Encoded characters in API values

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Posted on by LL-09071124-0

Hello,

We're consuming Accounts from the API, as demonstrated in this page: dynamics_account_get.

The example at the bottom of the page shows the value "Balance Sheet" in the field "incomeBalance".

However, we are receiving "Balance_x0020_Sheet".

I understand that this is an encoding used to represent whitespace (or null vales) with fidelity across solutions and environments. It makes sense to encode field names, because users can sometimes create fields with spaces. However, I don't see why the value would be encoded this way.

Are we using the API wrong? : )

Thank you for any help on this topic.

Best,

Logan

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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YUN ZHU 95,550 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi, This should be standard behavior, I encountered x0020 when testing the following two functions.

https://yzhums.com/46655/

https://yzhums.com/51363/

Thanks.

ZHU

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LL-09071124-0 35 on at

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@ YUN ZHU

Thank you. Your second link shows _x0020_ used as a null value.

Your first link indeed shows a value like "Sales_x0020_Order".

Do you know if it's a reference to a table or a list containing identifiers? I'm imagining something like:

ID NAME

Sales_x0020_Order Sales Order

Balance_x0020_Sheet Balance Sheet

Income_x0020_Statement Income Statement

If so, we might be able to retrieve the NAME instead of the ID.

Thank you.

Logan

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YUN ZHU 95,550 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi, Your idea is not wrong, and I hope the following discussion can give you some hints.

https://community.powerplatform.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=2eef92ac-d262-4245-acea-bf318d5dff7d

Thanks.

ZHU

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Jainam M. Kothari 15,639 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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May this can help : https://www.hougaard.com/query-adding-strange-encoding-on-document-type/

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Jeffrey Bulanadi 8,760 on at

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Hi Logan,

You're absolutely right to question why you're seeing "Balance_x0020_Sheet" instead of "Balance Sheet" in the incomeBalance field. This behavior is tied to how enum values are serialized in BC’s API responses.

Let’s break it down:

1. Why enum values are encoded like this
Starting with Business Central version 24 and onward, enum values exposed via APIs are encoded using XML-safe formatting. This ensures compatibility across platforms like Dataverse, Power Platform, and Fabric.

_x0020_ represents a space character (U+0020 in Unicode)

This encoding is applied to both field names and field values, especially for extensible or localized enums

It helps avoid schema validation issues or parsing errors in downstream systems

2. How to decode encoded enum values in AL
If you're consuming these values inside Business Central or transforming them before display, you can decode them using AL’s Text.Replace method:

al

procedure DecodeEncodedEnumValue(InputText: Text): Text begin exit(InputText.Replace('_x0020_', ' ')); end;

You can extend this to handle other encoded characters like _x0026_ (ampersand) or _x0027_ (apostrophe) if needed.

3. Are you using the API wrong?
Not at all. This is expected behavior when working with enum fields in BC APIs. The encoding is intentional and designed to preserve fidelity across systems. Adding a decoding step is the correct approach when displaying or processing these values externally.

Here’s a reference on how BC handles text encoding and enum serialization in APIs:

TextEncoding property – Microsoft Learn
File handling and text encoding – Microsoft Learn

If you find this helpful, feel free to mark this as the suggested or verified answer.

Cheers
Jeffrey

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Gerardo Rentería Ga... 25,225 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi, good day
I hope this can help you, and give you some hints. Custom APIs and schemaversion 2.0 – Kauffmann @ Dynamics 365 Business Central

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LL-09071124-0 35 on at

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Thanks everyone.

In summary:

- _x0020_ is an encoding of unicode character " "

- It's present since version 24, for compatibility everywhere, even URLs

- It corresponds to an Enum ID, and therefore it's possible to get the Name instead, eg. field(name; Rec.Name) { }

I'll mark Jeffrey's post as the answer since it's the most complete. Interested parties should also look at the link posted by Gerardo.

Thanks again!

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Sohail Ahmed 11,148 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi Logan,

You're right — _x0020_ is the Unicode encoding for a space character (" "), and it's expected behavior in certain API responses.

This encoding started appearing around version 24 of Business Central, mainly to ensure compatibility across systems (especially in URLs and XML-based formats).

In your case, the field is likely an Enum, and you're seeing the encoded ID. If you want to retrieve the human-readable Name, your API page can expose it using something like:

field(name; Rec.Name) { }

So you're not using the API wrong — it's just how BC represents certain values for consistency.

Mark this as the verified answer if helpful. ✅

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