IDE for PowerApps

[julianhoewel_95]

Hey guys,

just a short question: As I think that the browser-based development of PowerApps is still unpractical in some details I just want to ask if anyone knows about plans by Microsoft to build a real IDE for the PowerApps development to make that even better. 

Greetings
Julian

[nickellis74]

I know this was a long time ago but the issue still persists. The existing IDE is great if you have a few lines of code. Any longer and it's quickly impractical. I know the official advice is "don't write lots of code in one formula" but - since we're not allowed to call code from other objects - that doesn't really work. There are times when you just need a whole bunch of code. At the moment I copy/paste it to Notepad++ but I would LOVE to get proper code markup for it in Visual Studio - even if it was offline and still required a copy/paste it would be better than now.

[KEarley]

Impractical?  Yes.  Not everyone making PowerApps is a non-programmer.  Meaning, that more and more organizations are bringing in actual developers to make PowerApps.  Developers are not just "coders", we are also expert problem solvers, and know how to best and most efficiently create solutions.  We also have an excellent understanding on user interface design.  I said all that so I can say developers need an all-around much better IDE in order to do what we do best.  I can almost hear someone objecting by saying, developers should use developer tools and not no-code apps.  I would agree, but that's rarely a developer's choice to make.  Organizations are initially sold on terms such as, "save money", "save time", "no need to hire developers", and "enable your tech-savvy users".  That works for awhile, but can quickly come crashing to a halt when business needs and requirements begin outgrowing the user community's ability.  Then the company has little choice other than to start bringing in professional developers.  I could go on and on about how all this snowballs and the many directions in which those snowballs roll, but I believe I've made my point.  

[iAm_ManCat]

Heya, you can call code from buttons (must be on-screen) by Select-ing them or make a custom function in a component that fires whatever code you need (with certain exceptions) that also then allows you to pass in parameters.

In terms of markup - you can use visual studio code and save the file as a .cs (csharp) as they are similar in syntax and whatever lint/beautify/rainbowbrackets/etc you have will highlight basic errors - with larger code blocks I find this really useful. It's obv not practical to keep copypasta between the two but easier than dealing with IDE that has sub-par performance 😉

[KEarley]

Thank you.  Those are some great workarounds, obviously not ideal, but much better than nothing.  I am currently trying to get authorized to have Visual Studio Code installed.  I work for a government agency and things are highly controlled.  I know that some developers have VS Code, so getting it will just be a matter of red tape and jumping hoops - LOL.  Unfortunately, the developers don't know how to use it; they are not even certain as to why they have VS Code.  Thanks again for the info.