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Multi-table lookups

Multi-table lookup type columns allow a user to use a specific table that has multiple one-to-many (1:N) relationships to other tables in the environment. A single lookup type column can refer to multiple other tables. A lookup value submitted to the multi-table type column is matched to a record in any of the related tables. Multi-table lookups can be created with both local tables and virtual tables as referenced tables.

Multi-table types are currently built into Microsoft Dataverse as static types like Customer, which connects to Account and Contact. This new feature gives users the power to define any other multi-table lookups they might need.

Note

At this time users can create and modify custom multi-table lookups via the SDK or Web APIs. Interactive user interface support will be coming in a future release.

Examples

Let's say you're hosting media for users in a library. You have many different MediaObjects, many of them have the same name but are in different formats like Books, Audio, and Video. Creating a multi-table lookup called new_Media that has 1:N relationships to new_Books, new_Audio, and new_Video results in a new_Media lookup table that provides quick identifications of records stored in specific tables.

new_Media lookup table

PrimaryID PrimaryName RelatedID Related Name
<media1> MediaObjectOne <books1> Content1
<media2> MediaObjectTwo <audio1> Content1
<media3> MediaObjectThree <video1> Content3
<media4> MediaObjectFour <audio2> Content3

new_Books table

PrimaryID PrimaryName CallNumber
<books1> Content1 1ww-3452
<books2> Content2 a4e-87hw

new_Audio table

PrimaryID PrimaryName AudioFormat
<audio1> Content1 mp4
<audio2> Content3 wma

new_Video table

PrimaryID PrimaryName VideoFormat
<video1> Content3 wmv
<video2> Content2 avi

The Media lookup can return records across all the tables in the polymorphic lookup.

  • A lookup on Media with the name Content1 would retrieve records for <books1> and <audio1>

  • A lookup on Media of Content3 would retrieve records for <audio2> and <video1>

Web API example

The following HTTP POST request creates a polymorphic lookup attribute.

Request

POST [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/CreatePolymorphicLookupAttribute HTTP/1.1 

Accept: application/json 
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0 
OData-Version: 4.0 

{
 "OneToManyRelationships": [
   {
     "SchemaName": "new_media_new_book",
     "ReferencedEntity": "new_book",
     "ReferencingEntity": "new_media"
   },
   {
     "SchemaName": "new_media_new_video",
     "ReferencedEntity": "new_video",
     "ReferencingEntity": "new_media"
   },
   {
     "SchemaName": "new_media_new_audio",
     "ReferencedEntity": "new_audio",
     "ReferencingEntity": "new_media",
     "CascadeConfiguration": {  
        "Assign": "NoCascade",  
        "Delete": "RemoveLink",  
        "Merge": "NoCascade",  
        "Reparent": "NoCascade",  
        "Share": "NoCascade",  
        "Unshare": "NoCascade"  
     }
   }
 ],

 "Lookup": {
   "AttributeType": "Lookup",
   "AttributeTypeName": {
     "Value": "LookupType"
   },

   "Description": {
     "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.Label",
     "LocalizedLabels": [
       {
         "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
         "Label": "Media Polymorphic Lookup",
         "LanguageCode": 1033
       }
     ],

     "UserLocalizedLabel": {
       "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
       "Label": " Media Polymorphic Lookup Attribute",
       "LanguageCode": 1033
     }
   },

   "DisplayName": {
     "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.Label",
     "LocalizedLabels": [
       {
         "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
         "Label": "MediaPolymorphicLookup",
         "LanguageCode": 1033
       }
     ],

     "UserLocalizedLabel": {
       "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
       "Label": "MediaPolymorphicLookup",
       "LanguageCode": 1033
     }
   },

   "SchemaName": "new_mediaPolymporphicLookup",
   "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.ComplexLookupAttributeMetadata"
 }
}

The following JSON is the body of the response from the HTTP POST request containing the ID of the polymorphic attribute and all the relationships created.

{
    "@odata.context":
      "http://<organization URL>/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.CreatePolymorphicLookupAttributeResponse",

    "RelationshipIds":[
        "77d4c6e9-0397-eb11-a81c-000d3a6cfaba",
        "7ed4c6e9-0397-eb11-a81c-000d3a6cfaba",
        "85d4c6e9-0397-eb11-a81c-000d3a6cfaba"
    ],

    "AttributeId":"d378dd3e-42f4-4bd7-95c7-0ee546c7de40"
}

Use the multi-table lookup APIs

The following table lists the operations relevant for table and attribute definitions.

