Manage application tab templates
An application tab template in Customer Service lets you specify the type of applications that can be opened when agents start a session in Customer Service workspace.
The vertical bar on the left panel shows the list of sessions. The panel always shows the Home session that you can't close or customize.
In Customer Service workspace, every session has at least one application tab, called the "Anchor tab", that you can't close or customize. When you start a session, the corresponding application page and any other additional pages open based on your configuration settings.
Using the application tab template, you can define applications that are available for a session, and then associate those applications with the session. For example, you can create the Active Conversation page tab and associate it with a chat or SMS session. Now, when an agent accepts a notification from the chat or SMS channels, a session starts and the Active Conversation page opens.
As an administrator, you can create multiple application tab templates.
Note
You can't customize the out-of-the-box templates, but can create your own custom templates.
Prerequisites
You need the System Administrator role to perform the tasks mentioned in this article.
Create application tab templates
Select one of the following tabs, and perform the steps.
- In the site map, select Workspaces in Agent experience.
- On the Workspaces page, select Manage for Application tab templates.
Select New on the Active Application Tab Templates page.
Specify the following on the New Application Tab Template page.
Tab Name Description Example General Name Specify the name of the application tab. This name isn't visible for the agents at runtime. Knowledge article search General Unique name Provide a unique identifier in the <prefix>_<name> format.
IMPORTANT
The following are required for the unique name:- The prefix can only be alphanumeric and its length must be between 3 and 8 characters.
- An underscore must be added between the prefix and name.
You can select the light bulb icon, and then select Apply to verify whether the name you've entered meets the requirements.contoso_application_tab General Title Provide a title for the application that you want the agents to see at runtime. Knowledge article search General Page type Select a page type from the list. Web resource General Description Provide a description for your reference. The page type is used to display a knowledge base search page. Select Save. The Parameters section displays the parameters for the page type that you selected.
Note
Whenever you edit the application tab template, save the changes so you see the corresponding fields in the Parameters section.
Select the Value field of a parameter that you want to edit and provide the value.
Select Save.
Page types
The following page types are available:
- Dashboard
- Entity list
- Entity record
- Search
- Third-party website
- Web resource
- Control (for internal use only)
- Custom
Dashboard
This page type is used to display the dashboard as an application. The following parameter is available for the dashboard page type.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
dashboardId |
GUID of the dashboard | Yes | String | d201a642-6283-4f1d-81b7-da4b1685e698 |
Note
If the target dashboard isn't included in the app module definition, the default dashboard is displayed instead.
Entity list
This page type is used to display an entity view that defines how a list of records for a specific entity is displayed. The following parameters are available for the entity view page type.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
entityName |
Logical name of the entity | Yes | String Slugs |
account {anchor._customerid_value@Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.lookuplogicalname} |
viewId |
GUID of the view | No | String | 00000000-0000-0000-00aa-000010001031 |
Note
If the target view doesn't exist or isn't included in the app module definition, the default entity view is displayed instead.
Entity record
This page type is used to display an existing record or open a form to create a new record.
The following parameters are available for the entity record page type when an existing record is opened.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
entityName |
Logical name of the entity | Yes | String Slugs |
account {anchor._customerid_value@Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.lookuplogicalname} |
entityId |
GUID of the entity record | No | String Slugs |
d49e62a8-90df-e311-9565-a45d36fc5fe8 {anchor._customerid_value} |
formId |
GUID of the form instance | No | String | 915f6055-2e07-4276-ae08-2b96c8d02c57 |
validateRecord |
Checks if the record exists in the organization database | No | Boolean | True |
Note
If the system doesn't match the entityId value to an existing record in Dataverse, then the form opens in create mode to create a record. If you want the system to load the form only when the record exists in Dataverse, then set the validateRecord parameter to true.
If the validateRecord parameter isn't present, create the parameter as follows:
- In the Application Tab Template form, select New Template Parameter and enter the following values:
- Name: validateRecord
- Unique Name: new_tabtemplateparam_validateRecord
- Value: True
- Save and close.
