I Built My First Power Apps Canvas App!

I am shocked...........

Hi friends,

As I mentioned in my last letter, I’ve been exploring a new tool Microsoft Power Apps and I’m so excited to share that I’ve built my first Canvas App!

Let me walk you through the process and what I’ve learned so far.

I followed a beginner-friendly course I found on Microsoft Learn. It was simple enough for a first-timer and helped me understand how to build a basic app from an Excel sheet.

Here's a snapshot of the app I built:

My first App on PowerApps

The app connects directly to an Excel file I uploaded, which acts as my database. I used this to display and manage items (in this case, cafe data). I learned how to:

• Use forms to display and edit data.

• Create a gallery to show a list of items (like a product catalog).

• Add and configure buttons for interactions.

Just like in Flutter (if you're familiar), I can add functionality to these buttons. For example, pressing a button can trigger a save or navigate to a new screen.

Edited some parameter and saved.

Here’s something cool:
If you check the gallery view, you’ll see a listing for Crema Cafe, which originally had a machine price of 999. I used the form on the same screen to update the price and it reflected in real-time in the gallery! (See circled items). That’s one of the powerful features of Power Apps: live data binding.

Power Apps doesn’t require a lot of code to get started, but there’s still some logic involved especially when setting up functionalities like:

• Navigation between screens

• Saving or submitting form data

• Conditional visibility of elements

There are also auto-generated formulas (similar to Excel functions) that Power Apps uses to handle form data. I haven’t been able to edit some of them yet possibly due to license restrictions but I’m continuing to explore!

The sample app i used

While the app works, I noticed that my images aren’t loading as expected. I'm still trying to figure out why, but that’s part of the learning curve! I also played around with the layout moving the gallery to the right and the form to the left to improve the visual balance.

This is just the beginning. I’m really enjoying Power Apps and how quickly it allows you to go from idea to prototype. As I continue learning, I’ll share more tips, wins, and maybe even full tutorials with you, fingers crossed.

Cheers to more builds, more experiments, and more growth!

With love,
Deborah