Describe Data Sources

Data Sources in Power Apps refers to canvas apps that use external information stored in cloud services. Example – Table in an Excel file stored in OneDrive for Business. Apps access these data source by using Connections. Moreover, data sources can be connected to a cloud service, or they can be local to an app.

Types of Data Source

We shall now define the different kind of data source –

Connected Data source

• Tables are one of the most common data sources, used to retrieve and store information.
• Moreover, you can use connections to data sources to read and write data in Microsoft Excel workbooks, SharePoint lists, SQL tables, and many other formats
• It can be stored in cloud services such as OneDrive for Business, DropBox, and SQL Server.
• Data sources other than tables include email, calendars, Twitter, and notifications

Local Data Source

• Using the Gallery, Display form, and Edit form controls, it is easy to create an app that reads and writes data from a data source.
• When we ask Power Apps to create an app from data, these controls are used.
• Behind the scenes, the app uses an internal table to store and manipulate the data that comes from the data source.
• A special kind of data source is the Collection, which is local to the app and not backed by a connection to a service in the cloud, so the information can not be shared across devices for the same user or between users. Collections can be loaded and saved locally.

Creating Data Sources

• Remember, Power Apps are not used to create a connected data source, or modify its structure; this implies the data source must already exist in service somewhere.
• Also, you create a connection to it from your app.
• However, the collection data source can be created and modified inside an app, but are only temporary.

For more visit: Working with Data Source