Burgers & Bytes

Our artificial future - book review #1

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Most of the blogs I write are about Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and how to apply technology in a practical way within organizations. Concrete, hands-on, and usually quite technical.

This year, I want to add something to that mix: occasionally stepping back and reflecting on the other side of technology.

One of the first books I read with that goal in mind is Onze kunstmatige toekomst: wat wij willen met AI (en AI met ons) (in English: Our Artificial Future – What we want with AI and what AI wants with us) by Joris Krijger. It’s not a guide on how to implement AI, but a book that forces you to think about what AI does to our society, our decision-making, and ultimately to ourselves.

How AI Builder helped me solve a very practical Power Platform problem

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

AI Builder is a feature within the Microsoft Power Platform that allows you to create and use AI models to automate and optimize business processes. You’ll often see impressive demos: invoices, receipts, images, predictions.

But this blog is not about a complex AI use case. It’s about a very down-to-earth, real-life problem that you may recognize.

And that’s exactly why I’m sharing it.

Context: AI-first… but still practical

At the company I work for, we have an “AI-first” strategy. Sounds great (and it is) but if I’m honest, my first instinct is often:

The importance of testing in low-code development

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Testing in low-code

To start with the most important message: it’s not a final phase, it’s a mindset.

Low-code moves fast. Really fast.
The business wants features, users want improvements, and the market wants updates yesterday.

But here’s the punchline:
Testing doesn’t slow you down, it prevents you from crashing later.

Speed vs. quality

Low-code teams often feel the pressure to ship quickly. New apps, new capabilities, new ideas.
But speed without quality?

The demo shift: from FAB to BAF

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s be honest. You can prepare your demo perfectly.

You’ve tested the feature ten times. You’ve got a backup video, screenshots, even a second laptop ready, just in case the Wi-Fi doesn’t work.

But here’s the thing: Even if everything works flawlessly, your demo can still fall flat.

Because a technically perfect demo isn’t necessarily a memorable one. Without a story, your audience might remember what you did, but not why it mattered.

Advanced Dataverse Functions

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In my previous blog , I introduced Dataverse Functions and covered the basics: what they are, how to create them, and why they matter for low-code developers.
Today, we’re taking things to the next level.

We’re going to build a sophisticated notification system that sends real-time, in-app notifications from a Canvas App to a Model-Driven App.

👉 Imagine this: a user submits an expense in a Canvas App, and immediately, an admin sees a notification in their Model-Driven App with a direct link to review it.

Unlocking Dataverse Functions

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We low-code developers share a common goal: we want to code less but achieve more. For years, extending business logic in the Power Platform meant either diving into full C# plugins or creating complex JavaScript web resources—both requiring pro-code skills that many makers don’t have (or want to develop).

Enter Dataverse Functions. These powerful low-code capabilities let you extend your business logic without writing a single line of C# code. Instead, you use familiar Power Fx expressions to create reusable, performant, and maintainable logic that works across your entire Power Platform ecosystem.

Color = context. Work smarter, avoid mistakes

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Ever clicked in your app and wondered: Am I in DEV or PRD now?
Mistakes happen. Mis-clicks happen. And worst case: you update data in the wrong environment.

In this blog: a simple pattern to make your app visually aware — based on environment.

🎯 The idea in short

Create an environment variable (e.g. CurrentEnvironment) with possible values DEV, ACC, PRD
In your app, use logic to pick a color based on that value
Result: the UI itself signals which environment you’re in

Color = Context. Work smarter, avoid mistakes.

🎯 From idea to action: smart prioritization with business value analysis

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Power Platform adoption isn’t just about collecting ideas: it’s about choosing the right ideas. And that’s where many organizations get stuck.

After setting up a clear submission process and using a structured business case , the next challenge emerges: Which ideas do you tackle first?

The problem: too many good ideas

💡A good idea isn’t necessarily a good plan.

