Virtual table walkthrough using the OData v4 Data Provider

Imagine that you want to access, create, update, and delete some personal information about a contact from an external data source within your model-driven app. In this simple walkthrough, you will model a virtual table named Person with columns mapped to the external schema to these operations at runtime from an OData web service.

Data source details

Because the data source used for this walkthrough has an OData v4 web service, we can use the OData v4 Data Provider included with your environment.

Web service url: https://contosowebservice.azurewebsites.net/odata/

Important

• The web service url used for this walkthrough isn't a functioning web service.
• You can't use the OData v4 Data Provider to connect to another environment.

For this walkthrough, a single virtual table that contains the following columns is needed.

External column name	External data type	Virtual table data type	Purpose
Id	Edm.Guid	Primary key	Primary key for the table
FirstName	Edm.String	Single line of text	First name of the person
LastName	Edm.String	Single line of text	Last name of the person
Age	Edm.Int32	Whole number	Age of the person
LastModifiedOn	Edm.DateTimeOffset	Data and time	Last modified data and time of the person record

The OData metadata of the external data source person table:

Create the data source

Create the data source for the OData v4 data provider that uses the OASIS Open Data Protocol (OData) sample web service.

1. Go to Settings > Administration > Virtual Entity Data Sources.

2. Select NEW, select OData v4 Data Provider, and then select OK.

3. Enter or select the following information.

   Field	Value
   Name	Person Sample OData Data Source
   URL	https://contosowebservice.azurewebsites.net/odata
   Timeout	30
   Return Inline Count	Client-side Paging
   Return Inline Count	True

Leave the other columns as-is, and select SAVE & CLOSE.

Tip

When using your own web service, verify that the URL is valid by pasting it in to your web browser. If you want to understand the columns and data types respective to the table you are interested in, you can append /$metadata to the end of your URL to see the definition of tables in you web service.

Open solution explorer

Part of the name of any custom table you create is the customization prefix. This is set based on the solution publisher for the solution you’re working in. Make sure that you are working in an unmanaged solution where the customization prefix is the one you want for this table. More information: Change the solution publisher prefix

Open an unmanaged solution

1. From Power Apps select Solutions from the left navigation pane, and then on the toolbar, select Switch to classic. If the item isn’t in the side panel pane, select …More and then select the item you want.

2. In the All Solutions list open the unmanaged solution you want.

Create the virtual table

1. In the left navigation pane of solution explorer, select Entities, and then select New from the main pane.

2. On the Entity: New form, select the Virtual table option, and then enter the following information:

   Field	Value
   Data Source	Person Sample OData Data Source
   Display Name	Person
   Plural Name	Persons
   Name	new_person
   External Name	People
   External Collection Name	People
   Notes (includes attachments)	selected
   Activities	selected

   Note

   The OData resource path semantics uses EntitySet to identify the resource. In the sample OData web service, the EntitySet is defined as People. This value is used as the External Name for the virtual table Person.

3. Next to Areas that display this entity, select Sales, and then select Save (but don’t close the table form).

Create the columns for the virtual table

On the left navigation pane of the Entity: Person page, select Fields. As part of this walkthrough, you will edit two existing columns and add three more columns that are available in the external data source.

Important

External names are case sensitive. Refer to your web service metadata to make sure you use the correct name. A Nullable value of false indicates that the attribute is required. Notice that primary key columns are always system required.

1. Open the new_personid column, and change the following property with the value indicated here:

   External Name: Id

   

2. Select Save and Close.

3. Open the new_name column, and change the following properties to have the values indicated here:

   • Display Name: Last Name
   • External Name: LastName

   

4. Select Save and Close.

5. Select New, and on the Field: New for Person page enter the following information:

   Field	Value
   Display Name	First Name
   Name	new_firstname
   External Name	FirstName
   Field Requirement	Business Required
   Data Type	Single Line of Text

   

6. Select Save and Close.

7. Select New, and on the Field: New for Person page enter the following information:

   Field	Value
   Display Name	Age
   Name	new_age
   External Name	Age
   Field Requirement	Business Required
   Data Type	Whole Number

   

8. Select Save and Close.

9. Select New, and on the Field: New of Person page enter the following information:

   Field	Value
   Display Name	Last Modified On
   Name	new_lastmodifiedon
   External Name	LastModifiedOn
   Field Requirement	Business Required
   Data Type	Date and Time

   

Add the columns to the main form

1. On the Person table window, select Forms.

2. Open the main form, drag and drop the First Name, Age, and Last Modified On columns from the right pane onto the form in the General section.

   

3. On the Person table window, select Save and Close.

Configure the default view

1. On the left pane of the solution explorer, under the Person entity, select Views.
2. Open the All People view.
3. In the Common Tasks pane, select Add Columns.
4. Select the First Name, Age, and Last Modified On columns, and then select OK.
5. On the View: All People window, arrange the column order by selecting the move left and move right arrows, and then select Save and Close.
6. On the Solution Explorer window, select Publish All Customizations.
7. After all customizations are published, close the Solution Explorer window.

Use the virtual table in a model-driven app

Create a model-driven app and add the Person table to the site map. Then, select the Person main form and the Person Advance Find view. Publish the app. More information: Build your first model-driven app from scratch

Then, app users can perform read, create, update, and delete operations using the virtual table just like any other table in Microsoft Dataverse.

Create, view, and delete records using the virtual table

1. Run the model-driven app. Select New, complete the required columns, and then save the record.
2. Select New again to create another record and save it.
3. You should now have two records similar to the following in the All Persons view.
4. To delete a record, select a person record and then select Delete. Confirm to delete the record on the confirmation page.

See also

OData v4 Data Provider configuration, requirements, and best practices
Create and edit virtual tables that contain data from an external data source