Power Platform – Creating a basic Canvas App and fetching data from data source Excel from OneDrive for Business

Hi Everyone,

In this article we will discuss about Power Apps. Let’s start with Power Platform.

What is a Power Platform?

Power Platform adds services for business intelligence, app development and app connectivity. It’s also provide quick and easy app building and insights.

There are four main components in Power Platform incorporates:-

1. Power Apps :- Use to create rapid and low code development environment for building apps.
2. Power Automate :- Use to build time saving and automated workflows between application and services. Its automates repeating processes in business.
3. Power BI :- Business Intelligence tool which helps to analyzing data and share to data visualization for making reports and dashboards for fast and informative decisions.
4. Power Virtual Agents :- Create powerful chatbots without need of developers, guides and  data scientist , no-code graphical interface. It’s useful for custom conversational development.

What is Power Apps?

1. Power Apps is a bunch of apps, services, connectors and data platform.
2. It’s a software to build custom apps for you as per your business needs.
3. Its allows to connect to your business data which is stored in your data platform (Common Data Service) or in on-premises data sources (SharePoint, Excel, Office 365, Dynamic 365,SQL server etc.) and easily retrieved data without having knowledge of database.

There are three ways to build power apps :-

1. Create an app from templates

2. Create an app from data source

3. Create an app from blank canvas

         Fig.1 Power Platform – Power Apps – Home page

Create First Canvas Power App

Now we are going to create first canvas mobile app using data source – Microsoft Excel workbook and stored on Microsoft OneDrive for Business.

Excel workbook  filled with some employee details (we can use any other data sources or on-premises sources).

For connect to data source follow the below steps :-

1. Take or create excel workbook (data will be in tabular format) and upload on OneDrive Business.

2. Go to https://make.powerapps.com or click on power apps logo and sign in with your organizational account.

3. Now click on New app as drop down shown in fig.2 there are three options to create app – Canvas , Model-driven, Portal we will discuss one by one in next article.

Fig.2 Power Platform – Power Apps – Create Apps Page

4. Select “Canvas” option from list.

5. Now Select OneDrive for Business Phone layout.

Fig.3 Power Platform – Power Apps – Selecting a data source for apps

6. In new window connections select  “ + New connection” as shown in below figure.

Fig.4 Power Platform – Power Apps – Creating a New connection

7. Now select OneDrive for Business from data source list and click on Create.

Fig.5 Power Platform – Power Apps – Creating data source

8. Select Your excel file and then table name within it and click on connect.

Fig.6 Power Platform – Power Apps – Selecting a data source

9. Then welcome message box pops up and if connection is successful then power apps studio page open.

Fig.7 Power Platform – Power Apps – Canvas app showing data from Excel data source

10. Click on right side play button and you will do any crud operations on data.

Now we could have this app on our mobile as well, following are the steps : –

1. From play store download power apps mobile

2. Sign in tenant account

3. Run the app

Thanks for reading. If its worth at least reading once, kindly please like and share. SHARING IS CARING.