Unlocking the Secrets of D365 F&O: System Table Browser

Here it is – the System Table Browser! What is it and why should you care? Read on!

Now, let’s be clear, if you’ve been specialised in D365 F&O for more than ~12 months, you already know this (I would hope), but bizarrely, this powerful feature is tucked away in the documentation, so seems to rely on word-of-mouth for people to learn about it.

This post will talk about how to access the System Table Browser, and what benefits it can bring your work.

How do I get to it?

Our first lesson…

(Thanks Boromir.)

You need to know what you’re doing in a browser address bar. Look at the address bar of your D365 instance – it will look something like this:

https://xxxdevaos.cloudax.eu.dynamics.com/?cmp=gbsi&mi=CustTableListPage

Note the section that I’ve highlighted – this is called the URL query string, the start of which is denoted by the question mark. After that you can see two variables; one is ‘cmp’ (company) with the value “gbsi” and the other is ‘mi’ (menu item) with the value “CustTableListPage”, i.e. we’re looking at Customers form in the GBSI legal entity.

This query string is what we’re going to edit. We’re going for something like this:

https://xxxdevaos.cloudax.eu.dynamics.com/?cmp=gbsi&mi=SysTableBrowser&TableName=CustTable

This will bring up the System Table Browser for Customers in GBSI, exactly as per the screenshot at the start of this post. Note that the name of the table is normally a derivative of the name of the form, rather than the form name.

There must be an easier way?

OK, full confession, there is an easier way! It does help to know the manual route in, just in case you’re on another laptop or login profile – or work for an organisation that blocks browser extensions – but there is a fantastic tool called “Table Browser Caller for D365 F&O“, which can be added to Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.

Once added, you can see the same editable components of the URL query string, with the benefit of a GUI, like this:

Why do I need to know about it anyway?

There are a number of benefits and use cases for the System Table Browser. Let’s make a list, in no particular order:

• Provides insight to a table schema, e.g. allows you to identify fields and values that may not be immediately obvious if you’re trying to add a field while personalising a form or grid view

• Allows you to view and edit all table data (with correct permissions) directly in the table (depending on the environment tier, e.g. this isn’t possible in production)

• Same interface as the rest of D365 F&O, with the same inherited security permissions

• Facilitates quick access to data for troubleshooting or debugging

• Validating data, e.g. comparing expected vs actual after a migration load

• Export the entire contents of the table to review in Excel, making it much quicker that DMFThe D365 F&O Data Management Framework simplifies data migration, setup, and integration through data projects and entities. for single entities

• Set up custom alerts that can’t be produced via the standard menu item