Operation
(method)		 Description URL format
Create
(POST)		 New API [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/CreatePolymorphicLookupAttribute
Retrieve attribute
(GET)		 Existing API [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/EntityDefinitions(<EntityId>)/Attributes(<AttributeId>)
Retrieve relationship
(GET)		 Existing API [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/RelationshipDefinitions(<RelationshipId>)
Add relationship
(POST)		 Adds a relationship
to an existing
polymorphic lookup
attribute		 [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/RelationshipDefinitions
Remove relationship
(DELETE)		 Existing API [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/RelationshipDefinitions(<RelationshipId>)
Remove attribute
(DELETE)		 Existing API [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/EntityDefinitions(<EntityId>)/Attributes(<AttributeId>)

The following table lists the operations relevant for table and attribute data.

Operation
(method)		 Description URL format
Create
(POST)		 See the following new_checkouts example [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/<entitysetName>
Retrieve
(GET)		 Add the following header to get annotations:

Content-Type: application/json
Prefer: odata.include-annotations="*"

 [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2
/<entitysetName>(<recordId>)

The following example request that creates a new record with two rows.

POST [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2/new_checkouts

{
  "new_name": "c1",
  new_CheckedoutItem_new_book@odata.bind: "/new_books(387a2c9b-ecc6-ea11-a81e-000d3af68bd7)"
}

{
  "new_name": "c2",
  new_CheckedoutItem_new_device@odata.bind: "/new_devices(6472e7ba-ecc6-ea11-a81e-000d3af68bd7)"
}

Create polymorphic lookup (example payload)

POST [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2/CreatePolymorphicLookupAttribute

{
  "OneToManyRelationships": [
    {
      "SchemaName": "new_checkout_poly_new_book",
      "ReferencedEntity": "new_book",
      "ReferencingEntity": "new_checkout"
    },
    {
      "SchemaName": "new_checkout_poly_new_device",
      "ReferencedEntity": "new_device",
      "ReferencingEntity": "new_checkout"
    },
    {
      "SchemaName": "new_checkout_poly_new_dvd",
      "ReferencedEntity": "new_dvd",
      "ReferencingEntity": "new_checkout",
      "CascadeConfiguration": {
        "Assign": "NoCascade",
        "Delete": "RemoveLink",
        "Merge": "NoCascade",
        "Reparent": "NoCascade",
        "Share": "NoCascade",
        "Unshare": "NoCascade"
      }
    }
  ],
  "Lookup": {
    "AttributeType": "Lookup",
    "AttributeTypeName": {
      "Value": "LookupType"
    },
    "Description": {
      "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.Label",
      "LocalizedLabels": [
        {
          "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
          "Label": "Checkouted item Polymorphic Lookup Attribute",
          "LanguageCode": 1033
        }
      ],
      "UserLocalizedLabel": {
        "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
        "Label": "Checkedout item Polymorphic Lookup Attribute",
        "LanguageCode": 1033
      }
    },
    "DisplayName": {
      "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.Label",
      "LocalizedLabels": [
        {
          "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
          "Label": "Checkedout item",
          "LanguageCode": 1033
        }
      ],
      "UserLocalizedLabel": {
        "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
        "Label": "Checkedout item",
        "LanguageCode": 1033
      }
    },
    "SchemaName": "new_CheckedoutItem",
    "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.ComplexLookupAttributeMetadata"
  }
}

Add relationship to existing polymorphic lookup (example payload)

POST [OrganizationUrl]/api/data/v9.2/RelationshipDefinitions

{
  "SchemaName": "new_checkout_poly_new_researchresource",
  "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.OneToManyRelationshipMetadata",
  "CascadeConfiguration": {
    "Assign": "NoCascade",
    "Delete": "RemoveLink",
    "Merge": "NoCascade",
    "Reparent": "NoCascade",
    "Share": "NoCascade",
    "Unshare": "NoCascade"
  },
  "ReferencedEntity": "new_researchresource",
  "ReferencingEntity": "new_checkout",
  "Lookup": {
    "AttributeType": "Lookup",
    "AttributeTypeName": { "Value": "LookupType" },
    "Description": {
      "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.Label",
      "LocalizedLabels": [
        {
          "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
          "Label": "Checkout Polymorphic Lookup Attribute",
          "LanguageCode": 1033
        }
      ],
      "UserLocalizedLabel": {
        "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
        "Label": "Checkout Polymorphic Lookup Attribute",
        "LanguageCode": 1033
      }
    },
    "DisplayName": {
      "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.Label",
      "LocalizedLabels": [
        {
          "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
          "Label": "Checkout item",
          "LanguageCode": 1033
        }
      ],
      "UserLocalizedLabel": {
        "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LocalizedLabel",
        "Label": "Checkout item",
        "LanguageCode": 1033
      }
    },
    "SchemaName": "new_CheckedoutItem",
    "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.LookupAttributeMetadata"
  }
}

See Also

Use the Web API with table definitions
Create and update table relationships
Query table definitions using the Web API
Retrieve table definitions by name or MetadataId
Model tables and columns using the Web API
Web API table schema operations sample
Web API table schema operations sample (C#)