With the Power Platform, you can build something incredibly fast. And that makes it tempting to just start. Quickly create an app, click together a flow… done!

Export Dataverse data to Excel triggered from Canvas app

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

Over a year ago I already wrote stated something we jokingly say: “What is the most frequently used functionality of an ERP system?”, with as the answer: “…the export to Excel”.

It is still an often request, which is there by default while creating a Model Driven app, while end-users often would like to export data in a Canvas app as well. This blog describes how to create a Power Automate flow which you can trigger via Canvas app to export the data from Dataverse into Excel.

Manipulate JSON objects or arrays: using setProperty/addProperty

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In Power Automate, working with JSON objects and arrays is essential for building advanced, scalable, and maintainable flows. JSON acts as the backbone of data exchange, allowing you to represent structured information flexibly.

Two powerful expressions—setProperty() and addProperty()—unlock the ability to dynamically update, expand, and manipulate JSON objects.

This article explores what these functions do, why they matter, and how you can apply them in real-world automation scenarios.

Why Manipulate JSON in Power Automate?

Before diving into the syntax, let’s answer the bigger question: why bother manipulating JSON at all?

What Mario Kart teaches us about user experience

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Picture this: you open a Power App. It works? Sure. But you’re not sure where to click, the colors are clashing, and you feel… a bit lost. Sound familiar? This is exactly why UX in low-code apps is not just a “nice to have,” but crucial for adoption.

🎮 Mario Kart as a UX teacher

Take Mario Kart. Yes, that cheerful racing game. Without realizing it, it teaches you a UX lesson: visuals guide behavior.

FastTrack Recognized Solution Architect 2025

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A very special blog to me personal this time!

Something pretty cool: I became a FastTrack Recognized Solution Architect (FTRSA) for Power Apps accepted by Microsoft. 🎉 It’s one of those titles that sounds great on LinkedIn, but behind it is actually a lot of work, learning, and collaboration. In this blog, I’ll explain what the program is about, how I got there.

What is the FastTrack Recognized Solution Architect program?

Let’s start with the basics. The FTRSA program is Microsoft’s way of recognizing solution architects who work with the Power Platform. It’s not something you apply for like a regular certification, nomination is based on real-world work: large, complex implementations, adherence to best practices, and technical and functional knowledge.

AI is not the consultant. You are.

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Why persuasive power, real-time communication, and human ownership are more important than ever in the AI era.

The power of the conversation

You know the drill: you’re sitting with a client, or leading a workshop. The report is solid, the numbers check out. But it’s not until you explain it; in your own words, your own framing, your own nuance, that the message actually lands.

Consulting isn’t Wikipedia with a tie. It’s a human craft.

Power Apps: Flexible security setup based on Power Platform Teams

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

The Power App Canvas stores information about multiple products that a company sells. Product managers are responsible for their own product, so that product they need to be able to edit and only view other products.

As data source Dataverse is used, so of course row level security can be applied on the table level, but in the app the user feedback needs to be clear that they are not able to edit product information that they are not allowed of.

European BizApps Summit; My top 3 and some more...

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Two years ago where it all started at the European Collaboration Summit 2023 I started my first blog .

Next to I added something to my bucket list: presenting on the event myself, just as a personal challenge.

Fast forward to now: this blog is the result of both goals in action. Last week, I got to speak at European BizApps Summit 2025 together with Albert-Jan Schot.

Keynote and sessions

Marco Casalaina kicked things off during keynote with cool demos. Realtime translation of spoken voice — and it automatically detected the language. It just knew. Pretty impressive.

💡From business case to business value with the Power Platform

Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:02 +0000

Power Platform adoption doesn’t start with a full-fledged governance strategy—it starts when people begin experimenting. Even before you’ve set up a Landing Zone or Center of Excellence, there’s often already momentum. That’s a great thing.

But inspiration alone isn’t enough. What many organizations miss is giving employees a path from idea to implementation. That means making it easy to propose, shape, and justify a solution. And that’s where a simple business case one-pager comes in.

