Microsoft announced a bunch of features coming to its Power Platform at its Build 2019 developer conference today. A new Ethereum connector will be available for PowerApps and Flow, with the announcement that blockchain is coming to the Power Platform. It will allow users to deploy, create, interact with, and respond to different events using a "low-code approach". It"s available in public preview now.
The PowerApps Component Framework will allow developers to build components for apps that are reusable. It"s already in public preview for model-driven apps and will be available later this year for canvas apps. There are also new Visual Studio extensions for this that are in private preview.
The PowerApps embedding SDK does exactly what it sounds like, allowing developers to embed their PowerApps app into an existing UI. It also lets you embed the PowerApps maker experience into an app. The SDK is currently in public preview.
There are new quality checkers for PowerApps, such as App Checker and Solution Checker. The former will find errors, performance issues, and accessibility guidance, while the latter checks up on all of the related components. They"re generally available now.
There"s a new Unified Lifecycle Management for PowerApps and Flow, allowing your apps to "be included in the same enterprise-grade solution system that underpins Dynamics 365 applications". This will be generally available in June.
Microsoft also announced that support for Python is coming to Power BI. You can use Python visuals in Power BI reports, and you can use scripts in your dataset. This is now generally available.
There"s a new Azure services connector for both PowerApps and Flow, letting users view all of their Azure services in one place. This is also generally available.
Finally, there are some improvements to Power BI. Power BI Embedded lets you use AI with a drag-and-drop experience, and Power BI Template allows you to have ISVs offer analytics to customers that use Power BI. The former will be generally available in June, while the latter is available now.