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Description
In this 24-minute citizen developer-focused demo, Charles Sterling and Reza Dorrani create environment variables (to connect to SharePoint sites/data) and add them to Power Apps Solutions. Within your canvas apps, flows, and bots, select to incorporate your environment variables. Environment variables simplify moves from Dev to Test to Prod environments by handling environment configuration updates to flows, bots, and apps. See how environment variables are created, added to an app and to a flow. This PnP Community demo is taken from the Microsoft Power Apps community call - May 2021, recorded on May 19, 2021.
Demo Presenters:
• Charles Sterling (Microsoft) | @chass
• Reza Dorrani (Catapult) | @rezadorrani
Supporting documents:
• Documentation - Environment variables overview | https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/data-platform/EnvironmentVariables
• Blog - Announcing data source environment variables | https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-data-source-environment-variables/
Stay connected:
• Twitter https://twitter.com/microsoft365dev
• YouTube https://aka.ms/m365pnp/videos
• Blogs https://aka.ms/m365pnp/community/blog
• Call attention to your great work by using #PowerAppsCC and #PnPWeekly on Twitter.
A
So
me
and
roz
are
actually
going
to
take
this
as
kind
of
a
two-part
series.
The
first
part
that
we
were
going
to
look
at
was
kind
of
the
edge
cases
that
the
implementation
that
we've
given
with
environment
variables
doesn't
exactly
handle
it.
But
it's
actually
common
enough
matter
of
fact.
The
scenario
that
todd
gave
me
it
was
actually
an
application
he
was
working
on.
A
I
won't
tell
you
which
application,
because
I
think
he
might
be
submitting-
and
I
hope
is
that
he
wanted
to
have
an
application
that
changed
its
behavior
based
on
whether
or
not
it's
either
for
one
team
or
another
or
from
test
to
prod,
and
I
actually
heard
it
more
of
a
configuration
change
that
what
todd
wanted
to
do.
So
what
you're
seeing
here
is
an
example
of
where
this
application
starts.
A
It
goes
out
and
figures
out
what
city
did
the
person
that
installed
me
choose
that
they
they
were
going
to
run
this
application
from,
and
in
this
case
it
was
seattle,
because
that's
where
I'm
based,
and
so
it
defaults
to
cll
is
raining.
But
this
is
actually
based
on
an
environment
variable
that
the
application
checks
in
this
particular
case.
A
It's
actually
looking
at
an
azure
function
and
doing
a
switch,
because
if
we
go
out
and
take
a
look
at
those
environment
variables,
let's
do
that
now
there
isn't
one
for
custom,
connectors
or
sql,
there's
only
one
for
sharepoint,
connectors
and
actually
russ
is
going
to
walk
through
the
different
ways
of
changing
your
application,
based
on
whether
or
not
you're
in
tester
prod.
So
again,
I've
got
an
email
address
here.
I've
got
my
settings
here.
How
did
we
do
that?
Where
do
you
actually
get
started?
A
If
you
haven't
taken
a
look
at
environment
variables,
I've
gone
out
into
the
solutions
view
and
I've
actually
opened
an
enviro
or
a
solution
called
variables
or
fun,
or
something
like
that.
The
variable
solution,
I
think,
is
what
it
might
be
called
and
what
we're
going
to
do
is
we're
going
to
go
out
and
choose
add
and
under
more
you'll,
actually
see
that
there's
an
environment
variable
and
what
we're
going
to
do
is.
Oh,
actually,
I
don't
want
to
add
a
new
one.
Actually,
I
don't
want
to
add
an
existing
one.
A
I
want
to
add
a
new
one,
so
we're
going
to
go
out
and
say,
add
new
and
I'm
into
fishing.
If
you
guys
didn't
know
that
I
like
fishing,
so
I
might
have
a
fishing
environment
variable,
so
maybe
it's
a
fishing
application
and
if
eric
suave
is
actually
who
I
see
is
working
very
diligently
as
a
bass
fisherman,
he
could
go
out
and
say
this
is
a
bass
application
and
I
actually
fish
first
tuna.
A
So
I
would
have
the
tune
application
and
all
the
data
that
I
see
when
I
installed
the
application
should
be
about
tuna
and
eric's
would
be
about
bass.
So
would
say
that
this
is
the
phishing
environment
variable,
and
I
spelled
that
one
wrong.
That's,
okay
and
it's
going
to
be
text.
We're
actually
going
to
look
at
the
data
source,
one
for
sharepoint
a
little
bit
with
reza
and
I'm
going
to
go
ahead
and
say
that
my
default
value
is
tuna
and
the
current
value
is
what
did
I
say,
bass
for
eric
now.
