Receive the available storage within your SharePoint Online tenant
Within the SharePoint admin centre there is that little detail telling you how much storage you have available out of your total storage. But how do you get that without visiting the SharePoint Admin Centre every day? Retrieve the available storage using PowerShell The PowerShell script to get the storage is actually really simple: This […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Receive the available...
Options for Documenting Your Power Apps: Comments, Code, and Controls
Within Power Apps there are various ways to document your app. In this post I’m looking at comments in Power Apps Options to documenting your code in Power Apps As part of my day job at Vantage 365 I do a lot of health checks of apps and flows. This often means that I’m looking […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Options for Documenting Your Power Apps: Comments, Code, and Controls...
2 ways to duplicate SharePoint Lists to support your Power Apps
Recently I’ve been asked quite a few times to duplicate SharePoint lists as part of creating a Development, Test and production environment in Power Apps. PnP PowerShell Whatever you want to do to SharePoint, PnP PowerShell is often the quick way of doing things. Especially if you want to undertake the same thing. One of […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog 2 ways to duplicate SharePoint Lists...
Update a Hyperlink Column in SharePoint with Power Automate
Today, I was asked about how to create a lookup to a document or item in a SharePoint form. Sometimes a slightly different solution, using a Hyperlink field can do the trick. Lookups in SharePoint So I created a lookup column and then in the SharePoint Details form. This would look like this: Not too […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Update a Hyperlink Column in SharePoint with Power Automate...
429 Errors reported by the trigger in your flow in Power Automate
This morning I was asked about 429 Errors in flows, But rather than 429 errors in actions, this time it was about 429 errors in triggers of a flow. 429 Errors 429 is the number that represents errors due to systems being too busy. In Power Automate you could for example have a flow that […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog 429 Errors reported by the trigger in your flow in Power Automate This...
Dataflow timeouts in Power Apps
Last week one of my clients had an issue with timeouts in their dataflows in Power Apps. It had worked for a while, but then suddenly the dataflow was experiencing timeouts. Dataflow query timeout issues In my case I found that my dataflows would fail in different ways. But Mainly I would get back the […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Dataflow timeouts in Power Apps Last week one of my clients...
Synchronise Microsoft Shifts with Outlook Calendars in Power Automate the 2024 way
I’ve been planning to rewrite my Synchronise Microsoft Shifts with Outlook Calendars in Power Automate post for quite a while. This post will give you the new and more efficient way of implementing a synchronisation process between Shifts and Outlook. Setup of Microsoft Shifts In Microsoft Teams I’ve added the Shifts app and I’ve added […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog...
Show mobile device notification area in Power Apps
When you develop apps for mobile devices, you might want to have a look into the option to show the mobile device notification area. Show mobile device notification area setting Within the Display Settings of your app settings in Power Apps, there is a setting available to make the mobile device notification settings visible. By […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Show mobile device notification...
Relationships in Dataverse managed with Power Automate
In Dataverse you can create relationships between tables, but how do you manage the relationships from a flow in Power Automate? Relationships in Dataverse In Dataverse there are a number of different type of relationships that you can create. Relationship examples Consider the following tables: Many-to-one relationships If we created a relationship between the car […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their...
The good and the bad of using Copilot in the Power Platform
Copilot is everywhere within Microsoft technology nowadays. But it is really helping or is it just a step in the wrong direction. In this post the good and the bad of using Copilot. Copilot in Power Platform Within the Power Platform there are Copilots all over the place. In this post I will focus on […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog The good and the bad of using Copilot in the Power Platform...
New awesome feature in Power Apps! How to Run SQL Server stored procedures without Power Automate in 2024
Recently Microsoft released a new feature in Power Apps that will let you call SQL Stored procedures without needing to call a flow in Power Automate What are SQL Server Stored Procedures? A Stored Procedure is nothing more than a piece of code that will do something within your database. Well that is a great […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Run SQL Server Stored Procedures in Power Apps: New...
Do you have multiple developers working on 1 flow in Power Automate?
This post is all about some issues that I ran into yesterday. Multiple developers worked on one flow in Power Automate and my app in Power Apps broke. When apps break due to multiple developers working on a flow! It is not uncommon to remove a flow and then readd a flow in your app, when […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Do you have multiple developers working on 1 flow in Power Automate? This...
4, 5 or 7 syntaxes for the Patch function in Power Apps
Did you know that there are 5 different syntaxes for the patch function? Or are there 7, or maybe just 4. In this post all about the various syntaxes for the Patch function. The 5 syntaxes for the Patch function The Patch function is most of the times used to create or update a record […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog 4, 5 or 7 syntaxes for the Patch function in Power Apps Did you know that there...
