Using addNotification to Simulate Dynamic Tooltips (Dataverse / Dynamics 365)


When working with forms in Dynamics 365 / Power Apps model-driven apps, we often customize field labels based on context, using the setLabel method. At times, we would also like to change the tool tip to go with the changed label of the field. The tooltip is defined as a Description of the field.

Below is the Topic (subject) field of the lead.

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However, we cannot set the tool tip (description) of the field dynamically in the form using the Client API. So, what do we do when the meaning of a field changes depending on another value on the form? That’s where addNotification comes in as a handy workaround.

Let us take a simple example to see how we can use it. On the Lead form, the Topic(subject) field means different things depending on the Lead Source. So here we will be changing the label of the Topic (subject) field, along with setting a different notification message.

For e.g., if Lead Source – Advertisement, we are changing the label to Campaign Name. We can also notice the bulb icon next to the field.

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Clicking on it, we can see our message –

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Similarly, on changing the Lead Source to Web, we are changing the label to Landing Page, and clicking on the icon, we can see a different message.

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Sample Code –

function updateSubjectField(executionContext) {
	
    var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext();
    var leadSourceAttr = formContext.getAttribute("leadsourcecode");
    var subjectControl = formContext.getControl("subject");
   
    subjectControl.clearNotification("subjectTooltip");

    var leadSource = leadSourceAttr ? leadSourceAttr.getValue() : null;

    if (leadSource === 1) { 
        // 1 = Advertisement
        subjectControl.setLabel("Campaign Name");
        subjectControl.addNotification({
            messages: ["Enter the name of the ad campaign"],
            notificationLevel: "RECOMMENDATION",
            uniqueId: "subjectTooltip"
        });
    }
    else if (leadSource === 2) { 
        // 2 = Referral
        subjectControl.setLabel("Referrer Notes");
        subjectControl.addNotification({
            messages: ["Mention details about the referrer"],
            notificationLevel: "RECOMMENDATION",
            uniqueId: "subjectTooltip"
        });
    }
    else if (leadSource === 8) { 
        // 3 = Web
        subjectControl.setLabel("Landing Page");
        subjectControl.addNotification({
            messages: ["Provide the landing page URL"],
            notificationLevel: "RECOMMENDATION",
            uniqueId: "subjectTooltip"
        });
    }
    else {
        // Default
        subjectControl.setLabel("Subject");
    }
}

While addNotification isn’t a perfect replacement for a native tooltip, it’s a practical workaround when we need dynamic, context-aware user guidance.

Hope it helps..

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Handling Unexpected Lookup Auto-Population in Quick Create Forms (Dynamics 365)


Recently, we had a requirement to track the Current and Previous contracts for a Contact in our Dataverse environment. To achieve this, we created two separate N:1 relationships between the Contact and Contract tables

  • custom_currentcontractid → Contact’s Current Contract
  • custom_previouscontractid → Contact’s Previous Contract

So far, so good.

Soon after, we noticed a strange issue: “When creating a Contact from a Contract record (via the Quick Create form), both Current Contract and Previous Contract fields were being automatically populated — with the same Contract record”. This was unexpected, especially since neither field was present on the Quick Create form!

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After saving and closing, when we open the record, we can see both the lookup auto-populated with the contract record in context.

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On adding these lookups in the Quick Create form, we can see that Dataverse is auto-populating it with the contract in context.

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When we open a Quick Create form from a record (in our case, from a Contract), Dataverse passes the entity reference context to the Quick Create form. And here’s the catch, If the target entity (Contact) has multiple lookups to the source entity (Contract), Dataverse tries to populate them all.

This behavior is based on relationship metadata, not on what’s visible on the form. So even though we didn’t include the Current Active Contract or Previous Contract on the Quick Create form, Dataverse filled both with the same value.

If we have the fields on the quick create form we can make use of JavaScript on the onload to clear the values.

function clearBothContractLookups(executionContext) {
    var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext();
    
    // Check if in Quick Create mode (formType = 1)
    if (formContext.ui.getFormType() === 1) { 
        var parentRecord = formContext.data.entity.getEntityReference();
        
        // If opened from a Contact, clear BOTH lookups
        if (parentRecord && parentRecord.entityType === "contact") {
            // Clear Current Contract
            if (formContext.getAttribute("new_currentcontract")) {
                formContext.getAttribute("new_currentcontract").setValue(null);
            }
            
            // Clear Previous Contract
            if (formContext.getAttribute("new_previouscontract")) {
                formContext.getAttribute("new_previouscontract").setValue(null);
            }
        }
    }
}

However, like in our case as we did not have these fields on the quick create form, and we didn’t want to have these populated during the creation of the Contract, as these fields were supposed to be populated later, we wrote a Pre-Create Plugin on Pre Operation for it.

public class ClearBothContractLookups : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
        
        if (context.InputParameters.Contains("Target") && context.InputParameters["Target"] is Entity)
        {
            Entity contact = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];
            
               // Clear BOTH fields if they exist
                if (contact.Contains("new_currentcontract"))
                    contact["new_currentcontract"] = null;
                
                if (contact.Contains("new_previouscontract"))
                    contact["new_previouscontract"] = null;

              // or remove them from the input parameters 
                  contact.Attributes.Remove("new_currentcontract");
                  contact.Attributes.Remove("new_previouscontract");

            }
        }
    }
}

Hope it helps..

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Fixed – The Default Unit is not a member of the specified Unit Group error in Dynamics 365 / Dataverse


Recently while trying to import the product records in our Dynamics 365 Sales, we got the below error – “The Default Unit is not a member of the specified Unit Group”

We were providing the correct UoM Group and Default UoM in our Excel file to be imported.