A
What
this
does
is
actually
puts
these
values
into
a
table
in
database
called
the
data
definition
table
now.
There
is
also
a
related
table
that
you're
going
to
want
to
pull
the
values
out
that
did
not
get
populated
until
we
actually
do
a
change.
So
let's
go
ahead
and
actually
go
out
and
edit
this
and
change
that,
let's
actually
maybe
say
that
I
changed
it
to
a
salmon
because
salmon
is
getting
up.
A
So
that's
actually
the
default
value
and
the
current
value
isn't
going
to
be
bass,
but
eric
is
actually
out
chasing
trout,
actually
eric's
a
diver,
so
he's
going
to
be
looking
at
groupers,
so
we're
going
to
be
grouper.
Now.
How
do
I
use
that
inside
of
my
powerapps
application?
Right?
I
showed
you
here
is
where
I'm
going
out
and
grabbing
this
stuff
from
this
environment
variables.
Let's
actually
go
ahead
and
hide
this
now.
First
of
all,
I'm
not
looking
at
this,
but
there's
a
setting
called
automatically
create
environment
variables.
A
Res
is
going
to
show
you
that
in
a
second
now,
let's
actually
just
delete
this
box.
What
I've
got
here
is
the
bottom
table.
Actually,
let's
just
delete
these
actually
I
think
I
have
one
that
they
don't
exist,
see
if
I
have
one
no
okay,
and
this
is
actually
called
the
environment
variable,
so
we
can
actually
go
ahead
and
delete
this
and,
let's
just
say,
I
want
to
see
what
environment
variables
I
have
so
I
go
ahead
and
add
a
data
table
and
move
this
down
and
remember.
A
A
That's
okay,
we'll
just
delete
this
one
and
we'll
actually
put
that
one
back
in
there
and
they're
related
in
that
there
should
be
a
row
once
you've
modified
it
for
a
value
based
on
the
definition
and
that's
what
I'm
doing
here
is
I'm
actually
pulling
it
out
and
saying
hey.
I
want
this
particular
row
whatever
that
value,
as
I
said
in
the
solution,
I'm
going
to
pull
that
out
again
we're
doing
this.
A
A
Okay,
and
actually
I
need
to
delete
this
one
and
actually
go
out
and
add
the
correct
one,
and
you
can
actually
just
see
the
the
how
the
related
beats
behind
these
definitions
so
itself
we're
going
to
add
table,
and
in
this
one
it
is
the
values
and
now
you
can
see
that
I've
got
more
values.
Sorry,
I
have
fewer
values
that
I
have
of
definitions.
This
is
what
I
was
talking
about
earlier
to
where
I
actually
would
not
see
a
value
until
I
actually
changed
that
definition
come
on.
A
I
want
you
to
work
with
me.
There
we
go
okay,
so
here
the
definition
here
are
the
values
and
here's
that
that
email
address
that
I
see
here-
and
this
is
actually
where
I'm
using
the
weather,
which
is
actually
set
to
seattle.
And,
of
course,
I
can
override
that
now
how
about
actually
doing
a
switch
on
an
azure
function,
connection
endpoint.
What
I'm
doing-
and
I
know
this-
isn't
the
best
asbestos
practice,
I've
gone
out
and
said:
hey,
let
me
pull
out
the
weather
variable
and
then
based
on.
A
If
it's
seattle
again,
you'd
probably
want
to
use
a
case
statement,
not
an
if
statement,
I'm
going
to
go
ahead
and
use
the
seattle
azure
function
and
if
it's
not
well,
it
looks
like
I
got
it
backwards.
Anyways
I
will
use
the
key
west
one
and
you
can
go
out
and
see
when
I
run
this
that
if
I
actually
toggle
this,
I
am
then
calling
them
the
different
azure
function,
but
it
the
application,
starts
by
default
with
what
was
actually
set
in
the
environment
variables.
So
here's
a
quick
look
at
lots
of
ways.
A
You
can
use
environment
variables
both
for
configuration
and
for
alm
deployments
right,
so
this
email
address
can
certainly
be
different
for
test
versus
prod
and
a
lot
of
it
is
actually
kind
of
custom
for
power.
Apps
canvas
apps.
What
res
is
going
to
show
you
is
what
does
the
main
line
scenarios
look
like
that?
Don't
require
a
lot
of
code
and
actually
the
the
functionality
is
built
in
before
I
do
that
what
you're
going
to
actually
see
reza
doing?