💥From idea to impact: kickstarting Power Platform adoption

Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:01 +0000

Power Platform adoption starts with building the business case

There are plenty of opportunities to add value with the Power Platform. And interestingly, user adoption often begins even before anything is officially in place.

As an introduction to the Power Platform, organizations can offer anything from “App in a Day” workshops and lunch-and-learn sessions to learning pages on the intranet—anything that inspires employees. Fantastic! But what’s often overlooked is that concepts and ideas gets lost. So, give employees a clear path from experimentation to real results.

When chatbots feel human

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of months ago I wrote my first blog as a reflection on AI. This second piece continues that exploration, this time focusing on the part that fascinates (and unsettles) me most: the feeling that chatbots are becoming human.

AI at work vs. daily life

In my work, I encounter AI on a daily basis—not just in the tools and technologies we use, but also in the enthusiasm of people who work with it. At the same time, I see a stark contrast in my personal life. Many people around me haven’t really tried with AI at all. Some of them consciously avoid it, but many simply don’t know how it could be useful to them.

Display the version history of Dataverse records in Power Apps

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In SharePoint users are used to see version history of files and items. In Dataverse this isn’t there by default. In a Model Driven app the audit history is visible as related table on the form, this blog describes how to make it possible to make this available in a Canvas App just like we are used in SharePoint.

Endresult

The endresult on which a user can select an item and the flow will retrieve the version history data.

Price winning solution: AI-Driven archiving of SharePoint Sites

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A very special blog this time! Together with my teammembers from Blis Digital we participated in the Powerful Devs Hack 2025. This hackathon was organized by Microsoft and could shortly described by:

“It’s time to start developing secure solutions at enterprise scale using the power of AI and the Power Platform! 🤖 + 📚 = 🔥”

There were different categories to participate in and all projects were evaluated by a panel of judges against technologies and languages, using the following aspects:

Provision SharePoint agents using Power Automate

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

On a SharePoint front page or document library you can create a SharePoint agent. Totally fine for just creating a couple, but what if the scenario requires the same SharePoint agent setup on a lot of sites. In that case you would automatically want to provision those agents. This way you can immediately impact the behavior, change the default of the welcome message, starter prompts and instructions for the agent. This blog describes how this can be achieved using Power Automate Flow.

Provision Perfect Pipeline

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

During the Global Power Platform Bootcamp Belgium together with Albert-Jan Schot I presented a session titled ‘Provision Perfect Pipelines’. A part of the session was the demo of a script to automatically provision a pipeline setup using the in product Deployment Pipeline Configuration.

Scenario

We have a project called Projecthub which uses three different environments:

Projecthub-Dev
Projecthub-QA
Projecthub-Prod

For this project we want to have pipeline to be able to move solutions from Dev to QA and from QA to Prod.

Improving performance insights using Apdex

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

Ever heard users complain about the sluggishness of your Power Automate flow? But how do we know if that complaint is based on actual performance or just a feeling?

In this blog, we’ll explore how to move from subjective complaints to objective insights by using Apdex scores to evaluate Power Automate flow performance.

What is Apdex and how does it help in measuring flow performance?

Apdex Overview

Apdex (Application Performance Index) is a standardized way of measuring user satisfaction with application performance. It uses a scoring system that tracks how long it takes for a flow to respond, translating that into a more user-experience-oriented metric.

Import solution missing dependencies error

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Issue

Encountering errors while deploying solutions can be a frustrating experience. The errors I received during my first attempt to export and import the solution were difficult to understand. Despite having all the necessary dependent objects included in the solution, the import still failed.

The error message: “The solution.xml for the solution xxx contains an unmanaged dependency on the Active solution with type 1, schemaName her_camp, displayName Camp. A solution will fail to import in a target environment when missing dependencies on unmanaged components are present.”

