Power Apps Viking

I made this post as two parts, the first was created by ChatGPT, the second written by me. The posts both cover the exact same topic, but I wanted to prove the point that there is a lack of available resources for allowing citizen developers make the right choices about which apps they should create. Especially when it comes to building model-driven apps. This post

While browsing the Power Apps Community boards, and talking to citizen developers, the first thing that strikes me about working with Power Apps is that there is usually very little consideration put in to which type of app should be created in the first place. Before you disagree, I want to make a few points clear first. I understand that not all makers are able to access premium features, and therefore model-driven apps are out of the question for those developers, that is understandable. And not all makers should make model-driven apps, as there are no doubt many use-cases where a canvas app is the correct fit.

However, I generally find a trend in most citizen developers approach that I wanted to address. A very large percentage of the guides found online, including the Microsoft guides and documentation, are specifically tailored for helping citizen developers with Canvas Apps. Furthermore, when looking for help with power apps, the first hits most people will find, present a canvas app as the representative of what “power apps” mean.

The post contains the following elements, the last part is especially helpful for new citizen developers that are looking for help with getting started with ANY kind of application.

-My impression of current community/support landscape
-Advantages and disadvantages of Canvas Apps and Model-driven Apps
-Actual resources that will get you up and running quickly with your first app

Current community/support landscape

Where do citizens developers find help?
Finding help for your first business applications can be a challenge as far as I see it. Especially if you want to – or need to – create a mode-driven app. I implore you, try for yourself and give me feedback on whether you found an example of a model-driven app by using any of the normal search terms such as “get started with power apps”, “create your first power app”, “how to create a power app”, or any other term using either Bing or Google.
(warning, risk of advertisement) Incidentally, if you DO need a guide for creating your first model-driven app. You can find a 5-step guide on my blog. I will also upload a series of videos following the same steps.

But back to the point of this post.

I understand the idea of wanting to create an application with a personal look and feel, and the Canvas App provides just that. The concept of incredible freedom to create any type of app for any type of device is intuitively appealing to most people. However I would argue that several cases of applications I see, tend to solve the same very basic needs.

These needs are for the most part centered around either replacing or updating current business processes. Processes that again are centered around using SharePoint lists, Excel sheets, or other ways of gathering information that can be used in a business context and usually forms the basis of some sort of reporting afterwards.

Why do we advocate for Power Apps in the first place?

Often times the main selling points for Business Applications are that they can, roughly speaking, evolve your typical employees from the job of being excel/sharepoint input slaves to become citizen developers that leverage the power of a modern low-code platform to grow your business and focus on the actual work that needs to be done. But in order to achieve this we need to actually empower citizen developers to make the right choices when opening up make.powerapps.com for the first time.

In this post I want to dive further into the pros and cons of each type of application and leave your with a better ability to decide which application should be used for solving your business need when creating your next Business Application on the Power Platform.

The basics of Canvas Apps and Model-Driven Apps

Canvas Apps are pixel-perfect applications that provide an almost unlimited way of designing the look and feel of your application. The interface makes it easy to design your app for either phones, tables, or PCs.

There is a large amount of freedom offered to the developers in choice of data source, including Dataverse, SharePoint, Excel sheets, and many more. In most cases, this will allow developer to use an existing data as the foundation of the application. The advantage of this is that the developer does not need to start from scratch and build a new data model just to create a simple app. The logic for each column or object added can be expanded with great detail using PowerFX. PowerFX in this context is two things, its extremely powerful and for the most part it is very intuitive, I am personally a big fan of having it as the basis when working with Power Apps. However, the ability to create logic using PowerFX also presents what I believe is one of the biggest drawbacks of canvas apps. The user is forced to custom-code almost every command, even when they just need to add a simple field or create some very basic business logic.

Model-Driven Apps are locked in a very specific format for how your columns are presented when viewing and inputting data. Furthermore, there is an, almost completely, locked framework in place for how you access a record and how this is saved, deleted, etc. This provides several limitations in the looks and feel of your application. Your main options are adding tables, tabs, sections and filling them with the available Dataverse columns (Note: “fields” are called columns, but the term columns is also used to indicate how many columns(think in terms of a word column) of columns (fields) there are in a tab or section, confused? me too) . There are some other customizations allowed for certain fields, and through the use of PCF components this is further expanded. However, through all the restrictions, the user can focus on actually making the app with what is needed. The experience is usually that adding new columns and placing them is something that can be done as soon as a user identified a needed data input. This can be done within minutes, independent of the type of column being added.

Pros and Cons of the two types of Power Apps

So let’s do a quick break-down of the difference pros and cons of the two different types of apps. Instead of listing first listing them for one and then the other, I will make a comparative list of the pros and cons to give a better understanding of what they really bring to the table. I will also include some common misconceptions to clear up any misunderstandings and hopefully encourage more creative app development in the future.

Canvas app pros:
-Incredible design freedom
-Data source availability
-Start with your existing data
-Device-specific design
-Easy access to use device capabilities (camera, microphone, GPS)
-Full use of all PowerFX features
-Responsive (if you design them correctly)

Model-driven app pros
-Easy to get use interface
-Large number of customizations available through PCF component framework
-Responsive interface(notice how this sounds similar to the point for canvas apps)
-Offline functionality
-Accessibility support (Model-driven apps follow accessibility standards and guidelines by default)
-Native use of Dataverse business rules and logic

Now notice how there is an overlap in some features. Both types of apps allow the users to make use of Dataverse logic and functionality. This is a point that my ChatGPT created post was not able to capture. If you create a canvas app using Dataverse as a source, it can use exactly the same business rules and processes available to the model-driven app. In other words; You should not feel limited to creating a model-driven app if you want to leverage Dataverse functionality. Furthermore, canvas apps can be made responsive through design. The issue is not that it can’t be done, the issue is that it requires pro-code knowledge or help to get to that point. Although there are many resources available to help you get there quickly.

Lets jump into the disadvantages for each type of business application

Canvas app cons
-High complexity in designing your application / steep learning curve
-Lack of standards/accessibility
-Limited functionality for low-code developers
-Not responsive by design (specifically built for each device)

Model-driven app cons
-Staring from scratch when designing your data source
-Limited design options
-Limited access to PowerFX
-Limitations in business logic, and some options only available in the classic/legacy interface
-Data source limitations – Dataverse is the only data source available
-Limited access to device capabilities

Especially noteworthy is the aspects of whether the application is responsive or not. I would also like to add a personal downside of canvas apps, they are seldom made for PCs, and generally do not work as well on PCs. The first impression of creating an “app” is that you design it for phone or tablet use. But honestly, are most of the apps we are trying to replace actually used on phones/tablets in the first place? Workplaces are still filled with laptops or desktop PCs. Most of business users even have a mouse and keyboard connected, enabling much faster input in to your application, as opposed to limiting your connectivity between the app and user to just a touchscreen.

I want to leave you with some resources for finding help. They cover several areas, such as overcoming specific application challenges, and information about working with the Power Platform in general. Let me know if you have suggestions for additions to the list.

Important Resources for Citizen Developers

–Shane Young (Canvas apps mainly)
–Sara Lagerquist (model-driven apps)
–Scott Durow (canvas apps and model-driven apps, technical)
–Kristine Kolodziejski (canvas apps, responsive design and UI/UX)
–Matthew Devaney (Model-driven apps)
–LowCodeLewis (Power Platform)
–Alex Shlega (Power Platform)
–April Dunnam (Power Platform)
–Jukka Niiranen (Power Platform)