A
He
actually
has
a
video
on
it,
so
make
sure
to
check
out
his
youtube
channel
and
matthew.
Devaney,
actually
just
did
a
great
blog
post
last
night
walking
through
how
to
actually
set
up
those
sharepoint
environment
variables.
So
with
that
res,
I'm
going
to
hand
the
microphone
to
you.
My
friend,
thank
you.
B
And
I
will
take
over
screen
sharing
perfect
hello,
everyone.
This
is
reza
durrani,
I'm
going
to
showcase
how
we
can
leverage
environment
variables
in
the
context
of
flows.
However,
I
will
also
show
you
how
we
can
leverage
those
environment
variables
in
apps.
I
know
chuck
showed
that,
but
I
plan
to
cover
the
new
data
source
environment
variables,
option
so
to
start
using
environment
variables,
and
there
were
a
lot
of
questions
in
chat.
Do
I
need
solutions?
The
answer
is
yes,
you
do
need
solutions.
B
Solutions
is
a
premium
feature.
The
answer
is,
no
solutions
are
not
premium
as
long
as
you
have
a
database
created
in
your
environment,
which
requires
capacity.
If
you
have
that
in
that
case,
all
you
need
to
use
solutions
is
access
to
that
environment.
If
you
have
the
access,
you
can
start
building
solutions.
You
do
not
need
premium
licensing,
it's
a
misconception.
B
Okay,
so
right
here
in
my
default
environment,
I
have
gone
ahead
and
in
the
interest
of
time
already
pre-created
a
solution
called
help
desk
and
the
way
you
create
a
solution
is
just
go
to
new
solution.
Give
it
a
name,
select
a
publisher,
a
version
number
and
just
create
it,
and
that's
exactly
what
I
did.
It's
just
a
shell
for
adding
components
for
folks
who
are
new
to
solutions.
B
B
Now
anyone
here
who's
worked
with
sharepoint
needs
to
understand
that
sharepoint
is
not
environment.
Specific
sharepoint
is
tenant
specific.
So
when
I
build
a
sharepoint
site
that
site
is
going
to
go
in
my
tenant,
it
does
not
sit
in
an
environment
so
many
times
we
come
across
scenarios
and
specifically
application
life
cycle
management.
You
want
to
build
something
for
test
or
in
dev,
move
it
to
test
and
then
move
it
to
production.
B
Now
we
have
environments
in
the
power
platform
which
which
gives
us
those
capabilities.
However,
the
issue
with
sharepoint
as
a
data
sources
sharepoint
is
not
environment
specific.
So
what
we
end
up
doing
typically,
is
we
create
these
multiple
sharepoint
sites?
Like
I
have
done
right
here,
I
have
a
sharepoint
site
and
check
the
url
service
desk
test
and,
as
part
of
this
site,
I
have
a
list
called
tickets,
in
which
I
have
some
columns
that
I
have
just
added.
B
I
also
have
another
sharepoint
site
called
servicedesk.
This
is
acting
like
my
production,
sharepoint
site
that
I
have
created
now
when
I
create
apps
and
when
I
create
flows
and
when
I
point
to
those
sharepoint
sites
when
I
move
across
environments,
what
I
have
to
do
is
when
I
move
from
dev
to
test
or
prod.
I
have
to
go
back
and
create
all
the
connections.
B
Again,
I
have
to
move
the
pointer
of
my
sharepoint
site
from
my
test
site
to
my
production
site
and
that's
a
lot
of
work
that
you
got
to
do
after
you
have
deployed
your
solution.
So
let
me
try
and
move
this
piece
out
of
here.
Okay,
so
let's
see
how
we
can
leverage
the
the
new
capability
here
called
environment
variables
related
to
data
sources,
and
this
only
works
with
sharepoint
today.
B
So
I'll
go
back
to
my
powerapps
and
I
have
a
solution
here
called
help
desk
in
here
I
will
go
to
new
select
environment
variable,
and
this
is
where
I
can
create
a
brand
new
environment
variable
I'm
going
to
give
it
a
name.
I'm
going
to
call
this.
My
help
desk,
site
url
and
under
data
type
is
where
you
can
select
five
different
options
here
to
choose
from,
and
this
is
the
type
of
data
that's
going
to
be
maintained
in
this
environment.
Variable
chuck,
showcased
earlier
how
to
use
text
variables.
B
You
have
jsons,
so
you
can
actually
store
json
blobs
here
and
read
it
in
your
apps
and
flows.
