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Complete PCF API reference with all interfaces and their availability in model-driven and canvas apps
**/*.{ts,tsx,js}

Power Apps Component Framework API Reference

The Power Apps component framework provides a rich set of APIs that enable you to create powerful code components. This reference lists all available interfaces and their availability across different app types.

API Availability

The following table shows all API interfaces available in the Power Apps component framework, along with their availability in model-driven apps and canvas apps.

API Model-driven apps Canvas apps
AttributeMetadata Yes No
Client Yes Yes
Column Yes Yes
ConditionExpression Yes Yes
Context Yes Yes
DataSet Yes Yes
Device Yes Yes
Entity Yes Yes
Events Yes Yes
Factory Yes Yes
Filtering Yes Yes
Formatting Yes Yes
ImageObject Yes Yes
Linking Yes Yes
Mode Yes Yes
Navigation Yes Yes
NumberFormattingInfo Yes Yes
Paging Yes Yes
Popup Yes Yes
PopupService Yes Yes
PropertyHelper Yes Yes
Resources Yes Yes
SortStatus Yes Yes
StandardControl Yes Yes
UserSettings Yes Yes
Utility Yes Yes
WebApi Yes Yes

Key API Namespaces

Context APIs

The Context object provides access to all framework capabilities and is passed to your component's lifecycle methods. It contains:

  • Client: Information about the client (form factor, network status)
  • Device: Device capabilities (camera, location, microphone)
  • Factory: Factory methods for creating framework objects
  • Formatting: Number and date formatting
  • Mode: Component mode and tracking
  • Navigation: Navigation methods
  • Resources: Access to resources (images, strings)
  • UserSettings: User settings (locale, number format, security roles)
  • Utils: Utility methods (getEntityMetadata, hasEntityPrivilege, lookupObjects)
  • WebApi: Dataverse Web API methods

Data APIs

  • DataSet: Work with tabular data
  • Column: Access column metadata and data
  • Entity: Access record data
  • Filtering: Define data filtering
  • Linking: Define relationships
  • Paging: Handle data pagination
  • SortStatus: Manage sorting

UI APIs

  • Popup: Create popup dialogs
  • PopupService: Manage popup lifecycle
  • Mode: Get component rendering mode

Metadata APIs

  • AttributeMetadata: Column metadata (model-driven only)
  • PropertyHelper: Property metadata helpers

Standard Control

  • StandardControl: Base interface for all code components with lifecycle methods:
    • init(): Initialize component
    • updateView(): Update component UI
    • destroy(): Cleanup resources
    • getOutputs(): Return output values

Usage Guidelines

Model-Driven vs Canvas Apps

Some APIs are only available in model-driven apps due to platform differences:

  • AttributeMetadata: Model-driven only - provides detailed column metadata
  • Most other APIs are available in both platforms

API Version Compatibility

  • Always check the API availability for your target platform (model-driven or canvas)
  • Some APIs may have different behaviors across platforms
  • Test components in the target environment to ensure compatibility

Common Patterns

  1. Accessing Context APIs

    // In init or updateView
const userLocale = context.userSettings.locale;
const isOffline = context.client.isOffline();

  2. Working with DataSet

    // Access dataset records
const records = context.parameters.dataset.records;

// Get sorted columns
const sortedColumns = context.parameters.dataset.sorting;

  3. Using WebApi

    // Retrieve records
context.webAPI.retrieveMultipleRecords("account", "?$select=name");

// Create record
context.webAPI.createRecord("contact", data);

  4. Device Capabilities

    // Capture image
context.device.captureImage();

// Get current position
context.device.getCurrentPosition();

  5. Formatting

    // Format date
context.formatting.formatDateLong(date);

// Format number
context.formatting.formatDecimal(value);

Best Practices

  1. Type Safety: Use TypeScript for type checking and IntelliSense
  2. Null Checks: Always check for null/undefined before accessing API objects
  3. Error Handling: Wrap API calls in try-catch blocks
  4. Platform Detection: Check context.client.getFormFactor() to adapt behavior
  5. API Availability: Verify API availability for your target platform before use
  6. Performance: Cache API results when appropriate to avoid repeated calls

Additional Resources