The enhanced data model has now been GA for a while and I know for all my new projects, we are using by default the enhanced data model. However, there are many “legacy” portals still using the standard data. Microsoft has recently (finally) released a tool to migrate the website metadata from a standard to an enhanced data model. Here is a video where I walk through the process to migrate a website from the standard to the enhanced data model. Standard data model, Enhanced data model, what does it all mean? Since the folks at Adxstudio decided to build a website management system on top of D ..read more

Creating date and time columns (aka fields) in Microsoft Dataverse is a really straightforward process, however, you really should take a pause to make sure you are configuring the right *type* of date and time column. Check out the companion video for this post, where not only will you learn about date and time columns, but also some fun facts about Sir Sandford Fleming. When creating Date and time columns in Dataverse, you have different options: Date only Date and Time And then you need to decide if you want user local or time zone independent When you run your app (in this case, a mode ..read more

One of the features of Adxstudio portals long before it evolved into Power Pages is that it had an out of the box payment gateway integration with Authorize.net and PayPal. This provided a way to configure a webform (the grandfather of multistep forms) to allow users to pay for goods and services. It required the full Dynamics 365 for Sales module as it created order and invoice records. When Microsoft transformed Adxstudio portals into Dynamics 365 portals (which has evolved into Power Pages) these features were dropped, likely due to various compliance issues. Since then it has been a common ..read more

One of the features currently in preview that I am #superexcited about is Dataverse low-code plug-ins. What are Dataverse low-code plug-ins? They allow you to build server-side business logic specifically for Dataverse. More of a video person? Here is the YouTube version of this blog post: Plug-ins are not new technology. In the early versions of Dynamics (version 3 and before), there was the concept of call-outs, which allowed you to build C# or VB.net code that could be configured to run on backend operations to update data. This evolved to plug-ins in Dynamics CRM v4.0 which currently exis ..read more

One of the great and long standing features of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (aka CRM) is the integration with Microsoft Outlook. Using the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook you can synchronize contacts, link meetings and appointments and track emails against records so they will show up in the timeline. What about Power Apps? Did you know that this feature/functionality also exists for model-driven Power Apps built on “vanilla” Microsoft Dataverse? This fact gets missed by folks new to building Power Apps, partially due to the naming conventions, and also perhaps by not being aware of this feat ..read more

One of the number one questions I get is “how do I getting started with Power Pages”? Of course, being a trainer that delivers Power Pages training, I would normally say to attend one of my classes or one of my sessions. However, everyone’s learning style, requirements, and budget differ. Thankfully there is a lot of learning resources both from the community and from Microsoft. One of the popular resources for getting started in particular with Power Apps is the “App in a day” program, and now continuing on that learning on Microsoft Learn is the “Power Pages in a day” learning path. These t ..read more

If you have ever needed to sign a contract, agreement, or any other legal binding document, you may have received the document via email from a service called DocuSign, where you can provide an “e-signature” instead of having the physically go somewhere to provide a “wet signature” on a document. In the TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, the character Sheldon Cooper was notorious for creating legal agreements for things like roommates or even romantic relationships. With Microsoft Power Pages, I have worked on projects where we used the multistep form for various application processes that requ ..read more

There seems to be a Copilot popping up everywhere in Microsoft products these days. (I am eagerly waiting for the Notepad Copilot!) The latest Copilot to make an appearance now surfaces in Visual Studio Code (desktop) while editing and configuring a Power Pages website. Writing code for Power Pages has sometimes proven to be a bit tricky because the syntax differs slightly form other Power Platform products and also sometimes differs from traditional web development. This is where Copilot can really become your Power Pages coding buddy! Here is short video with a simple example of adding JavaS ..read more

Have you ever been working on a website the same time as a colleague and you accidently overwrote or interfered with each other’s work? Rolling out across the tenants is the new copresence feature for the Power Pages design studio. You’ll get a similar experience as you do when working on Microsoft office documents. You can even directly reach out over email or teams to your colleagues as you are working on a website. Check out the official documentation here Copresence in Power Pages (preview) and I made a short, fun little video about copresence in Power Pages: Enjoy! Photo by airfocus on U ..read more

While using Visual Studio Code (desktop) is a powerful way for pro-developers to extend Power Pages websites, sometimes you need to quickly go into a site and edit some code directly without having to launch Visual Studio Code for desktop, use the PAC CLI to download the latest code, make changes, and re-upload. There has to be a quicker way! Using Visual Studio Code for the web is a light-weight, web based version that can be directly accessed from the Power Pages design studio. Now you can edit more than just web pages! Check out the official documentation for all the details of these new en ..read more