This App Builds Power Apps (100% REAL) 

I can only imagine the wonderful UI templates you would create with this Tolu

converting html code to YAML 😎

Tell me more about what you’ve done with this. I want to hear it all.

@@matthewdevaney3912 Basically what we have is a central repository where you can find the code for every type of component with the necessary properties pre-configured referencing a variables for style (CSS like). By using this method we enforce that any component used on the apps maintains the same configurations starting by naming conventions, and applying all the necessary styles used on every app. This has reduced a lot of time for creating new apps, since they only need to copy and paste all the components from the repository without having to remember all the setting they need to specify each time. I have some experience working with YAML files from my own HomeAssistant experiments, and I love how I can switch to the code editor view to modify the YAML properties for every thing I can see on the screen and easily duplicate previous customizations this way in HomeAssistant, so when I found this feature in Power Apps, I was more than happy to put it to good use for my team . here is an example of my CSS variable:

Set(varStyles, { //Light Mode Primary: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Secondary: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Accent: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Alert: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Warning: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Error: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Border: RGBA(0,0,0,1), Font: RGBA(0,0,0,1), ButtonText: RGBA(0,0,0,1), //Dark Mode DarkPrimary: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkSecondary: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkAccent: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkAlert: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkWarning: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkError: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkBorder: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkFont: RGBA(0,0,0,1), DarkButtonText: RGBA(0,0,0,1), //Typography H1: 24, H2: 18, P: 14, Button: 15, Small: 12, PrimaryFont: Font.'Lato Light', PrimaryWeight: FontWeight.Semibold, SecondaryFont: Font.'Lato Light', SecondaryWeight: FontWeight.Normal } );

I use this code on a button in the apps header to switch between Dark and Light theme: Set(varTheme,!varTheme); And then all the components are associated to those variables to be able to change their properties across the entire app. This is an input text YAML: - Txt_Input_2: Control: TextInput Properties: Appearance: ='TextInputCanvas.Appearance'.Outline BasePaletteColor: =RGBA(215, 100, 19, 1) BorderColor: |+ =Switch(varTheme, true , varStyles.DarkBorder, varStyles.Border ) BorderRadius: =5 Font: =varStyles.PrimaryFont FontColor: |- =Switch(varTheme, true , varStyles.DarkFont, varStyles.Font ) FontSize: =varStyles.P FontWeight: =varStyles.SecondaryWeight Value: '= ' Height: '=36 ' Width: =Parent.Width

​@@matthewdevaney3912 I have no idea why my first response was removed. Anyway, the way I've used this is by storing all the YAML for every component in a central "repository" (we use a shared OneNote for the team). Each components has the necessary settings so they use our pseudo-CSS code and the option to change between dark and light themes in every app. The guys only need to copy and paste the YAML code for the component they are going to use and it will always have the proper name, and all the other settings. I had some experience with YAML since I've used it before on my HomeAssistant severs and I always found really useful the option to switch to code view in order to edit the YAML for every element that you want to configure inside HA, and I was a happy camper when I found it was also available on Power Apps, really well implemented, but not really sure why it was not published as a major milestone for the platform, since it opens up the door to a world of possibilities as you just showed on your video. Anyway these are my 2 cents, keep the great work and keep inspiring us to push further.

Hoping I can build this out more!

Does this mean I am finally cool Darren?

Oh man. I want to hear more about this. How far did you take it with your app generator? What features did it include?

​@@matthewdevaney3912It took us around 4 months to develop the initial version, and we updated it whenever new features were added to .NET or C#. This approach is used by many software companies to save time producing repetitive code and to help create standardized, readable code.I looked for this feature in Power Apps, but because we cannot save each screen separately in a file, it is not possible to achieve something similar to what we have in Visual Studio.

@@matthewdevaney3912 It took us around 4 months to develop the initial version, and we updated it whenever new features were added to .NET or C#. This approach is used by many software companies to save time producing repetitive code and to help create standardized, readable code.I looked for this feature in Power Apps, but because we cannot save each screen separately in a file, it is not possible to achieve something similar to what we have in Visual Studio

Hi where can we get this app?

GEETHA! So nice to see you in my RU-vid comments.

@@matthewdevaney3912 Always a big fan of your passion & brilliance! Thank YOU

Yup, the whole goal was just to have fun and not think about it too much. Not worrying about the goal leads to better creativity!

@@matthewdevaney3912 please post also videos on youtube choose one of the latest and interesting topic from you blogs and make video here

It was relaxing. I’m glad you liked it.

Weekly would be tough. But I’m not opposed to doing more videos someday.

Go forth and build your own now. You can do it!

You’re welcome. This was just me having fun. And not trying too hard to do anything other than scratch my own itch.

Ready made apps with modifications for the customer, yes.

It’s amazing what can be done with a little bit of free time. Hard to find it while I’m working. But spending one of my vacation afternoons was easy to justify.

@@matthewdevaney3912 haha, I should take more vacation afternoons too by the way how did you create an asterix to mark the field as mandatory? Is that a modern control feature?

I did this inside of an HTML control because you can use multiple colors there.

thank you for sharing this tip! I got to take more afternoon vacation to get this creative 😅

Glad you liked it.

Next steps: - Add support for Lookups and Choices columns - Select/Deselect table columns to include - Change field order - Support for both Dataverse Tables and Collections as the Datasource.

Oh, I’m just guy a who loves to code and experiment. Thats all 😊

Sounds liked I achieved my mission to get your mind going to new and exciting places. Best of luck on your own code generator app!

Tough to explain in a RU-vid comment but I think I’ll do a live stream after Power Platform Conference so I can answer questions like this.

I’m sure it will happen. Just not the first step for this feature.

It’s easy. Just take still frames as I scroll through the app formulas code Darren. 😂

@@matthewdevaney3912 Very good. thank you, my friend.

Would love to but it’s hard to find the time to do both!

Thank you 😊

Of all time. Of all time!

There is a Copy() function in PowerFx that allows you to copy text to the clipboard :)

Now I want to know who among us has taken this concept even further?

@@matthewdevaney3912 -- Could this idea be put into a Component Library and then sold somehow?

It could. Developers are a hard market to sell to. Many times they build their own or grab something open source.

YES way!

Yo! 😸

Gerald from my hometown!

Thank yew. Thank yew.

No planned release at this time. It’s a proof of concept.

It really is.

“Whaouh!” That’s my new word of the day. Love it :)

What are you waiting for? GO GO GO!

It’s da 💣.com

The auto generate button runs a flow to get the table columns and their types. I used the EntityDefinitions endpoint in the Dataverse WebAPI.

😻

Not publicly released right now. Lack of time is the biggest factor. I need to add a few more minor features and write documentation. Most probable thing I will do next is have a user group presentation or do a live streaming session where I partially build it. And take Q&A.

For school 🏫

No, I did not share the app anywhere. Just wanted to share what I built without having to package it up and write documentation. I think it would be a good user group or livestream topic for me to demonstrate how to build.

Copy. Just making sure I didn’t miss anything

No problem.

Wha-hoo! 🍄