Microsoft PowerApps
Yesterday (November 30, 2015) when Microsoft announced the limited availability of the new PowerApps product, Twitter users immediately raised the question: Is this the long-awaited Microsoft replacement for InfoPath?
The Twitter hype cycle
1. Excitement over InfoPath replacement
PowerApps look like the next version of #InfoPath but a million times better! Exciting stuff! #PowerApps #O365 #Office365
— Alex Clark (@sharepointalex) November 30, 2015
2. Questions and doubts arise
I saw someone imply Powerapps as a replacement for InfoPath. I don't see how that's possible. Any thoughts?
— Greg Galipeau (@ggalipeau) December 1, 2015
3. Realization dawns
FYI #PowerApps is not supposed to be a replacement for #InfoPath…https://t.co/0dyTAmKpqC
— Christopher Woodill (@MicrosoftTrend) November 30, 2015
@bobbyschang @danholme Agreed, people keep trying to replace the old stuff. It's gone, no replacement… finished 🙂 New way to do things 😀
— Benjamin Niaulin (@bniaulin) December 1, 2015
Best early guidance on PowerApps and InfoPath
Dan Holme posted the single best day 1 clarifying piece on PowerApps on the ITUnity blog. The whole post is highly recommended reading — PowerApps: Mobile Applications by the Business, for the Business.
The section specifically on InfoPath we quote here in full:
What does PowerApps mean for SharePoint Designer and InfoPath?
PowerApps does not replace InfoPath and SharePoint Designer. It creates an entirely new class of capability: building mobile business applications without code.
SharePoint Designer 2013 will still be used, against SharePoint 2013 and 2016 on-premises and SharePoint Online, for the same purposes it has always been used. InfoPath 2013 will still be used to create InfoPath Forms Libraries and to customize SharePoint list forms.
PowerApps can create forms-like applications that connect to SharePoint data on-premises or in Office 365. So there are scenarios in which PowerApps might be used to create an application where InfoPath might have been used before.
Within apps, logic flows create workflow. As mentioned above, logic flows have both similarities and differences to SharePoint workflows. Across an organization, you will use both for various scenarios and apps.
Our first take
Over the coming weeks and months (and years) we will discover what PowerApps is really to become. What we know now, at its birth, is that PowerApps is not the short- or mid-term replacement product that will rescue the many who are currently invested in InfoPath solutions — they are still awaiting Microsoft guidance.
Did you know Formotus is supplanting InfoPath?
Today we have mobile InfoPath filler apps for all devices and custom controls that extend InfoPath capabilities. Tomorrow we’ll have our own web-based design solution for creating forms that run right alongside InfoPath forms in our filler apps.
Learn More
