Data Modeling Resources

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Posted on 3 Mar 2023 01:45:06 by RogerCP66

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Hello, I am trying to learn more about how to create Data Models for Apps and am really struggling with how to develop the tables for my specific apps and also the relationships between them.

Would anyone have any suggested courses or resources that are specific to Dataverse that helped?

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Microsoft Dataverse

Tables

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RogerCP66 103 on 03 Mar 2023 at 21:28:31

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Re: Data Modeling Resources

Thanks @Fubar. This is very helpful
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Fubar 8,032 Super User 2025 Season 2 on 03 Mar 2023 at 03:02:10

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Re: Data Modeling Resources

For general data modeling knowledge, search the web for "Data Modeling 3NF" (3NF = 3rd Normal Form)
Specifically with regards to Dataverse as far as I'm aware no real data modeling theory type resources, but understanding 3NF generally will help you - from a Dataverse perspective key things to understand:
Each table has a Column with the same name as the table but suffixed with "id" that holds the system generated Primary Key with is a guid (e.g. a table with a logical schema name of "new_mytable" will have its primary key in a column called "new_mytableid" and it will be auto populated with a unique guid )
To create a foreign key relationship you either manually create a 1:N relationship from the UI or create a new Column that is a Lookup (the lookup is the foreign key and will automatically store the primary key from the record that the Lookup is populated with)
Lookups in the UI display the value in the records Primary Name column (this behavior cannot be changed) - note this is not the Primary Key and does not enforce uniqueness by default
You can create Alternate Keys to enforce uniqueness
You can create/update relationship behaviors e.g. Cascade delete), but do not have the capability to create stored procedures (but can mimic them by writing plugin code)