Blog - Recent Posts

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.

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.

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.

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.

General - The easiest way to convert phone apps to tablet apps

The easiest way to convert a canvas phone app to a tablet app is to use the 'phone to tablet app' converter. This post walks through this process, and verifies that it still works today (in 2021).

Connectors - How to display lists of apps from within an app

It's possible to show lists of apps, connections, and environment details from inside an app using the 'Power Apps for Admins' and 'Power Apps for Makers' connectors. We can also carry out limited sets operations such as removing, or publishing an app. In this post, we'll explore these two connectors in a bit more detail.

Code - How to define a read-only table of static data

From a code project, how do we define a static read-only structure of data, just like what we see when we import static Excel data into an app? In this post, we'll find out where to define this in a project.

Formula - How to use the IF and Switch functions - 3 common examples

The two primary functions to carry out conditional operations are If and Switch. The typical questions that arise include - how do I match a value against numeric ranges, a list of acceptable values, or a list of matching conditions? This post highlights the example syntax that we can use.

Power Virtual Agents - High level overview - what is it, what can it do?

If you're a Power App builder and you're thinking of taking the PL 900 Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals exam, a requirement is to have a basic understanding Power Virtual Agents.This post provide a high level summary of what you need to know.

Code - Can we hack SharePoint ID columns to be delegable using the greater than/less than operators?

Power Apps recognise a SharePoint ID column in a peculiar way. It recognises an ID column as numeric, but does not support delegable filter operations against this type of column using the greater than/less than operators. In this post, we'll investigate whether or not we can fix this problem in code.