Process AI Builder data using xpath in Power Automate
Today I was asked to have a look at the dynamic data that is generated by AI builder and make it easier to process AI Builder data. AI Builder data AI Builder is frequently used for scraping data of documents, like Invoices or Purchase Orders. When you create a model in AI Builder, Power Automate […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Process AI Builder data using xpath in Power Automate Today I was...
Excel Filter Query in List Rows Present in a Table Action in Power Automate
Filter queries are important when you work with SharePoint Get Items actions or Dataverse Get Rows, but how about the Excel Filter Query setting? Get rows present in a Table The Get rows present in Table also has the Excel Filter Query setting. In the above mentioned posts I’ve gone through all the options available […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Excel Filter Query in List Rows Present...
When to create child flows in Power Automate?
When you use solutions (and you always should use solutions!) there is the option to run Child flows. But when should you create a child flow? What is a Child Flow? A Child flow is a flow that can be started from another flow. Potentially taking parameters and potentially returning data back to the flow […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog When to create child flows in Power Automate? When you use...
Check permissions like a Pro Low Coder
When you develop an app using Dataverse, you might have a button to update data in Dataverse. How do you check permissions before Power Apps tells you that the Patch function has failed? Updating data Using the Patch function we can update or create a record in Dataverse or any other data source. To Create […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Check permissions like a Pro Low Coder When you develop...
Help! My Dataverse flow does not trigger anymore!
Today suddenly my flow does not trigger anymore. My flow should trigger when a new account is created but suddenly it doesn’t trigger my flow anymore. First steps to debug the issue First of all I tried to rerun a previous flow run. This flow still ran without any issue. Then I clicked on the […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Help! My Dataverse flow does not trigger anymore! Today suddenly...
Help! My Dataverse flow does not trigger anymore!
Today suddenly my flow does not trigger anymore. My flow should trigger when a new account is created but suddenly it doesn’t trigger my flow anymore. First steps to debug the issue First of all I tried to rerun a previous flow run. This flow still ran without any issue. Then I clicked on the […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Help! My Dataverse flow does not trigger anymore! Today suddenly...
When to create child flows in Power Automate?
When you use solutions (and you always should use solutions!) there is the option to run Child flows. But when should you create a child flow? What is a Child Flow? A Child flow is a flow that can be started from another flow. Potentially taking parameters and potentially returning data back to the flow […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog When to create child flows in Power Automate? When you use...
A new approach to error handling in Power Automate
For quite a few years now I’ve promoted the Try-Catch error handling pattern. But there is a new approach on its way. The Flow Run Table Within Dataverse you can now find the Flow Run table. The Flow Run table has a record for every run of a flow. This includes the status, trigger type, […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog A new approach to error handling in Power Automate For quite a few...
Power Platform First Aid sessions
Are you looking for help with your Power Platform. And you had enough of looking for help by searching on the internet? Power Platform First Aid ⛑️Join us in January 2024 for our “first aid” event focused on Power Platform. ⛑️ Have you got questions about the Power Platform?Is your flow not working? Does your […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Power Platform First Aid sessions Are you...
System Updates in SharePoint from Power Automate using the ValidateUpdateListItem endpoint
Today I wanted to update Documents/Items without triggering other flows. The ValidateUpdateListItem endpoint in the REST API made this System Update possible. System Updates vs Updates Normally when an item is updated in SharePoint, flows that are triggering on the list my trigger. Sometimes however you might want to update the triggering list item with […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog System...
Do you have multiple developers working on 1 flow in Power Automate?
This post is all about some issues that I ran into yesterday. Multiple developers worked on one flow in Power Automate and my app in Power Apps broke. When apps break due to multiple developers working on a flow! It is not uncommon to remove a flow and then readd a flow in your app, when […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Do you have multiple developers working on 1 flow in Power Automate? This...
Process AI Builder data using xpath in Power Automate
Today I was asked to have a look at the dynamic data that is generated by AI builder and make it easier to process AI Builder data. AI Builder data AI Builder is frequently used for scraping data of documents, like Invoices or Purchase Orders. When you create a model in AI Builder, Power Automate […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Process AI Builder data using xpath in Power Automate Today I was...
Excel Filter Query in List Rows Present in a Table Action in Power Automate
Filter queries are important when you work with SharePoint Get Items actions or Dataverse Get Rows, but how about the Excel Filter Query setting? Get rows present in a Table The Get rows present in Table also has the Excel Filter Query setting. In the above mentioned posts I’ve gone through all the options available […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Excel Filter Query in List Rows Present...
