Dynamics 365, Power Apps

6 Custom Controls in Power Apps for Data Visualizations

Posted by Heidi Neuhauser

It’s been a few months since we talked about the custom controls in Power Apps that were deprecated in April 2021 (RIP Website Preview, Radial Knob, Linear Slider, Flip Switch and others). I also haven’t revisited a fun topic of “where do I implement these controls?!” since my March 2021 DynamicsCon session, which you can watch here. With the constant rate of change in both Power Apps, the Maker Portal and the Classic Solution designer, I thought it would behoove us to dive into these topics together.

All of the below information is accurate as of June 29, 2021. All items are subject, and likely to, change at some point in the future. New functionality is added all the time to the Maker Portal in Power Apps!

6 Custom Controls Available in Power Apps

There are six awesome controls that you can implement using simple out-of-the-box functionality in Power Apps – and where to implement them: in the Maker Portal or your Classic Solution Designer.

Number Input

Visualize numeric of money columns on a form in any Power App using this control:

An example of a number input custom controls applied to a field.
An example of a number input control applied to a column.

You can use this control on the following column types:

  • Currency
  • Decimal
  • Floating Point Number
  • Whole Number

Implement in: This is available in both interfaces: The Maker Portal or the Classic Solution Designer.

Read more from Microsoft documentation here.

Star Rating

I love this control! It’s simple, easy to understand and really breaks up all of the text on a form. Here’s what a star rating control looks like on your form:

An example of star rating custom controls applied to a column.
An example of a star rating control applied to a column.

This can only be used for whole number 1 through 5 (no decimals are supported).

Implement in: This is available in both interfaces: The Maker Portal or the Classic Solution Designer.

Read more from Microsoft documentation here.

Toggle

Read more about the toggle control in this article I wrote earlier this year. Here’s what it looks like on a form:

An example of a toggle control applied to a column.
An example of a toggle control applied to a column.

You can use this control on any Yes/No column in Power Apps.

Implement in: This is available in both interfaces: The Maker Portal or the Classic Solution Designer.

Read more from Microsoft documentation here.

Pen Control

This is a really unique control that lets you add a written content, like a signature, on your form in Power Apps:

Pen Control on a Contact Form to capture signature - custom controls example
Pen Control on a Contact Form to capture signature

Implement in: This is available in the Classic Solution Designer.

Read more from Microsoft documentation here.

Auto-Complete

If you apply an auto-complete custom control to a field on a form, it will look like this:

Auto-complete control on the Spouse/Partner name that has a lookup on Contact table. Custom controls example
Auto-complete control on the Spouse/Partner name that has a lookup on Contact table.

This control is available on any Single Line of Text field on a form.

Implement in: This is available in the Classic Solution Designer.

Read more from Microsoft documentation here.

Input Mask

I’ve written this blog at Reenhanced that goes into depth on how to implement this control on your form. It’s a handy control that can really streamline your data formatting, but it comes with some things you should also be aware of. Mainly, this will convert a phone number to free text, meaning the click to dial functionality will no longer be available. Here is what the input mask looks like when applied to a column:

Business Phone has an Input Mask control applied. Mobile phone does not.
Business Phone has an Input Mask control applied. Mobile phone does not.

Implement in: This is available in the Classic Solution Designer.

Read more from Microsoft documentation here.

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