Creating Apps from SharePoint

In the previous chapters, we have looked at how we can create a new canvas app from a blank canvas. In this chapter, we will investigate the relationship between PowerApps and SharePoint, and how you can quickly and effectively create apps based on your data.

In the past, customized interfaces for SharePoint have been created using InfoPath or by using customizations such as web parts to allow a richer creation and edit experience. While InfoPath still exists and will still work with Office 365, the user experience of the created forms, which has its own styles and is not mobile responsive, means that it did not really fit into the bigger Office 365 picture. PowerApps is now starting to fill the void for that lack of tooling for creating customized forms.

To create an app from your data stored within SharePoint, you will first of all need to have a list that contains the fields that you wish to pull through into your app. The ability to create an app directly from SharePoint is only available if you are using the modern SharePoint user experience, so classic lists such as tasks will not support this approach.

I should point out that you can still use classic lists as a data source, it is only the app generation that requires the modern user experience.

In this chapter, we will be covering the following topics:

• Preparing your list within SharePoint
• Automatically generating an app from SharePoint
• Customizing SharePoint forms

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to quickly and easily generate PowerApps that will serve as an interface to your SharePoint lists. This will take the form of a standalone app for your phone or will allow you to recreate the input forms for your list items.