It is one of the key concepts that every maker in the power platform should be aware of so let's check it out in action where do we begin with creating apps.
Flows bots and more in the power platform let's take an example of power apps we start in make.powerapps.com and whenever we come across a scenario.
Wherein we need to create an app we head here start creating our app and connect to our data sources and so and so forth it is very important to understand that.
Whenever you're building something in the power platform ecosystem it is being built in the context of an environment and that environment to begin with is.
Who has a valid license be it an office license that covers apps and flows have the rights to create things in this environment.
And this is something that cannot be blocked by the administrators meaning the default environment is an open environment wherein anyone can create apps flows and more.
Recommendation is to rebrand this environment to personal productivity meaning it should only be leveraged for personal productivity based scenarios and not for business critical.
Applications to implement application lifecycle management in powerapps and other power platform products it is important that a good environment.
Strategy is put in place in my tenant here i have created three different environments one is a dev environment for development purposes.
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A test environment where i would deploy
My applications and test and then a production environment when once the testing is complete i will move my applications to the production.Environment and share the applications with the end users so that they can consume it a power platform environment is a space to store manage and share your.
Organization's business data apps chat bots flows and a lot more it basically serves as a container to separate apps that might have different roles security requirements or target.
Audiences and environments play a key role in application life cycle management in each environment we can have a dataverse database set up.
And you can only have one database set up per environment how should we be creating our apps flows bots our solutions and porting them over.
From one environment to another in a controlled and governed manner if you create your apps in make.powerapps.com directly or if you create your flows.
In powerautomate.com directly all of these are being created outside the context of something known as solutions solutions are used to transport apps and components from one environment.
To another a solution can contain one or more apps as well as other components such as database tables web resources flows bots and a lot more.
Where should we be creating our apps flows bots and more we should be creating them directly inside of solutions now here i would like to bust a myth.
The myth is
That a solution is a premium feature meaning the user creating the solution or the user accessing the artifacts.Inside a solution require premium licensing because these solutions or containers are being created inside microsoft dataverse for that specific environment.
Now dataverse as a connector for apps and flows is a premium licensed feature however creating solutions and working with solutions does not require premium licensing.
All it requires is a dataverse database set up for that environment i'll cover two scenarios the first one is i have access.
To my dev environment and here i would like to create a solution from scratch i'll head over to solutions.
Click on new solution the use case that i will take for this scenario is a sharepoint list that has information about issues that users report.
So i would like to create an issue tracking app and i would also like to create a flow that let's say sends a notification email to the admin whenever a new issue.
Is created in the issue tracker list i've given my solution a display name issue tracker publisher every app and other solution components.
Such as tables you create and dataverse or any other customizations that you make ideally would need to be a part of a solution and because every solution has this.
Option of a publisher you should create your own publisher rather than use the default cds publisher option that is provided so in this case i'll create a new.
Publisher i will give a display name can give a description a solution publisher includes a prefix prefix is a mechanism to help avoid.
Naming collisions this allows for solutions from different publishers to be installed in an environment with few conflicts as an example my publisher here is rd.
Youtube so the prefix i will use is rd so any objects that are created in the solution be it apps flows connection references.
Will have this specific prefix applied to it which is rd underscore the name of the object i'll click save and here i will pick my.
Publisher for now this is the first version of the solution that i'm creating so i'm going to stick to that the solution that you create to begin.
With would be in unmanaged state meaning you're free to make any changes to the components within that solution i'll click create this now creates a solution for me.
Called issue tracker if i select this it will lead me to the solution explorer view and in here is where we should be creating all the artifacts.
Related to the solution i need a canvas app to begin with so i'll head over to new go to app i'll pick canvas app.
I'll give my app a name click create in the studio experience i can head over to data and start connecting to my data sources.
Now dataverse is environment centric because i can create a dataverse database per environment we have the current environment tables show up.
And they go perfectly hand in hand with the concept of solutions however from a sharepoint standpoint sharepoint.
Does not understand the concept of environments now in this scenario let's say i need dev and test sites for sharepoint in that case.
I would have to be creating a sharepoint site i'm creating a new sharepoint site i will add a new list from an existing list.
Pick my sharepoint site that has that list pick that list hit next and i'll click create.
And this will create that same issue tracking list in a different sharepoint site here which is acting as my test sharepoint site now in my app here.
If i want to connect to sharepoint i will search for sharepoint once i pick my connection it will list out all my sharepoint sites that i can connect to.
But here i would like to make it dynamic meaning i would like to define it based upon a configuration parameter because as i move my solutions from dev to test i would like to define the url.
Of my new sharepoint site or my sharepoint list that the test environment needs to point to so for now the app that i just created i will go ahead and save this.
If i head back and click back again and leave this powerapp and if i head back to my solution that i created in this environment which is called issue.