Join tables using OData
To control what data is returned from related table records, use the $expand
query option with navigation properties.
- You can include up to 15
$expand
options in a query. Each$expand
option creates a join that can affect performance. - Queries which expand collection-valued navigation properties may return cached data for those properties that doesn't reflect recent changes. It is recommended to use
If-None-Match
header with valuenull
to override browser caching. Learn more about using HTTP Headers for more details.
The following table describes the query options you can apply in certain $expand
options:
Option | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
$select |
Select which properties are returned. | Select columns |
$filter |
For collection-valued navigation properties, limit the records returned. | Filter rows |
$orderby |
For collection-valued navigation properties, control the order of records returned. Not supported with nested $expand . |
Nested $expand on collection-valued navigation properties |
$top |
For collection-valued navigation properties, limit the number of records returned. Not supported with nested $expand . |
Nested $expand on collection-valued navigation properties |
$expand |
Expand navigation properties in the related entity set. Using $expand in an $expand is called a nested $expand . |
Nested expand of single-valued navigation properties and Nested $expand on collection-valued navigation properties |
These options are a subset of the query options described in OData Version 4.0 Part 1: Protocol Plus Errata 02 11.2.4.2.1 Expand Options. The options $skip
, $count
, $search
, and $levels
aren't supported for the Dataverse Web API.
Use these options with $expand
by adding them in parentheses after the name of the navigation property. Separate each option with a semicolon (;).
For example, the following query:
Requests the
account.name
propertyJoins the
AccountTasks
collection-valued navigation property requesting:- The
task.subject
property - Where the
task.subject
contains the string "Task
" - Ordered by the
task.createdon
date, descending
- The
/accounts?$select=name&$expand=Account_Tasks($select=subject;$filter=contains(subject,'Task');$orderby=createdon desc)
Limit columns with $select
As with any query, always limit the columns returned using $select
when you use $expand
. For example, the following request returns the contact.fullname
and task.subject
values in the expanded results from the account
entity type:
Request:
GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name
&$expand=primarycontactid($select=fullname),Account_Tasks($select=subject)
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=1
If-None-Match: null
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
OData-Version: 4.0
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=1
{
"@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#accounts(name,primarycontactid(fullname),Account_Tasks(subject))",
"value": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649578\"",
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"primarycontactid": {
"fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)",
"contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd"
},
"Account_Tasks": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649460\"",
"subject": "Task 1 for Litware",
"_regardingobjectid_value": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"activityid": "f68393c1-34cb-ed11-b597-000d3a993550"
}
],
"Account_Tasks@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts(78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)/Account_Tasks?$select=subject"
}
],
"@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name&$expand=primarycontactid($select=fullname),Account_Tasks($select=subject)&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253caccountid%2520last%253d%2522%257b78914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b78914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
Navigation property type differences
It's important to remember there are two types of navigation properties. Learn more about Web API Navigation Properties
Single-valued navigation properties correspond to lookup attributes that support many-to-one relationships and allow setting a reference to another record.
Collection-valued navigation properties correspond to one-to-many or many-to-many relationships.
Expanding a collection-valued navigation property can make the size of the response large in ways it's difficult to anticipate. It's important that you include limits to control how much data is returned. You can limit the number of records by using paging. Learn more about paging results
There is a significant difference in how paging is applied to nested $expand options applied to collection valued navigation properties. Learn more about expanding collection-valued navigation properties
Expand single-valued navigation properties
The following example demonstrates how to retrieve contact records including the primary contact and the user who created the records.
Request:
GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name
&$expand=primarycontactid($select=contactid,fullname),createdby($select=fullname)
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=2
If-None-Match: null
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; odata.metadata=minimal
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=2
OData-Version: 4.0
{
"@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#accounts(name,primarycontactid(contactid,fullname),createdby(fullname))",
"value": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649578\"",
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"primarycontactid": {
"contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)"
},
"createdby": {
"fullname": "System Administrator",
"systemuserid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e",
"ownerid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e"
}
},
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649580\"",
"name": "Adventure Works (sample)",
"accountid": "7a914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"primarycontactid": {
"contactid": "72bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"fullname": "Nancy Anderson (sample)"
},
"createdby": {
"fullname": "System Administrator",
"systemuserid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e",
"ownerid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e"
}
}
],
"@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name%0A&$expand=primarycontactid($select=contactid,fullname),createdby($select=fullname)&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253caccountid%2520last%253d%2522%257b7A914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b78914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
The createdby
single-valued navigation property returns an instance of the systemuser EntityType. Both systemuserid
and ownerid
properties are returned. This is because systemuser
inherits from principal EntityType and shares the ownerid
primary key with team EntityType through this inheritance.