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After some troubleshooting, we realized that we had 2 units with the same name “Primary Unit”, because of which the system was not able to identify the correct unit to be used during the import.

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To fix this issue, we replaced the Name with the Guid of the record in our excel file.

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This fixed the issue for us and we were able to import the product records successfully.

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Hope it helps..

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Deleting Elastic Table Records in Dataverse Using Alternate Key in SSIS (KingswaySoft)


Had written a post on deleting the elastic table record earlier – How to Delete Elastic Table Records in Dataverse (SDK). We need to pass the partitionid value through an alternate key to delete the elastic table records. We will have the alternate key auto-created by the system when we create an elastic table. Earlier specifying an Alternate Key was not possible for the Delete action in the CDS Destination component. However, with the latest release (Version 25.1 – April 4, 2025), the Manually Specify and Alternate Key matching criteria support has been added when performing the Delete action as shown below. We also need to have the Use Homogeneous Batch Operation Message option checked, this uses DeleteMultiple request in the background.

On running the package, now we can see the elastic table records (having partitionid) getting deleted successfully.

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After the successful run (here we are deleting 40K records), we can see the records deleted.

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Hope it helps..

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Using gridContext.refreshRibbon() to Dynamically Show/Hide a Subgrid Ribbon Button – Dynamics 365 / Dataverse


In Dynamics 365 / Dataverse, sometimes we want to show or hide a ribbon button based on a form field value. But when the button is on a subgrid, it does not refresh automatically when a field changes on the form. We can handle this requirement using gridContext.refreshRibbon(). It is a small but very useful method that helps to refresh the subgrid ribbon without saving or reloading the form.

Here we are taking a simple scenario to understand the usage.

We will only show the New Case button on the Case Subgrid if the Preferred Method of Contact = Any else we will hide it.

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Below is our JavaScript function to check the field value and return true or false. This function will be used as CustomRule for our Add New button command’s EnableRule on the subgrid. This function checks if the Preferred Method of Contact is ‘Any’. If yes, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.

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We are passing CRM Parameter = PrimaryControl here.

Depending on where the button lives (Form ribbon or Subgrid ribbon), the correct context is passed.

  • On a form: PrimaryControl is the formContext.
  • On a Subgrid: PrimaryControl gives the context of the parent form hosting the subgrid.

Below we have customized the Add New Subgrid button for Case and added a new Enable Rule for its command.

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Now on the form load, the Add New button on the subgrid will be hidden on the form load event.

But when we change the value for the Preferred Method of Contact we will not see any effect on the Add New button. For it to work we need to use the refershRibbon method of the grid’s context as shown below.

We added it on the onChange event for the Preferred Method of Contact field so that when a user changes it, the subgrid ribbon refreshes.

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Now, when a user changes the Preferred Method of Contact, the subgrid ribbon will refresh and check again if the button should be visible.

As a result, now the Add New button appears on the Case subgrid when the Preferred Method of Contact is ‘Any’.

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The ribbon refreshes immediately when the field changes to Email or any other value except Any.No need to save or reload the form.

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JavaScript –

function showAddNewButtonOnCaseSubgrid(primaryControl) {
    var formContext = primaryControl;
    var preferredMethod = formContext.getAttribute("preferredcontactmethodcode");    
    var preferredMethodValue = preferredMethod.getValue();
    // Check if Preferred Method is 'Any' 
    if (preferredMethodValue === 1) {
        return true;
    }
    else {
        return false;
    }
}
function refreshCaseSubgridRibbon(executionContext) {
    var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext();
    var gridContext = formContext.getControl("Subgrid_Cases");  
    if (gridContext) {
        gridContext.refreshRibbon();  
    }
}

The helpful post – https://butenko.pro/2019/04/16/refreshing-the-ribbon-form-vs-grid/

Hope it helps..

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Using External Value property of Choice / Option Set Field for Integration – Dynamics 365 / Dataverse


When working with Choice fields (Option Sets) in Dataverse, we mostly use the label and internal numeric value. But there’s also a lesser-known property — External Value — which can be quite handy, especially in integration scenarios.

Below is the Priority column of the case table.

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We have Severe, Moderate, and Minor external values specified for High, Normal, and Low choices respectively. These external values could be how the external third-party system is tracking the priority values to which we are integrating.

The external system sends us “priority”:” high” and we map that to the internal value 1 in Dataverse.

While sending data to the external system we convert the internal value to the external code i.e. 1 to. High

Below is how we can read the external values.

     var myServiceClient = new CrmServiceClient(connectionString);     

        if (myServiceClient.IsReady)
        {
            var request = new RetrieveAttributeRequest
            {
                EntityLogicalName = "incident",
                LogicalName = "prioritycode",
                RetrieveAsIfPublished = true
            };

            var response = (RetrieveAttributeResponse)myServiceClient.Execute(request);
            var picklistMetadata = (PicklistAttributeMetadata)response.AttributeMetadata;

            foreach (var option in picklistMetadata.OptionSet.Options)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Value: {option.Value}, Label: {option.Label?.UserLocalizedLabel?.Label}, External: {option.ExternalValue}");
            }

            string ext = "Severe";
            var match = picklistMetadata.OptionSet.Options.FirstOrDefault(o => o.ExternalValue == ext);
            if (match != null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"\nExternal '{ext}' maps to Value {match.Value}");
            }

        }
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Using External values, we can decouple integrations from the internal values that we use for our choice column. By using them, we can speak the language of the external system while still maintaining proper structure and metadata within Dataverse.

Hope it helps..

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