Today, we’ll discuss how to set up the camera feature in a PowerApps app.
[Intro Video]
Hi, this is Mike Negami, Lean Sigma, Black Belt.
We are now working on a video series for an Approval Workflow System building with PowerApps
and Microsoft Flow.
Since you can deliver much more information with images than texts, you can achieve innovative
process improvement with the camera function.
Let’s arrange parts of the app screen first.
If you would like to know how to use PowerApps basics, click the link above and watch the
video.
I added a Drop-down control to select an application type, and added a Text Input Control to input
an application budget.
There is another short video about these controls.
Now for today’s main topic: the installation of the camera feature.
From the menu bar, select ‘Insert’, ‘Media’, and ‘Add Picture Control’, and place it
at the desired location and size.
However, you can’t reach to the camera from a PC.
When I do it on my phone, I have options for whether to take a picture or to select an
existing picture from the library.
Here, I’ll select ‘Take Photo’ to take a photo.
If you tap on ‘Retake’, you can take it again.
When I tap ‘Use Photo’, that photo appears on my app.
If you tap ‘Change Picture’, you can do so.
These handy features are already built into the Add Picture Control.
Because there are many features in PowerApps like this, you can create apps easily and
in a short time.
We’ve completed arranging all the parts now.
Looking at the list of controls on the left pane, the Add Picture Control consists of
two parts.
The 2nd one is ‘Image Control’, which outputs the image taken earlier in its ‘Image’
property.
Look at the formula, you can see that that image is stored in the ‘Media’ Property
of the Add Picture Control.
If you need only one photo, you can do other work using the Media Property, but if you
want to use more than one, you have to save the picture somewhere else.
Otherwise, when you take the next picture, the previous one would be deleted.
PowerApps allows you to temporarily keep your data in the app’s memory called ‘Collection’.
I also made a short video about this.
Long story short, you can use the Correct Function to save data in Collection.
I made a button called ‘Next Picture’ here and I’ll put a command formula in its
OnSelect Property.
Then, when you tap the button, the command will be executed.
So, we’ll use the Collect Function here.
As you type a function name like Excel, available function names and data names will appear,
so it’s better to select one from them.
After choosing a function, you can see its necessary argument structure above.
This is my formula with the Collect Function.
This formula means ‘Save the photo you took in the collection named MyPix and it will
be saved in the column of ‘Photo’.
You can put names of MyPix or Photo freely as you like.
I put a semicolon after the Collect Function so that you can put other commands.
The next Reset Function initializes the Add Picture Control.
Besides clicking the triangle icon above, you can easily preview your app by pressing
the ‘Alt Key’ on your keyboard.
Pressing the ‘Next Picture’ button, you can see that the camera has been initialized.
Then, was my picture actually saved?
On the menu bar, select ‘View’ and ‘Collection’, then you’ll see a list of collections made
in this app.
Select MyPix.
We see that something is stored in the Photo column, but I’m not sure if it’s my picture.
There is a way to check it.
Select ‘Insert’, ‘Media’ and ‘Image’ control.
Use its Image Property to select a picture to output.
Just putting the MyPix collection doesn’t show any picture.
This time the collection has only one data item, but the collection is a table, which
means a collection of data, so we need to specify which data.
There are a few ways to do it.
I’ll use the First Function.
This specifies the top data in the table.
Close the parentheses and put a dot and the column name, ‘Photo’.
My picture appeared, so I confirmed that my picture is saved in the collection.
With this camera function in your app, you will be able to use it for checking things
remotely or recording information in pictures and referring to them later, which we couldn’t
do until now.
Indeed, you can achieve process improvement innovation with this.
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