AX / Dynamics 365 For Finance and Operations blog

When working with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO), developers often need to retrieve specific details about table fields, such as whether they are mandatory, their base data type, and their labels. This can be incredibly helpful when customizing or debugging applications, understanding table structure, or creating reports.

In this article, we’ll walk through a simple yet powerful X++ job that retrieves and displays these details for any table or view in D365FO. For demonstration purposes, we will focus on the VendTable table, but you can easily modify this code to work with other tables by substituting VendTable with the table of your choice.

The Code

Here’s a static job that retrieves the required field details:

static void Main(Args _args)
{
    DictTable           dictTable = new SysDictTable(tableNum(VendTable)); // Instantiate a DictTable object for VendTable
    FieldId             fieldId = dictTable.fieldNext(0); // Start with the first field (fieldId 0)
    DictField           dictField; // DictField to hold field-specific data

    while (fieldId) // Loop while there are fields
    {
        dictField = dictTable.fieldObject(fieldId); // Retrieve details for the current fieldId
        info(strFmt("%1-%2-%3-%4", dictField.name(), dictField.mandatory(), dictField.baseType(), dictField.label())); // Display field name, mandatory status, base type, and label
        fieldId = dictTable.fieldNext(fieldId); // Move to the next field
    }
}

How It Works

Breaking Down the Code

1. Creating a DictTable Object
   The job starts by creating a DictTable object for the desired table (in this case, VendTable). You can replace VendTable with any other table you want to examine.

DictTable dictTable = new SysDictTable(tableNum(VendTable));

Retrieving Fields
The next step is to retrieve the fields from the specified table using fieldNext(). This method returns the first field when called with a parameter of 0. Subsequently, it returns the next field on each call.

FieldId fieldId = dictTable.fieldNext(0);

Looping Through Fields
A while loop is used to iterate over all fields in the table. Within the loop, a DictField object is created for each field to access its properties.

while (fieldId)
{
    dictField = dictTable.fieldObject(fieldId);
}

Displaying Field Properties
The key properties of each field are displayed using the info() function:

• Field Name (dictField.name())
• Mandatory Status (dictField.mandatory())
• Base Data Type (dictField.baseType())
• Field Label (dictField.label())

info(strFmt("%1-%2-%3-%4", dictField.name(), dictField.mandatory(), dictField.baseType(), dictField.label()));

Moving to the Next Field
The loop retrieves the next field by calling fieldNext() again.

fieldId = dictTable.fieldNext(fieldId);

Practical Applications

1. Customization and Development

This job provides insights into table structure, helping developers understand which fields are mandatory, what data types are used, and more. Such information is critical when adding new customizations or integrating with external systems.

2. Data Integrity Checks

Knowing which fields are mandatory can help ensure data integrity during data migrations, updates, or bulk imports.

3. Reporting and Analytics

When building reports, it’s essential to know the types of data you’ll be working with and any constraints on fields, such as whether they must always contain values.

4. Debugging

When issues arise due to data constraints or type mismatches, this job can quickly provide the necessary details to troubleshoot and resolve problems.

Conclusion

This straightforward X++ job leverages the power of DictTable and DictField classes to retrieve valuable information about table fields in D365FO. By modifying the table name, you can explore the fields of any table or view, making it a versatile tool in your development toolkit. Happy coding!