Blog\",\"description\":\"Innovate with Business Apps\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Power Platform Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Microsoft-Logo-e1685482038800.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Microsoft-Logo-e1685482038800.png\",\"width\":194,\"height\":145,\"caption\":\"Microsoft Power Platform Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements - Microsoft Power Platform Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements - Microsoft Power Platform Blog","og_description":"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.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/","og_site_name":"Microsoft Power Platform Blog","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":408,"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 min read","Written by":"Dana Martens"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/","name":"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements - Microsoft Power Platform Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp","datePublished":"2023-09-25T17:28:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-25T17:28:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/EnableServicePrincipalAuth.webp","width":780,"height":408,"caption":"graphical user interface, text, application, email"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/public-preview-of-new-custom-connector-enhancements\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Power Apps","item":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Public preview of new custom connector enhancements"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/","name":"Microsoft Power Platform Blog","description":"Innovate with Business Apps","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#organization","name":"Microsoft Power Platform Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Microsoft-Logo-e1685482038800.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Microsoft-Logo-e1685482038800.png","width":194,"height":145,"caption":"Microsoft Power Platform Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Microsoft Power Platform Blog","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/power-apps\/25911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/power-apps"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/power-apps"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/power-apps\/25911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"power-apps-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/power-apps-category?post=25911"},{"taxonomy":"power-apps-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/power-apps-tag?post=25911"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=25911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}