Massively Frustrating and Useless!!!!

[BenFrustration]

I have no idea how you dare to suggest that this whole PowerApps / Flows / Sharepoint business is in anyway user friendly enough for any user to use.  I am a database developer for a living, and I can't get any of it to work.  It's a complete and utter joke!

All I want to do is create a PowerApp page with a button that uploads a local file to OneDrive.  There are zero templates offering this very simple concept, and when I try to build it from scratch it asks for completely undefined parameters and there are absolutely no instructions or useful information anywhere to be found.  You have developed all these little seperate interconnecting programs, that only serve to make everything that much more inconvenient.  Please Help!  Please design something I can use!  

[zmikic2]

Power automate is one very buggy dysfunctional software. sometimes it works, than for a frew moments it doesn't, cannot find web page element, than it can, cannot find part of the screen to click on, and than it can for a few times,  cannot control browser. Very unreliable! This is kind of alpha-beta software.  

[jfg_developer]

PowerScrapps is great for non-programmers who want a very simple application with a design that looks like it was made by a 5 year old. Why did M$ not use the same controls as those of SharePoint? As soon as I saw the date picker control, I gave up. I develop 3x faster using SPFx + React since when I place a new element in my page I am absolutely certain that the other elements of the page will not move on their own.

[michaelgaci]

And six years later it's still absolutely garbage. I can't even do something simple like let someone else in my organization use the app I've built, I have no idea why or how to grant them a license, or increase capacity. This is terrible, I would have an easier time learning full stack development and doing this all myself. What a joke.

[DeanM1985]

The most frustrating and user-unfriendly piece of software I've ever had to use. Nothing is intuitive, EVERYTHING requires writing code (so that claim of being low-code/no-code is a blatant lie), and there's no good documentation for pretty much anything.

Basic functionality between two MS products, like SharePoint and PowerApps still takes all kinds of workarounds and custom code to get functional because Microsoft apparently has never used their own products, or any products, and has no idea how people want to use things or how computers even work.

[Gogitow]

Agreed.  I can do things with a few lines of VB code in Excel that can't seem to be replicated in Power Automate without an extensive amount of 'boxes'.  Thus far the only thing I've found it useful for is saving email attachments into generic folders on Sharepoint.  I've been attempting to figure out how to save those files into folders based on a date in the attachment name with no luck at all.  Meanwhile, I already have this coded in VB.

[Mikemcc]

Agreed.  The entire design environment is absolutely AWFUL, it makes the VBA code editor look positively wonderful.

That it adds in endless Apply To Each loops even when I have filtered to have one record, that the expression editor is like typing through a letterbox, that the error messages are commonly that step so-and-so has failed... (and... WHY!?). It's sluggish to develop in too.   It's just horrible, it takes me an age to develop anything beyond absolute basic e-mail reminders.

A case in point. I am developing a flow that opens an excel file from SharePoint and cycles through each line in turn, copies four values from each line and copies them to the relevant columns in a matching SharePoint List.  8 hours of utter frustration latter, it's still not working. I have to use it, but I loathe it with a vengeance.

[Jamoy1993]

I am a full stack developer and i have to agree. We are being forced to use this stuff by non programmers and every single developer in our team is capable of developing bespoke applications over various languages and libraries.

The only way i can explain my experience of the power platform is: Imagine you are a plumber, and you can weld custom fitting bespoke pipe layouts. Then suddenly you are not allowed to weld anymore and are forced to use fixed length pipes and push to fit fittings.

Essentially power apps and power automate is like being asked to put a screw in with a hammer. Yes it works, but its not optimal or no where near the finesse of traditional software development cycles.

[poweractivate]

@Jamoy1993 In your view what would be some things that would make Power Apps and Power Automate feel less like that to you for your particular scenarios?

[BenCW]

From my point of view… The problem with powerapps is that it is too simplistic and limiting for the greenest developer level user and too complicated for a casual user. It exists in this wholly useless middle ground that fits no one’s needs. It’s very counterintuitive, and the claim that it is no code or low code is a complete lie.  The code is hidden in the properties panel behind each object.  It works backwards to how all other database systems work. And it’s written in its own language that MS won’t explain to you within the app using a simple wizard – you just have to google everything and hope that some other fool has been forced to adopt the platform as well.  Plus if you don’t type this “low” code in manually – it may not work at all, even if it’s written perfectly.  So no copy/pasting code in.  As you type, it appears to grab references write it’s own hidden code in the background to connect your references to real data.  It’s skeezy to put it simple. They’re trying to make it out to be much more than it is.  If you don’t use one of their pre-made templates – you’ll never make something that fully works.  They just need to beef up MS Access for 365 and make it even better.  It’s a program that makes sense, it does reporting and data entry, plus there’s a TON of information out there about how to use it and it can do everything a pro or casual user could need. 

[soft888]

indeed power automate is worst tool I have ever work on. I am a RPA architect and have working experience with various other RPA tools such as Blue Prism, UiPath, Automation Anywhere for some extent but I have never been frustrated as I am not using this tool. this is most unreliable tool you can think of and the worst part is the tool selection was from customer so I don;t have choice to change it. 

[Jamoy1993]

For one, i would stop this citizen developer ideology. Its punishing skilled developers in the hopes that average people are going to have the time, will and technical knowledge to even attempt making their own stuff.

I would also allow programmers to use actual languages like C# and C++ opposed to scripting languages for a start, tying into my plumbing analogy.

[murbro9]

I completely agree. Microsoft have really screwed up. This crap is overcomplicated, clunky and pathetic. I have been a Microsoft developer for over 20 years and I am disgusted at how poor this is

[data_boy]

I have to agree with all of the criticisms here. It is absolutely shocking to me, as a SQL developer, that so many of these choices were made. Why on earth does a table need a display name, a plural name, a schema name, a logical name, AND an Entity Set Name? Microsoft has SSMS so why on earth does Dynamics/Power Automate work like this?

I am positive any given layman could learn to make a SQL trigger to insert a row into table A based upon x criteria from table B. I have been failing at what should be an insanely simple task for days now. It's horrible for any CRUD operations other than, maybe, read. 

I haven't been this frustrated with software or even been this unsuccessful with anything my entire life.

[CD00131]

It takes a little to get warm with it.