Dynamics 365: Reference Panel
I had a conversation with one of my colleagues last week after I completed one of my customized Dynamics 365 demonstrations for a prospect. During the demo I showed the account form and something that is called “Reference Panel”. My coworker wasn’t aware of this functionality and called me after the demo to ask me about it. I figured this would be a great topic for my next article!
The reference panel has been part of Dynamics for a while, I don’t remember when exactly it made it’s debut, but I think it was around the time that the Unified Interface was introduced. What is it exactly?
A reference panels is a special type of section that allow users to view different types of information on a form without the need to scroll up or down, like we do with regular sections. We can add subgrids, quick view controls or a knowledge base search control in a reference panel. Each control that is added will have it’s own tab on the right side within the panel which users can click on to access the data. This makes the forms look cleaner, as we will be able to show those grids in one panel vs having all sorts of different subgrids below one another.
Configuration
The configuration is very similar to a regular section, but there are some differences. Lets add a reference panel to the account form. I noticed we can’t do this in the new admin center yet, so we’ll use the classic editor.
Navigate to Settings > Customizations > from here you can either click Customize the System or create a new solution and make your changes there. I would recommend creating a new solution and adding the Account entity (only the form you want to add the reference panel to) first.
Expand entities, then expand the account components by clicking on the chevron on the left side. Open the form you want to add the reference panel to. In the form, click the Insert tab on the top > Section then select the reference panel. Once the panel is added to the form it will look like a regular section,… but its not. Lets add a quick view form and some grids to the section. Unfortunately you can’t drag any existing subgrids into the reference panel, as there is some additional configuration when adding subgrids to a reference panel.
Add Primary Contact Quick View Form
To add the quickview form: Click inside the reference panel, then click on the quick view button. The quick view control properties window will open up. You will notice there is a mandatory ‘tab icon’ field on the form. This is the icon that will be used in the tabs located on the right side of the reference panel. You can create your own icon by creating a new webresouce and selecting it in this lookup field, or you can use an existing one. In the ‘Name’ section, set the name field to ‘primary’ and ‘Primary Contact’ as the label. In the ‘Data Source’ section, select ‘Primary Contact’ as the Lookup field, select ‘Contact’ as the related entity, and select the quick view form you want to show on the reference panel.
Add Subgrids
Lets add some subgrids to the reference panel: Click inside the reference panel, then click on the insert tab on the top. The ‘set properties’ window will open. This window also needs us to select a webresource we can use as the tab icon. Just like with the quickview form configuration, you can use an exiting webresouce or you can create your own. Enter a name and a label. Under the ‘Data Source’ section select ‘Only Related Records’, select ‘Opportunities(Account)’ as the entity and select a default view.
Repeat this process for any additional subgrids you want to add to the reference panel. Save and publish your changes and review what it looks like for the end user.
Things to consider
There are some things you want to consider when using reference panels:
- There can only be one reference panel per form.
- You can’t add fields to the reference panel
- Each control needs a tab icon
I hope you enjoyed this post! Be sure to check in again next week for a new topic or subscribe here to never miss another post!
Hi Dian, this is Irfan Technical Lead from Microsoft. Thanks for bringing up this informative and articles explaining in the simplest form.
Looking for more such articles for the amateur.