However, the User (SystemUser) table has the primary key of SystemUserId. Both systemuserid
and ownerid
properties have the same value. Learn more about EntityType inheritance
Return references
Instead of returning data, you can also return references, or links, to the related records by expanding the single-valued navigation property with the /$ref
option. The following example returns JSON objects with an @odata.id
property that has a URL for each primary contact.
Request:
GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name
&$expand=primarycontactid/$ref
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; odata.metadata=minimal
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=2
OData-Version: 4.0
{
"@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#accounts(name,primarycontactid,primarycontactid/$ref())",
"value": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649578\"",
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"_primarycontactid_value": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"primarycontactid": {
"@odata.id": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/contacts(70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)"
}
},
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649580\"",
"name": "Adventure Works (sample)",
"_primarycontactid_value": "72bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"accountid": "7a914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"primarycontactid": {
"@odata.id": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/contacts(72bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)"
}
}
],
"@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name%0A&$expand=primarycontactid/$ref&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253caccountid%2520last%253d%2522%257b7A914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b78914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
You can only use the /$ref
option with single-valued navigation properties. If you use it with a collection-valued navigation property, you get the following error:
{
"error": {
"code": "0x80060888",
"message": "Expand with $ref is only supported on lookup type navigation property."
}
}
Nested expand of single-valued navigation properties
You can expand single-valued navigation properties to multiple levels by nesting an $expand
option in another $expand
option.
The following query returns task
records and expands the related contact
, the account
related to the contact
, and the systemuser
who created theaccount
record:
Request:
GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/tasks?$select=subject
&$expand=regardingobjectid_contact_task($select=fullname;
$expand=parentcustomerid_account($select=name;
$expand=createdby($select=fullname)))
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=2
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; odata.metadata=minimal
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=2
OData-Version: 4.0
{
"@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#tasks(subject,regardingobjectid_contact_task(fullname,parentcustomerid_account(name,createdby(fullname))))",
"value": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80730855\"",
"subject": "Task 1 for Susanna Stubberod",
"activityid": "e9a8c72c-dbcc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550",
"regardingobjectid_contact_task": {
"fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)",
"contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"parentcustomerid_account": {
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"createdby": {
"fullname": "System Administrator",
"systemuserid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e",
"ownerid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e"
}
}
}
},
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80730861\"",
"subject": "Task 2 for Susanna Stubberod",
"activityid": "c206f534-dbcc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550",
"regardingobjectid_contact_task": {
"fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)",
"contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"parentcustomerid_account": {
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"createdby": {
"fullname": "System Administrator",
"systemuserid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e",
"ownerid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e"
}
}
}
}
],
"@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/tasks?$select=subject&$expand=regardingobjectid_contact_task($select=fullname;$expand=parentcustomerid_account($select=name;$expand=createdby($select=fullname)))&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253cactivityid%2520last%253d%2522%257bC206F534-DBCC-ED11-B597-000D3A993550%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257bE9A8C72C-DBCC-ED11-B597-000D3A993550%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
Expand collection-valued navigation properties
There are some important differences in the response that depend on whether you use nested $expand
with a collection-valued navigation property anywhere in your query.
Nested $expand | Single $expand | |
---|---|---|
Paging | Paging on expanded rows. | Paging only on EntitySet resource. <property name>@odata.nextLink URLs for expanded rows don't include paging information. |
$top or $orderby supported |
No | Yes |
Single $expand on collection-valued navigation properties
If you use only single-level $expand
, no paging is applied applied to the expanded rows. If you include the Prefer: odata.maxpagesize
request header, paging is only applied to the EntitySet resource of the query.
Each expanded collection-valued navigation property returns a <property>@odata.nextLink
URL that includes no paging information. It's a URL that represents the filtered collection for the relationship with your query options appended. You can use that URL to send a separate GET
request and it returns the same rows that were returned in your original request. You can apply paging to that request.
Because no paging is applied to the expanded records, up to 5,000 related records can be returned for each expanded collection-valued navigation property. Depending on your data and the query, it could be a lot of data. Returning that much data could affect performance and possibly cause your request to time out. Be cautious about the queries you compose. You can use $top
, $filter
, and $orderby
options to control the total number of records returned.
The following example includes a single expand of the Account_Tasks
and contact_customer_accounts
while retrieving account records. The Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=1
request header ensures that only one account record is returned in the first page.
