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Customize table definitions

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By defining or changing the table definitions, you can control the capabilities of a table. To view the table definitions for your environment, use the metadata browser. Browse table definitions in your environment.

More information: Browse table definitions for your environment

This article is about how to work with tables programmatically. To work with tables in Power Apps See Tables in Dataverse.

Tables can be created using either the SDK for .NET or the Web API. The following information can be applied to both.

Table definitions operations

How you work with table definitions depends on which service you use.

Since the Web API is a RESTful endpoint, it uses a different way to create, retrieve, update, and delete table definitions. Use POST, GET, PUT, and DELETE HTTP verbs to work with table definitions entity types. Learn to create and update table definitions using the Web API

One exception to this is the RetrieveMetadataChanges Function provides a way to compose table definitions query and track changes over time.

If working with SDK for .NET, use RetrieveMetadataChangesRequest class. This class contains the data that is needed to retrieve a collection of table definitions records that satisfy the specified criteria. The RetrieveMetadataChangesResponse returns a timestamp value that can be used with this request at a later time to return information about how table definitions changed since the last request.

Message Web API SDK Assembly
CreateEntity Use a POST request to send data to create a table. CreateEntityRequest
DeleteEntity Use a DELETE request to delete a table. DeleteEntityRequest
RetrieveAllEntities Use GET request to retrieve table data. RetrieveAllEntitiesRequest
RetrieveEntity RetrieveEntity Function RetrieveEntityRequest
UpdateEntity Use a PUT request to update a table. UpdateEntityRequest
RetrieveMetadataChanges
Used together with objects in the Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Metadata.Query namespace to create a query to efficiently retrieve and detect changes to specific table definitions. More information: Retrieve and detect changes to table definitions.		 RetrieveMetadataChanges Function RetrieveMetadataChangesRequest

Options available when you create a custom table

The following lists the options that are available when you create a custom table. You can only set these properties when you create a custom table.

Option Description
Create as custom activity You can create a table that is an activity by setting the IsActivity property when using the SDK for .NET or Web API respectively. For more information, see Custom Activities in Dynamics 365.
Table Names There are two types of names, and both must have a customization prefix:

LogicalName: Name that is the version of the table name that is set in all lowercase letters.

SchemaName: Name used to create the database tables. This name can be mixed case. The casing that you use sets the name of the object generated for programming with strong types or when you use the REST endpoint.

Note: If the logical name differs from the schema name, the schema name overrides the value that you set for the logical name.

When a table is created in the application in the context of a specific solution, the customization prefix used is the one set for the Publisher of the solution. When a table is created programmatically, you can set the customization prefix to a string that is between two and eight characters in length, all alphanumeric characters and it must start with a letter. It can't start with mscrm. The best practice is to use the customization prefix defined by the publisher that the solution is associated with, but this best practice isn't enforced. An underscore character must be included between the customization prefix and the logical or schema name.
Ownership Use the OwnershipType property to set how table records are owned. Use the OwnershipTypes enumeration or OwnershipTypes EnumType to set the type of table ownership. The only valid values for custom tables are OrgOwned or UserOwned. For more information, see Table ownership.
Primary Column With the SDK for .NET, use CreateEntityRequest.PrimaryAttribute property to set the primary column.

With the Web API, the JSON defining the table must include one StringAttributeMetadata with the IsPrimaryName property set to true.

In both cases, string column must be formatted as Text. The value of the primary column is what is shown in a lookup for any related tables. Therefore, the value of the column should represent a name for the record.

Enable table capabilities

The following lists table capabilities. You can set these capabilities when you create a table or you can enable them later. Once enabled, these capabilities can't be disabled.

Capability Description
Business Process flows Set IsBusinessProcessEnabled to true in order to enable the table for business process flows.
Notes To create a relationship with the Annotation table and enable the inclusion of a Notes area in the form. By including Notes, you can also add attachments to records.

With the SDK for .NET, use the CreateEntityRequest or UpdateEntityRequest HasNotes property

With the Web API, set the EntityMetadata.HasNotes property.
Activities To create a relationship with the ActivityPointer table so that all the activity type tables can be associated with this table.

With the SDK for .NET, use the CreateEntityRequest or UpdateEntityRequest HasActivities property.

