Pcf API Reference

Power Apps Component Framework API Reference

The Power Apps component framework provides a rich set of APIs that enable you to create powerful code components. This reference lists all available interfaces and their availability across different app types.

API Availability

The following table shows all API interfaces available in the Power Apps component framework, along with their availability in model-driven apps and canvas apps.

Key API Namespaces

Context APIs

The Context object provides access to all framework capabilities and is passed to your component's lifecycle methods. It contains:

• Client: Information about the client (form factor, network status)
• Device: Device capabilities (camera, location, microphone)
• Factory: Factory methods for creating framework objects
• Formatting: Number and date formatting
• Mode: Component mode and tracking
• Navigation: Navigation methods
• Resources: Access to resources (images, strings)
• UserSettings: User settings (locale, number format, security roles)
• Utils: Utility methods (getEntityMetadata, hasEntityPrivilege, lookupObjects)
• WebApi: Dataverse Web API methods

Data APIs

• DataSet: Work with tabular data
• Column: Access column metadata and data
• Entity: Access record data
• Filtering: Define data filtering
• Linking: Define relationships
• Paging: Handle data pagination
• SortStatus: Manage sorting

UI APIs

• Popup: Create popup dialogs
• PopupService: Manage popup lifecycle
• Mode: Get component rendering mode

Metadata APIs

• AttributeMetadata: Column metadata (model-driven only)
• PropertyHelper: Property metadata helpers

Standard Control

• StandardControl: Base interface for all code components with lifecycle methods:
  • init(): Initialize component
  • updateView(): Update component UI
  • destroy(): Cleanup resources
  • getOutputs(): Return output values

Usage Guidelines

Model-Driven vs Canvas Apps

Some APIs are only available in model-driven apps due to platform differences:

• AttributeMetadata: Model-driven only - provides detailed column metadata
• Most other APIs are available in both platforms

API Version Compatibility

• Always check the API availability for your target platform (model-driven or canvas)
• Some APIs may have different behaviors across platforms
• Test components in the target environment to ensure compatibility

Common Patterns

1. Accessing Context APIs

   // In init or updateView
   const userLocale = context.userSettings.locale;
   const isOffline = context.client.isOffline();
   

2. Working with DataSet

   // Access dataset records
   const records = context.parameters.dataset.records;
   
   // Get sorted columns
   const sortedColumns = context.parameters.dataset.sorting;
   

3. Using WebApi

   // Retrieve records
   context.webAPI.retrieveMultipleRecords("account", "?$select=name");
   
   // Create record
   context.webAPI.createRecord("contact", data);
   

4. Device Capabilities

   // Capture image
   context.device.captureImage();
   
   // Get current position
   context.device.getCurrentPosition();
   

5. Formatting

   // Format date
   context.formatting.formatDateLong(date);
   
   // Format number
   context.formatting.formatDecimal(value);
   

Best Practices

1. Type Safety: Use TypeScript for type checking and IntelliSense
2. Null Checks: Always check for null/undefined before accessing API objects
3. Error Handling: Wrap API calls in try-catch blocks
4. Platform Detection: Check context.client.getFormFactor() to adapt behavior
5. API Availability: Verify API availability for your target platform before use
6. Performance: Cache API results when appropriate to avoid repeated calls

Additional Resources

• For detailed documentation on each API, refer to the Power Apps component framework API reference
• Sample code for each API is available in the PowerApps-Samples repository