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You're reading from  Extending Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Apps with Power Platform

Product typeBook
Published inJan 2024
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781801811590
Edition1st Edition
Concepts
Enterprise Resource Planning
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Author (1)
Adrià Ariste Santacreu
Adrià Ariste Santacreu
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Adrià Ariste Santacreu

Adrià Ariste Santacreu has been working in the Microsoft business applications' field since 2010, starting with Axapta and Microsoft Dynamics AX, and since 2016 with Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O. A technical solution architect and developer who loves solving requirements with all the tools available in the Microsoft ecosystem, like the Power Platform or Azure services that can be used with Finance and Operations. Adrià has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP since 2020 in the Business Applications category thanks to his community contributions, like speaking at events and conferences and writing technical articles about Dynamics 365 F&O, Azure, Dataverse, and the Power Platform.
Read more about Adrià Ariste Santacreu

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Power Apps: What’s in it for Finance and Operations Consultants?

In this chapter, we’ll delve into the heart of Power Apps and what we can do with it and the Dynamics 365 finance and operations apps. We will learn about the different types of apps in Power Apps, such as model-driven apps and canvas apps. We will also see how we can open an app from the Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (F&O) user interface.

In this chapter, we’ll learn about the following:

  • Model-driven and canvas apps
  • Embedding a Power Apps app in a finance and operations form

Technical requirements

If you have gone through the steps in Chapter 5, you should have all technical requirements completed.

The F&O objects used for the demos in the following pages can be found at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Extending-D365-Finance-and-Operation-apps-with-Power-Platform-/tree/main/Chapter%2006.

Model-driven and canvas apps

Power Apps is Microsoft’s low-code platform that enables us to build custom apps on top of Dataverse. Power Apps also has the same connector concept as Power Automate, and thanks to the connectors, we can use data and services not only from Microsoft but also from other vendors.

Maybe when we talk about apps, the first thing that comes to our minds is mobile apps, the ones you have on your phone. And, while it’s true that you can create mobile applications using Power Apps, you can also create other formats to play the apps on a tablet or even in a full-screen web browser.

Power Apps in a browser is not Power Pages!

In the past, when Power Pages was released as Power Apps Portals, a portal was a different type of Power App. Full-screen Power Apps is not to be confused with Power Pages; it’s just Power Apps being displayed on a browser.

Remember, Power Apps is used to build custom applications, and Power Pages is used to...

Embedding a Power Apps app in a finance and operations form

There are some scenarios where we can extend the functionality in F&O using a Power Apps app inside F&O. Not only do we embed the app, we can also complement F&O with a Power Apps app, which uses data from F&O.

Next, we’re going to learn how we can let the Power Apps app know which record in F&O to use to show the corresponding data in the app.

Passing the app context

What is exactly the app context? When we embed a Power Apps app inside Dynamics 365 F&O, we expect it to show us the relevant data depending on the active F&O record. So, if, for example, we embed an app that displays the open transactions of a customer in the customer’s form, we would expect to see only the transactions of the customer that we have selected.

We can achieve that thanks to two variables that are passed from F&O to Power Apps:

  • EntityId: When we embed the app in a form, we select...

Summary

In this chapter, we learned how to integrate Power Apps with Dynamics 365 F&O thanks to the context parameters EntityId and Cmp, creating a link between Power Apps and F&O.

We’ve also seen how the Power Apps app can be embedded from an F&O form, allowing a seamless and relevant user experience. This feature demonstrates the Power App’s ability to accurately reflect active records from F&O.

In subsequent sections, you learned about the various methods of embedding a Power Apps app into F&O. The first is a UI-based approach, presenting the Power Apps app as a modal form, while the second method involves using Visual Studio to incorporate the Power Apps Host control, offering a more integrated user experience. Each method provides different levels of access to F&O while using the app.

The chapter concluded with the exploration of a third embedding method, which included creating a new tile in the F&O dashboard that loads a full...

Questions

Here are some questions to check your understanding of the chapter. Please see the answers at the end of the chapter.

  1. What are the parameters passed in the context of the Power Apps app when embedding it in Dynamics 365 F&O?
    1. Cmp and EntityId
    2. AccountNum and EntityId
    3. EntityId and AccountNum
    4. Cmp and AccountNum
  2. What is the purpose of embedding a Power Apps app in an F&O form?
    1. To display information unrelated to the active record
    2. To show data related to active records from F&O in the app
    3. To allow users to modify the app
    4. To bypass F&O authentication
  3. What is the major difference between embedding a Power Apps app into F&O using the UI-based approach and using Visual Studio?
    1. The UI-based approach does not require an App ID
    2. Visual Studio provides a more integrated user experience
    3. The UI-based approach does not need any context from F&O
    4. Visual Studio allows for full-screen app display
  4. For the Visual Studio method of embedding a Power App, what properties...

Answers

  1. a. Cmp and EntityId
  2. b. To show data related to active records from F&O in the app
  3. b. Visual Studio provides a more integrated user experience.
  4. a. Entity ID Field, App ID, and Entity ID Data Source
  5. b. You have to manually add filtering capabilities due to the lack of availability of context.
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Published in: Jan 2024Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781801811590
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Author (1)

author image
Adrià Ariste Santacreu

Adrià Ariste Santacreu has been working in the Microsoft business applications' field since 2010, starting with Axapta and Microsoft Dynamics AX, and since 2016 with Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O. A technical solution architect and developer who loves solving requirements with all the tools available in the Microsoft ecosystem, like the Power Platform or Azure services that can be used with Finance and Operations. Adrià has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP since 2020 in the Business Applications category thanks to his community contributions, like speaking at events and conferences and writing technical articles about Dynamics 365 F&O, Azure, Dataverse, and the Power Platform.
Read more about Adrià Ariste Santacreu

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