Filter and search data in a gallery

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

One of the features often used in Power Apps is the gallery, which typically requires filtering and search functionality. Initially, you might set up a gallery with just two filters and a search box. However, as you continue developing, end-users often request additional filtering options. Time and time again, I found it challenging to easily implement these extra filters. That’s when I realized it was time to document my approach; hopefully, you can benefit from it too.

Spinner loading text

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

As a user you want to work an app as fast as possible. While developing an app you’re always working on performance. Next to the actual performance you can improve the user experience. One way to improve the experience is by adding dynamic text during loading screens. This blog will guide you through the process of adding random text to a loading spinner.

End results

The end result is a spinner of which the text of the label randomly changes.

Power Apps: word cloud

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Out-of-the-box there is no word cloud possibility in Power Apps. This blog describes how to create your own flexible word cloud without importing third parties tools or use of external code. It’s easier than you might think!

☁️What Is a Word Cloud?

A word cloud is a visual representation of text data, where the size of each word indicates its frequency or importance. These types of visualizations are perfect for displaying topics, themes, or even feedback in a way that’s easy to digest. In simple terms: it’s a cloud made of words, and some of those words are bigger because they matter more.

Power Pages: visual message indicator

Sun, 24 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

End result

The end result is an envelop icon in which a counter displays the number of messages for the current logged in contact.

Datamodel

Simplified view of the datamodel, just to support the understanding of the technical setup.

Content snippet

To accomplish this, start by creating an HTML content snippet. This snippet will serve as the foundation for counting the number of messages and displaying the envelop icon.

Dynamically show/hide elements in Adaptive Cards

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It took me hours to figure this out, so here’s to saving you time!

After spending hours trying to figure this out, I figured it’s time to write it down. Hopefully, this post will save you some time and frustration, so you don’t have to go through the same process I did!

Designing an Adaptive Card

Designing an Adaptive Card using the Adaptive Cards Designer is surprisingly easy. You can create interactive cards with just a few clicks!

Progress bar in Power Apps Canvas

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Having a good user experience is key, especially in app design. A nicely done progress bar in Power Apps can really boost this experience by giving users a clear and easy way to see their progress through various tasks. Whether they’re filling out forms, working through workflows, or going through multi-step procedures, a simple progress bar helps users know exactly where they are in the process.

What’s great about this progress bar is how it adjusts to fit the input table. This means you can customize the number of steps based on what the user needs and the data they’re working with, making sure the progress bar stays useful and relevant. Starting with a home icon at the beginning and ending with a save icon at the last step.

Between innovation and ethical dilemma

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Until now, I have avoided writing about the topic of ‘AI’. This was a conscious choice, since I feel that everyone is already writing about this and you almost get ‘AI tired’ by now. Nevertheless, in a short period of time I came across a number of things that inspired me to write down my thoughts on the subject. Think of it as a diary text, nice to read back years later (or in this AI era, after a few months) and then look: ‘wow, that was still old-fashioned, they should have known back then…’.

Personal view for a Power Apps gallery

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In SharePoint lists, we’re familiar to creating both shared views for all users and personal views tailored to individual preferences. As you develop Power Apps, you might frequently ask, “Can I create a custom view just for me?” Users often need different information displayed in their views. This blog explains how you can accomplish this in Power Apps!

End result

The end result is a gallery including a header for which users can create their own view or use the default view.

Rename OneNote Sections using Power Automate

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I wrote a blog regarding renaming OneNote sections based on a renamed channelname using PowerShell . In this blog same scenario is done using Power Automate.

The flow iterates iterates through all channels to determine changes.

Scenario

A new Team comes with a OneNote and every new channel gets it’s own OneNote section with the display name of the channel. When the name of the channel is modified, the name of the OneNote section isn’t updated automatically.

Rename OneNote Sections using Powershell

Sat, 10 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

When a new Team is created, a OneNote is automatically generated, and each new channel receives its own section in OneNote, named after the channel. However, if the channel name is changed, the corresponding OneNote section name does not update automatically.