Request:
GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name,accountid
&$expand=Account_Tasks($select=subject),contact_customer_accounts($select=fullname)
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=1
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; odata.metadata=minimal
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=1
OData-Version: 4.0
{
"@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#accounts(name,accountid,Account_Tasks(subject),contact_customer_accounts(fullname))",
"value": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649578\"",
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"Account_Tasks": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80730894\"",
"subject": "Task 1 for Litware",
"_regardingobjectid_value": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"activityid": "be9f6557-e2cc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550"
},
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80730903\"",
"subject": "Task 2 for Litware",
"_regardingobjectid_value": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"activityid": "605dbd65-e2cc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550"
},
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80730909\"",
"subject": "Task 3 for Litware",
"_regardingobjectid_value": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"activityid": "a718856c-e2cc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550"
}
],
"Account_Tasks@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts(78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)/Account_Tasks?$select=subject",
"contact_customer_accounts": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80648695\"",
"fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)",
"_parentcustomerid_value": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd"
}
],
"contact_customer_accounts@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts(78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)/contact_customer_accounts?$select=fullname"
}
],
"@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name,accountid&$expand=Account_Tasks($select=subject),contact_customer_accounts($select=fullname)&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253caccountid%2520last%253d%2522%257b7A914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b78914942-34CB-ED11-B596-0022481D68CD%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
Compare this response with the following example, which includes a nested $expand
. Scroll the example response horizontally to see that only the @odata.nextLink
URL for the account result contains paging information.
Nested $expand on collection-valued navigation properties
If you use a nested $expand
anywhere in your query, and you've included the Prefer: odata.maxpagesize
request header, paging is applied to each of the expanded collections.
Each expanded collection-valued navigation property returns a <property>@odata.nextLink
URL that includes paging information. You can use that URL to send a separate GET
request and it will return the next set of records that weren't included in your original request.
You can't use $top
or $orderby
options to limit the total number of records returned with a nested $expand
. The following error is returned if you use these options:
{
"error": {
"code": "0x80060888",
"message": "Only $select and $filter clause can be provided while doing $expand on many-to-one relationship or nested one-to-many relationship."
}
}
The following example is based on the previous example and uses the same data. The only difference is the addition in the URL of this nested $expand
on a single-valued navigation property to return the owning user of the contact: ;$expand=owninguser($select=fullname)
.
Request:
GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name,accountid
&$expand=Account_Tasks($select=subject),contact_customer_accounts($select=fullname;
$expand=owninguser($select=fullname))
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=1
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; odata.metadata=minimal
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=1
OData-Version: 4.0
{
"@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#accounts(name,accountid,Account_Tasks(subject),contact_customer_accounts(fullname,owninguser(fullname)))",
"value": [
{
"@odata.etag": "W/\"80649578\"",
"name": "Litware, Inc. (sample)",
"accountid": "78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"Account_Tasks": [
{
"subject": "Task 1 for Litware",
"activityid": "be9f6557-e2cc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550"
}
],
"Account_Tasks@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts(78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)/Account_Tasks?$select=subject,description&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%2520countOfRecords%253d%25221%2522%253e%253cactivityid%2520last%253d%2522%257bbe9f6557-e2cc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257bbe9f6557-e2cc-ed11-b597-000d3a993550%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E",
"contact_customer_accounts": [
{
"fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)",
"contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd",
"owninguser": {
"fullname": "System Administrator",
"systemuserid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e",
"ownerid": "4026be43-6b69-e111-8f65-78e7d1620f5e"
}
}
],
"contact_customer_accounts@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts(78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd)/contact_customer_accounts?$select=fullname&$expand=owninguser($select=fullname)&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%2520countOfRecords%253d%25221%2522%253e%253ccontactid%2520last%253d%2522%257b70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
],
"@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name,accountid&$expand=Account_Tasks($select=subject,description),contact_customer_accounts($select=fullname;$expand=owninguser($select=fullname))&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%2520countOfRecords%253d%25221%2522%253e%253caccountid%2520last%253d%2522%257b78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b78914942-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}
Compare this response with the previous example, which doesn't use a nested $expand
. In this response:
- The
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=1
request header is applied to thetask
records returned withAccount_Tasks
. - Only one task is returned instead of three.
- The
Account_Tasks@odata.nextLink
URL returns the next two tasks. - Scroll the example response horizontally to see that
Account_Tasks@odata.nextLink
,contact_customer_accounts@odata.nextLink
, and@odata.nextLink
URLs contain paging information.
Next steps
Learn how to order rows.