What is PowerApps?
PowerApps by Microsoft is defined as a set of applications, connectors, services, and data platforms that offer an immediate application development environment to develop customized applications for your business requirements.
To define PowerApps most understandably, there are two vital things to remember about Power Apps – it’s both a development environment and a data platform.
PowerApps enables you to build and combine all applications as a development environment. As a data platform, it allows you to connect to various data sources such as SQL, Amazon, Excel, or any other server anywhere. It is easy to store your data within Power Apps itself. With these two major elements combined, you can build apps for your organization quickly and efficiently.
Being a Microsoft user, you use Word to create documents, PowerPoint to create presentations, and Excel to create spreadsheets. And, when you take applications, you can choose PowerApps.
Components of PowerApps
- GALLERY
A gallery is a method of visualizing data in the app. It is a template of screens that lets you see and navigate the data. For instance, you would have a gallery that holds a screen to view all records, then a screen to display a given record, and a screen to edit a record. All of the screens altogether make up a gallery. You have various galleries to choose from when you build a new app. When you create an app from the SharePoint list, you get a default gallery already pre-built for you.
- SCREEN
A screen is a procedure to visualize a specific data set or record on a mobile, iPad, and Desktop screen. Now, you have one to view all records, one to view a particular record, one to edit record. Once again, when you create an app from the template, you have pre-built screens for you.
- CARD
A screen consists of cards. A card is a space on the net that displays a given record from your SharePoint list or any other database you used to build an app. For example, if you had a SharePoint list storing project names and built a PowerApp from this list, a single card might contain a Project Namefield, Project Manager field, Project Type field, or a Status field.
- CONTROL
Control is a component that enables you to visualize and interact with your records. Depending on the type of your field, you can have multiple control types. For example, instead of a drop-down, you can have a radio button or toggle switch to make the selection more elegant on the phone app.
- PROPERTY
Each control has properties. For example, a text entry box has a property for font size, text color, text box fill color, and so on. Properties can be accessed and changed from the Properties drop-down on the left-hand side of the screen as well as on the panel on the right-hand side once the property is selected.
- FUNCTION
A function is how you interact with and change the properties. If you are familiar with Excel, you are in luck as the syntax for PowerApps functions is similar to Excel.
Features of PowerApps
PowerApps has quickly transformed as popular because of the powerhouse of features with the tool. Some of the significant features that help you with your business development include,
User-friendly
The most significant benefit of using PowerApps is it is easy to use. Anyone who has accessed Microsoft applications finds it easy to navigate the tool as there is no coding required. It uses a drag-and-drop environment, making building applications very easy. It also has a friendly and intuitive interface.
Can Run Anywhere
Complementing its ease of use is that you can run the apps anywhere. This means that once you’re done creating your application, there’s no need to worry about how to use it on a smartphone, an iPad, a Linux device, or a Mac. The Power Apps environment can be ported anywhere.
Connects To Anything
Applications normally require a lot of data, especially a business-related app. Business apps involve continuous manipulating, adding, and editing of data. Power Apps makes this process easier by connecting to any data source.
So it doesn’t matter whether you’re using Microsoft-related data sources (like Azure or One Drive) or not. You can connect to your Google Drive, SQL, Redshift, and Amazon, among others.
Customizable
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all allow you to customize almost every aspect of whatever you’re working on. The same is valid with Power Apps. It has so many options for customization and allows you to make the app your own.
