Microsoft 365 – Power Platform – Empowering your Learning Journey: A Comprehensive Guide to Power Platform for Beginners – Building the Foundation: Dataverse Tables for Our Power Apps Model-driven Apps – Part 14

by prajyotyawalkar · December 23, 2023

Empower Your Journey with Power Platform! Building the foundation for Model-driven Apps in Microsoft 365.

“The expert in anything was once a beginner.”

Hey team! Welcome to the exciting world of building our very own app using Power Apps. Today, we’re kicking off the journey by focusing on something super important – setting up the backstage of our app, also known as Dataverse tables. Think of this as the behind-the-scenes work that makes our app organized and powerful.

Empower your learning journey with Power Apps!

Foundations: Master Power Apps and the Power Platform dynamics. Read Part 1.
Exploration: Navigate Power Apps’ enchanting features. Explore Part 2.
No Code Magic: Unleash creativity with Canvas Apps. Discover Part 3.
Business Decisions: SPFx vs Power Apps insights. Decide with Part 4.
Hands-On Creation: Team-guided Canvas App creation. Create with Part 5.
App Mobility: Learn Power Apps basics – Moving Your Apps Around. Explore Part 6.
Navigating Environments: A Beginner’s Guide. Dive into Part 7.
Creating and Managing Environments: Part 8 – A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners. Read Part 8 Here
Let’s Explore Power Platform Admin Center: A Beginner’s Adventure – Part 9. For the detailed guide, Read Part 9 Here.
Empower your learning journey with the latest insights in Part 10 – Unleashing the Power of Managed Environments in Power Platform! Read Part 10 Here.
Powering Up Your Apps: A Guide to Avoiding Common Mistakes and Crafting a Seamless Power Platform Experience. Discover Part 11 Here!
Unleashing the Power of Model-Driven Apps: Key Insights – Part 12. Explore the dynamic world of Model-Driven Apps and elevate your Power Platform proficiency. Read Part 12 Here!
Choosing the Right Data Storage: Navigating Between SharePoint Lists and Dataverse – Part 13. Dive into the intricacies of data storage options and make informed choices for your Power Platform projects. Read Part 13 Here!

Key Takeaways from this article

In this article:

Model-driven Apps are powerful templates for data management.
Dataverse setup involves creating solutions and defining tables (“Projects,” “Tasks,” and “User”).
Adding existing tables to the solution requires navigating through several steps.
Customizing tables involves adjusting forms, views, and columns in Dataverse.
Flexibility in column requirements allows for customization of mandatory and optional fields.
The article concludes by highlighting the importance of customization and teases the next part focused on creating a fully functional Model-driven App.

Understanding Model-driven Apps

Model-driven Apps: Unleashing the Magic! Our app's superhero sidekick, handling data with style. — fig. Model-driven Apps: Unleashing the Magic! Our app’s superhero sidekick, handling data with style.

Before we dive in, let’s chat about Model-driven Apps. They’re like magic templates for our app. We don’t get to change how they look a lot, but they give us cool powers to do stuff with our data, like creating, reading, updating, and deleting things. It’s like having a superhero sidekick for managing our information.

Getting Started with Dataverse

Imagine we’re building an app for a team that handles projects. In this first step, we’re going to do some groundwork, like setting up the stage before the big show.

Step 1: Creating a Solution:

fig. Step into the Solution Zone! Opening the gateway to endless possibilities at make.powerapps.com.

Open make.powerapps.com and find “Solutions.” It’s like creating a special folder for our app.

Crafting Dreams: Clicking to Create 'SuperProjectApp' – where magic begins! — fig. Crafting Dreams: Clicking to Create ‘SuperProjectApp’ – where magic begins!

Click on “+ New solution” to start our project. Give it a catchy name like “SuperProjectApp.”

fig. Meet the Decision-Maker! Creating a publisher – the boss of our app, steering us toward greatness.

Now, let’s create a publisher. It’s like the boss of our app – the one who makes the big decisions.

Save our solution, and voila, we’ve got our app’s backstage ready!

Step 2: Creating Tables:

Table Tales Begin! Crafting the backbone of our app. Introducing 'Projects' – where ideas come to life. — fig. Table Tales Begin! Crafting the backbone of our app. Introducing ‘Projects’ – where ideas come to life.

Think of tables like lists in our app. For projects, click on “+ New” -> “Table” -> “Table” and call it “Projects.”

Task Mastery Begins! Introducing 'Tasks' for ultimate organization. — fig. Task Mastery Begins! Introducing ‘Tasks’ for ultimate organization.

