Power Pages – solution management tips, tricks, and gotchas

One of the main driving features of using the enhanced data model for Power Pages is the ability to add a website to a Power Platform solution and transport to other environments. This makes building and configuring Power Pages and ALM management much more aligned to the rest of the Power Platform.

Solutions: For those of you recently joining us, a solution is a mechanism in which you can configure and build business applications in a developer environment, store all your changes in an object called a solution, and then transport the solution to another environment (test, UAT, production, etc.).The solution object itself is stored in Microsoft Dataverse, and can be exported to a file (zipped) where it can be imported to a target environment. While this can be done manually, there are automated methods (pipelines, etc.) to make this easier.

However, there are a couple of nuances that makes adding Power Pages websites to solutions a bit different than most other aspects of the Power Platform. In this post, I will cover a few things that are a bit different than your standard Power Platform building experiences with solutions.

Video version of this post

1. How to add NEW websites to a solution

Currently there is no ability to add new websites from a solution. Yes, you can add existing websites but you can’t add new ones the same way you would add tables, flows, etc.

In order to add a new website to a solution, you will need to first create a website from the Power Pages home page. You can add it to a solution, or if have set a preferred solution, the website will be added to that automatically.

2. Be aware of related tables added to solutions when adding a website

When you do decide to add a website to a solution, note that any related Dataverse tables (that are connected to forms, lists, etc) will also be added as related assets when adding a website to a solution. In most cases, this isn’t an issue or might even be the preferred option. However, if your solution strategy involves segmenting different components to different solutions (and there are ALM reasons) then just be aware that the Dataverse tables and their components will also be added.

3. Note that website assets created in Power Pages tools are NOT automatically added to solution

Power Pages assets (web pages, navigation, lists, forms, etc) created in various Power Pages tools like the design studio, Power Pages management app, or Visual Studio code and not automatically added to Power Platform solutions unless (again) you have set the preferred solution.

There are a couple of ways to add all the components you and other makers create to a solution.

Set the preferred solution (recommended).

This method ensures that all new assets and components are automatically part of a solution.

Adding required website objects

If you aren’t using preferred solutions are want to ensure all the website components are added to a specific solution, they can be added by selected the website in your solution and selected +Add required objects.

The other method is to remove the website from the solution completely, and then re-adding it. This process will ensure that all components (including tables, see above) are added to the solution.

4. Setting the Data workspace solution is for Dataverse tables only!

Within the Power Pages design studio there is the Data workspace section where you can specify a solution. Note that setting this solution will only apply to tables, forms, views, and columns added in the data workspace. This will ensure that the assets have the proper publisher prefixes and are available in the specified solution.

How to setup a preferred solution

Above I mentioned the concept of a using a preferred solution. This is set on a maker by maker process in the Power Apps maker portal. Setting a preferred solution ensures that assets created by that maker will be part of the preferred solution, including Power Pages assets.

5. You will need to activate a website on a target environment

The first time you move a solution to a downstream environment (either manually or automatically using something like Power Platform Pipelines), you will need to activate the site.

While all the site metadata is moved, an actual web application needs to be provisioned on Azure that is connected to that environment. The easiest way is on the downstream environment, go to the Inactive sites tab, you will see the website that was transported as part of your solution. Activate the site. You should only need to do this once.

If you happen to already have a website provisioned on the target environment, you and also repoint it.

See the Microsoft topic Migrate website configuration for details.

6. Site settings and other unique values in target environments get overwritten!

The following is a real pain and I think a short coming of using solutions with Power Pages. If you have specific site settings, content snippets or other web page content that is unique to the specific environment, it will be overwritten during a deployment using solutions!

An example is external authentication settings where you need a unique configuration between DEV, TEST, PROD, etc.

You need to go in and update (fix) these values after a solution import or deployment which will create an unmanaged layer (ugh).

Power Pages doesn’t currently have the ability to use environment variables, but apparently they are aware of the issue and working towards a solution (in the fullness of time).

If you still are not deploying Power Pages sites using solutions or still on the standard data model, you can use deployment profiles.

Currently, in my projects we are using a Power Automate flow triggered from Power Platform pipelines to update the values immediately following a solution deployment. If Microsoft hasn’t addressed this issue soon I will share those techniques in a blog/video.

Summary

The ability to add Power Pages websites to Power Platform solutions is a game changer and makes ALM much more in line with the rest of the Power Platform. However, its good to be aware of the various nuances as it doesn’t always quite line up with how the rest of the platform works.

Nick Doelman is a Microsoft MVP, podcaster, trainer, public speaker, and competitive Powerlifter. Follow Nick on X at @readyxrm or LinkedIN, and now; Bluesky. Listen or watch the the Power Platform Boost podcast with Nick and co-host Ulrikke Akerbæk every second week for news and updates from the Power Platform community.

Original Post https://readyxrm.blog/2025/01/17/power-pages-solution-management-tips-tricks-and-gotchas/