Combining Multiple PowerApps Together

[Ryan_Kocher]

Hi,

Question:

What is the best practice for PowerApps when combining multiple applications?

Background:

Over the course of the last 3 month's, I have been building out various (separate) PowerApps for my organization. The applications although separate are all apart of a larger process. Current state each of the applications needs to be opened to be accessed.

Options:

1. "Copy" everything (Screens, Buttons, Boxes, Code, Etc.) over to the primary app - Lots of work

2. Create a home screen app, which basically has 2-3 buttons with links to the other PowerApps - Long App Loading Times

Any ideas, comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-Ryan

[dinusc]

Hello @Ryan_Kocher,

Both options are valid and have specific advantages and disadvantages. Having a single application would provide a faster interaction but would use more resources and would also require more time to build.

If the users will be using your applications on mobile devices (especially on older devices with less resources) and your applications are rather complex, I would suggest using one home application that launches other applications. 

[Ryan_Kocher]

@dinusc, Thank you for the quick response. Users would primarily be using the apps in the computer (aka Tablet layout). 

[dinusc]

If the resulting application will never have too many screens (>20 for example), I would go with a single application. Users would appreciate faster response time of changing screens vs loading different applications. The number of screens is not always a good indicator though. An application with less screens that has controls that affect items on many other screens will perform worse than an application with more screens with that work more or less independent. Since you already have separate apps (that you are considering bringing together), you will probably not end up with a very bad performance.

[v-xida-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ryan_Kocher,

Could you please share a bit more about your scenario?

If you want to combine multiple apps within PowerApps, I agree with the second option that you mentioned almost.

You could consider take a try to create a Home Screen app which only contains one screen. Then within the first screen of the Home Screen app, you could consider add corresponding buttons for your apps. The users could open corresponding app via click the Button (using Launch function).

I have made a test on my side, please take a try with the following workaround:

Set the OnSelect property of the Button control to following formula:

Launch("https://web.powerapps.com/apps/ddc90e22-6519-xxxx-90fd-xxxxd31efcb8")

Note: The 'https://web.powerapps.com/apps/ddc90e22-6519-xxxx-90fd-xxxxd31efcb8' represents the web link of your app. The 'ddc90e22-6519-xxxx-90fd-xxxxd31efcb8' represents the App Id of your app.

More details about getting App Id (or Web link) within PowerApps, please check the following article:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/get-sessionid#get-an-app-id

More details about the Launch function in PowerApps, please check the following article:

Launch function

Best regards,

Kris

[Ryan_Kocher]

Kris,

Thanks for the response. Considering that the apps have already been build, it makes sense to keep them separate. Another insightful reason to have them separated would be for access control. That way only specific users can access certain apps. I got this idea from Shane Young in another conversation.

I will be going with this solution.

-Ryan

[Ryan_Kocher]

Dinusc,

I agree. Going forward for this instance I will keep the applications separate; however in the future, if the app is not too complicated, I would try to keep it to just one form rather than multiple.

-Ryan