Tuesday 24 July 2018

Lookup fields when referencing Common Data Service through Canvass Apps


Recently, after attempting to build a canvass app connected to CDS I ran into a whole host off issues when it came to lookups. Well, it seems as if there is a solution now. I don’t know if this is new functionality of I’ve somehow always missed this… but hopefully this will help some of you out when Building CDS connected Canvass Apps.

The scenario here is that I manage a bunch of vehicles, contacts and policies in CDS. The important thing to remember here is that there are lookups on pretty much each of the entities referring to the related entities. The ERD (in a very basic format) looks like this:


The issue I was having on my Canvass app was that when I wanted to create a new inspection, I wasn’t able to select the vehicle record. There were a few issues; In most cases I just got the vehicle record GUID and in some cases the lookup field just came up as blank (not sure why).

The below screen shows a “Form Screen” that is connected to the inspection entity in the CDS.

To get the lookup working, simply select the field within the form to highlight the associated properties.

Select the actual associated data card within the field to show the properties.

You will see the option to select fields within the associated entity. These fields will be the ones that are then made available to the user when interacting with the lookup.

Finally, enjoy your newly configured Lookup field J