Skip to main content

More on Microsoft Power Apps: Model-driven Apps, Canvas Apps and Portals


 

by James Townsend

As I have written elsewhere in this blog, Microsoft is one of the leading providers of low code software development platforms with its Power Apps family including Power Automate, Power BI and much more. One of your key design decisions is when to use model-driven apps, canvas apps and portals.

One place to start is with your database.  The most low code approach is to use model-driven apps with your data stored in the Dataverse data platform that comes with Power Apps. This is the same database that powers Dynamics 365 apps such as Sales, Marketing, Field Service and Customer Service. Dataverse makes it easy to create a database and data relationships, and has the largest number of built-in functions that require no coding.  If you want integration with Excel, Word, or Outlook, these are all out-of-the-box features.  Your data will be hosted in the Microsoft cloud and accessed via Office 365 login. The more standard your application is, the more likely there is already a Power App to handle it, whether from Microsoft or third party app providers.  Microsoft AppSource provides a catalog of Apps you can download at no charge or purchase. Microsoft provides standard interfaces to model-driven apps, so you can build a form and let the system generate its own menus, views, dashboards and other screens.  

If you want to tap a different database and do not want to move your data to Dataverse, Canvas apps may be suitable for your needs.  As the name implies, canvas apps give you a blank canvas and tools to build screens to your design. Microsoft offers over 200 connectors to different data sources from many vendors.  You can build a canvas app to look they way you want it to look and connect to one or more data sources.  AppSource also contains canvas app.  If you do not want the standard look that model-driven apps provide in Power Apps, you may prefer canvas apps. 

Power Apps portals are a third path for interacting with your data.  They allow you to quickly create a website which accesses your Power Apps data, including ability to create and maintain user accounts and publish static web pages to go along with data forms.  Some Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps such as Customer Service come with their own portals which can be the baseline for your solution.

One of the best things about Power Apps is that these four options are not mutually exclusive.  You can add different apps and portals to access your data whenever you want.  You can also have canvas apps inside model-driven apps.  You may find that some groups of users need different user experiences, and provide multiple paths to enter, edit and view the same data.  Power Apps shines by providing no code, low code and full coding options to help you make your business solutions complete.

For additional information, see these related posts:



Popular posts from this blog

Key Concepts for Microsoft Dynamics 365: Tenant, Instance, App and Solution

Updated 8/15/2022 To understand Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Dynamics CRM) and Power Apps, you need to learn some new terms and concepts that may be a bit different from what you know from databases and solutions that are hosted on premises.  These concepts also apply to Power Apps.  The main difference is that with Power Apps you are not starting with a Microsoft app but more of a blank canvas for your custom apps.  This post introduces some key terms and how these concepts are important for planning your implementation. While Dynamics 365 is still available on premises, it is most commonly deployed on the Microsoft cloud.  This blog post discusses only cloud implementations. Microsoft has multiple clouds such as commercial and government community clouds in several countries. We start with a Microsoft tenant .  A tenant is the account you create in the Microsoft Online Services environment (such as Office 365) when you sign up for a subscription. A tenant contains uni

Understanding Dynamics 365 and Office 365 Admin Roles

Managing Dynamics 365 instances If you run Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Dynamics CRM) in the Microsoft cloud, you need to understand how your Dynamics instances relate to Office 365 and choose which of your administrators receives which roles and permissions to manage Dynamics 365. In on premises deployments, your network administrator would create and delete user accounts.  The Dynamics 365 admin would then assign permissions to users in Dynamics 365. This post explains three administrator roles: Office 365 Global Administrator Dynamics 365 System Administrator Dynamics 365 Service Administrator You may think that the Dynamics 365 system administrator would have power to do all the actions needed to manage Dynamics 365, but this is not the case. What's different in Microsoft cloud deployments is that licenses and user accounts are managed in Office 365 by an Office 365 Global Administrator.  This role is analogous to a network administrator for an on premises

My Favorite Microsoft Power Apps Bloggers and their Blogs

  by James Townsend Updated 7/5/2022 Microsoft Power Apps is one of my favorite subjects, and I enjoy reading blog posts from members of this thriving technical community.  Here are some of my favorite bloggers and their blogs: The Official Microsoft Power Apps Blog   I have to start with the official Microsoft Power Apps blog.  It has many contributors, largely Microsoft program manager, including frequent posters Denise Moran ,  Greg Lindhorst , Kartik Kanakasabesan , and  Adrian Orth .  This is the place to go for product announcements, updates and technical how-to for a broad range of Power Apps topics.  April Dunnam April Dunnam was formerly focused on SharePoint and now devoting herself to Power Platform.  April offers highly understandable explanations of Power Platform, Dataverse and other top Power Apps topics. She joined Microsoft in late 2019 and has a thriving YouTube channel .  Carl De Souza Power Apps Blog and eBook This is one of the most extensive and best organized blo