View a Dynamic Address on a Map- Map Component

Here is Power Apps with this features again! Now it is possible to view a dynamic address on a map with the Map Component.

Address Input

The Address Input item converts information we write in it like street, district, door no, latitude, and longitude into an address row.

An item makes an address easier to write or find on the map correctly.

To use Address input, go to the Insert tab, click Input and choose Address input from the list that opens up.

Old* Map Creating Methods

In the recent years, the Image item was used to watch an address on the map.

We used to write formulas in the Image item and created artificial maps. This formula has parameters like longitude and latitude, and name of the point, the color of the point indicator, and map zoom. And sometime it didn’t give stable results.

You can add api connections from maps like Google maps/Bing maps to the applications depending on your needs.

New* Map Component

Map component was one of the awaited features in the Power Apps updates.

Now a real map experience will be lived with the Map item. The features windows on the left can be used for features like longitude and latitude, and name of the point, the color of the point indicator, and map zoom.

You can click Media in the Insert tab and add the Map item from the list in order to use it.

Note:

In order to use the Map item, you need to activate Geospatial services (preview) through Admin Center–>Settings–>Product–>Features.

You can click here for the other blog posts about Power Apps

Power Apps and Power Automate 2020 License Updates

Power Platform

We have been waiting for the work flow product we knew as Ms Flow to get the Power title like Power BI and Power Apps for a long time. It recently joined the Power Platform family with the name of Power Automate (Flow) as expected.

Power Apps and Power Automate (Flow) is a team that increases efficiency and speeds up the work right from the beginning. While end users are working on their Power Apps mobile apps, Power Automate quietly sustains the work flow and verification process in the background.

You can click here for the articles about Power Automate.

Can I use Power Platform for free?

If you have any type of Office365 license, yes!

If you have one of the Office365 licenses below, you can use the Power Platform products for free.

2020 Licensing Updates for Power Apps and Power Automate

The increase of Premium connectors and features was foreshadowing the licensing changes that would happen in Flow.

With the Flow joining the Power family, Power Apps & Power Automate came to the top of the agenda.

If you don’t have Office 365

With the licensing method based on layered quote becoming definite, the prices are still valid since December 1, 2019.

You can use Power Apps and Power Automate as Add-on with monthly payment.

Licensing is separated into two ways: based on the number of users or based on the number of applications you will use.

1st Payment Model

To use 2 mobile apps as Company/Person

It is priced as 56 TLs (in Turkey) per user and the costs increase as the application number increases.

 

2nd Payment Model

To use limitless number of mobile apps as Company/Person

It is priced as 224,20 TLs (in Turkey) per user and there are no extra costs.

Take a look at here for details.

 

Take a look at here for the document about licensing.

Page Redirect Actions

The Navigate function is used to switch between screens in PowerApps mobile applications.

How do you switch between pages?

By touching/clicking the items on the screen (with the user trigger)
Or automatically after a certain period of time (with a timer).

Usually the OnSelect property is used for all the actions that wanted to be executed the moment we “click”.

As an example, let’s take a look at how we switch to the next page when we click the next button on the page.

The page redirection action for the next button:

Navigate (target page, transition effect) will be written into the OnSelect property of this item.

You of course don’t have to write the Navigate formula to OnSelect all the time. We mentioned that different items have different properties. In this sense, properties like OnCheck, OnVisible, OnChange are used when necessary as well.

The OnCheck property can be used for a check box if you want it to work “the moment it is marked”.

Manage Items Centrally by Using Properties

You might feel the need to manage the items on the screen from a center while developing a Power Apps application. When the properties of a certain item change, the features like the color, size, place can be managed for the related items on all screens.

There are two existing methods for central management.

  1. Method 1: Managing by using the item properties on the formula bar.
    Since the actions are executed through formulas, it is the most stable method. You can use all the features in the Properties window like color, position and size. This method is one of the first actions you need to execute while you’re developing an app. It can be hard to execute this action on an existing app, but it will help to do it.
  2. Method 2: Components (Experimental)
    Since this method is experimental, it doesn’t work in a stable way. Compared to the formula method, it is way easier to use.

Manage Items Centrally with Formulas

You might have heard in a lot of places that Power Apps works with the Excel logic and the formula structure is similar.

We write =A1+A2  into the formula bar in Excel to sum up two cells. In this action, we use the cell names directly in the formula and thus call and sum up the value in the cell directly. This way, whenever the value in the cell changes; the sum value gets recalculated.

When we want to execute the same action on Power Apps, we can use items like Text Box and Label. For example, we can calculate and display the sum of values entered in 2 Textboxes in a Label.

The Label item on the screen is named as Toplam (Sum), and the TextBoxes are named as Sayı1 (Number1) and Sayı2 (Number2).
We can display the sum value by writing the =number1. Text + Number2.Text into the Text property of Sum.

It means: Get the Text data of the Number1 item   +   Get the Text data of the Number2 item.

Right with the same logic of this examples, the item properties can be used in order for the items to imitate each other.
Actually, we are going to execute the action by assigning the properties of an item to another item.

Action Steps

Add two Label items to the screen.

Label1–> will stay as Label1
Label1–> will be renamed as Item_dependentto_Label1

Label1
Its features like fill color, text and border color are changed and thus, it is customized.

Item_dependentto_Label1

The properties are changed with the formulas below for this Label.

Fill –>  Label1.Fill  (Gets the fill color of Label1)
BorderColor–>  Label1.BorderColor  (Gets the border color of Label1)
Text–>  Label1.Text  (Gets the text of Label1)
Width–>  Label1.Width  (Gets the width of Label1)
Height–>  Label1.Height  (Gets the height of Label1)

Like it was written in the formula, this item is now dependent to Label 1. When the features of Label1 change, the dependent item will change.
You can distribute the dependent item to screens with copy-paste.