Power Apps Cards - When do they suit you?

I don't know if you are familiar with cards for Power Apps and what they can offer, but for me, they are worth considering as a solution for some use cases.

Let's dive in and understand what those can be.

What are cards, and what can they be used for?

Power Apps cards offer an alternative to canvas apps when there's minimal user input and Teams is the sharing method.

Let's call them "micro apps" that are built in a designer studio that is very similar to the canvas designer studio and can include business logic with PowerFx formulas.

What are some scenarios that cards can be considered for?

• Gather a list of ideas
• Run a poll
• Display information from a Dataverse record
• An alternative to approval cards

What cards can't do?

It's important to understand what are the limitations of cards before considering them as a solution for a scenario:

• Default() PowerFx formula is NOT available: this means that you can only update existing records, you can't create new ones.
• Dataverse is the sole source available: at the moment, no other data source is available.
• Limited PowerFx options: only a few expressions are available, such as Set and Collect
• Teams only: you can share the cards only in a channel or a chat

How does the river flow?

Just as the river often decides the outcome of a Poker hand, I think that recent updates released for Power Apps cards are an indication of the potential for more and more use cases where they could be considered.

It is now possible to include cards in Power Automate cloud flows, providing considerations such as creating a card instance based on a new record created or on a predetermined event and sending that card in a Teams chat or channel.

With the use of "customizable" variables, the card can be adapted based on the input provided from within the flow. Think of the ID of a record that allows you to display information from a Dataverse record and request an update from the user...

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