May 2023 updates for modernization in Power Apps

Note: This blog is in continuation of the announcement of modern controls coming to canvas apps & new look for model driven apps.

We thank our community and users for the active engagement on the journey to modernize Power Apps. This blog outlines the modernization updates we rolled out or are rolling out on both canvas and model apps.

Modern controls updates in canvas apps

We recently released the following improvements for modern controls:

• New insert pane design for modern controls: We have established concept of modern & classic controls for fluent based vs current controls – a paradigm which will be used frequently as we progress towards canvas modernization. The same is now reflected in how our makers will use controls in studio. After enabling modern controls, if you open insert pane, you will see a new tab with all modern controls in it.
  

• Key control improvements: We are constantly shipping additional properties while also modifying existing properties based on your feedback. Here are the latest updates about the changes published in May:

Checkbox	We added new critical properties – OnCheck, OnUncheck & OnSelect, removing OnChange from the flow. We fixed issue of control movement on selection.
Badge	We added new brand and shape properties
Button	We will only have OnSelect property on button and we disabled OnChange property.
Dropdown	We will only have OnChange property on dropdown and disabled OnSelect property
Tab List	We fixed all responsive and overflow issues making this control more usable. The first tab is now selected by default unless maker explicitly configure defaultSelectedItem property
Text	‘Text’ property is now available as output property, expanding use cases for this control. Text control is updated to better visualize whitespace and paragraphs in control.

We have many more updates exciting updates coming to control properties to enhance functionality as well as align on best practices for the control to be used by makers.

• Improved property reference & Enums:
  • We have simplified property references for modern controls. Earlier, the properties had long reference in format
    PowerApps.CoreControls.<Control name>.<Property name>.<Value>.
    The new format is <Control name>.<Property name>.<Value> to increase usability of these controls.
  • Earlier, many enum based properties were incorrectly represented as ‘strings’ confusing makers about the type of property. But we updated our infrastructure to correctly represent those values, now making it easy for our makers to manipulate them correctly.
    
• No more extra step for arrays to work on dataset based controls: We have removed the PCF limitation to select the default ‘value’ field in order to make dataset based controls work while providing an array as input. This increases usability and steps to configure key existing controls like tab list, radio button & dropdown, and also for upcoming controls like breadcrumb & combobox. Our makers can now directly add list of items in control and control will work as expected.
  

Visual improvements in model apps

We’ve also been improving our model driven app modern experiences. In May we’ve released the following updates to our modern apps preview.

• Dialogs: Dialogs now flow to the height of their content, reducing white space for small dialogs. The buttons and icons have also been modernized.

• Loading indicators: We’ve modernized loading indicators in the header and form. Loading spinners within the app have also been modernized.

What is next?

We will soon be making new theming available, initially for canvas apps and then subsequently model apps. The announcement will follow dedicated blog post later. We will also release new controls soon – Combobox, Toggle, Slider & Breadcrumb. And as mentioned above, we will continuously update property sets and enhance functionality of existing controls to make them production ready. We are releasing improvements each week. We will add the release notes link in the comments below.

For model apps, we are working towards modernizing remaining experiences and enabling dark mode as part of upcoming general availability. We will provide more details in the next blog post.