Embed a canvas app in a model-driven app

Ben Prins Office 365

Did you know that you can embed (add) a canvas app in a model-driven app? With the embedded canvas app, you can fully use the power of the canvas app inside a model-driven app. In my project I used it to provide the user with the capability to search an Oracle database and select a specific company.

It is very easy to add a canvas app, but I recommend to use it only when no other options are viable. The reason for this is that the embedded canvas app needs to be reconnected every time you transfer the solution form one environment to another.

Embed the canvas app

  • Create / add a canvas app in the same environment as the model-driven app.
  • Open the form of the entity where the canvas app needs to be embedded.
  • Click on +Component and select the Canvas app.
  • Fill in the App ID Static value with the unique ID of the canvas app and click on Done.
  • You can find the App ID by right clicking on an app and clicking on Details.

Solution deployments

The canvas app is now part of the model-driven app and needs to be in the same solution. When you transfer the solution from the development environment to the test environment, you will need to update the model-driven form manually. The reason for this is that the model-driven app is still connected to the canvas app on development. You will need to change the reference / GUID to the canvass app on production. And do not forget to share the canvas app with the users.

Power Automate: Advanced Flow building

Ben Prins Office 365

Power Automate is one of my favorite tools from the Power Platform. It is extremely versatile and can be used to automate tasks between online services and automate processes ranging from simple to highly complex. In this post, I will share with you 3 advanced expressions I have used recently on my project. One part of the project is to convert XML data to data we can store in the dataverse.

Convert XML to JSON for easy access

For a project I needed to read multiple XML files with millions of rows and store data from the files into the dataverse. XML is harder to use in a Flow then JSON, so with a simple expression I transformed the XML to JSON.

  • Add a compose action with the name XML to JSON with the following code.
json(xml(variables('XML')))
  • Change the variable(‘XML’) to your XML content or store your XML content in that variable.
  • Add a parse json action set the Content to the output of the XML to JSON compose.
  • Add/create the JSON schema.

Using path in JSON

In most cases when you need to save data from JSON you can use the dynamic content to find it.
But sometimes you are looking for a field name that is not unique. In my case I needed a field called country related to the company. But the country field was used multiple times for various blocks. You can select the correct country by using the path (location) of the field in an expression.

  • Select the JSON through the dynamic content.
  • Copy the code from the dynamic content to the Expression.
  • Add the path add the end of the code.
  • I added .company.country to select the country of the company.
body('Parse_JSON').company.country

Dataverse lookup field

Lookup fields in Dataverse are really useful, but when you select them through the dynamic content the value will be the id not the display value. If the data must be readable for users, you can use the following steps to select the display value.

  • Add a compose to the flow.
  • Select the lookup field in the Inputs through the dynamic content.
  • Copy the code from the dynamic content to the Expression.
  • Your output looks something like this.
outputs('company')?['body/rc_countrycode']}
  • Add the @OData.Community.Display.V1.FormattedValue’ after rc_countrycode (your field name will be different).
  • The end results looks like this.
outputs('company')?['body/rc_countrycode@OData.Community.Display.V1.FormattedValue']

Power Automate: Find the current environment

Ben Prins Office 365

When working with an ATOP setup you might need to know in which environment the Power Automate flow is running. For my solution I needed to know the environment because each environment uses a different Gateway and database credentials. In this post, I will share with you how to find the environment GUID and name.

Creating the flow

  • Create a flow and use the trigger Manually trigger a flow.
  • Add the action Get Environments under Power Apps for Makers
  • Add the Compose action and use the Workflow() expression, to get the current instance of the flow.
  • Parse the Output in a Parse JSON action.
  • Initialize a variable with the name environment as a string.
  • The Value is the EnvironmentName form the Parse JSON output.
  • Now you have the GUID of the current Environment in the variable.
  • To find the name of the current environment we need to go through the results of the Get Environments action.
  • Add a Condition control action and check if the environment variable is equal to the name from the Get Environments actions.
  • This will automatically add an Apply to each, this is because the Get Environments action might return more than one environment.
  • Add a Set variable action in the If yes section and set the variable environment to displayName.
  • Now you have the Name of the current Environment in the variable.
  • The final step is to add a Switch control and switch based on the name of the current environment.
  • The flow will now look like this.