1. Introduction to the Modern Table Control
The Modern Table Control is a responsive data display component in Microsoft Power Apps that allows users to view, search, sort, and interact with tabular data more efficiently than traditional gallery controls. Designed to work seamlessly with Modern Controls and Modern Themes, it automatically adapts its layout across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices, providing a consistent and professional user experience.
Unlike a standard gallery, the Modern Table Control includes built-in features such as column management, sorting, row selection, responsive reflow behavior, and range selection without requiring extensive customization. These capabilities make it an excellent choice for business applications that manage large datasets, including project trackers, employee directories, inventory systems, customer management solutions, and other data-driven applications.
When combined with Dataverse, the Modern Table Control becomes even more powerful by allowing users to browse related records, perform searches, and build master-detail interfaces that simplify navigation between connected data.
2. Building a Responsive Table Experience
Before using the Modern Table Control, enable Modern Controls and Themes from your app settings. These features unlock the latest Fluent UI controls, including the Modern Header and Modern Table, giving your application a modern Microsoft 365 look and feel.
To create a responsive application, start with a responsive screen layout, such as the Sidebar layout. This approach uses responsive containers that automatically adjust the interface for different screen sizes instead of relying on fixed positioning. Adding a Modern Header with a custom title and optional company logo helps create a clean, professional layout across every screen.
Next, insert a Modern Table Control into the main container and connect it to your Dataverse table. Once connected, Power Apps automatically imports the available columns, which you can customize using the Fields pane. You can reorder columns, remove unnecessary fields, and adjust column widths to display only the information users need.
The Modern Table Control also includes Reflow Behavior, one of its most useful features. As the available screen space changes, the control automatically switches between a traditional table view and a compact list view, ensuring the data remains easy to read on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. Combined with responsive containers, this allows you to build a single app that delivers an excellent user experience across multiple device types without creating separate layouts.
3. Search and Build a Master-Detail Experience
One of the biggest advantages of the Modern Table Control is how easily it can create an interactive master-detail experience. By combining search functionality with related tables, users can quickly locate records and view associated information without navigating between multiple screens.
To make the table searchable, add a Modern Text Input control above the table and connect it to a Search() function. As users type, the table filters matching records in real time, making it much easier to find specific companies, customers, or projects. For better performance, enable the DelayOutput property so the search runs only after the user pauses typing, reducing unnecessary queries and improving responsiveness.
A second Modern Table Control can be placed inside a sidebar container to display related records. For example, when a company is selected in the main table, the sidebar automatically displays only the projects associated with that company. This creates a clean master-detail interface where users can browse parent records on one side and instantly view related data on the other.
To improve usability, the sidebar can remain hidden until a row is selected, keeping the interface clean and uncluttered. The same search and sorting capabilities can also be applied to the related projects table, allowing users to quickly locate specific records within the selected company’s projects.
4. Creating and Editing Related Records
The Modern Table Control works seamlessly with Power Apps Forms, making it easy to create and edit related records while maintaining relationships between Dataverse tables.
A common approach is to add New and Edit buttons beside the related records table. When users click New, the app opens a form in New Mode and automatically passes the currently selected parent record to the form. This allows lookup fields—such as the related company—to be pre-populated, ensuring the new record is linked correctly without requiring additional user input.
For editing, selecting a record in the related table and clicking Edit opens the same form in Edit Mode, where users can update information such as project status, due dates, or other business data. After submitting the form, the changes are saved directly to Dataverse, and the Modern Table Control immediately reflects the updated information.
By combining the Modern Table Control with responsive forms and Dataverse relationships, you can build powerful business applications where users can search, browse, create, and edit connected records from a single, intuitive interface.
