dv-metadata

Skill: Metadata — Making Changes

Before the first metadata change in a session:

1. Confirm the target environment with the user — see the Multi-Environment Rule in dv-overview.
2. Confirm the solution — ask "What solution should these components go into?" If SOLUTION_NAME is in .env, confirm it. If no solution exists yet, you MUST ask the user for the solution name and publisher prefix before creating anything. The publisher prefix is permanent — it cannot be changed after components are created with it.

STOP and ask the user:

"What solution name and publisher prefix should I use? The prefix (e.g., contoso, lit, soc) is permanent on every table and column."

Then query existing publishers and show them — the user may want to reuse one:

# Publisher discovery + solution creation — use SDK (never raw Web API).
# See dv-solution for the full publisher discovery flow.
publishers = client.records.list("publisher",
    filter="customizationprefix ne 'none' and uniquename ne 'MicrosoftCorporation'"

After user confirms, create using SDK:

Never create tables or columns outside a solution.

3. Pass solution="<UniqueName>" in every SDK call, or include "MSCRM.SolutionName": "<UniqueName>" on every raw Web API call.

Skill boundaries

How Changes Are Made: Environment-First

Do not write solution XML by hand to create new tables, columns, forms, or views.

The environment validates metadata far more reliably than an agent editing XML. The correct workflow is:

1. Make the change in the environment via the Dataverse MetadataService API (or pac commands where available)
2. Pull the change into the repo via pac solution export + pac solution unpack
3. Commit the result

The exported XML is generated by Dataverse itself and is always valid. Hand-written XML is fragile — a single incorrect attribute or missing element causes an import failure with an opaque error.

The only time you write files directly is when editing something that already exists in the repo (e.g., tweaking an existing view's columns or modifying a form layout you've already pulled).

CLI schema inspection: dataverse data describe --table account --include all --json (uses LogicalName). API discovery: dataverse api list --target dataverse.

Creating a Table

If creating multiple tables for a data import, also see these sections later in this skill:

• Idempotent Table Creation — check-first pattern for re-runnable scripts
• Alternate Keys — required for upsert; create immediately after each table
• Metadata Propagation Delays and Lock Contention — phased creation to avoid lock errors

Prefer the SDK for table creation — use raw Web API only when you need full control over OwnershipType, HasActivities, or other advanced properties the SDK doesn't expose.

SDK approach (use this by default):

Web API fallback (ONLY when you need OwnershipType, HasActivities, or other properties the SDK doesn't expose):

Column Naming: Avoid *Id Suffix Collisions

Never name a regular column with an Id suffix (e.g., prefix_CountryId). Dataverse auto-generates a navigation property with the Id suffix when you create a lookup — if a regular column with that name exists, lookup creation fails with a schema name collision.

• WRONG: prefix_DepartmentId (int) — collides with auto-generated lookup
• RIGHT: prefix_SrcDepartmentId or prefix_DepartmentSourceId

Adding Columns

SDK approach (preferred):

Supported type strings: "string" / "text", "int" / "integer", "decimal" / "money", "float" / "double", "datetime" / "date", "bool" / "boolean", "file", and Enum subclasses (for local option sets).

Choice (picklist) column via SDK:

Web API approach (needed for column types the SDK doesn't support — e.g., currency with precision, memo with custom max length):

Lookup Columns and Relationships

SDK approach — simple lookup (preferred):

SDK approach — full control over 1:N relationship:

SDK approach — many-to-many relationship:

Web API approach (fallback when SDK patterns don't suffice):

After creating a lookup — the @odata.bind navigation property:

When you create records that set this lookup, you need the navigation property name for @odata.bind. The navigation property name is case-sensitive and must match the entity's $metadata (usually the SchemaName of the lookup field, e.g., new_AccountId):

Common mistake: Using the logical name (lowercase) like new_accountid@odata.bind returns a 400 error. Navigation property names are case-sensitive and must match the entity's $metadata.

Adding a Table to a Solution

After creating a table via API, add it to your solution so it gets pulled on export:

Component type 1 = Entity (Table). See dv-solution for the full type code list.

Or via Web API:

Forms and Views

systemform (forms) and savedquery (views) are ordinary entities — create/read/modify them with the SDK's record CRUD (no urllib). Only publishing (PublishXml, an unbound action) needs dataverse api request.

Quick reference:

• Create form: client.records.create("systemform", {...formxml..., "type": 2}) (2=Main, 7=Quick Create, 6=Quick View, 11=Card).
• Modify form: records.list("systemform", filter=...) for a template → mutate formxml → records.update("systemform", id, {...}) → publish.
• Publish: dataverse api request POST PublishXml — required for changes to take effect.
• Create view: client.records.create("savedquery", {...fetchxml..., ...layoutxml...}) (0=standard, 1=advanced find, 2=associated, 4=quick find).

