Introduction to canvas apps

- [Instructor] Canvas apps allows you to build mobile or tablet apps that interact with your existing data. You can choose from hundreds of different data sources ranging from commonly used systems for business data, like Excel and SharePoint through to enterprise databases, such as SQL, Dynamics 365, or Salesforce. Here's an example of a Canvas app connected to a SharePoint list, which is being used to report and manage issues that need fixing in the workplace. The app here is connected to this SharePoint list as a live data source. And it can be used to view, edit, or add new items to the list. The app itself has three screens. We have this browse screen here, which is a list of all of the items. We have a detail screen, which allows the person to click through and see more details about the item. And we have an edit screen, which allows them to update the details or create new items that will go into the list. And if we have a look at this first screen here, there's a range of different components on the screen. We have a header, we have different icons at the top here, a search bar, and this piece here, which is called a gallery that's showing a list of the items. Each of these components can be designed down to the last pixel to give the look and feel that you want. And in chapter two of this course, we'll have a look at all of these components in greater detail and you will learn how to build this app. I can click here at the top to change the color of the header bar. This is really easy. What shall we have? How about a nice orange color in there? I can click on that heading and change the font size, weight, and style of the header. I can go into this gallery here and this is connected live to that SharePoint list. I can edit which columns are shown here, including showing an image column. And I can change the order, font, color of all of the different parts of this. I can also go in here and resize the rows in this gallery so that each one is taking up more space or squish them up a bit to fit even more on the screen. You'll see here that this gallery has a formula applied to it, which enables the searching function. Now, if you're familiar with Excel, this will look similar to formulas you've used there for sorting and filtering. This expression language is called Power Fx. And learning it is very similar to learning formulas in Excel. The formula makes reference to components in the app. You can see here that this issue tracker is the SharePoint site. And text search box here is the search box where the user will type and enter in their search terms. The icons at the top also have formulas that define their behavior. For instance, this plus icon has a formula that will navigate the user to the edit screen with a new form to receive the data. And that will be connected directly to SharePoint and create a new row in that SharePoint list. I can press play here. Let's give this a go and run the app in preview mode. I'll use the search term here. I can start typing in the letters rip and that will search for that anywhere in the list. And I can immediately see the search results. I can click through on the row that I was looking for and see more detail about what's going on with that issue. Let's say I'm the person assigned to fix this and I want to update the status, I can click here on the edit icon, change the status now to completed, and submit my update. You'll see here, if I go back to my SharePoint list, here's the ripped chest seat. Let's give that a refresh and the status is completed. A central administrator could be looking at the SharePoint list. And they can see the issue is resolved. And we can also use this app to create new issues for that list. Now, this is a very basic app we're looking at, but you can design something right down to the last pixel and it can be absolutely beautiful. Have a look at this Community App Samples gallery here for further inspiration on all sorts of things that you can do with Power Apps as you continue your learning journey. You can build Canvas apps connected to any data source to allow users to interact with your business data and you can use sophisticated design and components. We can get into images, maps, camera, pen controls, charts, and more to create beautiful-looking apps that will work with your organization's branding and requirements. What data source do you have that would benefit from having a Canvas app attached to it to give that great easy user experience from a mobile device?