Coffee Flex - Get matched for a coffee break with a random colleague 04-06-2021 16:11 PM - last edited 01-22-2022 07:53 AM

[FabianAckeret]

Hey guys

Intro

Think of tinder for virtual coffee breaks. That's more or less what it is.

As a user, you need to register yourself to be in the pool of "registered users". Once you're registered, you're eligible to search for a possible coffee-match AND others can be matched with YOU.  It's as easy as clicking on a button. The app will then filter out registered users that are not eligible for a match. It will then present you with a matched user and will also suggest timeslots for a coffee. You can even see if the user is available on suggested timeslots. If not, just let it generate new timeslots for you.

Who is not eligible

Not eligible users could be:

• users who had already a coffee match today
• users who had already a coffee match yesterday
• users who have a coffee match planned for tomorrow

I'm planning to improve the conditions even further so users can choose, perhaps, their department to be matched with, their preferred timings, etc. For now, it's just what I stated above.

Connections

Coffee Flex needs the following connections:

• Office 365 Users (to find the profile of matched user)
• Office 365 Outlook (to send invitations to the matched user)
• Microsoft Teams (to generate a teams invitation)

Tables

Apart from that, it's also using two tables:

• Registered Users (includes all users that have clicked on the Register button
• Matches (includes all matches the app has made)

How to install it

1. Open MS Teams
2. In the App Store, search and open Power Apps
3. Create a new app or use an existing environment
4. Once you're in the right environment, click on See all to see all assets in that environment
5. From there, click on Import at the top
6. Upload the attached zip (see below) and confirm.
7. Wait for it to be imported
8. Open the Coffee Flex app and ensure everything works

How to configure colors & invitation message

In the App.OnStart property, you can change the gblInvitationMessage variable to any HTML text you like. This is the one that is being used when an invitation will be sent (to the matched user).

To change the colors, simply adjust the colors in the colStyles library. The most important ones are primaryAccent.Fill, light.BorderColor, background.Fill, background.BorderColor, gradient, darkGradient, and lightGradient

I hope you like it.

If you have feedback, bugs, just want to say thank you or anything in between, please let me know and drop a comment.

[Marone]

Hi Fabian,

I love the idea! I am a little bit stuck though. 

Can you please explain more about the connection to the tables?

I get the following errors, do I need to adjust something in the code? 

Thanks for your help and this great app!

[FabianAckeret]

Hi @Marone 

Interesting.... and thanks for reporting. I tested the import on 2 of my test tenants and it worked seamlessly. 

Did you import the solution into a Dataverse for Teams environment? 

If so, in that environment, what tables exist? There should be two tables available:

• Matches
• Registered Users

If they exist, try to remove and re-add them in the app itself.

[fabiofrota]

Hi Fabian

I'm unable to find the import option in Power Apps in Teams. Do you have a screenshot of that step?

[FabianAckeret]

Hi @fabiofrota 

right here:

Kind regards,

Fabian

[fabiofrota]

Thanks @FabianAckeret !
I'll give it a try and let you know how it is

[CookiePower]

Thanks for the great app. Is there a way for it to use SharePoint Lists?

[FabianAckeret]

Hi @CookiePower 

The app is built on Dataverse 4 teams, but if you like, you can change it to SharePoint lists. However, some of the code is making use of the relational database. Those parts you'd need to adjust as well.

Is there a reason you'd like to use SharePoint Lists in particular?

[mate_toth]

@FabianAckeret This looks great! Well done! 🙂

I've built something similar last year, during our first lockdown in Hungary using SP Lists, Power Apps and Power Automate.

It had a weekly random matching for the registered users, who then received an email, and could book a timeslot. I've implemented a timeslot finder into the app as well (showing only the available timeslot for you two), but it was extremely underused, so I removed it after few months. 😀

[FabianAckeret]

Hi @mate_toth 

Thanks! 

I was thinking about a weekly random matching as well... or even offer the option to invite others as well. Maybe even have preferred times for coffee breaks and to only be matched during these times.

The timeslot finder is also implemented into this one... given that you're using Exchange Online. The suggested timings are based on each users calendar.

Cheers 🙂