Power Apps Naming Conventions For Canvas Apps

Imported reference from Matthew Devaney's blog for learning purposes. Original: https://www.matthewdevaney.com/power-apps-naming-conventions-for-canvas-apps/. Author: Matthew Devaney.

Power Apps Naming Conventions For Canvas Apps Posted by - Matthew Devaney on - November 30, 2021 12 Comments

It is important to have a consistent set of naming conventions for all of the objects in a Power Apps canvas app. By following the same patterns all Power Apps developers can more quickly understand each others apps and introduce less bugs when working on them. These are my own opinions on naming conventions in Power Apps canvas apps for screens, controls, variables, collections and data sources. Table of Contents Screen Names Control Names Variable Names Collection Names Datasource Names Screen Names

A screen name should describe its purpose in 1-2 words suffixed by the word ‘Screen’. Use proper-case. Home Screen Discussion

It is important that each screen’s purpose is described in plain-language because screen-readers will speak this text to visually-impaired users when the screen loads. If the screen has more than one-purpose, consider distributing the functionality across multiple screens. Good Examples Appointments Screen Order Form Screen Collect Signature Screen Bad Examples

Appointments [missing the word ‘Screen’]

OrderFormScreen [not friendly to a screen reader] Control Names

A control name should indicate the control-type, which screen is found on and its purpose. Use camel-case separated each piece of information with an underscore. This example shows a text input, found on the Order Form Screen whose purpose is to capture the first name of the person placing the order. txt_OrderForm_FirstName Discussion

When typing a formula in the editor we often want to reference another control. We don’t often remember the control’s name and rely on auto-complete to find it. First we write the control type to narrow the list of possible matches and then we type the screen name to refine the search further. The result is a list of all controls on the screen with a matching type.

The full list of control name abbreviations can be found below: Control Type Abbreviation Add Picture pic Address Input add Audio aud Barcode Scanner bar Button btn Camera Control cam Canvas cvs Card crd Charts chr Check Box chk Collection col Container con Combo Box cmb Date Picker dte Drop Down drp Form frm Gallery gal Group grp HTML Text htm Icon ico Image img Label lbl List Box lst Map map Microphone mic Microsoft Stream str PDF Viewer pdf Pen Input pen Radio rad Rating rtg Rich Text Editor rte Shapes shp Slider sld Table tbl Text Input txt Timer tmr Toggle tgl Video vid Good Examples drp_NewEmployee_Department btn_OrderForm_Submit gal_Home_Appointments Bad Examples drpNewEmployeeDepartment (no spacing) btn_Submit_OrderForm (wrong order)

gly_Home_Appointments (control abbreviation not found in standard list) Variable Names

A variable name should show the scope of the variable, the data type and its purpose. Use camel-case with no spaces between each word. This example is a global variable which holds the current user’s email address. gblTextUserEmailCurrent Discussion

The scope of a variable restricts where it can be used in the app – every screen in the app (global), one specific screen (local) or within a specific code-block (function). A prefix indicating the variable’s scope helps us quickly understand where it is available. Scope Declaration Method Abbreviation Global SET function gbl Local UPDATECONTEXT function loc Function WITH function var Function AS operator tbl

Variables can only hold a single, consistent data-type throughout the app. If a variable is set as a text data type in one code block and set as a number data type elsewhere the app will show an error the next time its opened in studio mode. This type of error can be incredibly frustrating to track down in a large app. For this reason it is important to know what data type a variable holds. Data Type Abbreviation Text Text Number Num Date Date Boolean Bool Record Record Table Table Good Examples gblRecordUserCurrent locBoolBlockUserInput varNumWorkdaysBetween Bad Examples gblUserCurrent (no data type)

Loc_BlockUserInput (improper capitalization and spacing) WorkdaysBetween (no scope or data type) Collection Names

A collection name should communicate the original datasource of the table and its purpose. Use camel-case with no spaces between each word. colDvInvoices Discussion

Collection data can be generated from one of two places – a persistent table from a connected datasource or a temporary table created inside the app. Persistent tables must have data periodically read/written back to them. Understanding where the data originally came from makes this task easier. Original Datasource Abbreviation Dataverse Dv SharePoint Sp SQL Sql Salesforce Sf None (created in-app) (none) Good Examples colSpEmployees colDvSalesLeads colNavigationMenu Bad Examples colEmployees (missing datasource) NavigationMenu (missing prefix) Datasource Names

A datasource name should describe its purpose. There is no word limit but keep it short. Use proper-case. Sales Leads Discussion

In many cases a developer has no choice over the datasource name and must use what is already in place. There may also be constraints imposed by the datasource itself. Whenever possible be as concise and clear about the purpose of the datasource as possible. Good Examples Employees Construction Projects Repair Orders Bad Examples Emp (abbreviation instead of full word)

Projects (too general, what type of projects) RepairOrders (no spacing, hard to read) Did You Enjoy This Article? 😺

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If you have any questions or feedback about Power Apps Canvas Naming Conventions For Canvas Apps please leave a message in the comments section below. You can post using your email address and are not required to create an account to join the discussion. Matthew Devaney M365 Copilot Power Apps

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