Posts

Automating Azure Storage Account IP Restrictions with Power Automate

Image
When managing Azure Storage Accounts, it’s essential to control access by restricting allowed IP addresses. Manually updating these restrictions can be cumbersome, especially when dealing with frequently changing IP ranges. To address this challenge, I developed a Power Automate custom connector that automates fetching and processing Azure IP ranges using Microsoft’s Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags JSON files. Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags – Public Cloud Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags – US Government Cloud Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags – China Cloud While my initial use case focused on automating Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags, this solution can also be adapted to work with custom lists of IP addresses . Many of the actions in this connector, such as reducing CIDR blocks and generating IP rules, can be applied to any list of IP addresses. This allows users to integrate their own IP management workflows and leverage the Azure Management API to dynamically update fire...
Post a Comment
Read more

FBI Top Ten Power Platform Connector

Image
Today’s digital landscape offers unprecedented opportunities to leverage technology in the service of public safety. The FBI’s open API, a comprehensive source of data on the nation’s most wanted individuals and significant art crimes, now seamlessly integrates into the Power Platform thanks to the FBI Most Wanted Custom Connector. This innovation enables low-code developers across federal agencies to quickly and easily repurpose critical law enforcement data for the greater good. Inspiration Behind the Connector The inception of the FBI Most Wanted Custom Connector was driven by the untapped potential within the FBI’s publicly available data. Recognizing the wealth of information housed on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list and the broader FBI’s Most Wanted API , the development of this connector was aimed at unlocking this data trove. By facilitating streamlined access to these resources through the Power Platform, the connector is designed to empower developers and agencies to b...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Show Notes (Annotations) on a Model-Driven App Dashboard

Image
Model-driven apps in Power Apps allow users to create dashboards that display key data from different entities. By default, dashboards do not provide an easy way to display Notes (Annotations). However, using a combination of dashboard customization and XrmToolBox, you can modify a dashboard to include a list of Notes. This article provides a step-by-step guide to achieving this. Step 1: Create a New Dashboard Navigate to the Maker Portal . Create a new dashboard . When adding components to the dashboard, insert a List for any entity (e.g., Accounts). The selected entity does not matter, as we will modify it later to display Notes. Step 2: Obtain the Notes View ID In the Maker Portal , navigate to an existing View for the Notes (Annotations) entity or create a new custom view. Once the view is open, copy the View ID as it will be needed later. Step 3: Install XrmToolBox and FormXml Manager Plugin Download and install XrmToolBox from https://www.xrmtoolbox.com/ . ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Using Web Templates as Custom Components in Power Pages: A Classification Banner Example

Image
Introduction Web templates in Power Pages offer a powerful way to create reusable components that can be used across multiple pages, headers, and footers. This approach simplifies development and maintenance by allowing common elements, such as banners or data tables, to be managed centrally. In this article, we will explore how to use web templates as custom components, focusing on a practical example: a classification banner that can be placed in the header or footer of a Power Pages site. What Are Web Templates in Power Pages? Web templates are Liquid-based templates that allow developers to structure and render dynamic content within Power Pages. They are commonly used for: Custom layouts : Defining reusable structures for pages. Reusable components : Creating elements like banners, notifications, and data tables. Dynamic content : Injecting data dynamically using Dataverse and Liquid expressions. Microsoft has provided comprehensive guidance on using web templates as com...
Post a Comment
Read more

From Messy to Manageable: Cleanly Load Dataverse Tables in Power BI

Image
First and foremost, I want to take a moment to acknowledge Brandon Pires , who originally crafted the script that inspired all of this work. Brandon’s creativity laid the foundation for this blog post, and his efforts are key to helping Power BI developers improve efficiency and cleanliness in their reports. Introduction: Using Templates to Keep Your Dataverse Clean When working with Microsoft Dataverse in Power BI, things can get messy quickly. Dataverse often contains a wealth of fields, system columns, and metadata that can make your reports harder to understand, cluttered, and less efficient. However, by leveraging templates and custom functions, you can automatically clean and format your data, allowing you to focus on deriving insights rather than grappling with unnecessary noise. One such function, inspired by Brandon Pires, is designed to clean column names from Dataverse and keep them tidy. In this blog post, I will explain how this function works, why it improves efficien...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bypass Power Apps Consent Prompts Using PowerShell

Image
When a user opens a Power App for the first time, they are often presented with a consent form asking for permission to access data sources or APIs used by the app. This Canvas API consent form can be disruptive, especially in scenarios where the app is intended for a broad user base or part of an automated deployment. The consent form can create unnecessary friction, requiring every user to individually approve permissions. Fortunately, there’s a way to bypass this pop-up consent form using PowerShell. In this blog post, I will guide you through automating the process of bypassing the Power Apps consent form using PowerShell. The goal is to either allow users to select an app from a specific environment or use a configuration file to perform actions on multiple environments. This automation can be particularly useful for initial deployments of a new app or to ensure all apps currently have this applied. Background: Bypassing Power Apps Consent Before diving into the PowerShell s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Custom Auto Number in Dataverse with Fiscal Year-Based Incrementing Using Plugin Code

Image
In many scenarios, businesses require custom auto-numbering for records in Microsoft Dataverse that go beyond the default functionality provided. In this article, I’ll walk you through a solution that involves creating a custom auto-number field without using the out-of-the-box auto-numbering feature in Dataverse. Instead, we’ll use a combination of a custom entity as a counter and a plugin that triggers on the pre-create event of the target table. The Approach For this solution, we’ll create a custom table called Fiscal Year Counter . This table will manage our numbering sequence based on the fiscal year. The idea is to dynamically generate invoice numbers that reset each fiscal year, providing a high level of customization to fit your organization’s unique fiscal calendar. The Fiscal Year Counter Table Setup First, create a table named Fiscal Year Counter with the following fields: Name (String): To store the fiscal year name, such as “FY2024.” Start Date (Date Only, Time...
Post a Comment
Read more