Power Apps canvas apps are easy enough for citizen devs to build without a traditional developer's background. And they can build some pretty complex solutions. Unfortunately, as apps grow in complexity, devs rarely remember to clean up their solutions and remove unnecessary elements, especially as solutions are promoted from one environment to another. Likely the … Continue reading Power Apps: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
Author: Charles
SharePoint Online: Document Sets | Default Folders Only
Document sets are essentially metadata-enabled folders, ideal for standardizing and bundling documents in a predefined folder structure, allowing people to manage their related assets as a single entity. Imagine HR onboarding a bunch of new hires. On their first day, HR creates a record for each person, then shares the item with the respective new … Continue reading SharePoint Online: Document Sets | Default Folders Only
Power Query: Overview
The capabilities of the Power Platform wowed many organizations. Especially Power BI and its ability to extract, transform, and load (ETL) datasets from dozens of disparate data sources. At the same time, Microsoft Dataverse, the low-code data storage offering of the Power Platform, also supports ETL of disparate data sources. Though, this isn't unique to … Continue reading Power Query: Overview
Power Platform: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
As with Power Automate housekeeping, good Power Platform solution hygiene means being intentional with design. Keep the managed and unmanaged solutions as lite as possible, and work to reduce the amount of unnecessary project assets. Larger Power Platform solutions can bundle dozens of different assets, as well as dozens of each asset type. For example, … Continue reading Power Platform: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
Power Automate: SharePoint Online | Folders to Document Sets
Nested folders are abundant in many, many SharePoint Online (SPO) tenants. Largely because a lot of organizations aren't ready to adopt a flat content architecture. Fortunately, plenty of their root directories adhere to strict folder naming conventions, so several of those root folders can be recreated as document sets. One perk of document sets is … Continue reading Power Automate: SharePoint Online | Folders to Document Sets
SharePoint: Understanding | Content Architecture
SharePoint is a complex (not quite complicated), document management solution. It's grown quite a bit over the years, so its architecture can be confusing to newer adoptees. However, understanding a few of the higher-level SharePoint concepts can help uncomplicate things for most people. For simplicity, imagine moving some local computer files to SharePoint. How could … Continue reading SharePoint: Understanding | Content Architecture
SharePoint Online: JSON Formatting | Hide ‘Add shortcut to OneDrive’ Button
SharePoint Online [SPO] is a modern, cloud-based service accessible from any modern browser. Emphasis on modern service and modern browser. Still, because of many legacy business processes, end-users flock to sync their SPO files the first chance they get. They ultimately achieve the same purpose, but there are actually two ways they can sync their … Continue reading SharePoint Online: JSON Formatting | Hide ‘Add shortcut to OneDrive’ Button
Power Fx: Unique Records w/ Duplicate Count
Scenario: I have a data source with thousands of addresses, and their street names need to be searchable in a canvas app. Problem: There are similar streets in other cities, so search results will contain duplicates. Workaround: Group similar addresses and display the NumberOf duplicates using the Power Fx's GroupBy function. Figure 1 - Canvas … Continue reading Power Fx: Unique Records w/ Duplicate Count
Office Scripts: Generate Custom GUID(s)
Office Scripts in Excel is an automation alternative to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Macros are still recorded as a series of actions, but now, these steps are performed using TypeScript, which a superset language of JavaScript. Assuming everything is licensed and configured correctly, everyone should see an Automate tab along the top of their … Continue reading Office Scripts: Generate Custom GUID(s)
Power Automate: Ticketing System | Microsoft Teams + SharePoint Online [managed solution]
Some time ago, I architected a low-cost "service management"-esque app combining Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online (SPO), and Power Automate. As a Power Platform low-code solution, I could piece everything together and demo a working ticketing system in a few hours. However, I never packaged the deliverable as a Power Platform managed solution, adhering to proper … Continue reading Power Automate: Ticketing System | Microsoft Teams + SharePoint Online [managed solution]
Power Automate: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
Power Automate cloud flows are environment specific when they're created. Power Platform application lifecycle management controls the management of cloud flows as solution assets, and proper management guides the deployment and maintenance of these solutions. Whether the solutions are managed or unmanaged, flows are deployed from one environment to another. Typically, makers create and test … Continue reading Power Automate: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
Power Apps: Canvas App | Merging Data Sources w/ AddColumn()
Scenario: There is a canvas app with a text box, two radio choices, a vertical gallery, and two data sources. Toggling the radio button changes which data source is filtered and used to populate the gallery. Problem: The data sources don't have any data columns in common and Power Apps doesn't like that. Solution: Create … Continue reading Power Apps: Canvas App | Merging Data Sources w/ AddColumn()
Programming Concepts: Conditional Logic | If-Then vs Switch
High-code isn't the friendliest to new developers. Still, there are some high-code concepts that even low-code and no-code developers should be aware of. One such concept is conditional logic. Generalizing the idea, conditional logic helps the code determine its next steps based on data input. Conditional logic is universal enough that it's also leveraged in … Continue reading Programming Concepts: Conditional Logic | If-Then vs Switch
Merry New Year | 2024
Cheers to another year! As promised, there was more blogging, more learning, and more projects. Switching things up a bit, I gave mobile app development a try and there were a few speaking engagements. Also, I finally drafted my personal brand statement: "I am a sharer of knowledge, solver of puzzles, and developer of creative … Continue reading Merry New Year | 2024
Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Office365Users – Profile Errors
The Office365Users connector gets tricky when makers are working with incomplete user profiles. Especially when trying to display user profile photos. Does everyone have a picture? Even the contractors? Unfortunately, everyone isn't guaranteed to have an uploaded profile photo. Making the assumption that they do only invites future problems. To be proactive, default to the … Continue reading Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Office365Users – Profile Errors
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