Power Platform Coding on an iPad, Like a Rebel
This weekend I was inspired by my inner mad scientist to attempt to code on an iPad and my results were pretty good! My approach involves utilizing a pre-existing Azure VM I have stood up for when I am doing development work. I recently got the magic keyboard for iPad Pro that turns my tablet into a remarkably close fit to a laptop, which I love. You may be asking yourself the question “Why is a Microsoft Technical Architect trying to code on his iPad?” If so, I’m glad you asked! If not, I’ll provide my unsolicited anecdote anyway 😂
My dad, Don Colburn, was a computer programmer and entrepreneur during the early days of personal computing. One of his crowning achievements was bringing the first programming language to the Macintosh with MacForth. As a result, my brother and I had Apple products surrounding us throughout our whole childhood and that continues to this day with my holy trinity of Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad Pro. You could say that I’m a fan of their devices.
Specifically with this iPad turned laptop, I really enjoy that I get a fan-less instant-start experience that provides me with a snappy UX due to it’s purpose driven design. I say this constantly in my engagements (probably bordering on a broken record), “at Microsoft we aren’t throwing iPhones in the blender any longer.” We are building solutions on Linux, iOS, and taking on tons of other cross-platform open source initiatives that I feel is a great direction and it’s exciting to be along for the ride.
So what am I going to do now that I have a powerful cloud compute resource to develop solutions at my fingertips on an iPad? Well, I have a few things top of mind; often-times development work is divided up into functionality that exists either on the client-side or the server-side. With that in mind I want to cover that spectrum by building a new Power Platform server-side capability called a Custom API along with some sort of cool client-side Power Apps Component Framework control leveraging Fluent UI and perhaps some Microsoft Teams styling to give a seamless look and feel. Ideally I’ll find a way to tie these all together using Low Code/No Code functionalities like a hosting Canvas App and a triggered Power Automate Flow. That way I get a demonstrable experience I can share with my customers and can be more than just tinkering around. Putting the fun into functional, so to speak… I’m looking forward to sharing my progress on this endeavor and hope to get this up and running as soon as I can while maintaining my work-life balance and making sure my higher priority items get precedence. So don’t hold your breath, but stay tuned for this cool solution!