Context and Global variables in Power Apps

Video:

Info:

Scope: the context in which something is used. For example, the scope of my living room TV is that it is only used in the Living Room.

Global Variables:

Set with Set(_var, value)​ — the scope is that it can be used across all screens in an app.

Context Variables:

Set with UpdateContext({__var: value})​ — these can only be used within a single screen at a time.

Tip: To avoid confusion between Global and Context variables, use naming prefixes. I prefer _ for Global and __ for Context variables.

Data Types:

For now, we will focus on two data types: Number and Text. (There are others.)

You can convert between them using these functions:

Text to Number:

​Value(textValue)​

This will convert a text string like '123' into the number 123. Keep in mind that this only works if the text represents a valid number. For example, 'one' will not convert to 1.

Number to Text:

​Text(numberValue)​`

This will convert a number like 123 into the string '123'. This function works on any number.