use of environment variables within PowerFX

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Posted on by kasraouiah

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Hello,

I would like to ask if is it possible to use environment variable within PowerFX, i already used them within power automate but i did not manage to know how to use them within PowerFX and I did not find too much documentation on that matter too. if anyone know how to do it i would really appreaciate if he can give description of a simple demo.

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,969 Moderator on at

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Hi @kasraouiah

Do you mean like in a Canvas App? then yes, but here are the Learns for each area.

Use data source environment variables in canvas apps - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn

Use environment variables in Power Platform solutions - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn

Use environment variables in Power Automate solution cloud flows - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn

If these suggestions help resolve your issue, Please consider Marking the answer as such and also maybe a like.

Thank you!
Sincerely, Michael Gernaey

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Pstork1 69,127 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Environment variables are stored in Dataverse, so you can easily use Power FX and a Dataverse connection to look them up. But that will require a Premium license. I usually just use a Power Automate flow to retrieve the values and return them to Power Apps, because in a flow they are surfaced with just a Standard License. See @Michael E. Gernaey's links for additional information.

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kasraouiah 305 on at

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Thank you @Pstork1 for your response i want to know that if only the app maker should have premium license or all users whom that i will share the application with should have premium license too

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Pstork1 69,127 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@kasraouiah Since it would add a Dataverse connector to the app to access the environment variable all users would need a premium license. If you call a flow to access it then no one needs a premium license.

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If this Post helped you, please click "Does this answer your question" and give it a like to help others in the community find the answer too!

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Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,969 Moderator on at

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Hi @kasraouiah

To add to what @Pstork1 said.

While the question was only related to EV's, I would (if you hire me) actually look at what you are using EVs for. Many times using a configuration table in SharePoint (something you define in a list) is better

1) You do not need a Premium license from the App

2) You can make changes on the fly to any environment without having to redeploy for the changes to reflect (if you add more) etc.

It also helps building dynamic configurations versus EVs. I use EVs as well in many situations, but depending on how many I will have, or the reason to access it, or the use, I will use SharePoint to create a configuration storage table to allow me to make instant changes to the values and have them show up, where I usually have a simple Admin UI (Canvas App) for it.

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Pstork1 69,127 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@Michael E. Gernaey The two primary exceptions to that are the two main things I use environment variables for.

1) SharePoint Site and List definitions. The environment variable makes it much easier and more foolproof to have separate sites and lists for Dev, Test, and Prod.

2) Secrets - If I'm using secret keys to access Azure storage or a connector that needs a secret key I don't want those values readable in a SharePoint list or embedded in the app/flow. I want them in an encrypted storage that only the app/flow has access to.

This becomes even more important if you are doing the work for a client where Prod is in a different tenant. I can use Environment variables without having to duplicate a SharePoint list to the other tenant since there is no easy way to duplicate the list. Since I can retrieve the Environment variable with a short flow without a premium license I would rather do that then setup another SharePoint list.

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If this Post helped you, please click "Does this answer your question" and give it a like to help others in the community find the answer too!

Paul Papanek Stork, MVP
Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,969 Moderator on at

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Totally agree @Pstork1 :-) totally agree always exceptions or... what is a good phrase, reasons to do it one way or the other either all the time, or most of the time, that's why I like to understand why the person wants an answer to a question as it can depend.

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