This blog explains how to use PowerShell to programmatically synchronize the channel name with the associated OneNote section name.

Example

The Team contains several channels: Every channel has its own Notes tab with an associated OneNote Section.

SharePoint column formatting: visualize status cards

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A visually appealing presentation helps in swiftly and clearly grasping information at a glance. Users can capture a lot of information in SharePoint, where you can stick to just capturing it, but by taking a moment to consider the possibilities of view, row and column formatting, users can realize significant benefits.

One common data element frequently recorded in a column is the “status”. By using the standard column formatting nowadays you can easily assign a different color to each status:

Automated plugin: different triggers with different actions

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Side note: As of writing this blog, Dataverse low-code plugins are still in preview.

In the Dataverse Accelerator app, you have the opportunity to create plugins. This blog focuses on the possibilities of automated plugins.

After selecting a table, you can choose different types of triggers: when a row is created, updated, or deleted. To get information about existing records, you can’t use ThisItem or ThisRecord, and Set behaves differently compared to Power Apps Canvas.

Automated Dataverse low-code plugin

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Side note: while writing this blog Dataverse low-code plugins are still in preview.

Scenario

This blog explores a real-world business scenario involving multiple meeting rooms where CO₂ levels are monitored throughout the day. These measurements indicate the presence of people in the rooms. By correlating this data with the meeting room reservations, we can infer the room occupancy.

End result

The end result is a Power App in which a calender view is available in which you can see whether a meetingroom was occupied during the meeting or not. (due to the requirement to have calender view with different colors PowerBI wasn’t suitable)

From Markdown syntax hyperlink to HTML link

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

This blogs scenario is regarding a plain multi line text input in which no rich text was allowed. Requirement was just one exception to have the ability to have clickable hyperlinks.

In the Dataverse table no html is stored only plain text, so using a markdown syntax notation was the solution.

Markdown syntax for a hyperlink is square brackets followed by parentheses. The square brackets hold the text, the parentheses hold the link.

Dynamics forms: tabular question type

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dynamics Forms

Inspired by Matthey Devaney , a fully dynamic form was created in Power Apps, incorporating various question types like toggles, text inputs, and comboboxes. Everything worked smoothly until the need for tabular questions came along.

For these tabular questions, the requirement was to allow flexible setup of the question and definition of table headers, enabling end users to enter their answers in the rows below. This challenge is now ready to be addressed 💪🏻.

Power Apps: Transpose Excel Data using Power Fx

Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A lot of business processes are supported by data stored in Excel sheets. Working with Power Apps often eliminates the use of an Excel sheet, but in some cases the data needs to be stored into an Excel sheet.

In this blog the concept of transposing the data from an Excel table will be described, so you can use this data throughout the app.

Scenario

As an input there is an Excel table in which there are multiple rows and multiple columns. The first column has the Country value in it and the other columns describes the products of that Country.

PowerFx: Overcome time zone conversion error in Dataverse Formula column

Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

In a Dataverse table you have a date column of which you want to extract the Year, Month, Day or Weekday using a Formula column. While doing this the following error appears: “cannot be performed on this input without a time zone conversion, which is not supported in formula columns.”

Solution

Go to the created Date column and check the ‘Time zone adjustment’. It’s probably set to ‘User local’. Switch the Time zone adjustment (Advanced options) to ‘Time zone independent’ or ‘Date only’.

Dynamic horizontal header part 2: flexible horizontal scrolling

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:00:02 +0000

In Excel we are quite familiar with a the functionality to freeze a row and a column. In Power App Canvas this can be more challenging. In this blog serie of two blogs a solution for Power Apps will be explained.

The first blog the setup to create a header and nested galleries are explained
This (second) blog shows how to create a dynamic horizontal scrolling header.

Set up

See blog part 1 to have the setup in which the basic of the three galleries are created.

