Resources for learning about Reusable Components

[Anonymous]

This post will provide some resources for getting started with the new PowerApps component feature. By: Mehdi Slaoui Andaloussi, Principle Program Manager

Before we delve into individual components, I would like to share 2 guiding principles we used as much as possible when building these controls.

1) A reusable control should offer a degree of customization and flexibility so that consumers of the controls do not need to delve into the component’s internal implementation in order to meet their requirements.

2) The interface of the control should remain simple and clean. By interface here, I mean the input and output parameters of the components.  One has to carefully consider which input parameters are worth exposing. There is a balance between providing a flexible controls and over bloating the control with too many parameters (Interface bloat).

To follow these 2 principles, we used a simple strategy where exposed only important input parameters and used a generic Styles property (a value-pair collection) to include more refined style-related parameters that are useful for those who want to further change the look and feel of the control.

You can download the demo app package here and the individual components here.

Special Thanks to Denise Moran for her contribution to this v1 iteration. You too can be a contributor. Head over to the PowerApps tools github and join the community in adding your own components.

Here is an overview of the components:

As a prerequisite, check out Yifie Wang’s blog post introducing the PowerApps components feature and Brian Dang’s “start your journey with components” blog post that includes instructions on importing/exporting components and more.