Do the same for tasks – call it “Tasks.” We want to keep things organized, right?
Oh, don’t forget our team members. Add the existing “User” table to our project.

Adding the Existing “User” Table to Our Solution:

Navigate to Tables:

Embark on Data Magic! Navigating to the heart of our app at the 'Tables' section in Power Apps. — fig. Embark on Data Magic! Navigating to the heart of our app at the ‘Tables’ section in Power Apps.

We open our Power Apps environment and head to the “Tables” section where we manage all our data magic.

Identify the “User” Table:

Spotlight on 'User' Table! Seeking the power within the list to add magic to our app. — fig. Spotlight on ‘User’ Table! Seeking the power within the list to add magic to our app.

Let’s look for the “User” table in the list. It’s the one we want to add to our app.

Choose the Right Components:

Clicking on “Add existing” brings the “User” table into our solution.

Select Objects:

fig. Object Selection Magic! Picking and choosing the building blocks for our extraordinary app.

A list of available objects pops up. This is where we get to pick and choose what we want to include.

Choose Columns:

Column Customization Delight! Clicking through to select and style our app's essential columns. — fig. Column Customization Delight! Clicking through to select and style our app’s essential columns.

Clicking on “Select objects,” we go through the columns. We include the ones we want or the ones we’ve added for extra flair.

Add Views:

View Selection Mastery! Crafting the perfect visual journey for our 'User' table in a glance. — fig. View Selection Mastery! Crafting the perfect visual journey for our ‘User’ table in a glance.

If there are specific views we’ve created for the “User” table, we go to the “Views” tab and pick the ones we’d like to include.

Add Forms:

Form Fusion! Journeying into the 'Forms' tab to handpick the essentials for our user-centric solutions. — fig. Form Fusion! Journeying into the ‘Forms’ tab to handpick the essentials for our user-centric solutions.

Similarly, if we’ve got custom forms for our users, we go to the “Forms” tab and select the ones that should be part of our solution.

Finalize and Add:

Seal the Brilliance! Finalizing selections and hitting 'Add' – our 'User' table is now the star of our solution. — fig. Seal the Brilliance! Finalizing selections and hitting ‘Add’ – our ‘User’ table is now the star of our solution.

After making all our selections, we hit “Add” at the bottom. Confirming the addition, there we go – the “User” table with our selected components is now part of our solution.
Great! We’ve set up the basic lists for our app.

Step 3: Making Things Pretty:

Customizing Our Tables:

We must customize our tables, provide customizations, and add columns, views, and forms.

Remember! Views and forms visible in the Model-driven app must be customized in Dataverse. This is different from Power Apps Canvas Apps. Before creating the Model-driven app, customize a table, and provide the fields, views, and forms you need.

fig. Elevate ‘Projects’ Charm! Infusing the main form with project names and dates for an app that stands out.

Let’s make the “Projects” list look awesome. Customize the main form by adding important stuff like project names and dates.

fig. Task Mastery Continues! Adding task owners, due dates, and statuses to the ‘Tasks’ list for ultimate order.

Now, the “Tasks” list needs some love too. Add things like task owners, due dates, and statuses to keep everything in order.

fig. Form Fun Unleashed! Crafting forms is all about choosing the must-haves and adding a sprinkle of extra fun.

Customize forms – it’s like deciding what info is a must-have and what’s just extra fun.

fig. Views Clarity! Crafting views is like putting on special glasses to see exactly what we need in our lists.

Create views – these are like special glasses to help us see exactly what we need in our lists.

Here’s an important tweak to keep in mind as we tailor our tables to fit just right:

Flexible Column Requirements:

Column Freedom! Tailoring our app by making 'Default' columns optional. Total control, total user experience. — fig. Column Freedom! Tailoring our app by making ‘Default’ columns optional. Total control, total user experience.

It’s crucial to remember that if we prefer a “Default” column not to be mandatory in a form, we can make that happen. Simply go to the column’s settings and switch the “Required” status to “Optional.”

By doing this, we’re granting ourselves the freedom to decide what information is a must-have and what’s more on the optional side, giving us full control over how our app interacts with users.

Conclusion:

And there you have it – the backstage of our app is all set. In the next part, we’ll dive into turning this setup into a fully working Model-driven App. Imagine it as adding cool stickers and buttons to your favorite game after building the levels. Stay tuned for the next episode where we bring our app to life!

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Have a wonderful day.

Thanks for reading.