Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
Types of Tables
3.
Activity Tables
4.
Table Ownership
5.
Virtual Tables
6.
Applications of Activities Tables in Dataverse
7.
Frequently Asked Questions
7.1.
What is Dataverse?
7.2.
What is the difference between Standard and Managed tables?
7.3.
What are Power App Tables?
8.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
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Tables in Microsoft Dataverse

Author Akshit Mehra
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Introduction

A table is a set of data organised in rows, columns, and cells to facilitate comparison and contrast of data. The data is simpler to read in a tabular format, as you can see in the sample below. When creating an app, you can create standard tables, standard tables, or a combination of both. Standard tables are provided by default in Microsoft Dataverse. These are made to capture the most typical ideas and situations inside a company in accordance with best practices. With the help of Dataverse, you can quickly and simply build a data model for your application. In most cases, you shouldn't need to worry about some of the metadata-related elements that this topic will introduce. But knowing the information that Dataverse uses might help you gain a deeper knowledge of how apps that utilize Dataverse operate or help you assess what is feasible.

Types of Tables

In the form of records, a table defines the information you wish to track. These records often contain features like the company name, the location, the goods, the email address, and the phone number. Tables can be one of three categories when they emerge in Power Apps, each of which describes how the table entered the environment, whether it is managed or unmanaged, and if it can be altered. 

  1. Standard: A Power Platform environment containing Microsoft Dataverse comes with several standard tables, commonly called out-of-the-box tables. Tables in Dataverse that are considered standard include those for accounts, business units, contacts, tasks, and users. The majority of the common tables offered by Dataverse may be altered. Imported tables that are part of a managed solution and are marked as configurable also show up as standard tables. These tables, where the table property has a customizable set to true, can be customised by any user with the necessary rights.
  2. Managed: Tables which are imported into the environment as a component of a managed solution but are not modifiable.
  3. Custom: Custom tables are unmanaged tables that are either developed in the environment or imported from an unmanaged solution. Any user with the necessary rights can completely modify these tables.

Activity Tables

Any action for which a calendar record may be made can be considered an activity. The start time, stop time, due date, and activity duration all help pinpoint when the action took place or will take place. Activities also contain information, such as Subject and description, that aids in identifying the action they represent. A task can be started, stopped, or finished. To describe how an activity was finished, the completed status of an activity will have several sub-status values attached to it.

Activity tables are a unique type of table that an individual or team may only own; organisations are not permitted to possess them. You may designate a table as a standard or activity table when you create it. You may make a new custom activity table once you have the ability to do so to view instant message exchanges. Because you don't provide the main column while establishing an activity table, it differs from creating a non-activity table. A Primary Field set to Subject and other common columns established by the Activity table is present in all activity tables. This enables the display of all activities in a view showing the common columns.

Table Ownership

The two forms of standard and custom table ownership are distinct. When creating a custom table, the options for ownership are User, Team, or Organisation owned. The ownership type of a table cannot be altered once it has been created.

Ownership Description
Organisation Organisations own their data. The organisation has control over who has access to the data.
User or team A user or team owns the data. These rows can have their actions restricted at the user level.

 

Observe that certain Dataverse system tables differ from conventional tables regarding ownership from organisation and user or team ownership. These include the following:

  1. None: The Privilege table is one example of a system table without an owner.
  2. Business Unit: Several system tables are owned by businesses. The Business Unit, Calendar, Team, and Security Role tables are a few examples.

 

The ownership of a custom table cannot be changed once it has been created. Make sure to select the appropriate ownership type before creating a table. You must remove your custom table and build a new one if you subsequently decide that it needs to be a different kind.

Virtual Tables

A custom table in Dataverse with columns holding data from an external data source is known as a virtual table. Users of your app will see virtual tables as standard table rows. Still, they include data that is dynamically fetched from an external database at runtime, such as an Azure SQL Database. Virtual table-based rows are accessible to all clients, including specialised clients created using Dataverse web services.

Applications of Activities Tables in Dataverse

Activity tables are a unique type of table that may only be owned by an individual or team; organisations are not permitted to possess them. You may designate a table as a standard or activity table when you create it. Below, some of the most widely used applications of these tables are discusses:

  1. For Appointment: Time period commitment with start and finish times and duration.
  2. Email: Delivered by email protocols activity.
  3. Fax: Activity that monitors the outcome of a conversation, the amount of pages in a fax, and, if desired, retains a digital copy of the document.
  4. Letter:  Activity that monitors a letter's delivery. The electronic copy of the letter may be included in the activity.
  5. Phone Call: Activity to follow a call on the phone.
  6. Repeating Appointments: A sequence of repeated appointments' main appointments.
  7. Task: A general activity that denotes work that has to be done.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Dataverse?

One or more Datasets or Data Verses can be contained in a Dataverse. One or more Databases and Datasets may be present in the Dataverse of each participating institution. A particular study data collection is contained in a dataset (this can include research data, code, and documentation).

What is the difference between Standard and Managed tables?

Common tables that come with your environment but are not System or Custom tables are known as standard tables. Custom tables are added to the system by importing a managed solution known as managed custom tables. The controlled properties that have been established for each table affect how much you may alter them. All non-editable attributes will be deactivated.

What are Power App Tables?

IIn PowerApps, a table provides the data you wish to keep as records, often including features like the company name, the location, the goods, the email address, and the phone number. Then, by creating an app that uses the table, you may expose that data. Although Power Apps provides conventional "out-of-the-box" tables to address common organisational scenarios (such as scheduling appointments), there may be cases when you need to construct your tables to hold data that is unique to your company.

Conclusion

In this blog, we studied Tables in Dataverse. Dataverse is used to securely manage and store the information used by various businesses. Dataverse uses a collection of tables to store data. In the beginning, we saw the different types of tables that exist. These include Standard, Managed, and Custom tables. Next, we had a brief discussion on Activity tables. Activity tables contain information, such as Subject and description, that aids in identifying the action they represent. 

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