Power Apps: Purchase Order Gallery Guide

Key insights

• Purchase Order App overview: Andrew Hess (MySPQuestions) demonstrates building a gallery as Part 1 of a purchase order canvas app tutorial.
  He focuses on a requested feature: a gallery with a floating add button to create new lines inside the app.
• Power Apps and data sources: Start from a blank canvas app and connect a table such as Orders from Dataverse or a demo like Northwind.
  Insert a Vertical Gallery and set its Items property to your sorted or filtered order list.
• Gallery Template Size and layout: Configure the gallery template size and add a header to control spacing and alignment.
  Follow the simple math Andrew shows for Header Length and text input widths to keep consistent UI sizing.
• Collections for data handling: Create and clear collections to store temporary gallery rows and manage UI state without immediate writes to the backend.
  Use collections to preview new items, then patch or save to Dataverse or SharePoint when ready.
• Floating Add Item Button technique: Build a floating button that adds a new blank line to the gallery and keeps placement across screen sizes.
  The technique works in both Modern and Classic Power Apps and improves user flow for adding purchase lines quickly.
• Tree View and next steps: Use the Tree View to manage controls and screens as the app grows, and apply Sort and Filter logic to the gallery for better UX.
  Andrew’s chaptered timeline helps you replicate steps and plan future parts that add editing, validation, and backend updates.

Introduction

Andrew Hess - MySPQuestions recently published a tutorial video titled Beginners Guide: Purchase Order App - How to Build this Gallery - Part 1, which focuses on the first steps for building a purchase order app using Power Apps. The video targets beginners and walks through creating a functional gallery control, including a floating add button and related collections. Consequently, the content serves as a practical starting point for teams aiming to modernize purchase order workflows without heavy coding.

In addition, the video includes timed chapters that help viewers jump to key moments, such as gallery layout and collection handling. Therefore, readers can follow the tutorial at their own pace and repeat the sections that matter most. This structure makes the guide accessible to both new users and those who want a quick refresher.

What the Video Demonstrates

First, Andrew sets up a blank canvas app in Power Apps and connects it to an example data source like the Orders table, mirroring common demo databases. He then adds a blank vertical gallery and configures its Items property to display and sort order data, which provides an immediate visual list for users. By showing how labels and inputs fit inside the gallery, the tutorial explains the practical layout decisions behind a purchase order list.

Next, the video covers the gallery template size and header calculations, giving clear formulas and examples for ensuring consistent spacing. Viewers learn how to size text inputs and align headers so the gallery appears balanced across different screen sizes. As a result, the app gains a more professional look and reduces UI issues during later development.

Key Techniques: Collections and Floating Button

Andrew also walks through creating and clearing collections to manage in-memory data that drives the gallery preview and interim edits. For instance, he demonstrates how a collection can hold new line items before they are committed to a backend, which simplifies local testing and improves responsiveness. Consequently, this approach helps developers prototype features without immediately writing back to Dataverse or SharePoint.

Moreover, the tutorial introduces a practical method for a floating add item button that creates new lines in the gallery. The technique uses positional math and layering so the control visually floats without blocking gallery interaction. This design adds user convenience but requires careful attention to touch targets on mobile devices and to z-ordering during complex screen transitions.

Tradeoffs and Design Challenges

While the video favors Microsoft Dataverse and canvas apps for flexibility, it also highlights tradeoffs between using Microsoft Dataverse versus SharePoint - Lists. For example, Dataverse offers relational integrity and enterprise features, but it can increase licensing cost and complexity; in contrast, SharePoint is familiar and cost-friendly yet may require more workarounds for relational data. Therefore, teams should weigh data model needs, user scale, and long-term maintenance when choosing a backend.

Another challenge the tutorial addresses is responsiveness versus control fidelity. Although fixed template sizes can ensure predictable layouts, they may not adapt well to different devices. Conversely, fully responsive formulas increase complexity and testing effort. Thus, developers must balance simplicity with user experience needs depending on the expected device mix.

Practical Takeaways and Next Steps

Overall, this first part of the series sets a solid foundation by focusing on a usable gallery, basic collections, and a neat floating button feature. For teams starting a purchase order app, the steps in the video provide a repeatable pattern to display lists, manage temporary data, and add new items cleanly. As a result, viewers can quickly prototype and iterate on UI before wiring up full backend transactions.

Looking ahead, the tutorial's structure suggests logical next steps such as building detailed item forms, implementing save and patch logic to persist records, and adding validation and permissions. Additionally, viewers are encouraged to test different data sources and consider the tradeoffs discussed when scaling the app to production. Finally, Andrew invites questions, so interested developers can request deeper dives into any section in future videos.

Keywords

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