The Power Platform Release Plans for Wave 2/2022 are out. As a developer for Power Apps I’ve spotted so many features I was waiting for… Here are my top ones:
#1 Power Apps Features
These features are not directly targeting the developers, but they are very powerful tools to think of, when we design an app.
Power Apps Grid control
We’ve saw a preview of the Power Apps grid control already in Wave 1/2022. Editable grids with infinite scrolling was the best features until now. The most promising features are still to come.
- The grid offers a custom cell renderer (to show or edit the cells the way you like). This is a part of the Wave 1, but it doesn’t seem to work for now. But the idea is great: that means that we don’t need to implement a complete new grid when we need to show a column with another control. And it should support editable controls too. Real power!
- Grouping on one column, aggregation on columns (and on the defined groups too) and nested grids are powerful features which can be used both in read-only and editable mode.
Preview: October 2022 / GA: –
Form Component Control (FCC) Improvements
The Form Component control is already a very powerful out-of-the-box PCF. It allows us to embed editable forms inside other form, just by using the lookup relation from the hosting form. In wave 2/2002 it will get even more powerful: we can decide if we want also the command bar for the FCC, show tabs and business process flows. And we’ll be able to place the FCC on dashboards and views.
Preview: August 2022 / GA: October 2022
#2 Custom Pages
Responsive Custom Pages
Responsive layout templates, being able to easily move controls between responsive layouts, multiple form factor support (the Custom Page adapts to the layout; in my opinion the only approach that makes sense in model-driven apps)
Preview: October 2022 / GA: –
Offline Custom Pages
Maybe I should have started with this. I hardly wait for offline Custom Pages. Until now, it was an important aspect to decide if I can go with a low-code approach, or to start to develop a PCF. It opens the doors for many use-cases which we need offline too (like building dialogs, adding flexible components and awesome UIs to an app).
Modern converged applications have basic offline capabilities for Custom Pages, with offline capabilities for all data types except file and image.
The mobile offline capabilities will be also improved, including incremental syncing, network detection, and data that persists across sessions.
Preview: August 2022 / GA: –
#3 Virtual Tables
Create Tables with External Data
Create Virtual Tables the easy way: use a wizard to create a Virtual Table. That way we can define tables with the data in SQL Server, Excel workbook or Microsoft Lists
Preview: October 2022 / GA: January 2023
Connector Provider for Non-Tabular Virtual Tables
Use a connector provider to build virtual tables that can use data from sources that don’t use a standard tabular format., like Azure Data Lake, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Blob Storage, and other sources. The connector providers will remove the need to code API plugins to access the data
Preview: December 2022 / GA: March 2023
Virtual Tables Between Dataverse Instances
Create a virtual table in one Dataverse environment that can provide access to data in a different Dataverse environment
Preview: January 2023 / GA: –
#4 Dataverse
New Dataverse Reqeuests: Create/Update/Upsert-Multiple
To optimize the performance, three new requests will be introduced: CreateMultiple, UpdateMultiple, UpsertMutiple. These messages apply changes to the database for all the records at the same time rather than a sequence of individual row operations. We should be able to apply business logic with plug-ins that are invoked just one time and apply logic to all the records in the operation.
These requests are recommended for bulk operations. These new messages won’t replace existing API patterns using $batch or ExecuteMultiple. The existing API patterns will continue to enable sending multiple requests that are processed individually. Because each operation is processed individually, they support continue-on-error, capabilities that the new CreateMultiple, UpdateMultiple, and UpsertMultiple messages won’t.
Preview: October 2022 / GA: January 2023
Conditional PlugIn Execution
For improved system performance, we’ll be able to define conditional execution of plug-ins so that Dataverse can execute the plug-in only when the specified condition is met. The condition is provided during the plug-in registration process.
Preview: December 2022 / GA: Januaray 2023
PlugIn Dependent Assembly
We’ve asked for this since a long time ago. Was mentioned already in the Wave 1/2022. Finally it’s here. No need for ILMerge anymore (which was never a supported approach). We can now include dependent assemblies as part of the plug-in build and registration processes. All required plug-in assemblies can be included into a NuGet package and register that package during the plug-in registration process using supported tools or solutions.
Preview: June 2022 / GA: October 2022
#5 PowerFx
PowerFx in Dataverse
We meet the “calculated columns using PowerFX” feature in several phases and waves (like the Wave 1/2022).
In the Power Apps Studio we’ll have the familiar, table centric experience to update both the data and the metadata. Using the PowerFx will allow us to create powerful tables.
GA: October 2022
Power Fx in Business Rules
PowerFx is reaching the Business Rules. Using PowerFx we’ll be able to use advanced Business Rules.
Preview: September 2022 / GA: November 2022
So much more…
There are a lot of other very important features. I’ll mention only a few more links, but maybe you’ll find some other features being even more important that the ones I’ve picked:
Data integrations:
- Dataflows for loading data in Azure Data Lake, SharePoint, SQL, Azure Data Explorer: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform-release-plan/2022wave2/data-integration/dataflows
- Power Query Online: Kusto query (KQL) without coding: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform-release-plan/2022wave2/data-integration/define-azure-data-explorer-kql-queries-views-without-coding
ALM
- Automate connection creation using Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform-release-plan/2022wave2/power-platform-pro-development/automate-connection-creation-using-azure-devops-github-actions
Power Pages
- Power Pages are another product now, but still powerful possibilities to integrate forms and lists using the design studio: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform-release-plan/2022wave2/power-pages/design-studio
Dianamics PCF Lady 
Hi Diana, It says Dependent Assemblies should already be in Preview (June 2022).
We are now in July, should there be some documentation somewhere as to how to use this feature?
I can see that the latest version of the Plugin Registration Tool from nuget now has an option to register the assembly in a “File Store”. That is all I’ve been able to find.