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Power App Editor — canvas + model-driven parity spec

Captured 2026-05-26 by catalog agent from Microsoft Learn (Power Apps Studio · canvas-app authoring · model-driven app designer · control reference) and inspection of apps/fiab-console/lib/editors/powerplatform-editors.tsx::PowerAppEditor + apps/fiab-console/lib/azure/powerplatform-client.ts. Loom has working PowerApps admin REST read of apps (UAT-verified); this spec compares Loom's current surface against the full Power Apps Studio + model-driven app designer authoring UX.

Overview

A Power App is either a canvas app (drag-and-drop UI authored in Power Apps Studio, configured with Power Fx, connects to 1000+ connectors, no Dataverse requirement) or a model-driven app (data-first, generated from Dataverse tables · forms · views · business rules, surfaced via the Unified Interface, requires a Dataverse env). Both are stored as Dataverse records under a Power Platform environment and exposed via the PowerApps admin REST API (api.powerapps.com). The maker creates an app, the runtime is apps.powerapps.com (browser) / Power Apps mobile (iOS · Android · Windows) / embedded in Teams / Power Pages / model-driven hosts. Apps are licensed per-user (Power Apps per-user plan) or per-app (per-app plan); first-party Dynamics 365 apps come bundled with Dynamics 365 licenses.

Power Apps Studio (canvas) UX

Left navigation

  • Tree view — hierarchical Screens → Controls; drag to reorder, right-click for rename/duplicate/delete; shows control count
  • Insert — Controls catalog: Text label · Text input · Button · Image · Icon · Shapes · Gallery (vertical/horizontal/blank vertical/blank horizontal) · Data table · Forms (Display / Edit) · Charts (Column / Line / Pie) · Media (Video / Audio / Microphone / Camera / Barcode scanner / PDF viewer) · Input (Drop down · Combo box · List box · Date picker · Toggle · Slider · Rating · Timer · Pen input) · Layout (Container · Horizontal/Vertical container — responsive · HTML text · Rich text editor) · AI (AI Builder Form processor · Object detector · Business card reader · Receipt processor · Text recognizer · Generic AI prompt)
  • Data — connections + data sources panel; + Add data opens connector picker (1000+ connectors)
  • Media — image/video/audio asset library
  • Components — custom + library components
  • Variables — global / context / collection inspector with current values
  • App checker — accessibility, performance, formulas with errors / warnings
  • Search — across screens, controls, properties

Top ribbon

  • File — App settings (Name · Icon · Description · Screen size + orientation + scale-to-fit · Theme · Advanced settings) · Save · Save as · Publish · Share · Export package · Connections · Versions
  • Insert · Data · View · Action (incl. New screen, Power Automate flow attach, Edit themes)

Center canvas

  • WYSIWYG render of current screen
  • Resize handles, snap-to-grid, alignment guides
  • Tablet vs phone layout toggle
  • Zoom slider · Fit to screen
  • Live data preview if data source is bound

Right rail

  • Properties panel — control properties grouped (Action / Color / Border / Display / Position / Size / Design); each property has a current value editor or formula bar hand-off
  • Advanced — full property dictionary with Power Fx formula editor per property

Formula bar

  • Power Fx editor: IntelliSense, autocomplete, parameter help, inline error squiggles
  • Per-property contextual help
  • Multi-line formula editor

Bottom

  • App checker badges · variable inspector · run/save state

Run + share

  • Play (preview) — runs the app in-Studio with live data
  • Share — pick users / AAD groups · canvas-app share role (User / Co-owner) · grant data-source access · email invite
  • Versions — restore previous version (every save = new version)
  • Settings — Advanced (general formula-level error management, modern controls, Copilot, accessibility, performance, security)

Model-driven app designer UX

App designer landing

  • App name · description · icon · welcome page
  • Navigation — Areas → Groups → Subareas (sitemap); enable collapsible groups, enable Areas, show Home / Recent / Pinned
  • Pages — table-driven page (list + form), custom page (canvas), dashboard, URL, web resource
  • Tables — pick which tables the app surfaces; per-table choose Forms (Main / Quick-Create / Quick-View / Card / Mobile Express) and Views to include
  • Business process flows — bind a process bar to a table
  • Validate — checks all referenced components exist
  • Publish — pushes changes live
  • Play — opens the Unified Interface runtime in a new tab
  • Share — pick users / security roles

Unified Interface (runtime)

  • Sitemap navigation on the left
  • View grid → record open opens the Main form
  • Form ribbon: Save · Save+Close · New · Deactivate · Assign · Share · Email a Link · Run Workflow · Run Report · Word Templates · Word/Excel templates · Process
  • Form rendering driven by form-XML; tabs, sections, columns, sub-grids, related navigation
  • Quick view forms (embedded mini-record-view from related table)

What Loom has today

From apps/fiab-console/lib/editors/powerplatform-editors.tsx::PowerAppEditor and apps/fiab-console/lib/azure/powerplatform-client.ts:

