Microsoft Power Platform DeveloperStudy guide
The associate certification for a Power Platform developer who designs and builds solutions using the platform’s extension points (plug-ins, PCF, custom connectors, Power Fx, Web API, Azure integrations) (PL-400).
About Microsoft Power Platform Developer (PL-400)
Microsoft Power Platform Developer (PL-400) is a Associate-level certification from Microsoft. This page organizes the exam scope into a 5-chapter, 13-section study guide and lets you check your understanding with exam-style practice questions. A good flow is to read the chapters below in order, then test yourself via "Practice questions."
Exam domains (approximate weighting)
- Create a technical design~13%
- Build Power Platform solutions~13%
- Implement Power Apps improvements~13%
- Extend the user experience~13%
- Extend the platform~33%
- Develop integrations~15%
Weights are approximate guidance for the live exam. Each domain is covered in detail in the chapters and sections below.
Official exam information: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/pl-400
1Technical design and ALM
- 1.1Design the technical architecture
Understand where to place business logic (business rule / plug-in / Power Automate / client scripting), table types (standard / virtual / elastic), and authn/authz and security (DLP / security roles / teams / business units / row sharing).
- 1.2Design solution components
Understand designing reusable components (canvas component / PCF code component / client scripting), custom connectors, Dataverse code components (Power Fx / plug-in / custom API), and integrations.
- 1.3Application lifecycle management (ALM)
Understand managed/unmanaged solutions, solution dependencies and layers, environment variables, Power Platform Pipelines, and CI/CD with Build Tools.
2Power Apps improvements and UX extension
- 2.1Advanced canvas apps
Understand complex Power Fx, component libraries, calling cloud flows from canvas, delegation, and troubleshooting/perf with Monitor.
- 2.2Client scripting
Understand the JavaScript Client API object model, event handler registration, calling the Dataverse Web API from the client, commands/buttons, and navigation to custom pages.
- 2.3PCF code components
Understand Power Apps component framework (PCF) lifecycle events, manifest, interfaces, package/deploy/consume, and Device/Utility/Web API features.
3Extend the platform: plug-ins
- 3.1Dataverse plug-ins
Understand the execution pipeline stages, sync/async, the execution context, Pre/Post Images, the Organization service, performance, and the Plug-in Registration Tool.
- 3.2Custom APIs and business events
Understand custom API messages (bound/unbound), Dataverse business events, registration/publishing, and invocation from plug-ins.
4Extend the platform: connectors, APIs, automation
- 4.1Custom connectors
Understand the Open API definition, authentication methods, policy templates, importing from Azure services/GitHub, and data transformation.
- 4.2Platform APIs and Azure Functions
Understand the Dataverse Web API, the Organization service, API limits and retries, OAuth, concurrency/transactions/bulk, and Azure Functions (long-running, triggers, managed identities).
- 4.3Power Automate cloud flows
Understand the Dataverse connector, complex expressions, Azure Key Vault, error handling, trigger filter/retry, child flows, and Entra ID service principals.
5Develop integrations
- 5.1Publish and consume Dataverse events
Understand publishing events via IServiceEndpointNotificationService, registering webhooks in the Plug-in Registration Tool, Azure Service Bus and Azure Event Hub, and choosing listening options.
- 5.2Data synchronization with Dataverse
Understand delta retrieval via change tracking, alternate keys, and synchronization with the UpsertRequest message.