From the Microsoft Power Platform Blogs: Power Apps editor; Dataverse low-code plugins; Barcode scanning; Enterprise workflows

This week on the Power Platform blog roundup:

• How to see changes that other app makers are making in real time
• Using Dataverse low-code plugins with Power Pages
• Enhancing business efficiency with barcode scanning in Power Apps
• Power Apps features to enhance enterprise workflow

How to see changes that other app makers are making in real time

Writing on the Power Apps Guide blog, Tim Leung noted that Microsoft has been rolling out the Power Apps' co-presence feature for the past couple months. Consequently, most canvas app builders who’ve recently worked in Power Apps will have come across this feature.

Leung then explained that co-presence enables app builders to see who else has the app open in the Power Apps editor.

The toolbar section of the editor shows the profile photos of other users with the app open. In the screen navigation pane, a profile photo icon also indicates the active screen that each user has open in the editor.

Leung stated that by default, read-only users are unable to view the changes that the app editor makes. However, you can enable this behavior by changing a value in the settings of an app. In his blog post, Leung described how to allow other app developers to see changes in real time.

Using Dataverse low-code plugins with Power Pages

On the ReadyXRM blog, Nick Doelman stated that one of the features currently in preview that he is really exited about is Dataverse low-code plugins. These plugins enable you to build server-side business logic specifically for Dataverse.

Doelman wrote that Dataverse low-code plugins enable low-code makers to create plugins using PowerFx within a custom app in the Power Apps maker portal rather than using C# code in Visual Studio. He explained that this allows Power Pages developers and makers to add some logic to Dataverse tables that can be incorporated into processes using basic and multistep form components, among other use cases

Still, Doelman noted that this won't likely replace the need for pro-coders developing plugins in C# as there will continue to be use cases and situations that require developers to write more advanced plugins. He presented a Power Pages example use case, email verification on volunteer applications, and described in detail how the whole solution will work.

Enhancing business efficiency with barcode scanning in Power Apps