Full code, the template recipe, the classid table, and publish: references/forms-and-views.md.

Key invariants:

• All id attributes in form XML must be unique GUIDs (str(uuid.uuid4()).upper()).
• Do not use python -c for GUID generation on Windows — write a .py file.
• Forms must be published after every create or modify, otherwise changes are invisible to users.

Business Rules

Create business rules in the Power Apps maker portal. They are too complex to write reliably as JSON/XAML. After creation, export+unpack the solution and commit the result.

Publisher Prefix

All custom schema names must use your solution's publisher prefix (e.g., new_, contoso_). Find yours:

Or check solutions/<SOLUTION_NAME>/Other/Solution.xml after the first pull — look for <CustomizationPrefix>.

FormXml Pitfalls

• All id attributes must be valid GUIDs in {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx} format. Do not use strings like "general".
• labelid is also a GUID — not a human-readable string.
• Subgrid controls require a valid <ViewId> — must be the GUID of an existing SavedQuery. Create the view first.
• Cell, section, tab, and control IDs must all be unique across the entire form.
• Control classid values — see the classid table above.

Tip: Create forms in the maker portal and pull via pac solution export — use the pulled XML as a template for programmatic creation.

After Creating Columns: Report Logical Names

After creating columns (via Web API or MCP), always report the actual logical names to the user. Column names may be normalized or prefixed in ways the user doesn't expect. Summarize in a table:

This prevents downstream failures when the user tries to insert data using incorrect column names.

Common Web API Error Codes

Always translate error codes to plain English before presenting them to the user.

Metadata Propagation Delays and Lock Contention

After creating tables / columns / alternate keys, Dataverse runs internal metadata operations (index build, cache propagation) for 3–30 seconds. Submitting another metadata operation while these run causes lock-contention errors.

Mitigation — phased creation, not interleaved. Create ALL tables → wait 15–30s → create ALL alternate keys → wait 15–30s → create ALL lookups. Do NOT interleave operations on the same table.

Symptoms (any of these means propagation isn't done):

• Picklist column creation fails with 0x80040216
• Lookup @odata.bind fails with "Invalid property"
• update_table (MCP) fails with "EntityId not found in MetadataCache"
• Lookup or alternate-key creation fails with "another customization operation is running"

For the retry_metadata helper that catches transient lock errors and the full phased-creation sequence, see references/metadata-propagation.md.

Inspect Existing Schema

Before changing a model, inspect what already exists. These read-only calls return raw metadata dictionaries (PascalCase property names) and are safe to run anytime.

Assumes client from the auth setup shown earlier in this skill (from auth import get_client).

For SQL-queryable column discovery (virtual/computed columns excluded), dv-query also has client.query.sql_columns(table).

Session Closing: Pull to Repo

After every metadata session, perform the pull-to-repo sequence — see dv-overview "After Any Change: Pull to Repo" for the full export/unpack/commit commands.

If you used the MSCRM.SolutionName header during creation, verify components were added before exporting:

Idempotent Table Creation

When creating tables programmatically (e.g., a schema setup script that may be re-run), use a check-first pattern — query client.tables.get() before creating. This is explicit, avoids masking unrelated errors, and lets you branch logic based on whether the table was created or reused:

Alternate Keys (Required for Upsert)

UpsertMultiple requires an alternate key on the column(s) Dataverse should use to identify existing records. Always create alternate keys on source-system ID columns (prefix_Src*Id) at schema-setup time so every import is idempotent.

Quick reference:

• SDK call: client.tables.create_alternate_key(table, key_name, [columns], display_name=...). Composite keys: pass multiple columns.
• Use a check-first pattern with client.tables.get_alternate_keys(table) to skip keys that already exist — see references/alternate-keys.md for the ensure_alternate_key helper.
• Index creation is async — for large tables, poll client.tables.get_alternate_keys(table) until status == "Active" before using.
• Constraints: max 16 columns / 900 bytes / 10 keys per table; valid types are Integer / Decimal / String / DateTime / Lookup / OptionSet.

For SDK code samples (single + composite + idempotent + status-check), the agent decision rules for which column to pick (DB source vs Excel/CSV), and the failure-handling notes, see references/alternate-keys.md.

EntityDefinitions Filter Limitation

startswith() is NOT supported as a filter on EntityDefinitions. This query will return a 400 error:

To retrieve metadata for multiple custom tables, query each table individually:

Or query all and filter client-side:

MCP Table Creation Notes

When using MCP create_table or update_table:

• Column types. MCP handles most types (text, numeric, boolean, datetime, choice/multiselect, lookup/customer, file/image); global option sets, N:N, alternate keys, forms, views need SDK/Web API.
• Timeouts / cache delays. Creation may report a timeout or stale cache; always describe('tables/{name}') before retrying or a follow-up update_table (if the table exists, skip creation).
• Self-referential lookups (Parent → same table) are added via update_table after creation.