Rajeev Pentyala – Dynamics 365 Blog

PowerApps Portals, provides ability to build low-code, responsive websites which allow external users to interact with the data stored in the Common Data Service.

Refer article for introduction. PowerApps Portals are in Preview now and lets see how to get started with a simple portal.

Perquisites:

• Dynamics 365 trail

Steps to build your first Portal:

• Login to PowerApps maker Portal
• Pick the right ‘Environment’. Refer ‘Notes’ section below to know more about ‘Environments’.
• Click on ‘Portal from blank (preview)’ link.

• In the pop-up, fill ‘Name’, ‘Address’ and ‘Language’ and click ‘Create’.

• Portal provisioning takes time and you will be notified once done.

• Post provisioning, click on ‘Edit’ which will redirect you to Portal editor.

• You get pre configured ‘Home’ page and ‘Child Pages’.
• To add a new Page,
  • Either click on ‘+New page’ from ribbon
  • Or Right Click , ‘Home’ and add a New Page.

• I have added a new ‘Accounts’ page and filled the details on the right side ‘Component’ panel.
• To create a new ‘Account’ form, click on ‘Form’ and choose Entity, Form and Mode from the ‘Component’ panel.

• To add a new ‘Entity List’ control, click on ‘List’ and on the right hand side, select ‘Entity’ and ‘Views’
  • Note: In the screen below, I’ve added an existing ‘List’. The properties are same for new ‘List’ as well.

• To map the Account ‘Form’ with ‘List’, set properties as below

• At any point of time, to view the changes, click on  ‘Browse website’ on top right corner.
• Home Screen

• Accounts Screen

Notes:

• To use the Dynamics CE entities, you have to select the CE ‘Environment’ in your maker portal, before the start of Portal creation.
  • A ‘default’ environment gets created by default. If you pick ‘default’ environment, you will need to create a new Environment with CDS database.

New Environment

• We can still create Portal from the ‘Dynamics Admin Center’.

• PowerApps portal got ‘.powerappsportals.com’ as domain and regular portal will be of ‘.microsoftportals.com’ domain.

• You can still create/update portal components (i.e., Entity List, Forms, Web Templates) from Dynamics web application.
• Clear cache using ‘/_service\about‘ is still available in PowerApps portal.

🙂