---
source_url: https://itmustbecode.com/send-model-driven-in-app-notifications-with-power-automate/
title: Send Model-Driven In-App Notifications with Power Automate
date: 2021-09-03T17:15:43+00:00
categories:
  - blog
tags:
  - dataverse
  - in-app-notifications
  - power-automate
word_count: 573
reading_time_minutes: 3
type: posts
---

I **n-App notifications** for PowerPlatform Model-Driven apps are now [available in preview](https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-public-preview-for-in-app-notifications-for-model-driven-apps/). The feature provides a central **notification hub** in the app and the notifications provides a fantastic vehicle to deliver **contextual** and **user-specific** information to end users.

While my last post showed how to **[enable notifications](/enable-model-driven-in-app-notifications-with-power-automate/)** in model-driven apps, let's see what the **real deal** is and start creating simple notifications.

As a use case, we will create a **Power Automate** flow that will notify users whenever a new article is posted on the official PowerApps blog ([https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog](https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog)). Something like this.

{{< figure src="./notif.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

> The [official documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/model-driven-apps/clientapi/send-in-app-notifications?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5004959) only shows examples using **JavaScript** and **Dataverse Web API** calls to create notifications. It's good for developers but it might be a bit cryptic for other app makers. That's why I want to use **Power Automate** to illustrate how easy it is for anyone to start using in-app notifications.

## PowerApps Blog Notification Flow

### **Trigger - RSS feed**

As a trigger for the Flow, we will use the **RSS** connector ' **When a feed item is published**'.

Set the URL to the Blog's RSS feed ([**https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/feed/**](https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/feed/)) and the trigger property to **PublishDate**. This ensures that our Flow will trigger every time a new article is published on the site

{{< figure src="./image-1.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

{{< figure src="./image.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

Here's an example of the output of the RSS feed. Notice that for each item that are published we can extract the **URL** and the **title**. These values will be used later on.

{{< figure src="./image-4.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

### **Create Notification Record**

To create a notification, we simply need to **Add a new row** in the **Notifications** Table ( _**appnotification**_) using the **Dataverse Connector**.

Just select **Notifications** in **Table name** and fill in the required fields to build the notification.

{{< figure src="./image-2.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

{{< figure src="./Create-Notif.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

There is a couple of thing to notice here

1️⃣ Inject the **Feed title** from the RSS trigger in the **Body** of the record

2️⃣ In the **Data** field, a **JSON** construct is used to add an **Action** at the bottom of the notification. This is where the **Primary feed link** received from the RSS trigger will be injected. ( _For more example of what you can do with the **Data** field_, _see the [official doc](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/model-driven-apps/clientapi/send-in-app-notifications)_)

```
{
 "actions": [
    {
        "title": "View Post",
        "data": {
		"url": "{{Primary feed link}}"
        }
     }
   ]
}
```

3️⃣ Set the **Owner** of the notification.

```
/systemusers({{GUID of USER}})
```

The **Ownership** of a notification record is the **main driver** of the in-app notification model. The owner of a notification is the user that will see and act upon the notification.

> For this example I'm sending the notification to myself. However, in a **real-life** scenario you probably would have to retrieve a collection of users, **loop** over it and to create a new notification record **owned** by each users that needs to be notified.

### ⌚ **Wait for an article to be published**

Now, when the Flow is turned on, you will receive a notification each time new blog post is published. **Never miss out again** on this precious info, Isn't it great ;)

{{< figure src="./notif.png" alt="" caption="" >}}

## Take away

This post shows how **easy** it is to create simple notifications using **Power Automate** flows in a way that is accessible to any app makers without any coding required.

You can download the flow I demoed here:

> **Note:** The Flow export file is no longer available for download.

In my next article, I will show how we can spice thing up a little bit and start **embedding images** to create kick-ass notifications.

Photo by **[grunge texture](https://www.pexels.com/@porstocker?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels)** from **[Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-brass-bells-2610378/?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels)**