Edit

Walk-through: Configuring additional tables for global search  

  • Article

Overview

You can enable additional tables for search functionality. Configuring search for additional tables requires additional actions, which are described in this article. These explicit configuration steps ensure that no records will accidentally be made available using global search.

Steps to configure search for additional tables

To configure search for additional tables:

  1. Enable additional tables search for the first time by adding a new setting Search/EnableAdditionalEntities and set it to true. This is a one-time step that enables search for all additional out-of-the-box and custom tables.

  2. Create Portal Search view for each additional table with the required filters and columns that need to be searchable.

  3. Configure table permissions for each additional table with a Web Role to have at least read privilege. Skip this step if you already have the read permissions configured for each table.

  4. Create a record details page for each table to show the details of the selected record from the search results page. Skip this step if you already have created separate results record details page for each table.

  5. Create a site marker named <entitylogicalname>_SearchResultPage for each table with the associated record details page.

  6. Rebuild the search index.

  7. Verify the search results.

Warning

If you don't create a record details page, or if you don't bind the record details page with site marker for search, you won't be able to select the additional table records from search results page to view the record details.

Site setting for additional tables

The site setting Search/EnableAdditionalEntities is required when configuring additional tables for search.

Important

Search/EnableAdditionalEntities is explicitly for enabling search for additional tables. The main search site setting Search/Enabled must be set to true when using search functionality.

You can also configure other related site settings similar to the search configuration for default tables. For example, you can use the Search/Filters setting to configure additional tables and add a drop-down filter option to the global search. More information: Related site settings

Site marker for record details page

The record details page is configured using a Site Marker named <entitylogicalname>_SearchResultPage.

For example, if your table logical name is nwind_products, the site marker will be nwind_products_SearchResultPage. The value of the site marker is the record details page that you want to open when that search result is selected. By default, a record ID is passed in the id querystring parameter to the record details page. For more information about adding forms on a page, go to Add a form.

Important

There are two table logical name exceptions in configuration of the site markers for the record details page.

  • The incident table requires the site marker to be named Case.
  • The knowledgearticle table requires the site marker to be named Knowledge Article.

Important

Ensure that your record details page has a basic form, or has logic written to show the search result details. For example, Step 4 - Add record details page in the following walkthrough.

The following walkthrough explains each step in detail with a sample database and solution to configure search for additional tables.

Note

  • This walkthrough explains how to enable search for the Order Products table in the sample database Northwind, available with Microsoft Dataverse. For more information about sample databases, see Install Northwind Traders database and apps.
  • You can follow the walkthrough with a table of your choice by replacing the nwind_products table name with your table's logical name.

Step 1: Add or update search site settings

  1. Ensure that you're in the appropriate environment where your Power Pages site exists.  

  2. Go to the Portal Management app.

    Note

    The Portal Management app might be named Dynamics 365 Portals if you're in an environment where Dynamics 365 applications are installed.

  3. Select to open the Portal Management app, and then go to Site Settings in the left navigation pane.

  4. Create a new setting, Search/EnableAdditionalEntities, and set its value to true.

  5. Create or update the search/filters setting, and add the value Products:nwind_products.

Step 2: Create or verify the Portal Search view

Note

The following steps require the Northwind Traders solution to be installed. If you want to use another table, use the appropriate solution or use the Default solution.

  1. Go to Power Apps, and select Solutions from the left navigation pane.

  2. Select Northwind Traders.

  3. Search for the Order Product table.

  4. Select the Order Product table, and then select Views.

  5. Ensure that you see Portal Search in the views list.

    If the Portal Search view doesn't already exist, select Add view, enter the name as Portal Search, and then select Create.

  6. Ensure appropriate columns are added to the view for search.

  7. If you edited the view, be sure to select Save, and then Publish before you continue.

Step 3: Create table permissions

  1. Go to the Portal Management app.

  2. Select Table Permissions in the left navigation pane.

  3. Select New.

  4. Enter the name as Northwind Products Read All, and then select the appropriate Access Type and the Read privilege.

    For this example, the Global access type is provided to the nwind_products table.

  5. Select Save & Close.

  6. Select and open Northwind Products Read All.

  7. Scroll down to the Web Roles section, and then select Add Existing Web Role.

  8. Search for Authenticated Users, and then select Add:

Step 4: Add record details webpage

  1. Go to Power Apps, and select Apps in the left navigation pane.

  2. Select More Commands (…), and then select Edit to open the site in design studio.

  3. Select New Page from the menu in the upper-left corner, and then select the Blank layout for the page.

  4. Enter the webpage name as Order Products.

    Note

    This page will be shown when users select a record from the search results page to view the details of the selected record.

  5. Select Components in the left navigation pane, and then add a Form component to this webpage.

  6. Select the Use existing option on the right side of your workspace, choose the View Products form for the nwind_products table, and then set Mode to ReadOnly.

Step 5: Add a site marker for record details webpage

  1. Go to the Portal Management app. 

  2. Select Site Marker from the left navigation pane.

  3. Select New, and then create a new site marker by using the following details:

    • Name: nwind_products_SearchResultPage
    • Page: Order Products

Step 6: Rebuild the search index

Note

Rebuild the search index is related to Lucene .NET search and is not applicable to Dataverse search.

  1. Browse your website by using a user account that has the Administrator web role assigned.

  2. Append the URL in the address bar with /_services/about, and then select Enter.

  3. Select Clear cache.

  4. After clearing the cache, select Rebuild full search index.

Step 7: Verify that global search works with the custom table

  1. Browse to the website with a user that has Authenticated Web Role assigned.

  2. Go to the search toolbar or the search page, and search for a known record.

    For example, use the search keyword Northwind Clam Chowder to get the results associated with the nwind_products table.

Next steps

Remove a table from global search

See also

Related site settings
Progressive search