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Exercise - Use the Concurrent function to test performance

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This hands-on exercise explores how to use the Concurrent function to enhance performance.

1. Sign into Power Apps.

2. From the Home screen left side navigation menu, select + Create > Blank app > Create (from under the Blank canvas app).

3. Name your app with an appropriate title and select Create.

4. First, we build two collections without using the Concurrent function. Insert a Button control, name it btnCollection, set its Text property to "Collection" and set its OnSelect property to this formula:

   Set(varStart,Now());
   ClearCollect(colFruit,
   {Name: "banana", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: .49},
   {Name: "peach", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 1.12},
   {Name: "strawberry", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 2.99},
   {Name: "apple", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 0.98},
   {Name: "orange", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 1.49},
   {Name: "pear", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 0.97},
   {Name: "cantaloupe", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 3.99},
   {Name: "pineapple", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 2.49},
   {Name: "cherry", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 4.99},
   {Name: "mango", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: .99}
   );
   ClearCollect(colVegetable,
   {Name: "carrot", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: .95},
   {Name: "lettuce", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.69},
   {Name: "potato", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 5.14},
   {Name: "zuccini", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.99},
   {Name: "broccoli", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.49},
   {Name: "cabbage", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 2.48},
   {Name: "celery", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.65},
   {Name: "asparagus", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 2.99},
   {Name: "kale", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.99},
   {Name: "cauliflower", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 3.24});
   Set(varSpeedCollect, Text(DateDiff(varStart, Now(), TimeUnit.Milliseconds)));
   

5. Insert a Text label, set its BorderThickness property to 3, rename it to lblSpeedCollect, and set its Text property to:

   varSpeedCollect
   

6. Press and hold Alt Key, and select the Collection button. The txtSpeedCollect label displays in milliseconds the amount of time it took to run the process.

   

7. Now lets add the Concurrent functionality to our app to compare the performance. Insert another Button control, name it btnConcurrent, set its Text property to "Concurrent" and set its OnSelect property to this formula:

   Set(varStart,Now());
   Concurrent(
   ClearCollect(collectFruit,
   {Name: "banana", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: .49},
   {Name: "peach", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 1.12},
   {Name: "strawberry", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 2.99},
   {Name: "apple", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 0.98},
   {Name: "orange", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 1.49},
   {Name: "pear", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 0.97},
   {Name: "cantaloupe", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 3.99},
   {Name: "pineapple", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 2.49},
   {Name: "cherry", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: 4.99},
   {Name: "mango", Category: "fruit",AvgCost: .99}
   ),
   ClearCollect(collectVegetable,
   {Name: "carrot", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: .95},
   {Name: "lettuce", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.69},
   {Name: "potato", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 5.14},
   {Name: "zucchini", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.99},
   {Name: "broccoli", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.49},
   {Name: "cabbage", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 2.48},
   {Name: "celery", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.65},
   {Name: "asparagus", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 2.99},
   {Name: "kale", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 1.99},
   {Name: "cauliflower", Category: "vegetable",AvgCost: 3.24}));
   Set(varSpeedConcurrent, Text(DateDiff(varStart, Now(), TimeUnit.Milliseconds)));
   

8. Insert another Text label, set its BorderThickness property to 3, rename it to lblSpeedConcurrent, and set its Text property to:

   varSpeedConcurrent
   

9. Press and hold Alt Key, and select the Concurrent button. This creates the same two collections and you should notice that it takes half the time to build.

   

You can see that by adding the Concurrent function, we enhanced the performance of building our collections. You can use this to run multiple processes at once, bearing in mind that you can't predict the order in which formulas within the Concurrent function start and end. As long as your results aren't dependent on other results within your Concurrent function, all tasks can run at the same time. This technique can provide a significant performance boost for your app.

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