The Algebra Teacher Powers to B.I.

 Power Apps is great for allowing users to create new records that get submitted to a data source.  A question I normally receive after someone learns how to use Power Apps is "Can I send or receive emails after a record has been created?"  The answer is a resounding yes.     There are a few different ways to send emails through Power Apps, but I want to showcase how you can set up an automatic email process through Power Automate that is connected to the same data source that your app is connected to.   In this first video, I am going to showcase the basic method of how to send an email after a record has been created.   Depending upon the data source you may need to make a few modifications to the basics.   I will troubleshoot first how to change the display of a date value that you have stored and are reporting over.     Keep a lookout for my next blog/video where I will show how to deal with the pesky issue of having a lo...

 In last week's blog/video, I showcased how you can use the patch function to create a record without using the preset forms in Power Apps.   In this week's blog/video, I go a little further with it. One problem that arises with the Patch function is that the old values will still be populated in your input controls.  So I want to show you how to wipe those out and set them back to the default blank values.  We will use variables and the UpdateContext command attached to the OnVisible property of the screen where the input controls are. To go even further this week, I also want to show you how to enable/disable a button.  I've come across scenarios where we don't want the user to hit the submit button on a form or a patch command unless there is data in the input controls.  So I will walk you throw how to set up that action as well this week using the If and IsBlank functions.

 In Power Apps, forms are great to use to submit data to be recorded in your data source.  They do not take long to set up and the functions used to submit the data are fairly simple.  This simplicity, however, can come at a cost.  The cost of using a form is you don’t have a lot of design control in terms of layout and design.  If you don’t like the rigid structure of forms and want more freedom, then I’ve got the fix for you.  You need to become acquainted with the Patch function.   The Patch function allows you to update or create a new record in your data source.   The Patch function requires you to identify your data source, decide if you want to update or create a record, and then point to your controls on the app that contains the data you are submitting.   The coding is a little more involved compared to SubmitForm(FormName) that you use on forms.   The payoff, though, for learning a little more advanced code is you get compl...

In this second installment, we will start to build our app.   Now, I will not just guide you click by click of building the app, but more importantly, I will do my best to explain how all the coding and features are working in the background so you can take this knowledge to design an app specific to your needs.   Below is a list of items we will be covering: 1.        Setting colors for text, backgrounds, and images 2.        Setting up variables do to the heavy lifting for us throughout our whole process 3.        Showcase an external website https://imagecolorpicker.com/en/   that helps with color palettes that are aesthetically pleasing to your end-user 4.        Insert images, shapes, and text 5.        Insert galleries that reference our created data sources from our first video The goal of these nex...