Entity Relationships in PowerApps Canvas

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Posted on by david_castillo

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Are relationships useful in Canvas apps or their use-case would be just lookups for now?

I'm planning the ERD for one of our apps for asset management and wondered if establishing these relationships would have a value in Canvas apps.

Can someone can share their experience on this?

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v-siky-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @david_castillo
Relational database has become the dominant database model for commercial applications. A well-designed relational database shall eliminate Data Redundancy, the same piece of data shall not be stored in more than one place. This is because duplicate data not only waste storage spaces but also easily lead to inconsistencies.
If you have structural data, then it's always best to use relational database. If you have a large amount of data, you can save space using a relational database format.
My recommendation would be to always analyze your data, be sure what your needs are, don’t scrimp on figuring out the data. It will pay off, even if you choose to use NoSQL over Relational databases.
Best regards,
Sik
david_castillo 105 on at

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Hi Sik,

Thanks for the response. I'm aware of the advantages of using relational databases for entities just as you mentioned, and thank you for giving some additional thoughts in terms of requirements.

In terms of actual development in Power Apps, does this have an impact on how we configure/code these data over manually creating two entities and relating them via a unique reference ID?

We're using CDS now. Previously in SharePoint, we basically just do that - creating two lists (List A and List B).

List A - The main form (let's say a budget request)
List B - the line items of the budget request

In SharePoint, we relate the two lists by using the GUID/ID of SharePoint (List A Item 1 has ID = 1), so when we submit the record in Power Apps, we have a function to call the LastSubmitted ID and write that in a column for List B (so that List B Item 1 has ColumnID = 1 as well).

Now that we're on CDS, there's this feature of creating relationships between entities (I assume these are lists when you compare them in SharePoint). Will the logic be the same as above when I code/configure them in Power Apps?
PowerAddict 7,316 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Yes, it will be the same or similar. For example, in your case, let's say we have 2 entities in CDS A and B. You will have a one to many relationship between A and B, in other words denoting, that there can be many entries in B linked to one entry in A. While some format or syntax might be different from one data source to another, the underlying concepts are the same.

Let me know if you have more questions.

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Hardit Bhatia
https://www.thepoweraddict.com