The Library · Insights
Deep dives across data, automation & AI
108 in-depth articles — from Excel foundations to production machine learning. Filter by topic or difficulty to find exactly what you need.
Power AppsExpert
Canvas App Custom Component Libraries: Publishing, Versioning, and Dependency Management for Shared Enterprise UI Components
Building reusable components is only half the battle — the real challenge is managing them across environments, coordinating updates without breaking consuming apps, and establishing the governance that keeps everything coherent at scale. This deep-dive lesson covers the full lifecycle of enterprise component library management in Power Apps.
31 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Canvas App Delegation-Safe Search: Building Real-Time Filtered Galleries with StartsWith, Combo Boxes, and Server-Side Query Patterns for Large Dataverse Tables
Building a gallery search that works on 500 rows is easy. Building one that works correctly on 50,000 rows without silently missing records is a different challenge entirely. This lesson teaches you exactly which functions delegate to Dataverse, how to chain StartsWith and Combo Box selections into server-side queries, and how to validate your delegation posture before shipping.
22 min read
Power AppsFoundation
Power Apps Lookup and Dropdown Controls: Filtering Related Data and Building Cascading Selections in Canvas Apps
Learn how to build smart, responsive dropdown controls in Power Apps that filter based on each other's selections. This hands-on lesson walks you through cascading dropdowns, Combo Box configuration, and real-world data filtering patterns that eliminate bad data at the source.
15 min read
Power AppsExpert
Canvas App CI/CD with Azure DevOps: Automating Solution Export, Environment Variable Substitution, and Deployment Pipelines for Production-Grade Releases
Manual Power Platform deployments are a liability. This deep-dive lesson shows you how to build a complete Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline that exports Canvas App solutions as source artifacts, substitutes environment variables per target environment, and deploys through approval-gated stages to production — with rollback built in from day one.
26 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Canvas App Delegation Workarounds for Complex Multi-Filter Queries: Combining Local Collections, Incremental Loading, and Hybrid Server-Client Filtering to Handle Large Datasets
Delegation warnings are frustrating, but they're survivable — if you know how to architect around them. This lesson teaches you a layered, production-ready strategy for complex multi-condition filtering on large datasets in Canvas apps, combining server-first filtering, local collections, and incremental loading into a hybrid approach that scales.
21 min read
Power AppsFoundation
Power Apps Form Modes Explained: Using NewForm, EditForm, and ViewForm to Control Data Entry Behavior
Learn how to control whether your Power Apps form creates new records, edits existing ones, or displays data as read-only — using NewForm(), EditForm(), and ViewForm(). This lesson walks you through a real employee directory app, wiring up buttons, handling submission outcomes, and building dynamic UI that responds to form state.
15 min read
Power AppsExpert
Canvas App Custom Authentication Flows: Implementing OAuth 2.0 Token Acquisition, Refresh Logic, and Secure API Key Storage for Third-Party Service Integration
Learn how to implement production-grade OAuth 2.0 authentication in canvas apps, including secure token acquisition through Power Automate, proactive refresh logic, and Azure Key Vault integration — so your app never exposes credentials in formulas or browser memory. This lesson covers Client Credentials flow, Authorization Code flow architecture, static API key management, and hardened error handling for real-world third-party API integration.
30 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Canvas App Formula-Level Audit Logging: Capturing User Actions, Timestamps, and Change History to Dataverse for Compliance and Traceability
Most Canvas Apps rely on Dataverse's built-in audit log — but it doesn't capture business context, before/after field values, or read access. Learn how to build formula-level audit logging directly into your app, producing a rich, queryable change history that satisfies real compliance requirements.
22 min read
Power AppsFoundation
Power Apps Variables Explained: When to Use Global Variables, Context Variables, and Collections in Canvas Apps
Learn exactly when to reach for Set(), UpdateContext(), and Collect() in Power Apps Canvas Apps. This practical lesson walks you through realistic scenarios for each variable type and gives you a clear decision framework to avoid the most common state-management mistakes.
17 min read
Power AppsExpert
Canvas App Real-Time Collaboration Patterns: Record Locking, Conflict Detection, and Live Refresh with SignalR
Most Canvas Apps silently corrupt data the moment two users edit the same record. This deep-dive lesson teaches you to implement pessimistic record locking, ETag-based conflict detection, and Azure SignalR push notifications — building a complete real-time collaboration layer that works at production scale.
27 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Canvas App Bulk Data Operations: Multi-Record Patch, ForAll Processing, and Progress Tracking for Large Dataset Updates
Learn how to handle bulk data operations in Power Apps Canvas Apps without freezing the UI or hitting API throttle limits. This lesson covers the table-form Patch pattern, chunked ForAll processing, real-time progress tracking, and error handling for partial failures — everything you need to build production-quality bulk update screens.
19 min read
Power AppsFoundation
Understanding Power Apps Screens, Containers, and Layout Controls: Building Your First Structured App Interface
Stop fighting Power Apps' blank canvas and start building layouts that actually hold together. This lesson teaches you the screen-container-control hierarchy from first principles, so you can create structured, adaptable app interfaces with confidence. We'll build a real employee directory shell together, step by step.
16 min read