Business Central Virtual Tables FAQ

Article
11/13/2023

Important

This functionality requires version 17 or later of Business Central online while service update 189 is required for Microsoft Dataverse. The release information for Microsoft Dataverse is published on the latest version availability page.

This article is a collection of frequently asked questions about Business Central virtual tables.

What version of Business Central do I need?

Version 17.0 of Business Central online is needed. Version 17 contains v2.0 of the standard APIs and improvements to the OData stack that enable APIs to be exposed and consumed as virtual tables.

Can a solution from an independent software vendor (ISV) take a dependency on virtual tables? What does the application lifecycle management (ALM) look like?

Yes. The virtual tables are all generated in the MicrosoftBusinessCentralERPVE solution, which is API-managed. In other words, the items in the solution change as you make tables visible or hidden, but the solution is still a managed solution that you can take dependency on. The standard ALM flow just takes a standard reference to a virtual table from this solution with the Add existing option in the ISV solution. Missing dependency of the solution will be checked when the solution is imported and during import, if a specified virtual table doesn't yet exist, the virtual table is automatically made visible.

Which tables from Business Central do users see in the catalog in Microsoft Dataverse?

Generally, users see all tables exposed as API pages except for Microsoft legacy API pages: beta and v1.0.

Do all Microsoft Power Platform users have to be users in Business Central?

Any user of Microsoft Power Platform who tries to access Business Central data through a virtual table must also exist as a user in Business Central. Therefore, technically, not all users have to be users in Business Central. Only those users who access Business Central data through virtual tables must be users in Business Central.

Where do I find the catalog table?

In the Advanced find window, the table is named Available Business Central tables.

Can I change the prefix for the virtual tables?

No. All Business Central virtual tables should be generated in the MicrosoftBusinessCentralERPVE solution, and they all have the "dyn365bc_" prefix. This prefix won't be changed.

How can I show, in the same grid, data from multiple virtual tables that are joined to a physical table record in Microsoft Dataverse?

This approach isn't currently possible in Microsoft Dataverse.

If I want a default value to be entered in a column during pre-create, will an initValue on the data table then work?

Yes. Here's the order of calls:

Microsoft Dataverse sends a create or update message.
All the existing logic on the Business Central table and backing tables is invoked. This logic includes default value entry that might change values.
Microsoft Dataverse sends another Retrieve (single) message to get the latest copy of the data, including any columns that default values were entered for.