Unanswered

Name of a "Primary Name" Column

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by ID-27081604-0

Hi Experts,

on a custom table we can choose the name we want to use for our primary name column. How can I found out what is the name of primary column given the table name? so e.g. , where can I check, that "Full Name" is the primary column name of the contacts table...

[Upd]: I want to know the name "programmatically" - check einther in a flow, through a OData query, etc.

Bothered me for several days now and I cant find it with my search skills.

Thanks!

Categories:

Microsoft Dataverse with Power Apps

I have the same question (0)

All responses (11)

Answers (1)

gulshankhurana 1,397 Moderator on at

Like (1)

Report

Hi @MetroIgor

You can find it in the properties of that table. Example screenshots below:

If you like my response then please give me a thumbs up and if it helps answer your query then please accept it as a solution.

Kind regards

Gulshan

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
ID-27081604-0 41 on at

Like (0)

Report

Many thanks for replying @gulshankhurana .

I obviously forgot to mention, I want to know the name "programmatically" - check either in a flow, through a OData query, etc. (updated original post)

So, I know my entity name and look up in some table, what is the name of the primary column. Like e.g. in the table 'entites' I look up the localised name of the collection.

Thanks!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
gulshankhurana 1,397 Moderator on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi @MetroIgor

I'm not a programmer but I think you may find the info in the following link useful:
Table definitions in Microsoft Dataverse - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn

Primary name
The PrimaryNameAttribute property value is the logical name of the column that stores the string value that identifies the table record. This is the value that will be displayed in a link to open the record in a UI.
Example: The Contact table uses the fullname column as the primary name column.
Note:
Not every table will have a primary name. Some tables are not intended to be displayed in a UI.

Kind regards
Gulsan

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
steeevid 323 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

That will be the logical name and you can look this up from the primary name field.

For example, something like a <publisher_prefix>_primaryname
new_invoicenumber

However primary by default is not unique, if you want to find the GUID of the field it's from a column call unique identifier, which you can find it from the list of columns.

Also please note that in oData quart, lookup field will be name something like _cr35r4_primarynamw_value

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
ID-27081604-0 41 on at

Like (0)

Report

Thanks, @Stevieed. I am aware of the prefix.

You are writing "That will be the logical name and you can look this up from the primary name field." - my problem is exactly how to find out (with code), what is the user given name for the primary field.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
ID-27081604-0 41 on at

Like (0)

Report

Thanks, @gulshankhurana. I am aware of this article. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell me, how to identify, whether a column is primary or not. But, as you showed in the screenshots, somehow Datavrse knows this...

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
steeevid 323 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

to find which column is primary name and which column is unique identifier:

to get the logical name of the column you want and reference it in an OData expression:

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
ID-27081604-0 41 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi @Stevieed, thanks for prompt response! I realise, I am not describing well enough my problem - apologies and bear with me, please.

Imagine, I have a custom table called "my_table" with a primary name column named "my_primary_name_column".

If I call a custom page, I can only hand over as a parameter "redord_ID" and "entity_name" (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/developer/model-driven-apps/clientapi/navigate-to-custom-page-examples#open-as-an-inline-full-page-with-a-record-context).
So, I know, I am looking at "my_table" and know unique identifier of the record. BUT, I still dont know the name of my primary column to show something useful to the user.

Hope it makes it clearer....

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
steeevid 323 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

@MetroIgor
I see, for this, you need to install "level up for Power Apps" plugin from Chrome Store, when open a type of record that you want to refer to, click on the plugin in the browser, select "show all field":

then the lookup field which contains the GUID, the display name, will be shown as something like below:

Then you can refer it in the javascript code directly by copy the name:

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Fubar 8,344 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (1)

Report

The name of the field will be in the "PrimaryNameAttribute" which is a Property of the Entity (Table) Metadata
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.xrm.sdk.metadata.entitymetadata?view=dataverse-sdk-latest

Not sure if it is exposed via JavaScript or not, but is in C#.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No