Exercise - Use Copilot to build a canvas app
In this exercise, you use Copilot to build a Power Apps canvas application for submitting newsworthy social media ideas to the marketing department.
Prerequisite: You must have a non-production environment with a Dataverse database installed.
Task - Create a canvas app with Copilot
In this task, you describe the app's purpose to Copilot. Based on your input, Copilot generates a draft application.
Note
This exercise includes steps to use Copilot to create an app with you. Keep in mind that, as Copilot matures, your results might be similar but not exactly the same. Prompt outcomes can vary. Try alternate prompts to get the desired outcomes. Certain product features may have moved to different locations and behaviors may have changed due to continuous product evolution. Use your best judgement in such instances. This exercise shows you the general concepts to follow as you build your own apps with an agent.
Go to Microsoft Power Apps and make sure that you have the correct environment selected.
Select Home from the upper left of the screen.
Select + Create.
On the Create your apps screen, select Start with Copilot.
Enter the following text in the text box and then select the send button:
Make an app to have employees submit newsworthy social media ideas to the marketing dept.
The agent shows you a preview of the tables and relationships it creates, including relevant sample data. Review the tables to ensure they include the expected information, such as appropriate column names, correct data types, and meaningful relationships between tables.
If a Status column isn’t created, enter add status in the Copilot prompt and select the send button.
Check whether Status was created as a dropdown or text field. Select the dropdown next to the Status column header, then select Edit column. You can also identify the column type by its icon.
If Status is a text column, enter status is options to convert it to a choices column.
Select Cancel to close the Column properties screen.
Enter Add a social content type column, a level of effort column, and an impact column. All 3 columns should be Option type columns, then select the send button.
Check the Social content type choices. If Text isn’t included, enter Please add "Text" as a choice in the Social Content Column's choices and send.
If unnecessary columns were added, enter Remove [column name] in the Copilot prompt to delete them. Consider checking whether the column is used in any formulas or app components to avoid affecting functionality or data integrity.
Make additional changes as needed. When you're ready, select Create app.
Select Skip on the welcome message if it displays.
Select the Save button to save your application.
Task - Edit a canvas app with Copilot
Select the header of the app and locate the name of the label.
Enter Make TableNameLabel1 background color light brown into the Copilot prompt and send.
Select the form on the screen and find its name (e.g., Form1).
Enter Make Form1 background #e08b3e into the Copilot prompt and send.
Note
To update the data model, add a column for content URL.
Select the Data tab.
From the table, select More actions > Edit data.
Select New column, enter Content URL for Display name, choose Single line of text as the Data type, select URL for Format, and select Save.
Refresh the data source by selecting the ellipsis next to the source and choosing Refresh.
Add the new column to the form: select the form, open the Properties pane, and then select 8 selected next to Fields.
Select Add field, choose Content URL, then select Add.
Close the Fields pane. The Content URL field should now appear.
Try making additional changes using Copilot to explore its capabilities. For example, you might prompt it to "Add a new screen for feedback" or "Change the font size of the title label to 24 pt."
Select Save to preserve your changes. If this is your first time saving, you'll be prompted to name your app.
Task - Test the application
Select the play button.
Select New and fill out the form.
Select Save. The new item should display.
Close the preview and the app designer when finished.
