Power Pages: My Favorite ChatGPT Misconceptions

ChatGPT and Power Pages Memes

I’d say ChatGPT’s success rate when it comes to generating Power Pages memes is less than 10%. It usually generates 10 at a time, and often none of those 10 are any good. It is extremely rare that a meme that it suggests is usable as is (or even with just minor formatting/language changes). However, the reason I’ve found it so helpful is that it generates ideas that, while not correct, are in the ballpark of something else that I think would work.

The other reason I find it helpful is that I’m not really that into memes myself, so I don’t really know what’s out there. I really try to limit my social media intake, so I’m not running into a lot of memes in my personal life. So not only does ChatGPT suggest Power Pages-specific content, but it also suggests memes that I probably wouldn’t even know about.

It has turned generating memes from a pain, into much less of a pain.

Why Are They Wrong?

There are a few common reasons why I don’t like most of the memes that ChatGPT produces.

Sometimes they might be accurate, but they aren’t humorous. The point of these is to have fun, so if that isn’t happening, neither are the memes.

Sometimes the meme might be accurate, but they are pretty mean. While often we poke fun at the product, a lot of people work very hard to make this thing that has given me the opportunity to provide for my family, so I never want to cross the line to being mean.

But mostly, it’s because the memes just get it wrong. They’ll be commenting on something that just isn’t the case. Now, knowing how ChatGPT gets its information, my conclusion is that if ChatGPT is getting it wrong, that might mean there are people out there with the same misconceptions. So I thought I’d list some of my favorite things that ChatGPT gets wrong, and tell you why it is wrong.

Power Pages Is Built On Portals

If you’ve followed my content for a while, you’ve probably seen me address this a few times. There still seems to be confusion between all the various names of the product over the years – Adxstudio Portals, Dynamics 365 Portals, Power Apps Portals, Power Pages (and a few more that I won’t mention). More specifically, I find there is confusion as to whether these names means there are different products to choose from.

Examples:

“Change My Mind” Table Meme
Text on banner:
“Power Pages is just a fancy wrapper for what portals already did”
Caption: Microsoft: “Change my mind”

The Mandalorian “This is the way”
Caption:
When someone tries to build an external portal with Power Apps Studio
Power Pages Dev: “This is the way.”

Me explaining meme (guy & girlfriend at party)
Me at the work party:
“So Power Pages is built on top of Portals, which is built on top of Dataverse, and Liquid is used to display data, and table permissions aren’t the same as web roles…”
Other person: holding drink, totally overwhelmed

I feel these types of memes imply users have a choice to make between Power Apps Portals and Power Pages. While it is true that at some points in time, the Power Apps Portal Studio and the Power Pages Design Studio were available simultaneously, this is just because Power Pages was the newest version, and not everyone was upgraded to it yet.

So to be clear, Power Pages and Power Apps Portals are the same product. Power Pages is just the new name. When the name was changed, new features were released (such as the new Design Studio). But that didn’t make it a different product. You do not have a choice as to which one to use. Sites that were created way back in 2017 are using Power Pages, not some old version of the product.

Connection Between Power Pages and Dataverse

I don’t think ChatGPT really understands the connection between Power Pages and Dataverse.

Example:

The Rock & Little Girl Driving
Little Girl (non-tech PM): “Can we make the site live tomorrow?”
The Rock (Developer): “You haven’t even connected it to Dataverse yet??”

Dataverse is the database for Power Pages. You can’t have a Power Pages site without Dataverse. It doesn’t make sense to say you can make a site live that hasn’t been connected to Dataverse yet.

Publishing Power Pages

If you believed ChatGPT, you’d probably think there was a simple button somewhere for publishing a Power Pages site. Power Pages developers know that couldn’t be further from the truth. Power Pages ALM is tough.

Examples:

“No one:” format
No one:
Absolutely no one:
Power Pages on publish: “We could not retrieve your site metadata. Please contact your administrator.”

The Office “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
Support Team:
“Have you tried unpublishing and republishing the site?”
You (dead inside):
That was the issue.

There is a preview button, but that is very different.

Perhaps the use of the world “publish” here is meant in a generic sense, but in the Power Platform space, that word usually means something more. So I generally avoid it when talking about Power Pages.

Confusing Dataverse and Power Pages Permissions

Power Pages permissions and Dataverse permissions are very different. In Dataverse, we have security roles assigned to users. In Power Pages, we have web roles assigned to contacts. They are in no way related.

Examples:

That’s Crazy Bro (TikTok guy)

Caption:
“You built a full customer portal in Power Pages?”
“With actual security roles?”
“And web roles mapped to Dataverse permissions?”
“That’s crazy bro.”

Fry from Futurama
Text:
“Not sure if Dataverse permission issue or just forgot to assign web role again.”