Excel Filter Query in List Rows Present in a Table Action in Power Automate
Understanding Filter Query settings in Power Automate actions is important when you work with SharePoint Get Items actions or Dataverse Get Rows, but how about the Excel Filter Query setting? Get rows present in a Table The Get rows present in Table also has the Excel Filter Query setting. In the above mentioned posts I’ve […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Excel Filter Query in List Rows...
System Updates in SharePoint from Power Automate using the ValidateUpdateListItem endpoint
Today I wanted to update Documents/Items without triggering other flows. The ValidateUpdateListItem endpoint in the REST API made this System Update possible. System Updates vs Updates Normally when an item is updated in SharePoint, flows that are triggering on the list my trigger. Sometimes however you might want to update the triggering list item with […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog System...
Power Platform First Aid sessions
Are you looking for help with your Power Platform. And you had enough of looking for help by searching on the internet? Power Platform First Aid ⛑️Join us in January 2024 for our “first aid” event focused on Power Platform. ⛑️ Have you got questions about the Power Platform?Is your flow not working? Does your […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Power Platform First Aid sessions Are you...
A new approach to error handling in Power Automate
For quite a few years now I’ve promoted the Try-Catch error handling pattern. But there is a new approach on its way. The Flow Run Table Within Dataverse you can now find the Flow Run table. The Flow Run table has a record for every run of a flow. This includes the status, trigger type, […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog A new approach to error handling in Power Automate For quite a few...
Activate and Deactivate Features in SharePoint form Power Automate Flows
Enabling a SharePoint feature from a flow in Power Automate is easy, but how do you deactivate features? Activate a feature in SharePoint I’ve got a SharePoint site and I want to enable the Document ID Service feature. This is all simple. Using the above end point I can activate the feature. That GUID mentioned […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Activate and Deactivate Features in SharePoint...
Auto height, Containers and flexible font sizes in Power Apps
It is important that each control on your screen fits and that nothing overlaps. Auto Height and Containers can help you be with flexible font sizes. Flexible font sizes Have you ever tried adjusting the default font size on your mobile or Windows device? Then when you try to use your app, text doesn’t fit […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Auto height, Containers and flexible font sizes in...
Connect to Microsoft Graph using PowerShell with certificates
Earlier this week I fixed some PowerShell scripts that connected into Microsoft Graph using the Thumbnail of a certificate installed on my local system. Some of the challenges in this post. Connect-MGGraph Within the Microsoft.Graph.Authentication module the is the Connect-MGGraph cmdlet to connect to Microsoft Graph. One of the examples given within the documentation, shows […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article...
4 new undocumented functions to encode and decode Xml in Power Automate
Today, I found 4 new undocumented functions in Power Automate Why Encode Xml? First of all, why would we need to encode xml? Sometimes characters in the xml could cause problems when you use them in an actions. Encoding characters can then typically solve this issue. Typically you would treat the tags in xml differently […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog 4 new undocumented functions to encode and...
A scheduled flow that locks an app
Earlier this week I was asked on the chat how to handle scheduled flows that need to lock an app in Power Apps while the flow is running. Scheduled flows First of all it is important to realize that scheduled flows are not connected to the app in any kind of way. Therefore there isn’t […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog A scheduled flow that locks an app Earlier this week I was asked on the...
Managed Identities in Logic Apps to access Microsoft Graph
In this post I’m going through the steps to configure Logic apps to use Managed Identities to access SharePoint sites using Microsoft Graph. Managed Identities Within Logic Apps you will see Managed Identities popping up in various places. You can find them in Azure Runbooks within Azure Automation where they are often used to run […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Managed Identities in...
Replace Edit with Contribute permissions with SharePoint Site Templates
How do we replace Edit with contribute permissions? When you create a new team site members will have Edit permissions, but often we only want members to have Contribute permissions. Edit vs Contribute permissions When we look at the various permission levels in SharePoint, we can see the different between Edit and Contribute permissions within […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Replace Edit with...
Paginated REST API calls in Power BI
Last week I was asked about handling paginated REST API calls in Power BI. The REST API end point would only return 200 records while a lot more records should be returned. Example Paginated REST API calls In this case we were using the signinapp found at signinapp.com and looking at the API documentation we […] Continue Reading Pieter Veenstra’s Article on their blog Paginated REST API calls in Power BI Last week I was...
