Power Apps is a high-productivity development platform for business apps, and has four major components:
Canvas apps
Model-driven apps
Cards (preview)
Microsoft Dataverse
Let's learn more about each of these.
Canvas apps
Canvas apps start with your user experience, crafting a highly tailored interface with the power of a blank canvas and connecting it to your choice of more than 200 data sources. You can build canvas apps for web, mobile, and tablet applications.
Canvas apps give you the flexibility to arrange the user experience and interface the way you want it. Allow your creativity and business sense to guide how you want your apps to look and feel.
You can start to build your app from Microsoft tools where your data lives, such as:
Model-driven apps start with your data model – building up from the shape of your core business data and processes in the Dataverse to model forms, views, and other components. Model-driven apps automatically generate great UI that's responsive across devices.
When you create a model-driven app, you can use all the power of the Dataverse to rapidly configure your forms, business rules, and process flows. You create a model-driven app from the Power Apps site.
As part of the custom page public preview, the new page type based on canvas can be added into a new or existing model-driven app. This allows the power and flexibility of a canvas experience within the model-driven app. Custom pages allow
Full control over page layout
Out of box controls and custom components
Power Apps connectors
Low-code authoring
Getting started with model-driven apps is simple. You can begin with these topics:
Cards (preview) are micro-apps with lightweight UI elements that can be used across multiple applications that doesn't require any coding or IT expertise. You can quickly design and develop cards that can surface business data through Power Platform connectors, or use your own business logic for more customization.
Get started with cards (preview) with these topics:
Dataverse is the data platform that comes with Power Apps and allows you to store and model business data. It's the platform on which Dynamics 365 apps (such as Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Marketing, and Project Service Automation) are built. If you’re a Dynamics 365 customer, your data is already in Dataverse.
Dataverse allows you to securely store and manage data within a set of standard and custom tables, and you can add columns to those tables when you need them.
Start working with Dataverse by reading these topics:
Do you want to create apps to help make your business more efficient? Then, this path is for you. It introduces you to Power Apps, helps you create and customize an app, and then manage and distribute it.
Demonstrate the business value and product capabilities of Microsoft Power Platform, such as Power Apps, data connections with Dataverse, and Power Automate.