Decimal
numbers,
boolean
values,
but
the
newest
addition
to
the
environment.
Variable
type,
which
is
the
most
interesting
aspect
here-
is
data
source
data
source
once
again
only
and
only
works
with
sharepoint
today.
B
B
B
So
I'm
going
to
start
with
the
site
connection
here,
go
to
new
value,
and
this
will
list
out
all
my
sharepoint
sites
and
I'll
quickly
pick
my
test
site
right
here
and
I
will
click
save
and
just
like
that.
It
just
creates
an
environment
variable
that
is
associated
with
my
test
sharepoint
site
and
this
environment
variable
is
being
packaged
as
part
of
this
solution.
So
you
see
solutions,
help
desk,
here's
my
variable
now.
B
B
Now,
let's
see
how
we
can
use
these
in
apps
and
flows,
chuck
showed
you
how
you
can
read
them
in
apps
and
it
was
quite
complex.
You
saw
that
right.
He
wrote
that
formula
for
filter
and
look
at
those
tables
and
grab
that
information.
There's
a
lot
of
work
to
do
in
flows.
The
power
automated
team
has
made
it
extremely
simple,
so
I'll
go
to
new
and,
let's
say
I'll,
create
a
flow,
and
I'm
doing
this
all
live
randomly.
B
There's
nothing
planned
here
so
if
anything
goes
wrong,
it's
okay,
so
I'll,
say
I'll
select
when
a
new
item
is
created.
Okay.
So
whenever
a
new
item
is
created
in
my
sharepoint
list,
I
want
to
notify
my
user
that
an
item
has
got
created.
That's
my
flow
now
under
site
address.
What
we
typically
do.
Is
we
open
the
drop
down
and
select
the
site,
but
this
time
we'll
do
something
different.
I
will
open
this
and
go
to
enter
custom
value
when
I
do
this
in
flows.
B
Now
we
have
this
option
called
environment
variables,
which
is
available
as
a
dynamic
content,
and
this
will
list
out
all
my
environment
variables.
So
I
just
created
one
called
help
desk
site
url.
So
I'm
going
to
select
this
because
that's
my
site,
url
and
then
for
the
list
url
or
the
list
name
once
again
I'll
go
to
enter
custom
value.
That's
the
key
here
and
here
I
will
pick
my
tickets
list
url.
B
This
now
is
connecting
to
my
data
source,
which
is
sharepoint
through
those
environment
variables.
Now
that
I'm
done
with
this,
let
me
try
and
do
two
things
one.
I
will
update
the
item
again
and
once
again
to
update
the
item.
I
will
again
pick
enter
custom
value
this
time,
I'll
go
very
fast.
Help
desk
site
url
enter
custom
value.
Ticket
list.
Url.
B
Give
me
the
id
of
the
item.
You
want
to
update,
fill
out
any
mandatory
fields.
I
did
practice
this.
That's
why
it's
fast
all
right.
How
do
I
change
so
check
this
out?
It's
connecting
to
that
action,
which
is
update
item,
but
it
is
still
aware
of
all
the
columns
in
that
list.
So
let's
say
whenever
a
new
ticket
is
created,
the
status
is
new.
When
the
process
begins,
the
status
becomes
in
progress.
So
I'm
updating
the
item
and
now
right
here
I
will
send
an
email
to
myself.
B
If
I
can
get
the
action
right,
all
right
send
an
email
to
reza
and
I'm
going
to
say,
item
is
created
and
right
here,
because
I
want
to
also
show
you
the
values
of
those
environment
variables.
I
will
use
it
in
the
subject
of
my
ticket
and
in
the
body
of
my
ticket
I
will
put
the
tickets
list
url
and
I'm
going
to
call
this.
My
item
created
flow.
B
B
B
We
will
see
that
I
will
receive
an
email,
because
I
use
that
notification
component
in
the
flow
and
that
email
will
contain
those
environment
variable
values,
because
I
actually
posted
them
directly
through
my
flow.
So
that's
how
simple
it
is
for
us
to
leverage
it
now,
while
the
flow
is
running
I'll
promise
I'll
show
you
that.
Let
me
also
show
you
how
we
can
use
these
same
environment
variables
and
apps
data
source
variables,
so
I'll
go
to
new.
B
I
will
go
to
app
and
I
will
create
a
new
canvas
app
and
looks
like
I
received
the
email
so
check
this
out.
Here's
the
email
that
item
is
created
check
the
url,
it's
coming
from
that
environment
variable
and
this.
What
you
see
here
is
the
list
url
the
grid
of
the
list
and
sharepoint
that
is
stored
in
the
environment
variable.
