Is it possible to get the Entity field description into canvas app?

[sammybridge]

Hello,

Is it possible to get the Entity field description into the canvas app when using a Form?

A client is asking to be able to edit their own descriptions after the app has launched and it would be better if I could just add a label into the DataCard and give it something like, Parent.Description.

I know there is a description field in CDS but I haven't managed to reference it in any form DataCards.

Thanks

[HSheild]

Hi @sammybridge 

I don't think this is possible at the moment.   There is a DataSourceInfo function which gives you more information about a field (like max length) but it does not include description.

You could always post an Idea for the Microsoft product team to look at on the Ideas site.

[EricRegnier]

Hi @sammybridge,

You can retrieve it with another CDS Web API call on the entity "EntityDefinition". The attributes list will return a Description property with the localized labels:

      "Description": {
        "LocalizedLabels": [
          {
            "Label": "my field description!",
            "LanguageCode": 1033,
            "IsManaged": false,
            "MetadataId": "e55d3f25-a0db-45d6-8ab3-ec01619f17c3",
            "HasChanged": null
          }
        ],

Here's an example of the request:

https://<org>.api.crm6.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.1/EntityDefinitions(LogicalName='<entity name>')/Attributes

 Hope this helps!

[HSheild]

Hi @EricRegnier 

That is interesting.  How would you call the CDS web api from a Canvas app?

[EricRegnier]

Attributes entity is available out-of-the-box with the CDS connector but not Entity Definitions, which is weird (I assume it did as well!). So I guess you can fetch by Attribute first instead of EntityDefinitions or have a custom connector to get the info. I believe there's also a generic Rest and OData connector coming out which you would be able to set the desired queries.

[cchannon]

...or you could push it out to PowerAutomate where you can run the Metadata query manually.

[sammybridge]

@cchannon how do you strip out the Metadata using Automate from a CDS field?

[cchannon]

You would compose a custom HTTP Request that hits the metadata service. In order to do this, you will need an appid and secret set up in AAD that are permitted to query the DB as a non-interactive user, then you build your PA flow to use those creds and query the field description or literally anything else you want from the metadata service. MSFT documentation on querying metadata it isn't the easiest to follow (not step-by-step or anything) but all the content you need is there.

Start by getting the QS formulation right in a browser URL. Once you have built a working query, it should be pretty easy to replicate in PA HTTP request.