Construct a vocabulary app

  • 6 minutes

In this module, educators are introduced to terminology and skills associated with Power Apps. These skills educators use to build their own apps.

They include:

  • Making a Power App in Microsoft Teams
  • Creating a table
  • Adding form controls
  • Inserting more controls
  • Adding a connector
  • Configuring controls
  • Writing a formula

Many educators, like students, learn best by “doing.” Using these core skills in the creation of the vocabulary app provides educators with an understanding of the process.

The following vocabulary list is provided for reference. The terms and their use will soon be understood through their contextual application in the creation process.

Quick vocabulary list:

  • A connector provides a way for users to connect their accounts and apply a set of prebuilt actions and triggers to build their apps and workflows. Connectors connect apps, data, and devices in the cloud (for example, Office 365).
  • Controls are user interface (UI) elements. Many of the controls in Power Apps are similar to other apps, such as labels, text-input boxes, drop-down lists, and navigation elements.
  • A formula is created to determine how the app responds when users select a button, adjust a slider, or provide other input. Formulas may show a different screen, update a data source, or create a table that contains a subset of the data.
  • Properties configure the appearance and behavior of a control, such as height or width.
  • A record contains one or more categories of information about a person, a place, or a thing. For example, a record might contain the name, the email address, and the phone number of a single person. Other tools refer to a record as a "row" or an "item."
  • A table holds one or more records that contain the same categories of information. For example, a table might contain the names, the email addresses, and the phone numbers of 50 customers.

Photograph of a teacher and student using a device.

Prior to creating an app, it's helpful to think through all the components of the build. For instance, starting with a storyboard (a sketch of the app interface) maximizes efficiency and help with the organization of the creation process.

Make a vocabulary app

In the Power Apps in Education 101 module, learners create a student information app. In the process of creating that app, learners discover that Power Apps is dependent on a data source or data table. For the creation of that app, a data table was provided in an Excel spreadsheet, and the app was created directly on the Power Apps website.  

Power Apps data tables can also be created directly in Microsoft Teams. Apps that are created and shared in Teams are available for other Teams members to use, and Teams owners can contribute to the app or edit it. In contrast to the Excel data table that was used for the student information app created in the first module in this series, the data table for the vocabulary app we're creating in this module is made directly in Teams.

Let’s get started. It’s time to create the vocabulary app—and have fun doing it!