B
So
that's
the
power
of
environment
variables.
If
I
package
this
solution-
and
I
move
it
from
one
environment
to
another,
I
can
then
repoint
these
environment
variables
to
my
production,
sharepoint
site
and
all
my
apps.
All
my
flows
that
are
pointing
to
those
environment
variables
will
automatically
transform
themselves
to
that
new
data
source.
That's
the
power
of
these
variables,
the
environment
variables
that
I
leveraged
in
my
flow.
None
of
this
requires
premium
licensing.
Please
bear
this
in
mind.
All
of
this
is
free
as
part
of
your
standard
license.
You
can
use
all
of
this.
B
The
demo
that
chuck
gave
earlier
where
he
was
squaring
the
data.
The
data
was
tables
in
power
apps.
That
requires
premium
licensing.
That
means
through
flows.
I
can
get
it
for
free,
but
through
apps
I
have
to
pay
a
premium
cost
reza.
How
do
I
avoid
that?
Well,
I
have
a
trick.
You
can
trigger
a
flow
from
powerapps,
so
why
not
call
flow
from
powerapps
grab
all
the
environment
variable
values
and
send
it
back
to
powerapps,
so
you
don't
have
to
pay
the
licensing
cost
anyways
so
in
in
powerapps.
B
Here
I'm
going
to
create
a
new
app.
I'm
going
to
call
this
my
help
desk
app
just
quickly
just
creating
a
header
here,
nothing
special
and
in
order
for
me
to
leverage
environment
variables
in
power,
apps
very
important
go
to
advanced
settings
in
the
app
and
search
for
environment,
and
here
there
is
a
new
feature
that
you
need
to
turn
on,
wherein
it
automatically
creates
environment
variables
when
you're
adding
data
sources.
B
Only
sharepoint
is
supported
today.
So
I'm
going
to
turn
this
on.
I'm
going
to
go
back
one
thing
to
bear
in
mind:
is
it
won't
reflect
immediately?
You
have
to
go
and
save
the
app
once
so
I'm
going
to
call
this
my
service
desk
power,
apps
cc
app.
I'm
gonna
save
this
app.
You
have
to
do
this.
You
have
to
save
it
once
so.
The
app
is
saving.
B
B
So
I'm
going
to
open
this
app
up
all
right.
Here's
the
app
this
time
in
my
canvas
app.
If
I
go
to
data
source,
if
I
go
to
add
and
if
I
try
and
add
sharepoint
as
a
data
source,
looks
like
my
speed
is
too
fast
for
powerapps.
Okay.
So
I'm
going
to
select
my
connection
now.
Typically,
this
lists
out
all
your
sites
or
I
can
plug
in
the
url,
but
here
is
a
brand
new
option.
Now
that
opens
up
called
advanced
if
I
go
to
advanced.
B
B
B
So
I'm
not
using
direct
connections,
I'm
going
via
the
environment
variables,
I'm
going
to
click
connect,
and
this
now
will
add
that
connection
for
me
right
here
and
because
this
is
connected
to
my
test
sharepoint
site.
If
I
go
and
insert
a
very
simple
gallery
out
here
and
connected
to
my
tickets
list,
I
should
I
shall
see
all
those
three
ticket
options
right
here,
and
these
are
all
coming
from
my
test
sharepoint
site,
once
you're
done
with
all
of
this
you've
built
your
app
you've
built
your
flow
you've
built
your
solution.
B
All
you
have
to
do
now
is
package
this
and
export
this
two
tips
when
you're
exporting
solutions
with
environment
variables,
specifically
the
data
source
ones.
You
have
to
do
this.
You
have
to
go
to
that
environment
variable
which
I'm
doing
right
now
go
right
at
the
bottom,
and
you
see
the
association
to
current
site,
remove
it
from
the
solution.
You
have
to
remove
it.
Otherwise
you
won't
be
able
to
associate
it
back
in
the
new
solution,
so
just
remove
it
from
the
solution
not
from
the
environment.
B
So
I'll
pick
remove
from
the
solution,
and
this
is
done
I'll
do
exactly
the
same
thing
for
my
second
environment
variable
as
well,
which
is
my
list
environment
variable.
I
will
come
here
and
say:
remove
this
from
the
solution.
This
is
done.
I
am
ready
to
move
this
I'll
click
on
export,
I'll
click
next,
ideally
export
it
as
a
managed
solution
for
production,
environments,
I'll
click,
export
and
now
powerapps
is
in
the
process
of
packaging.