PowerApps has great potential and already has a running start. But it has to nail the embedded story. If the integration of SharePoint and PowerApps is going to be *really* successful and gain the love of SharePoint users it needs to be easy and seamless. That means when a user selects a PowerApp in SharePoint it\u2019s not going to jump to another application. It needs to run within the SharePoint interface. <\/p>\n
So why do I list \u2018embedded\u2019 twice? Not because I really, really want it (I do) \u2013 but because there are (at least) two distinct embedded use cases: <\/p>\n
Embedded Forms<\/h3>\n
EVERYONE has been talking about forms \u2013 which is well and good. They should be talking. They should (and have) been yelling. The gap is obvious and a solution is WAY overdue. With the scheduled end of InfoPath and the rudely un<\/em>scheduled end of SharePoint Designer\u2019s (SPD) visual designer, users have been left with one of the community\u2019s longest and most obvious gaps. Thanks to third-party offerings (K2<\/a>, Nintex<\/a>, etc.) and community-efforts (Stratus Forms<\/a>, etc.) certain needs have been met, but there are still gaps and it\u2019s been far too long for a Microsoft-sponsored solution for business and power users. <\/p>\n Note: I don\u2019t want this coming off as an anti-Microsoft rant. That is definitely not my intent. There were plenty of reasons for the delay. What they want to do and need to do is not trivial and the standards are extremely high. The integration we\u2019re talking about also requires collaboration (see what I did there?) between two separate, complex, and rapidly changing products and teams. The PowerApps and SharePoint teams are also in different reporting structures within Microsoft. Fortunately both teams understand how important it is to get this particular integration done. The good thing is that there are many indications that this time around they\u2019re going to make it \u2013 and maybe even exceed your expectations. <\/p>\n PowerApps needs to be able to replace existing SharePoint forms \u2013 the standard New, Edit, and Display forms \u2013 as well as add additional forms to a list or library. Form editing needs to be easy and intuitive in terms of which fields are displayed, how fields are laid out and formatted. Beyond that, there are plenty of other features we\u2019d love to see, but the ones listed here are the core. Talk to anyone that\u2019s used InfoPath or SPD and you\u2019ll quickly get a list of wanted features. <\/p>\n We have every indication that Forms and the embedded experience will be addressed. Microsoft has gone as far as announcing that PowerApps IS the replacement for InfoPath. It is important to remember however that the features are coming iteratively, little by little, but continuously. So be patient.<\/p>\n The embedded story that folks aren\u2019t talking about as much is for Views. SharePoint views have historically been a powerful tool for business users. And while they are powerful out of the box, power users continue to find that they\u2019d like to extend views beyond the out of box capabilities, and extend without<\/em> involving developers when they are able. <\/p>\n Again, power users were once able to do some limited, yet still extremely useful, view customizations with SPD, but lost that power with the deprecation of the designer view. For the last few years, some customizations were again available using Client-Side Rendering (CSR) and the JS Link property of web parts. While extremely flexible, this approach was beyond most typical business users as it crept into a grey area between out of the box and \u2018real\u2019 customization and development. The approach never gained mainstream support or adoption. Now, as O365 continues to mature and lock down features that have the capability to jeopardize platform stability, CSR and JS Link are also going away from fringe power users and exclusively back into the hands of developers (good for the platform, unfortunate for those that were using it). <\/p>\n Users need a way to get the benefit of SharePoint views, specifically choosing a list of fields, the order of the fields in a grid or spreadsheet format, the filter for the list of items, and how they are sorted. Once those core features are available they\u2019re going to want the ability to customize that view using PowerApps\u2019 ability to change field formats, apply conditional formatting, and other rules. <\/p>\n PowerApps today are surfaced in O365 SharePoint Online via the view dropdown. <\/p>\nEmbedded Views<\/h3>\n
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