Scenario
We have a SharePoint Online list with given fields.
Now, we have to create a PowerApps that can provide the functionality to perform below operations
- Create new item
- Update existing item
- Delete item
- Display all items
- Search items
- Provide sort functionality
If we create this functionality using C# code or REST API code, it may take up to 8 hours of work to create and deploy the app with a skilled developer.
But we can do this job in PowerApps in just less than 5 minutes with no development or programming skill required.
Let’s understand how we can do this.
Creating PowerApps from SharePoint Online List
Open the PowerApps web studio by going to https://make.powerapps.com URL from your browser and then click on SharePoint box.
Then it will ask to create a connection between PowerApps & SharePoint Online. If you have already established the connection between PowerApps & SharePoint Online, then you will see that connection available in your list, else you can simply click on “New connection” and create a connection between SharePoint Online & PowerApps.
Creating connection between PowerApps & SharePoint Online
Click on "New connection" link and then scroll down to search for SharePoint Online connector.
And then click on SharePoint. Once you click on SharePoint, you will have the option to select, you need to connect On Prem SharePoint environment, or you need to connect to SharePoint Online.
If we need to connect On Premises SharePoint server, then we will need to install On Premises Gateway, and then that gateway will act as a bridge between SharePoint On Premises and PowerApps cloud (Because we know that we do not have PowerApps for desktop available yet).
In our case, we are connecting SharePoint Online, then we will select Connect directly (Cloud services) and then click on “Create”.
Once you will click on create, it will validate and authenticate, and then it will give you the list of several SharePoint Online site for particular given user. Then you can select your SharePoint Online site on which your list exists. In our case, it is "CCorner" site.
Now, once you will click on the site name, it will display all the list available on that site. Then click on the list name on which you want to create PowerApps. In our case, it is "Power BI Integration" list, so we will click on that.
Then click on Connect button available in bottom right corner of the page. Once you will click on "Connect" button, it will start creating an App for you in the background and it may take few minutes to provision, after that you will have a readymade mobile app in front of you.
Walk through the PowerApps
Search
By default, search is implemented on Title field. You can directly start typing any title field value into the search field, it will start filtering the data as soon as you type the value.
For example, I am filtering for Task-5
Creating new item
To create new item, click on Plus + icon from the top right corner of the app and then it will open a new item form, just enter the values.
Then click on Check icon on the top right corner, and it will save the value to SharePoint list and redirect you back to the home screen where you have all the items listed.
Editing Item
Click on the Greater Than icon on the item you want to edit
It will open the Item View form. From here you have to click on Pencil icon from the top right corner.
It will open the edit form with all the values in it, now just change the values that you want to change. Like in our case we are changing it from Task-4 to "New Task-4".
Then click on Check icon from top right corner again and it will save your item and will redirect you back to the item display screen with values updated.
Deleting item
In order to delete the item, click on the Greater Than icon of the item that you want to delete, it will open the item view form and then simply click on "Trash" icon from the top right corner, and it will delete that item from the SharePoint list as well as from PowerApps.
Sorting
By default, sort is performed on Title fields values. Like if you click on Sort icon from the top right corner, the app will sort the data accordingly.
Refresh/Reload
If you are adding any data manually to the SharePoint list and this PowerApps is opened in your browser, it won’t show that recently added data into the PowerApps until and unless you are not reloading or refreshing the data source. So, to refresh the data source, click on the Reload icon from the top right corner of the app and it will then get the latest data from SharePoint list to the PowerApps.
Summary
In this article, we have seen how we can create a working PowerApps application that can perform basic operations in SharePoint Online list without writing any single line of code. We can perform more operations on this PowerApps, such as, updating the look and feel, adding several validations, and many more operations. Those we will cover in upcoming articles of this series. If you have any questions or feedback on this, please reach out to me using the comment section.
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