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What is a primary column?

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Posted on by cb_biggs

I was trying to import data from excel into a table, and when I created a custom table which would be a table for applicants. For the primary column I named it Applicant Name. I am a little confused on what the primary column is for, Is it like an id in SQL? In the table I included fields for first name and last name. Should I get rid of those, and just use the names in the applicant name field when I import?

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Microsoft Dataverse with Power Apps

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Drew Poggemann 9,287 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @cb_biggs ,

There is a "Primary Name" column in most tables in Dataverse. This Primary Name column is used in all list views to click through (hyperlink) and get to the record's form. Whenever you add a lookup from one table to another table (i.e. a N:1) it shows this as the reference to that other record. The value in this column does not need to be unique because there is still a unique GUID behind the scenes when you joining tables that is utilized systematically.

Looking at Contact, for example, it has fullname field as the primary name field and it still contains first name and last name fields as well.

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/powerapps-docs/blob/main/powerapps-docs/developer/data-platform/entity-metadata.md#primary-name

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luissimoespt 57 on at

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What if you have scenarios where the Primary Column does not make sense?

Example if you have an inventory table where pretty much all columns are numeric IDs and quantities... You will not have a primary column even because there is no text field for a start.

How do you manage these scenarios?

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Drew Poggemann 9,287 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @luissimoespt ,

In those scenarios you will still have the primary name field on the table. I usually set the field to an autonumber field and set the scheme for the autonumber. Note, it will still be a text field. Other things I do is the following (in model apps):

Set the field as "not required"

Show the field on forms but make read only

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luissimoespt 57 on at

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For some reason in PowerApps I can only specify the name and length of the primary column and after set it cannot be changed. So where do you add that autonumber?

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Drew Poggemann 9,287 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @luissimoespt ,

You should be able to change the Data Type on the primary name column and one of the options should be "# Autonumber", see below...

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luissimoespt 57 on at

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Got it. On edit it does allow me. It's weird that on creation it does not allow same type of settings.
Thanks!

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