SharePoint Site Assistant

Summary

This sample serves to simplify and standardize the site creation process within an organization, offering a tailored experience to users. With a user-friendly interface, the application requires users to respond to seven questions on a Canvas App form, which initiates the creation of a new SharePoint site.

Users have the autonomy to specify the desired site language (English and Lithuanian for now), choose a design from predefined templates, and list external users who they wish to invite as members to the new site. Once these parameters are set and the form is submitted, an automated Power Automate flow is launched, which constructs the site according to the given specifications.

A unique feature of this application is its real-time site name validation system. While filling the form, the entered site name is compared against an existing database to avoid duplication. If a match is found, the system promptly notifies the user, preventing submission until a unique name is provided.

Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as Graph API, Responsive Design, and Azure Application Insights, this solution offers a harmonious blend of simplicity and advanced functionality.

Applies to

• Microsoft Power Apps
• Microsoft Power Automate
• Microsoft Graph API

Compatibility

Authors

Solution	Author(s)
sharepoint-site-assistant	Katerina Chernevskaya (LinkedIn), Awara IT Academy

Version history

Version	Date	Comments
1.0	July 06, 2023	Initial release

Features

This sample illustrates the following concepts:

• Responsive design of the Power Apps Canvas app allows convinient work on different devices
• Using the Graph API to instantly validate the inputted site name to prevent duplications.
• Verification of correct form filling before submission, directly within Power Apps.
• Options to select the language for the site.
• Options to select the design for the site.
• Recording user actions for the purpose of analyzing user behavior, with the goal of enhancing the application.
• Display of a list of created sites in the tenant using the Graph API.
• Automation of all site creation actions, including the invitation of external users and sending an invitation email with a link to the created site.

Prerequisites

• Environment with Dataverse
• Microsoft 365 / Office 365 and Power Apps Standalone license
• App registration (will be used for invitation for external users)

Solution Components

The following solution components are used in this sample:

• SharePoint Assistant (Canvas App)
• SharePoint Assistant - Site creation (Cloud flow)
• SharePoint site requests (Dataverse table)
• siteAddress (Environment variable)
• siteOwner (Environment variable)
• SharePointAssistantTenant (Environment variable)
• SharePointAssistantClient (Environment variable)
• SharePointAssistantKey (Environment variable)
• textHEX (Environment variable)
• blueHEX (Environment variable)
• lightBlueAccentHEX (Environment variable)
• SharePointSiteAssistant-Dataverse (Connection reference)
• SharePointSiteAssistant-Outlook (Connection reference)
• SharePointSiteAssistant-SharePoint (Connection reference)

Minimal Path to Awesome

Create the App Registration

• Open Azure portal.
• Go to Azure Active Directory, open App registration tab and click on the New registration button.
• In the registration form enter the Name of you new App registration and click the Register button.
• When the App registration will be created, go to the API permissions tab, click the Add a permission and select Microsoft Graph in the pop-up window.
• On the next screen select Application permissions, find User.Invite.All, select it and click on the Add permissions button.
• Once you add the permission, click on the Grant admin consent for <YOUR TENANT NAME> button.
• Go to Certificates & secrets tab, click on the New client secret button, add Description and Expires values, and click the Add button.
• Copy to the Notepad the created secret Value before close the browser or navigate to another tab, because this value won't be visible once you leave this page. In addition, go to the Overview tab and copy to the Notepad Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID values. Save these 3 values for later.

Import the solution

• Download the solution .zip from the solution folder

• Within https://make.powerapps.com, open your target environment, go to the Solutions tab, click Import solution. In the pop-up window click Brows and select the .zip file you just downloaded. Click next. Also click Next on the next screen.

• On the next screen set up connections for SharePointSiteAssistant-Dataverse, SharePointSiteAssistant-Outlook and SharePointSiteAssistant-SharePoint. If the necessary connections aren't available in your environment, locate the drop-down list adjacent to the required connection and select New connection. You will then need to establish a new connection in the tab that opens. After you've created the new connection, return to the solution import dialog tab, click on Refresh, and your newly established connection should now be visible in the drop-down list. Once you are ready, click on the Next button.

• On the next screen provide values for Environment Variables and click on the Import button.

• siteOwner - the app's admin email that will be used to send email notifications after the process will be completed (in both success or failed cases)

• SharePointAssistantTenant - value of the Directory (tenant) ID from the App Registration created in the previous step

• SharePointAssistantClient - value of the Application (client) ID from the App Registration created in the previous step

• SharePointAssistantKey - value of the Secret value from the App Registration created in the previous step

• textHEX - the color for text (in HEX format)

• blueHEX - the color for controls like button or selected icons (in HEX format)

• lightBlueAccentHEX - the color for accent (in HEX format)

• After the solution is imported, open it and share the Canvas App with all users who require access. Remember to allocate the suitable security role to these users, as well as to assign the necessary licenses.

Once all the steps have been completed, the users with whom the app was shared will gain the capability to use this app for submitting requests to create SharePoint Sites.

Disclaimer

THIS CODE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

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For more information

• Overview of creating apps in Power Apps
• Power Apps canvas apps documentation