The following parameters are available for the entity record page type when an entity form is opened to create a record.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
entityName |
Logical name of the entity | Yes | String Slugs |
contact {anchor._customerid_value@Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.lookuplogicalname} |
data |
Data to be prepopulated in the form | No | JSON | {"subject":"Task created from {anchor.ticketnumber}","description":"Follow-up needed with customer","prioritycode":"2","scheduledend":"06/12/2023", "regardingobjectid": [{"id": "{anchor.incidentid}", "name": "{anchor.title}", "entityType":"{anchor.entityName}"}]} |
formId |
GUID of the form instance | No | String | 915f6055-2e07-4276-ae08-2b96c8d02c57 |
Search
The following parameters are available for the entity search page type.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
searchType |
Define to use Relevance search or Categorized search. The possible values are:
|
No | Number | 0 |
searchText |
Define the string you want to search. | Yes | String Slugs OData |
contoso {anchor.title} {anchor._customerid_value@OData.Community.Display.V1.FormattedValue} {$odata.incident.title.?$filter=incidentid eq '{anchor.incidentid}'&$select=title} |
Third-party website
This page type is used to display third-party websites as an application. You can use this type to host only those websites that are compatible with iframe hosting. If your website isn't compatible with iframe hosting, an error message that the website refused to connect is displayed. The application tab template parses the URL and data parameters to format the URL address to be displayed.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
url |
The website URL to be displayed in the app tab |
Yes | String |
https://www.bing.com/search?q= |
data |
Additional data parameter to be parsed with the url parameter |
No | String Slugs OData |
contoso {anchor.title} {anchor._customerid_value@OData.Community.Display.V1.FormattedValue} {$odata.incident.title.?$filter=incidentid eq '{anchor.incidentid}'&$select=title} |
Note
When an agent switches from the third-party website type of tab template to another tab, and then switches back to the third-party website tab template, the page is refreshed to the initial state. For more information, see the "Third-party application tab refreshes when focus is changed" section in the Known issues document.
How parsing works
These examples are based on a scenario where the case was opened as the Anchor tab in a new session with ticket number: CAS-01003-P3B7G1.
url parameter: https://www.bing.com/search?q=
data parameter using slugs: {anchor.ticketnumber}
Expected URL: https://www.bing.com/search?q=CAS-01003-P3B7G1
url parameter: https://www.bing.com/search?q=
data parameter using OData: {$odata.incident.ticketnumber.?$filter=incidentid eq'{anchor.incidentid}'&$select=ticketnumber}
Expected URL: https://www.bing.com/search?q=CAS-01003-P3B7G1
Note
The url parameter requires the correct URL format using 'https://'.
Web resource
This page type is used to display web resources that represent files, which are used to extend the web application such as HTML files, JavaScript, CSS, and several image formats. The following parameters are available for the web resources page type.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
webresourceName |
Name of the web resource to open | Yes | String | new_myresource.html |
data |
Provide string or key value pair, according to the requirement of the web resource. | No | String Slugs OData |
contoso {anchor.title} {anchor._customerid_value@OData.Community.Display.V1.FormattedValue} {$odata.incident.title.?$filter=incidentid eq '{anchor.incidentid}'&$select=title} |
Note
When an agent switches from the web resource type of tab template to another tab, and then switches back to the web resource type of tab template, the page is refreshed to the initial state. For more information, see the "Third-party application tab refreshes when focus is changed" section in the Known issues document.
Custom
This page type is used to display custom pages on the application tab. You can use this tab template type to host custom pages that are available in the corresponding app. For more information about custom pages, see Overview of custom pages for model-driven apps.
The following parameters are available for custom pages.
| Parameter | Description | Required | Supported values | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
entityName |
Logical name of the entity | No | String Slugs |
incident {anchor.entityName} |
name |
Unique name of the custom page | Yes | String |
new_mycustompage |
recordId |
GUID of the entity record | No | String Slugs OData |
d49e62a8-90df-e311-9565-a45d36fc5fe8{caseId} {anchor.incidentid}{$odata.incident.title.?$filter=incidentid eq '{anchor.incidentid}'&$select=title} |
Out-of-the-box application tab templates
The following out-of-the-box application tab templates are available.
| Template name | Description | Application type |
|---|---|---|
| Active Conversation | Displays the Active Conversation page in the tab. | Entity Record |
| Entity record | Displays an entity record in the tab. | Entity Record |
| Knowledge Search | Displays the knowledge article search page in the tab. | Web Resource |
| Omnichannel Conversations Dashboard | Displays the Omnichannel Conversations Dashboard in the tab. | Dashboard |
| Omnichannel Intraday Insights | Displays a Power BI report in the tab. | Control |
| Quick Reply Preview | Displays a quick reply in the tab. | Control |
| Rich Message Preview | Displays a rich message in the tab. | Control |
| Search | Displays the Omnichannel search page in the tab. | Control |
See also
Get started with Customer Service admin center
Manage session templates
Manage notification templates
Associate templates with workstreams
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