GUID reference across environments

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Posted on by Tono_Analyst2

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I am building an app using Dataverse as the data source in a dev environment.

There are instances where I perform lookups against a hard coded GUID within the app to reference a specific record. For example, in a Statuses table I may do a lookup on a specific record via the GUID.

Statuses

GUID	status_title
abc123	Pending Action 1
def456	Pending Action 2
xyz789	Pending Action 3

I have now realised that when I export the solution and import it into a UAT/PROD environment, I assume these GUID references will be different as I will have to build out the status records again.

Is it best to avoid directly referencing the GUID field for the above reason? I was trying to use an immutable field (such as GUID) as the reference and avoid using something like status_title to reference, as the wording may change over time. I may create an additional hardcoded reference column such as status_id as a work around if it is an issue.

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Microsoft Dataverse with Power Apps

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Kristian_Cole 195 on at

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Good afternoon, if your hardcoded GUID is a custom config table that you are referring to you will need to export the data to import and then you can refer to it in your application.

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a33ik 3,306 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@Tono_Analyst2 I would second @Kristian_Cole 's answer and recommend using Configuration Migration Tool for that purpose - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/manage-configuration-data

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Fubar 8,340 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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As per the other responses, generally use Export/Import or the Configuration Migration Tool

The only downside of using the Configuration Migration Tool, is that it will take all the data out of the selected tables (and as you are taking it out of Dev that data is not necessarily all 'clean'). If using Export/Import, you can delete rows in the exported file (or filter prior to exporting) before importing.

If doing Data Export/Import the main trick is to map the exported GUID to the primary key column during the import
Export to Excel
Unhide first 3 hidden columns (GUID is in column A)
Delete column B & C
Save as CSV, or XML 2003 (not the plain XML option)
When you Import into the new environment Update the Mapping, so the GUID column in your file is mapped to the "Primary Key"

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a33ik 3,306 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@Fubar I'm not sure what you mean by taking "all the data". For ages, it's possible to provide filters in CMD so it will be only the subset of the data available in the environment to remove "non-clean" data. Also, it's possible to provide the list of columns to be exported not taking all the available columns of the entity.

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