With the Web API, set the EntityMetadata.HasActivities property.
Connections To enable creating connection records to associate this table with other connection tables set the IsConnectionsEnabled.Value property value to true.
Queues Use the IsValidForQueue property to add support for queues. When you enable this option, you can also set the AutoRouteToOwnerQueue property to automatically move records to the owner's default queue when a record of this type is created or assigned.
E-mail Set the IsActivityParty property so that you can send e-mail to an e-mail address in this type of record.

Editable table properties

The following lists table properties that you can edit. Unless a managed property disallows these options, you can update them at any time.

Property Description
Allow Quick Create Use IsQuickCreateEnabled to enable quick create forms for the table. Before you can use quick create forms, you must first create and publish a quick create form.
Note:
Activity tables don't support quick create forms.
Access Teams Use AutoCreateAccessTeams to enable the table for access teams. See About collaborating with team templates for more information.
Primary Image If a table has an image column, you can enable or disable displaying that image in the application using PrimaryImageAttribute. Learn to work with image column definitions using code
Change display text The managed property IsRenameable prevents the display name from being changed in the application. You can still programmatically change the labels by updating the DisplayName and DisplayCollectionName properties.
Edit the table Description The managed property IsRenameable prevents the table description from being changed in the application. You can still programmatically change the labels by updating the Description property.
Enable for use while offline Use IsAvailableOffline to enable or disable the ability of Dynamics 365 for Microsoft Office Outlook with Offline Access users to take data for this table offline.
Enable the Outlook Reading Pane Note:

The IsReadingPaneEnabled property is for internal use only.

To enable or disable the ability of Office Outlook users to view data for this table, use the Outlook reading pane. You must set this property in the application.
Enable Mail Merge Use IsMailMergeEnabled to enable or disable the ability to generate Office Word merged documents that use data from this table.
Enable Duplicate Detection Use IsDuplicateDetectionEnabled to enable or disable duplicate detection for the table. For more information, see Detect duplicate data using code
Enable SharePoint Integration Use IsDocumentManagementEnabled to enable or disable SharePoint server integration for the table. For more information, see Enable SharePoint document management for specific entities.
Enable Dynamics 365 for phones Use IsVisibleInMobile to enable or disable the ability of Dynamics 365 for phones users to see data for this table.
Dynamics 365 for tablets Use IsVisibleInMobileClient to enable or disable the ability of Dynamics 365 for tablets users to see data for this table.

If the table is available for Dynamics 365 for tablets, you can use IsReadOnlyInMobileClient to specify that the data for the record is read-only.
Enable Auditing Use IsAuditEnabled to enable or disable auditing for the table. For more information, see Configure table and columns for Auditing.
Change areas that display the table You can control where table grids appear in the application Navigation Pane. This is controlled by the SiteMap.
Add or Remove Columns As long as the managed property CanCreateAttributes.Value allows for creating columns, you can add columns to the table. For more information, see Column definitions.
Add or Remove Views As long as the managed property CanCreateViews.Value allows for creating views, you can use the SavedQuery table to create views for a table.
Add or Remove Charts As long as the managed property CanCreateCharts.Value allows for creating charts and the IsEnabledForCharts table property is true, you can use the SavedQueryVisualization table to create charts for a table. For more information, see View data with visualizations (charts).
Add or Remove table relationships There are several managed properties that control the types of relationships that you can create for a table. For more information, see Table relationship definitions.
Change Icons You can change the icons used for custom tables. For more information, see Change model-driven app custom table icons
Can Change Hierarchical Relationship CanChangeHierarchicalRelationship.Value controls whether the hierarchical state of relationships included in your managed solutions can be changed.
Entity set name EntitySetName specifies the name used to uniquely identify the table using the Dataverse Web API. This is usually the same as the LogicalCollectionName, but you can't change the LogicalCollectionName. You should only change EntitySetName before any code is written using the default entity set name. Learn more about entity set names

Messages supported by custom tables

Custom tables support the same base messages as system tables. The set of messages available depends on whether the custom table is user-owned or organization owned. User-owned tables support sharing, so messages such as GrantAccess, ModifyAccess, and RevokeAccess are available.

See also

Use the Web API with table definitions
Work with table definitions using the SDK for .NET