Alternate Keys in CRM 2015\CRM 2016

Let us look at a simple example to understand.

• Suppose we have a custom entity name Demo Entity.
• Create a new single line of text field named Alternate Key Field.
• Create a new Alternate Key Field and specify the above field for it.

• Click on “Create index for My Alternate Keys for entity Demo Entity” which will create an Index in CRM’s Database.
• Let us update the following record using Alternate Key

• Sample code

• Updated record

• Currently alternate key can only be defined on field type – string, integer and decimal.

• The alternate key can be used for Entity Reference as well, wherein instead of specifying GUID we can now use alternate key.

Hope it helps..