Integrate Live Google Search Results into Custom Business Apps Built in Power Apps

Power Apps is a service for building and using custom business apps that connect to your data and work across the web and mobile — without the time and expense of custom software development. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Google Search results from the apps you build using Power Apps. This article shows how to connect to Connect Server from Power Apps and build an app based on live Google Search results.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL interface for Google Search, allowing you to easily integrate with live Google Search results in Power Apps — without replicating the data. CData Connect Server looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Apps and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Google Search, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Google Search results.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for Google Search Results

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Google Search" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Google Search.

   To search with a Google custom search engine, you need to set the CustomSearchId and ApiKey connection properties.

   To obtain the CustomSearchId property, sign into Google Custom Search Engine and create a new search engine.

   To obtain the ApiKey property, you must enable the Custom Search API in the Google API Console.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

Connecting to CData Connect Server

To use Connect Server to integrate Google Search results into your Power Apps, you need a new SQL Server connection:

1. Log in to Power Apps
2. Click Data -> Connections -> New connection
3. Select SQL Server
4. In the connection wizard:
   
   
   • Choose to connect directly
   • Set SQL server name to the address of your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
   • Set SQL database name to the name of the virtual Google Search database you created earlier (like googlesearchdb)
   • Set the Username and Password and click Create

Building a Data-Centric App for Google Search Results

With the connection to Connect Server configured, you are ready to integrate live Google Search results into the apps you build in Power Apps.

1. Log in to Power Apps
2. Click Create, hover over "Start from data" and click Make this app
3. Select the SQL Server connection you created
4. Search for or choose a table to work with
5. Click Connect
6. Customize the newly created app just like you would any other, including changing the layout and setting the fields exposed in BrowseScreen, DetailScreen, and EditScreen

At this point, you have an app with read access to live Google Search results that you can save and publish for use within your organization.

SQL Access to Google Search Results from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Google Search results from Microsoft Power Apps. You can create more connections and apps to drive business — all without replicating Google Search results.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect Server.