Dynamic horizontal header part 1: static header

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:00:01 +0000

This blog: the setup to create a header and nested galleries
The second blog shows how to create a dynamic horizontal scrolling header.

Context

The academic course catalog offers a timeline that illustrates the availability of courses across multiple years, with the main section displaying a horizontal representation of courses available per academic years.

A solid foundation of the Power Platform

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations often find themselves relying on outdated Excel-based processes, which pose significant risks. However, with the emergence of the Power Platform, a revolutionary low-code development platform, there is a transformative solution at hand. This blog explores the potential of the Power Platform in streamlining operations, mitigating risks, and empowering employees to become citizen developers.

Source https://dilbert.com/strip/2007-08-08

Excel as business critical

When people ask what exactly you can do with Power Platform, we often make comparisons with what people used to make in Excel. Well, “used to be” I wish I could say. We still come across it, business-critical processes that rely entirely on an Excel with all sorts of formulas. Employees creating complex formulas and macros. Still, a big risk for an organization. Management is not regulated, what if someone accidentally adjusts a formula, who notices? A risk that is not always recognised because ‘it has been like this for years and it has never gone wrong’. So the moment it goes wrong, it goes badly wrong. The need for change is evident, and the Power Platform offers a promising way forward.

Power Apps Canvas: filter data of related entity

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

In the following scenario there is reservation system of different type of housing. For all housings there is an apartment type registered, which are stored in a different table. In the overview of the reservation you want to be able to filter on apartment type and related capacity.

This blog describes how to filter a gallery based on values from related entities.

Database model

To get a proper insight of the data structure, the database architecture looks like this:

Dynamically allocate budget to different timeunits using PowerFx

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this blog a budget allocation formula is introduced to deal with amounts of data of different time periods. Budgets could be daily, monthly or quarterly while registering it once. This creates a mismatch while creating a report.

The budget allocation calculation discussed in this blog allows you to solve this mismatch and it also enables you to easily switch between different time contexts.

End result

The final outcome comprises a form where users can input details and perform calculations for various time units.

Using Microsoft Graph and Power Automate to post an Announcement Message in Teams channel

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

This blog describes the Flow to create a Team and start with a message of type Announcement. The default ‘Post a message in a chat or channel’ isn’t sufficient, because the message type can’t be selected, so it can’t be an Announcement.

The end result should be a clear message in a Teams channel:

Flow actions to create Team

In order to share the full story the Team needs to be created and Team ID and Channel ID needs to be stored in a variable. To read the details collapse these steps below:

Rich text columns and Power Pages list view: HTML sanitization

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Working with a Rich Text column can be tricky. In a Model Driven App, handling Rich Text columns is easy. In a view the text is shown as plain text; simple and readable. In the Power Pages list view, it’s not great. It ends up showing messy raw HTML instead of the neat content.

The view of the list in Model Driven App:

The description column is a rich text column in which formatting is applied. In the list view of the Model Driven App it shows plain text.

Custom progress bar in Power Pages

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A progress bar visually communicates the completion status of a process. In a Model Driven App there is the Business Process Flow, in Power Pages there is no default component to visualize this. It is crucial for the progress bar to be flexibility and use the data stored in Dataverse and ensuring readiness for the addition of any extra status in the process without constraints.

Challenge accepted 💪!

Scenario

In this scenario, an application Power Pages site is designed for individual contacts, where each contact can have only one associated application. The final output is a webpage displaying comprehensive details of the specific application, including a visual progress bar that indicates the various stages of the application process.

Change Email From Address to Queue using Environment Variable in JavaScript

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Special thanks to Kevin Hendricks and Jan-Frederik Kobus for their support in implementing this scenario.

Scenario

The scenario of the blog is related to the email entity of a Model Driven app. The goal is to use a shared mailbox to send emails from instead of the personal address of the current user. The case is to automatically change the From address and be able to have a flexible setup for different queue ids.

