Integrating Microsoft Dataverse for Extension Development

Develop extensions and streamline the workflow by synchronizing Microsoft Dataverse data with Dynamics 365 Business Central.

For developing extensions to integrate with sales data, you simply enable the tables used in Microsoft Dataverse. The extension development process includes the following set of properties in Dynamics 365 Business Central to enable field mapping. You can enable the field mapping by using the following properties. The tables are extensible, so that you can update Microsoft Dataverse with data as well.

Associated table and field properties

The following properties are used for integrating with Microsoft Dataverse:

Properties	Applies to	Description
TableType Property	Tables	Specifies the table type. This enables the table to integrate with the external database. For example, CDS.
ExternalName Property	Tables, Fields	Specifies the name of the original table in the external database when used as a table property. Specifies the field name of the corresponding field specified in the external table when used as a field property.
ExternalAccess Property	Fields	Specifies the access to the underlying Microsoft Dataverse table when Microsoft Dataverse tables are generated using the AL Table Proxy Generator tool, see AL Proxy Table Generator
ExternalType Property	Fields	Specifies the data type of the corresponding column in the Microsoft Dataverse table.
OptionMembers Property	Fields	Sets the option values for a field, text box, or variable.
OptionOrdinalValues Property	Fields	Specifies the list of option values. You can set this property, if the ExternalType is set to Picklist.

Enabling the table

Typically in Microsoft Dataverse, tables handle the internal processes. In order to access to the underlying Microsoft Dataverse table, you use the TableType property and select the value called CDS. This enables the table as an integration table for integrating Dynamics 365 Business Central with Microsoft Dataverse. The table is mainly based on a table in Microsoft Dataverse, such as the Accounts table.

Snippet support

Typing the shortcut ttable will create the basic layout for a table object when using the AL Language extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in Visual Studio Code.

Example

In the following example, the SalesIntegration table uses the TableType and ExternalName properties to link the underlying Microsoft Dataverse table for mapping the columns from the Sales table with the specified fields.

table 50100 SalesIntegration
{
    TableType = CDS;
    ExternalName = 'Sales';

    fields
    {
        field(1; ActualSales; Integer)
        {
            ExternalName = 'ActualSale';
            ExternalAccess = Full;
            ExternalType = 'String';
        }

        field(2; SalesCategories; Option)
        {
            ExternalName='SalesCategory';
            ExternalAccess = Read;
            ExternalType = 'Picklist';
            OptionMembers = Manufacturing, Marketing, Support;
            OptionOrdinalValues = -1, 1, 2;
        }
    }
}

See Also

Table Properties
TableType Property
AL Proxy Table Generator