Entity List Part 2: Configuration

This is the second in a series of blogs demonstrating configuration of Entity List. Check out the first installment for an overview of all topics covered throughout this series.

Web Page for Create

The “Web Page for Create” option on the Entity List form can be used to create a record in the Entity List Page. This is an alternative to defining a “Create Action” on the form. An important thing to note is that if both the “Web Page for Create” and “Create Action” using Configuration is defined, then “Create Action” will take precedence. “Web Page for Create” is an option set field, as depicted in the screenshot below.

The Entity Form or Web Form can be utilized for Create Function. The Mode of the Form will be “Insert” as this is a Create Form. If the Mode of the Form is selected as “Edit” or “Read-only”, the page will not load in the portal site and will throw error.

Once the Entity Form/Web Form is created, we need to link it to a Web Page.

Once the Web Page is created and linked to the Entity Form, we need to associate the Web Page to the Entity List.

“Create Button Label” can be used to customize the button name. By default, the button name will be “Create”.

Clicking the “Create” button will open a new form to create the record.

Entity Permission

In order to properly secure the Entity List, the “Enable Entity Permissions” checkbox must be selected. This option appears immediately above the “Search” section of the form as depicted in the screenshot below.

This will ensure that for any user that accesses the page, only records that they have been given permission to are shown. Different permissions for an entity can be assigned using Entity Permissions. Once the Entity Permissions are defined, they need to be associated with the user’s Web Role. Different Scope and Privileges can be defined on Entity Permissions based on the requirement.

Entity List Filter Configuration

Filter Conditions can be applied to restrict the records based on the conditions defined. This is an additional filter that can be applied along with Entity Permission to filter the records that are accessible to the user, via Read permission.

Metadata Filter

Metadata filters are used to enable the filtering option on the Entity List. This functionality is similar to the Advanced Find setting of Dynamics 365 and can be customized based on requirement.

Enabling Metadata Filter

To enable the Metadata Filter, we need to check the “Enabled” checkbox on the Entity List as shown in the screenshot below. The Orientation can be selected as “Horizontal” or “Vertical” based on requirement, using a dropdown.

Filter Types

There are several types of filters available.

Text Filter: This filters the Entity List using a textbox to search for matching text in the selected attribute using the dropdown. The “Text Filter” adds a textbox to the Entity List Filter area that is tied to an attribute of the Entity List's Entity Type. When a user applies the filter, the Entity List only displays those records whose selected attribute contains the value.

Attribute Filter Set: The Attribute Filter Set adds a series of options to filter the Entity List by tying to a single attribute of the Entity List's selected Entity Type. When a user applies the filter by selecting the “Attribute” using the dropdown, the Entity List only displays those records that exactly match at least one of the selected options.

Lookup Set: The Lookup Set allows to filter the Entity List based on related entities of the Entity List’s selected entity type. When a user applies, the filter using the dropdown to select the “Relationship”, the Entity List only displays those records that exactly match at least one of the selected related records.

Range Filter Set: The Range Filter Set adds a series of options, each with one or two conditions, to the Filter area. When a user applies the filter by selecting the "Attribute" and "Selection Mode" using the dropdown, the Entity List only displays those records that exactly match all conditions on at least one of the selected options.

Dynamic Picklist Set: The Dynamic Picklist Set adds the options to filter by the values of a specified Picklist field selected using the dropdown. This is different from selecting a Picklist in the Attribute Filter Set. In the Attribute Filter Set, you must specify a set of options that will be made available to the user to filter by. In the Dynamic Picklist Set you only need to specify the Picklist field and the entire set of options will be provided automatically.

Dynamic Lookup Set: The Dynamic Lookup Set adds a dynamic series of options to filter the Entity List by tying to a related entity to the Entity List's selected Entity Type. When a user applies the filter using the dropdown, the Entity List only displays those records that exactly match at least one of the selected related records. The Dynamic Lookup Set is similar to the Lookup Set with the difference that, in the Dynamic Lookup Set you only specify the relationship to filter the record, and the list of options are generated dynamically based on the view defined.

FetchXML Filter: This allows you to create any type of filter based on FetchXML query language. The FetchXML can be easily created using Advanced Find in Dynamics 365. The Filter section of the FetchXML can be used to create a filter.

The FetchXML Filter uses only one attribute "FetchXML". The "<filter>" or "<link-entity>" element of the FetchXML query can be utilized and modified to create a custom filter.

The "uiname" parameter can be added to override the display name of the element in the rendered filter.