SharePoint column formatting: lookup column and special characters (% and #)

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The capabilities of SharePoint regarding column and view formatting can enhance the usability of both SharePoint libraries and list. In this blog the explanation using a lookup column and the challenging part regarding the use of special characters.

Scenario

The SharePoint list has a lookup column to a document library, so a link between the list item and associated document can be made. At first glance, this looked fine:

Part 3: Enhancing User Engagement Measurement on SharePoint Intranets: Visualize data

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 00:00:03 +0000

Measuring user engagement is crucial for any SharePoint-based intranet to ensure that the platform is meeting its intended purpose and delivering value to the users. You can already benefit from Viva Connections and Viva Insights to enhance the user engagement measurement capabilities.

In the first part of this blog serie , you could read how to use the Power Platform to measure user engagement even more deeply using KPI regarding user engagement.

Part 2: Enhancing User Engagement Measurement on SharePoint Intranets: Page Freshness

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 00:00:02 +0000

In the first part of this blog serie , you could read how to use the Power Platform to measure user engagement even more deeply using KPI’s regarding user engagement.

Part 1: Enhancing User Engagement Measurement on SharePoint Intranets with Power Platform

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 00:00:01 +0000

In the first part of this blog serie, we will explore how to use the Power Platform to measure user engagement even more deeply using KPI’s regarding user engagement.

Validating Naming Conventions in Power Apps

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:00:01 +0000

Why naming conventions

One of the main advices while creating Power Apps canvas apps is to use proper naming conventions for all the components you’re using. Not only to support readability for your own usage, also for supportability. Probably it’s not too difficult to convince someone of its importance, while in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you don’t give it priority always.

Some advantages:

Consistency; so you can better focus on the solution
Maintainability; everyone has the same language and can therefore navigate through a solution more easily
Interchangeability; copying, changing and maintaining solutions can be done by multiple people

This blog gives and explains a Powershell script which you can use to validate naming convention in your Power App.

Make use of the responses: display the survey data of the Forms - part 3

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 00:00:03 +0000

This blog is part of the blog series for Microsoft Forms automation to create automatic update of you question of the week on your SharePoint intranet. The first blog explains how to create a custom connector using the undocumented Microsoft Forms API . The second blog describes how to keep your ‘Question of the week’ based on Microsoft Forms up-to-date .

The result of the first two parts of this blog series is a nice looking SharePoint list which contains all data from the Question of the week. Not only the answer options that could be given, but the results of those questions as well.

Microsoft Forms automation: update Forms poll on SharePoint intranet - part 2

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 00:00:02 +0000

Creating a social intranet that fosters collaboration and engagement among employees is essential in today’s digital workplace. One effective component of a social intranet is a “question of the week” or poll functionality. While SharePoint doesn’t have a built-in poll feature, you can use a Microsoft Form with one question to achieve the same effect. However, updating the question weekly can be a manual and time-consuming task.

Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t provide a standard API for Microsoft Forms that can easily be integrated with Power Automate to automate question creation and management of a Form. In the first part of this blog series there is explained how to create a custom connector for Microsoft Forms. This custom connector with related actions will be used in this blog.

Microsoft Forms automation: a custom connector - part 1

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 00:00:01 +0000

Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t provide a standard API for Microsoft Forms that can easily be integrated with Power Automate to automate question creation and management of a Form. But don’t worry! In this blog, we’ll explore creative ways to make use of the undocumented Microsoft Forms API and Power Automate to automate the process of updating the question every week.

Power Apps Canvas: one icon with eleven color variations

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Situation

In the Netherlands, the energy label of houses is indicated by a letter and a corresponding color. Today, we have 11 different labels, ranging from A++++ to G .

