Can Primary ID in CDS Entity be a Text?

[Yahya]

Well, Primary ID in CDS Entity can be a Text, but is this recommended? I know that behind the sense, a record in an entity is identified via Record ID, so what is the use of Primary ID? Is it to give developer the freedom to make use of the Primary ID by - possibly - chisng a Text Data type?

This solves the problem of "dispalyed field" in a record in a PowerApp or a CDS Excel. I mean: i hate to see ACC_001 in my App because ACC_001 does not mean anything, unless you look into the drop down list and see the second display field, which means you need to check rrecords one by one if you are rearching for a specific Account from another entity. Making Primary ID a Text, i could add Name of the Account so the Look up now works, also in Excel CDS add in, it works. but is this recommended?

[v-micsh-msft]

Hi @Yahya,

Thanks for the feedback.

Sorry to say that Common data service lookup fields currently can't change the display value.

For the Primary ID, I think this field mostly would affect the data structure you are trying to work with.

Please check the following aritcle, which talks about the Best practices and restrictions when creating custom entity:

Manage custom Fields

Regards,

Michael

[Yahya]

Hi @v-micsh-msft,

Thanks for your answer. you say "Sorry to say that Common data service lookup fields currently can't change the display value", does this mean that it is on PowerApps roadmap to enable developer make the Display Value of his choice? I will wait then!

In fact, this is a must. Imagine an excel sheet reading data from multi entities via CDS add ins, and want to print, it will contain data but without meaning.

[v-micsh-msft]

Hi @Yahya,

Yes, I should be clear enough in the previous posts.

I mean the system entity lookup fields can't be modified currently.

For the custom entity, we could take use of field groups to change the lookup value displayed.

see:

Use field groups

Change the Default Lookup field group:

"Default Lookup: Used to display a lookup to select a record."

Regards,

Michael