Build Generative Pages in Power Apps using Dataverse & SharePoint 🚀

Summary

In this tutorial, Raza demonstrates how to leverage the generative pages feature in Power Apps to build dynamic React pages, pulling data from Dataverse and SharePoint. He walks through creating a customized events calendar and a product catalog page, showcasing how to design, filter, and edit data within model-driven apps. The video also explores integrating virtual tables from external sources like SharePoint and embedding custom pages into other platforms. Raza highlights the simplicity of building functional, data-driven pages using Power Apps' generative capabilities.

Takeaways

• 😀 Generative pages in Power Apps allow users to create React-based pages using data from various sources, including Dataverse and SharePoint.
• 😀 The first example demonstrates how to create an events calendar by pulling data from a Microsoft Dataverse table.
• 😀 Users can customize and design pages using image-based inspiration and connect to backend data sources directly within Power Apps.
• 😀 The app agent uses the provided design and data context to generate pages automatically, offering a quick way to build custom apps.
• 😀 Users can easily filter, search, and interact with data in their model-driven apps, such as searching for specific events or filtering by categories.
• 😀 Customization options include renaming pages, adding icons, and using web resources to enhance the user interface of the app.
• 😀 Additional functionalities like opening event details in a dialog or allowing users to add/edit events are supported in generative pages.
• 😀 The system supports creating virtual tables by connecting external data sources like SharePoint, SQL, or Snowflake to Dataverse.
• 😀 Virtual tables allow users to view and manipulate data stored in external systems, enabling seamless integration within Power Apps.
• 😀 SharePoint users can create virtual tables and connect their SharePoint lists to Dataverse for easier management and app building.
• 😀 Power Apps also supports embedding model-driven apps inside SharePoint pages via iframe, provided the correct security settings are configured.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video demonstrates how to use the generative pages (Gen Pages) experience in Power Apps to create React-based pages using data from Dataverse or other data sources like SharePoint.

What scenarios are showcased in the video?

Two scenarios are covered: building an events calendar page powered by Dataverse data and creating a product catalog page using a virtual table connected to a SharePoint list.

How does the presenter generate a customized event calendar page?

The presenter uploads a design inspiration image, describes the desired page, provides the events table as the data context, and lets the Gen Pages agent create a React page based on the design and data.

What features are generated automatically for the events calendar page?

Features include event listing, search, filtering by category, a 'read more' dialog, and add/edit capabilities with a flyout form.

Can Gen Pages be used only with Dataverse data?

Currently, the native experience works only with Dataverse. However, data from other sources like SharePoint or SQL can be brought into Dataverse through dataflows or virtual tables.

What is a virtual table in Dataverse?

A virtual table is a Dataverse table where the data remains in the external source while Dataverse creates the schema and provides full CRUD operations by querying the source directly.

How does the presenter create a virtual table connected to a SharePoint list?

They select the 'Create a virtual table' option, choose SharePoint as the data source, provide the site URL, pick the list (Product Catalog), and Dataverse automatically maps the columns and generates the schema.

What functionality is included in the generated product catalog page?

The page lists all products, enables category filtering, supports price range filtering, allows adding and editing products, and displays detailed product information.

How does the presenter embed the model-driven app page into SharePoint?

By adding an iframe containing the model-driven app URL into a SharePoint web part and updating SharePoint’s HTML Field Security settings to allow iframes from that domain.

What benefit does using Gen Pages provide for Power Apps makers?

Gen Pages enables rapid creation of visually rich, React-based, custom-designed experiences directly within a model-driven app, without the need for manual coding.

What happens if the generated page doesn’t meet expectations?

Users can undo changes or start over, and they can also review the agent’s interpreted requirements to adjust their prompts accordingly.