Implement booking availability in Power Apps in less than 5 minutes
Today I was asked how to implement a booking availability solution in Power Apps. The booking availability app So I’m looking to create an app that will ask the user for some booking details, a start date and an end date for the booking period. Once you user has supplied those details we need to know if the slot is available or not. You could sue this for calendar management in for example a room booking solution. I’ve...
Delegation with SharePoint lists Power Apps vs Power Automate
We all know about delegation warnings in Power Apps, but how about delegation with SharePoint lists in Power Automate? Ever seen those blue lines in Power Automate? Delegation with SharePoint lists warnings in Power Apps In Power Apps there are quite a few delegation warnings that you can get. And when we hover over that blue line we will see that the Not function isn’t delegable within Power Apps. Looking at the SharePoint...
Timing issues in relation to App OnStart, Screen OnVisible, Timers and user interruptions in Power Apps
When you create apps, it is important to understand the timing issues that may happen. When various elements manipulate data, things could go wrong quite easily. fixing these issues however is not an easy task. Running code When you create an app there are various places where you can insert code to read data or write data. We can add code in the following places: App OnStart Screen OnVisible Timer ( On Start and On End) User...
Implement a PDF preview in a Model Driven Apps
Recently I needed to implement a PDF preview in a Model Driven App. This should be quite an easy thing to implement. The PDF Preview in a Model Driven Apps options Well, I considered the following options: Out of the box previewer Existing custom controls for my Model Driven App Develop a new custom PCF control Embedded Canvas app I looked at the existing controls but there doesn’t seem to be a file preview option available....
Performance of the Graph API, REST API and Web Services with SharePoint and Power Automate
When you build your flows do you consider performance? SharePoint has multiple APIs available. The Performance of the Graph API, REST API and Web Services is very different. Graph API, SharePoint REST API and Web Services Before I’m looking at the performance of the Graph API and the other APIs, I first want to have a look at each API. The naming here is already a bit confusing as the Graph API is also an API following the REST...
Develop your own chatbot in Power Apps
Recently a new feature to added to Power Apps to add your Power Virtual Agent chatbot in Power Apps. In this post the step by step guide. Enable the Chatbot component feature In the settings of your app all you have to do is enable the Chatbot component feature and you are up and running. Then of course don’t forget to save your app and restart the Power Apps studio and reopen you app. Adding the Chatbot to your app Now you can...
SharePoint Enterprise Content Types and the Graph API
Following my posts about the Content Type Gallery and my series about the Graph API, today a post about Enterprise Content Types in SharePoint and how to access them through the Graph API. Creating an Enterprise Content Type From the SharePoint admin center I have created an Enterprise Content Type as shown below: Then within my Content Type I’ve created an Enterprise Content Type Site Column as shown below. Both my content type...
Stop missing reminders in Outlook
Do you ever miss the start of a meeting because those reminders don’t pop up when you want them to pop up? Do you want to stop missing reminders? Reminders in Outlook 15 minutes before a meeting starts reminders will appear (unless you have disabled this) while you work on other things. This can really help you avoid missing meetings. Recently however I noticed that when I ignore reminders and don’t dismiss them that the...
Don’t Update or Insert records in Dataverse but Upsert when using Power Automate
A typical pattern for data import processes is that you first check if an item exists before either inserting or updating the found item. Upsert (Update or Insert) the item in one operation is however better. Update or Insert So the base process could look something like this. We first get the flow to check if the item already exists and then when it doesn’t exist we can add the item. However there is a bit of time between those...
Size your Power Apps with Height and Width in SharePoint webparts
Sizing you apps in Power Apps isn’t any more complicated than setting the height and the width of the app. But tday I came across a situation where I needed a banner shaped app. Banner image So I created a Power App and added an image control that shows my banner. If I was to add this to a sharePoint page then I would end up with a lot of unused space on my page. So how do we resize the app so that we don’t have the white...
Filter null values in Dataverse using Power Automate
Filtering records on empty values can be a real pain as there are many mistakes to make. Null First of all I would like to have a look at the null function. Many times, I’ve seen people ask the question why their null values haven’t been working. Below 3 examples. Only one will really work. In Power Automate you can have an expression null. You can type the text null (this is just 4 characters, n,u,l,l) And then you can...
Lock and wipe devices using Microsoft Graph in Power Automate
On a recent project I needed to be able to lock and wipe devices. I used Microsoft Graph, Power Automate and HTTP requests to get this done. In this post the details. Big Warning This post should have a big “Don’t try this at home (or work)” warning as you wouldn’t want to wipe a device that someone is actually using for the wrong reasons. In my case we are managing 1000s of laptops for an organization who...