Blog - Recent Posts

What does it take to become a Microsoft Partner that specialises in the Power Platform?

This post an introduction to the Microsoft Partner program. What is this, how does it apply to the Power Platform, and what does it take to join this program?

COVID-19 - How schools can use the "Return to School" app to resume operations

If you work at a school and you need an app to support to return of students, including the management of limiting student numbers and managing outbreaks, the "Return to School" app can help. The post provides a summary of the features and capabilities of this app.

Model driven apps - 3 use case scenarios of how to set default record values

A routine requirement is to set default field values. We use business rules to set default values, but the specific settings that we need to apply may not be exactly clear. To provide some practical examples, this post covers 3 typical scenarios - including how to set default field values for new records, default values that depend on other fields, and default values that depend on the app.

Why is Microsoft 365 licensing so confusing?

Power Apps licensing can be difficult to understand, particularly for users with Microsoft 365 plans who want to access Dataverse or other premium features. In this post, I describe why I think Microsoft 365/Power Apps licensing is so confusing.

SQL - How to show distinct values in the most efficient way

A very common requirement is to show distinct values from a SQL Server table. The most efficient way to accomplish this is to build a view. This post walks through how to carry out this task.

Formula - How to create comma separated (CSV) list of items

A common requirement is to build a comma separated list based on items from a data source or collection. This post demonstrates this technique by building a CSV string of selected items from a combo box.

Formulas - How to hack complex date calculations

In cases where we need to carry out complex date calculations, it can be much easier to avoid the use of formula and to use static data instead. This post describes an example of how to use this technqiue to calculate week numbers.

Dataverse - how to access tables from another environment

From a canvas app, we can connect to Dataverse databases that are hosted in different environments. This post describes how to accomplish this.

Data - Excel vs Google Sheets

The limitations of using Excel as a data source are well known. If we want to store data in spreadsheets, how does Google Sheets compare? In this post, we'll walk through how to connect to a Google Sheets, and find out whether the Google Sheets connector applies the same file and row size limits as the Excel connector.

Power Virtual Agents - How to build and publish a basic chatbot

If you're thinking of taking the PL 900 exam, it's necessary to have a basic understanding of Power Virtual Agents. This post provides a basic introduction, including how to create a bot, how to create a topic ,how to call actions, and how to publish and monitor a bot.

Functions - How to create and use 'user defined functions'

We can define ‘user-defined functions’ that encapsulate logic and formula in a single place. We can then call the function from multiple places throughout an app, which improves the quality of our apps by reducing code duplication. In this post, we'll walk through an example of how to create a user defined function, and we'll also examine some of the limitations.

Tip - Minimise your Power Platform licensing costs

This post highlights a strategy to minimise licensing costs by synchronising data in premium data sources with lower cost/non Power Platform alternatives, using the help of Power Automate.

Formulas - Generating Row Numbers - Part 3

A common requirement is to generate sequential row numbers. In this post, I highlight a great technique that Randy Hayes demonstrates, which carries out this task.

General - How to update Office 365 profile details from an app

To improve collaboration, we can update the Microsoft/Office 365 profile details for the current user. An example use case scenario could be to build a feature where users can share details about past projects that they've worked on. This post describes how to carry out this task with the Office365User connector.

General - What happens when we raise a support ticket?

When we experience a problem with Power Apps, how do we raise an official support ticket, and what should we expect after we raise a ticket? In this post, I provide an overview of this process.