  • Environment picker (shared)
  • List apps — GET https://api.powerapps.com/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/scopes/admin/environments/{envId}/apps?api-version=2016-11-01 (admin REST, UAMI auth)
  • Apps table — Name (clickable) · Type (CanvasApp / ModelDrivenApp) · Owner (display name · email) · Last modified · Open (Play URL via appOpenUri)
  • Click an app → detail view
  • Get app — GET .../apps/{name}?api-version=2016-11-01
  • Detail metadata grid — Display name · Name (GUID) · Type badge · Owner · Created · Modified · Play URL (clickable)
  • Reload button
  • Error MessageBars on 401/403 with hint
  • Ribbon stub: Reload · Open in Power Platform

Gaps for parity

Both kinds

  1. No + New app create flow — can't create a canvas app or model-driven app from Loom (would need to choose Blank · From data · From template · Copilot prompt for canvas; Blank · From existing table for model-driven)
  2. No edit-app — Loom can't open Power Apps Studio or the model-driven app designer; can only launch the runtime via appOpenUri
  3. No share / role assignment — can't grant User / Co-owner roles, can't share with AAD groups
  4. No publish / versions — Loom shows last-modified timestamp but no version list, no restore previous version, no publish this version
  5. No app-settings panel — name · icon · description · screen size / orientation (canvas) · welcome page (model-driven) not editable
  6. No app checker — accessibility / performance / formula warnings not surfaced
  7. No connections / data-sources panel — Loom can't list which connectors a canvas app uses, can't show broken connection references after env-move
  8. No play (preview-in-Studio) — Loom can launch the runtime but can't run-in-place with mocked variables
  9. No app-package export / import — can't download a .msapp / managed-solution zip; can't import a solution
  10. No usage telemetry — no last-used, no user-count, no session-count per app
  11. No solution membership — can't show which solution(s) contain the app, can't switch active solution
  12. No environment-move — can't move a custom app between sandboxes / production within the tenant
  13. No app delete / restore — soft-delete (within 30-day TTL) and hard-delete not exposed

Canvas-specific gaps

  1. No Studio at all — Loom can't author screens / controls / formulas; no Tree view, no Insert catalog, no Properties panel, no formula bar
  2. No Power Fx editor — no IntelliSense, no formula validation, no rename-control safe refactor
  3. No theme / responsive-layout designer — no theme picker, no scale-to-fit toggle, no responsive container editor
  4. No AI Builder component picker — Form processor / Object detector / Business card reader / Receipt processor / Text recognizer / AI prompt controls not insertable
  5. No embedded canvas in model-driven form — the canonical "embedded canvas app on a model-driven form" pattern is not authorable

Model-driven-specific gaps

  1. No app designer — can't pick tables to include, can't define sitemap (Areas → Groups → Subareas), can't choose which Forms / Views per table
  2. No custom pages — can't add custom canvas pages to a model-driven app
  3. No validate-before-publish — Microsoft's Validate check (all referenced components exist) not run
  4. No Business Process Flow attach — can't bind a BPF to a model-driven app
  5. No Unified Interface preview — Loom links to the runtime but doesn't render forms / views inline for QA
  6. No security-role gating — can't choose which security roles see the app

Backend mapping

Live PowerApps admin REST is the canonical path (Loom has read working): - List apps — GET https://api.powerapps.com/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/scopes/admin/environments/{envId}/apps?api-version=2016-11-01 - Get app — GET .../apps/{name} - Update app metadata — PATCH .../apps/{name} with { properties: { displayName, description } } - Delete app — DELETE .../apps/{name} - Share app — POST .../apps/{name}/modifyPermissions with role + principal - Versions — GET .../apps/{name}/versions; restore via POST .../apps/{name}/restoreVersion - Publish — POST .../apps/{name}/publish - Connections — GET .../environments/{envId}/connections; per-app needed connections: GET .../apps/{name}?$expand=connectionReferences - Canvas-app .msapp — GET .../apps/{name}/exportPackage returns a managed-solution zip containing the .msapp (a zipped folder of YAML + JSON descriptors; Power Apps Studio is the only first-party authoring surface) - Model-driven app (Dataverse appmodule entity) — GET https://<org>.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.2/appmodules for listing; sitemap edits via the sitemap entity + form/view bindings via appmodulecomponent - Power Apps Studio is a SaaS at make.powerapps.com/apps/{name}/edit — there's no embeddable Studio SDK; the realistic authoring play in Loom is deep-link out to Studio and re-read the published version on return

Required Azure resources / tenant settings

  • UAMI SP added to Service principals can use Power Platform APIs allow group
  • Per-user Power Apps license (per-user OR per-app) to run apps; SP cannot run an app, only manage it
  • For model-driven: Dataverse-enabled environment, MSAL Web App SP as Application User with System Customizer role minimum for read, System Administrator for full edit
  • For canvas: connector access — premium connectors require per-user premium license; HTTP / Custom connectors live in the env

Estimated effort

4 sessions. Update-metadata + share + versions list + publish + delete is ~1 session (all on top of existing list/get). Solutions panel + connections list + app-checker badges is ~0.5 session. Model-driven app designer (sitemap / tables / forms / views picker) is ~1.5 sessions because the sitemap entity is XML-heavy. Canvas Studio authoring is not feasible in Loom — recommend deep-link to make.powerapps.com/apps/{name}/edit for canvas edits and focus Loom on metadata / lifecycle / governance. Embedded-canvas-on-model-driven-form is a follow-up (~1 session, depends on the Forms-designer track in dataverse-table-parity-spec.md).