Developing in Power Apps is abbout adding of items (labels, buttons, dropdowns…) to the application canvas and setting their properties.

There are a lot of properties, and it can be challenging to get oriented. On the other hand, the vast majority of them are related to graphics and are not crucial for app development. Or, they might be important, but they are very easy to use.

Therefore, if you want to improve in Power Apps, focus mainly on these properties:

Action-triggering properties

OnSelect

Typically used for buttons or icons, but it can also be applied to many other elements.

The OnSelect property defines what happens when someone clicks or taps the element.

The possibilities are endless; for example, you can change variables, navigate between screens, trigger Power Automate flows etc.

OnChange

The OnChange property checks when a value changes in an item and executes an action if it does. For example, when the value in a TextInput changes, the new value is stored somewhere.

Properties for tables, galleries, and forms

Items

A fundamental property for a gallery. It contains the table displayed in the gallery. However, it doesn’t have to directly reference a data source; the table can be filtered or extended using functions such as Filter, Search, AddColumns etc.

Source

The data source for a form, typically a table being edited by form.

Item

A property of a form that defines which specific record is being worked with. It can be defined by referencing a gallery, for example:

  • Gallery.Selected

The form then displays the item that was selected in the gallery.

Properties for buttons and labels

Text

What is written on a label or button. It can be plain text, but also a calculation or a variable value.

Default

A typical property of InputText. It defines its content before some user overwrites it.

DisplayMode

The DisplayMode property typically has three options:

  • Edit
    • The button appears active and functional. The TextInput looks active and can be edited.
  • View
    • The button appears active but doesn’t work. The TextInput looks like a label and cannot be edited.
  • Disabled
    • The button and TextInput appear inactive and do not work.

These properties are typically set using a condition—for example, making a button active only if the user has filled in a required field.