This label is usually indicated by a pentagonal arrow, containing the letter and corresponding color. An example:

Source: https://www.homekeur.nl/energielabel-woning-uitleg/

Scenario

In a Canvas Power App, the letter could be selected in the dropdown and icon and its corresponding label should be displayed based on the selected value. The end result:

Microsoft Forms API

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Every question type has is own setup of the body content.

Body content

The payload of the different question types all have the same parameters:

questionInfo
type
title
id
order
isQuiz
required

{
 "questionInfo": "",
 "type": "",
 "title": "Question",
 "id": "",
 "order": 4000500,
 "isQuiz": false,
 "required": false
}

Parameter type

Question	Type
Choice	Question.Choice
Text	Question.TextField
Rating	Question.Rating
Date	Question.DateTime
Ranking	Question.Ranking
Likert	Question.Matrix
Upload File	Question.FileUpload
Net Promoter Score	Question.NPS

Parameter title

The title is quite an easy parameter, it just needs to contain the text for the actual question.

How to get all SharePoint sites of a hub site in Power Automate

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Challenge

There is a lot of information available on how to retrieve all sites related to a SharePoint hub using Powershell. Another option is to use Microsoft Graph and search for all sites. https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites?search= *

The challenge was to get all the sites of a hub in Power Automate without using premium actions like the HTTP request. This blog describes how to achieve this!

Needed HTTP requests

Initialized a variable to store the URL of the hubsite. Next step is to get the HubSiteID. You can get the ID using the:

Power Apps: Advanced filtering on a period of time with only Month and Year value

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Scenario

Todays scenario is regarding filter options based on Month and Year values in Power Apps. In a Dataverse table named ‘Products’ the information of a Name, Month and Year are stored. The challenging part is the Month column only contains the text value of the short form of the month.

The data in the table looks like:

Now it needs to be possible to filter the gallery based on a Month Year range filter. There where some challenges to overcome of which the solutions are shared in this blog.

How to create a markdown table with flexible amount of rows in an Approval

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Approval functionality is really powerful! A lot of situation requires a response like an approval. The approval action in Power Automate does have some parameters which you can enter data in. Next to required details like the ‘Approval type’, ‘Title’ and ‘Assigned to’, you can enter Details. For Details you can use markdown to design the setup.

The challenge

In this blog the challenge that’s got resolved is that the approval request contains a table which as multiple rows, but the amount of rows are flexible and different every flow run.

Spotlight

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Below a list of my recent and upcoming events:

2025-12-03 - ESPC25 Dublin - Automated testing in the Power Platform: matching governance, upholding quality, compliance and efficiency (together with Arjan Rijsdijk)
A session regarding how testing and governance go hand-in-hand and share practical tips for testing Power Apps Canvas and Power Automate.
2025-10-08 - Webinar - Unlocking Dataverse Functions: code less, do more!
This webinar explores Dataverse Functions and triggers (formerly low-code plugins), a powerful tool for building logic in apps and workflows with minimal code. It covers real-world use cases, integration into Power Apps and Power Automate.

European Collaboration Summit 2023; My top 3 and some more...

Thu, 25 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

My report from the European Collaboration Summit 2023

It had been in my calendar since last October, on 22 May it was finally there: the European Collaboration Summit! In this blog, I am happy to share my personal top 3. Plenty to choose from, so in addition to a nice top 3, I also added an unmissable encore.

Within Power Platform projects, it is necessary to think carefully about the architecture. There is no right or wrong, choices depend on various scenarios. Starting with the data source you are going to use. Will you go for SharePoint, file data source, Dataverse or other database. To make the right choice start by answering the following questions:

About Me

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

My name is Elianne and I am a Power Platform Consultant at Blis Digital in Barendrecht, The Netherlands. Since 2016 I obtained several Microsoft certifications: full transcript can be found on my Microsoft Learn profile. and Credly profile

I love to gain more knowledge and expertise by going to different user groups and conferences myself, but I also like to share knowledge in different ways: by writing blogs, giving presentations, guest lectures at an university of applied science and app-in-a-day workshops.