A Brief History

Once upon a time, building apps required an army of developers, countless hours of caffeine consumption, and a PhD in frustration.

Then came Microsoft Power Apps, riding in on a white horse (or maybe a blue Microsoft logo) to save the day.

Launched in 2016, Power Apps was part of Microsoft’s grand plan to democratize app development.

“Why should only developers have all the fun?” Microsoft thought.

“Let’s give everyone superpowers!” And so, Power Apps was born—a low-code/no-code platform that lets mere mortals build functional applications without diving deep into programming.

Maybe thats good.. maybe thats bad.. let the chips fall where they may… :)

What Can You Do With Power Apps?

Power Apps is like that overachieving friend who can do everything. Whether you’re a business analyst, a non-techie manager, or an IT wizard, you can use it to:

• Create Custom Apps (duh) without writing extensive code
• Automate Processes to remove boring manual tasks
• Connect to Tons of Data Sources (Excel, SharePoint, Dataverse, SQL Server, and more)
• Build Mobile & Web Apps that work seamlessly
• Enhance Microsoft 365 & Dynamics 365 with additional functionality

Essentially, if you’ve ever thought, “I wish I had an app for that,”.

Common Operations in Power Apps (With Code Samples!)

Alright, let’s get into some actual Power Apps magic. Here are some common operations and how to handle them.

1. Adding a Button That Does Something Cool

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Button.OnSelect = Notify("Boom! You clicked me!", NotificationType.Success)

This simple formula makes a button display a success message when clicked. Easy, right?

2. Fetching Data from a SharePoint List

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ClearCollect(MyCollection, 'MySharePointList')

This pulls data from a SharePoint list into a collection that you can use within your app.

3. Filtering Data

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Filter(Employees, Department = "IT")

Need to find all employees in IT? This does the trick!

4. Saving Form Data to a Database

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Patch(Employees, Defaults(Employees), {Name: txtName.Text, Age: txtAge.Text})

This saves form input into a database. No need to write complex SQL queries.

Power Apps Alternatives (Because Options Are Good)

Power Apps is fantastic, but what if you want something different? Here are some alternatives:

Each of these has its strengths, so if Power Apps isn’t your jam, you’ve got plenty of other options.

📚 References

1. Microsoft Power Apps Official Site
2. Power Apps Documentation
3. Power Apps YouTube Tutorials
4. Alternatives to Power Apps