Introduction to Microsoft PowerApps with Dynamics CRM

PowerApps is designed to allow business users and business analysts to create custom native, mobile, and Web apps that can be shared simply across their organizations. PowerApps is simple to use, no code is required to develop app. PowerApps provide visual designer to develop app, user can drag and drop controls to the screens to develop app. Power app require the knowledge of excel formulas to handle data in the controls.

User can connect to existing data sources like Excel file, SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, OneDrive, custom API and lot more to generate apps.

Signup to  PowerApps, Click on “Start now” button this will show you a form as shown in screenshot

Enter your Microsoft dynamic CRM User id.

Once you have submitted the above form you will navigate to the following screen
Once you are successfully signed up you will get a message asking you to signin

Once you are signed in you will get a screen as shown below. Click “Start” and you will be signed into PowerApps Portal

In PowerApps Portal click “connection” on the left Menu to connect a data source as shown below.

Click “New connection” on the right upper corner. This will show all of the available connection of PowerApps. Click “Dynamic CRM online” to connect with Dynamics CRM.

A popup will display as shown below, click “Add connection” and a CRM login form will open and asks to insert Dynamics CRM login credentials.

Now you can see new added connection you in your connections as shown below

You can view the details of your connection by clicking on it, you can also delete the connection

Now your connection is completed if you do not have PowerApps App click here to download the app. Once your app is successfully installed you will get a screen as shown below.

 Enter your CRM User id and click the arrow. In the next screen enter your password and click “Sign in”. As shown below.

Click new on the left side. The screen will be shown as shown in screenshot. Click on “Phone Layout” as highlighted in screenshot.

Click on your CRM instance displayed at the right hand side.

Once you selected a CRM instance you will get all entities of the selected instance, select an Entity and click “connect” this will take some time.

PowerApps will automatically create a Simple App for your selected entity

The App will contains the following three screens.

1. BrowseScreen1: Shows a list of all items and some information about them so that users can easily browse for the item they want.
2. DetailScreen1: Shows all information about a single item.
3. EditScreen1: Provides an Edit form control for adding an item or updating information about an item.

So basically the default app is providing the facility of CRUD operation.

You have many options to customize your app. You can apply any layout to your screen. To do so click on the “Quick tool” icon at the bottom and select layout.

You can add form controls, buttons, screens, gallery, videos, images etc. to your screen.

When you select any control on the screen the app show you the properties, there are multiple properties e.g. Text, color etc. and then you can apply formula to the selected property as shown in the above screenshot.

For example if you want to attached text with the field value, select the textbox and select Text property from properties dropdown and write the formula “”Account name : “& name” in the formula textbox. Where “Account name: ” is the text “&” is used for concatenating strings and “name” is the CRM field.

You can see the detail of a record by navigating to the second screen “DetailScreen1” as shown in the below screenshot.

You can select any field from your dataset in right pane. When you click on the edit icon on the right top corner of the “DetailScreen1” it will navigate to the third screen “EditScreen1”. You can also select fields to display same as in the “DetailScreen1”.

You can add a record by clicking “+” icon on the right top corner of the “BrowseScreen1” screen it will navigate to “EditScreen1” as shown below.

You can share your app with:

• Multiple co-workers at the same time
• A group in Azure Active Directory (AAD)
• All users within your organization

PowerApps will dramatically accelerate how business apps are built, reducing time to solution from weeks or months to minutes and empowering a new category of app creators. It balances power between IT and business users.

To learn more about Microsoft PowerApps keep visiting our Blog.