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Differences and limitations when developing pages for the Business Central mobile app

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Developing for the Business Central tablet client and Business Central phone client is similar to developing for the Business Central Web client. However, there some natural limitations on tablets and phones, such as not having a physical keyboard and mouse, as well as a smaller screen.

Differences and limitations overview

The following table describes some of the most common differences and limitations that you might experience when developing for Business Central tablet client and Business Central phone client.

Concept On Tablet On Phone Example Recommendation/Remarks
Activity groups Only the Home activity group is shown. Only the Home activity group is shown. Home and Posted Documents on the Sales Order Processor Role Center. Design pages to expose the workflows needed by the user. For example, configure the profile to show the important list pages under the Home activity group. Alternatively, consider designing a new Role Center if the activities for the activity group greatly vary from activities in other activity group.
Selecting multiple records in lists Not available. Not available. Ctrl+A or Ctrl+Click on rows in a list using Business Central Web client. Avoid scenarios requiring selecting multiple rows on a list. Also, try to minimize actions on lists.
Actions in the action bar Only Promoted actions are shown. Only Promoted actions are shown. On the Small Business Role Center. Use the development environment to promote actions. Alternatively, configure the profile and add actions to the Home tab.
FactBoxes Not shown on List pages or Worksheet pages. Not shown on List pages or Worksheet pages. Customer list on the Small Business Role Center. Make sure the same information is visible on the corresponding card page of the given record.
Advanced filters No column-specific filtering is available. No column-specific filtering is available. On the Customer list page. Send data to Excel and do the complex filtering there.
Tell Me Not available yet. Not available yet. On Business Central Web client. Design pages to expose the workflows needed by the user. For example via list places, tiles or actions.
Role Explorer Not available yet. Not available yet. On Business Central Web client. Design pages to expose the workflows needed by the user. For example via list places, tiles or actions.
Fields in FastTabs Fields in FastTabs on list pages are not shown. Only the repeater control is shown in the content area of the page. Not available. Design List pages to avoid having important columns on the far right of the column list. Assume you have no control over how many columns are displayed and consider that only the first few columns will be made visible.
Select from full list Not available on lookups. Users are not able to run actions on a lookup page, and they cannot access the full set of records. Not available on lookups. Users are not able to run actions on a lookup page, and they cannot access the full set of records. On the Item Card when selecting the Base Units of Measure. Make sure the appropriate columns are visible on the lookup. The user is still able to filter, scroll, and search through the lookup.
Search across list columns Partly supported. Search will not include FlowFields. Partly supported. Search will not include FlowFields. On the Customer list page.
Lookups Available. Available, with the difference that advanced and simple lookups behave similarly on the phone. The lookup will not bring up the card, show FactBoxes, or any field groups. See examples on the Customer Card page.
Matrix controls Not available. Not available. See example in G/L Budget.
File download Available. Cannot download multiple files at the same time. Available. Cannot download multiple files at the same time. Trial Balance report in the Print to Excel check box.
Worksheet pages Available. Not available; an error message is displayed. Sales Price Worksheet or Cash Flow Worksheet. Run this type of page from the Business Central Web client, or Business Central tablet client.
Lists Available. Available, with the difference that these are displayed in a brick layout with a number of differences and limitations. For an overview, see Displaying Data as Tiles. Customers or Sales Orders pages.
Indentation in repeater controls Available. Not available. The repeater control will be rendered as a regular flat brick layout. Chart of Accounts and Contacts List pages.
Scope of actions Available. Available, but there are some behavioral differences regarding the Scope Property. Also, see Defining Action Scope for Business Central Pages.
Automatic input focus on first editable field of a page Not available. Not available. Customer Card page.

In the Web client, focus will automatically be on the first editable field (such as the Name field), enabling you to change the value right away.

In the Tablet or Phone client, this field will not be in focus; instead, you will have to manually select the field first in order to make changes.		 The reason for this behavior is to prevent the in-app keyboard from initially displaying and occupying screen space.

See also

Displaying data as tiles
Implementing the camera in AL
Implementing the location in AL
Role center behaviors
Defining action scope for Business Central pages