Computed columns and Virtual fields on Data entities

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Posted on by @rp@n

please let me know about Computed columns and Virtual fields on Data entities. is virtual fields and Computed columns both are same?

please give me more shed on this

thanks!

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Blue Wang on at

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Hi @rp@n,

Please check Doc:docs.microsoft.com/.../data-entity-computed-columns-virtual-fields

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Sergei Minozhenko 23,093 on at

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Hi @rp@n,

You could say that they are the same, but computed fields are translated to SQL and therefore they are better from a performance point of view for entities used for exports. Virtual fields can you used in the import scenarios, to bring additional data that is not available on data sources but needed for an entity, but it's slower from an export perspective and you can't skip staging data for export scenarios in this case.

Do you have a specific scenario where you want to use one of these fields?

There is a good explanation in the docs about it.

docs.microsoft.com/.../data-entity-computed-columns-virtual-fields

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Gunjan Bhattachayya 35,423 on at

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Hi Arpan,

They are not the same.

Values for computed fields are generated by an SQL view computed column whereas that of a virtual fields are generated by X++ code. You can see examples here.

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vinitgoyal2005 6,332 on at

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hi,

They are definitely not the same.

You should check docs.microsoft.com/.../data-entity-computed-columns-virtual-fields for Ms docs information.

Performance varies drastically from Virtual columns VS Computed columns. There are scenarios where you would need virtual fields but try to avoid them as much as possible.

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@rp@n 30 on at

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I go through the link and what I understand

1. As much as possible, recommended to use Computed columns instead of Virtual fields because Computed columns are computed in SQL whereas Virtual fields are computed in X++.

2. Computed columns , mostly used for read purpose only.

3. We need to create a new method to populate value in Computed column. The method name should be matched with DataEntityView method.

4. In Virtual field, to populate data we need to override PostLoad method of Data entity.

5. DataEntityViewMethod and

IsComputedColumn these 2 properties need to set based on Computed columns or Virtual fields.

If anything else I missed, please add.

Is it correct?

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Gunjan Bhattachayya 35,423 on at

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Arpan,

I think theoretically you got everything regarding these two types of fields.

To get a better understanding of how you would implement one of the other, you need to work try them out in a custom data entity.

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@rp@n 30 on at

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Sure, I will

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