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I've recently got back from talking about the Unified Client at D365UG in Dublin. It was an awesome week with lots of exciting information about PowerApps and the Common Data Model for Applications. Whilst partaking in the local hospitality (with a pint of Guinness) I was discussing the Dynamics 365 form designer with fellow MVP Leon Tribe and about how there are so many options available but with many of them being legacy and having no effect in the Unified Client. I promised to publish my 'cheat-sheet' of the options and their applicability, so here you are Leon!
Each of the properties are listed as being applicable to the Web UI Only, UCI Only, or for both.
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Availability
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Notes
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Field Properties - Official Documentation on Field Properties
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Composite Name
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Web Only
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I'm not a fan of the composite fields - so I really don't miss them. |
Composite Address
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Web Only
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Display Label on the form
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Both
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Field is read-only
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Both
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Turn off automatic resolution in field
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Web Only
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UCI doesn't auto-resolve fields when tabbing away
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Disable most recently used items for this field
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UCI Only
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See notes below |
Visible by default
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Both
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Fields can be shown/hidden using business rules/JavaScript
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Available on phone
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UCI Only
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Web UI does not render on mobile
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Default Lookup View
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Both
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Web - Default is only used in the popup dialog
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Lookup View Selector Filtering
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Both
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Lookup view always included in filtered list in UCI
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Lookup View Columns
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Both
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Web UI only shows 3 columns inline
UCI shows 2 columns until expand arrow selected
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Display Search box in Lookup dialog
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Web Only
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UCI doesn't show lookup dialog
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Inline View Search match highlighting
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UCI Only
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See notes below |
Only show records where...
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Both
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Tabs - Official Documentation on Tab Properties
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Show the label of this tab on the Form
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Web Only
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Tabs always have labels on the UCI since they are really actual tabs! |
Expand this tab by default
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Web Only
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Tabs do not collapse in the UCI |
Visible by Default
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Both
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UCI and Web both allow dynamic show/hide of tabs using JavaScript
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Tab Layout
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Both
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Tabs can have multiple columns in the UCI and Web UI |
Tab Column Width
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Both
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Tab column width can be controlled in both the UCI and Web UI |
Tab Columns
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Both
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Sections - Official Documentation on Section Properties
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Section Columns
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Both
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Multi-Columned Sections will wrap in UCI with the space available. See below.
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Available on Phone
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UCI Only |
Web UI is not rendered on the phone. |
Field Label Alignment
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Web Only
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UCI - Labels are always centred
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Field Label Position
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Web Only
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UCI - Labels will move to above the fields automatically when space is limited
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Field Label Width
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Web Only
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Field Label width is a constant in the UCI |
Show the label of this section on the Form
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Both
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Show a line at top of the section
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No effect
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V9 Web and UCI Sections have boxes around them
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Sub Grid - Official Documentation on Sub Grid Properties
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Display Search Box
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Both
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Display label on the Form
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No effect
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Panel header colour
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Web Only
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Show Chart Only
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Web Only
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Display Chart Selection
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No effect
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Display Index
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Both
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Automatically expand to use available space
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Both
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Sub-grids will expand in height until they reach the maximum records set and then start to page.
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Header/Footer
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Header Layout
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Both
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UCI will show a single row with overflow
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Footer Layout
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Both
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UCI will show on a single line with overflow
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Recently used records
The recently used records list in lookups are interesting since they are only shown in the UCI. They are especially useful for lookups like 'Regarding'.
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Search Lookup Result Highlighting
The UCI has an awesome feature of highlighting your search term in the in-line lookup control. One of the advantages of the UCI is that it works across all devices and so does not show a pop-up dialog like the Web UI does.
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Lookup Columns
In the Web UI, you can only see up to 3 columns in the in-line lookup control – where the UCI shows 2 until you click the expand arrow, where all the view columns are shown.
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Tab & Section Columns
The UCI allows full control over the columns in a section, however, unlike the Web UI it is responsive and will wrap the fields and sections underneath each other.
Let's look at an example where we have a form design as shown below:
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When resizing the UCI to various form factors, the tab will dynamically re-arrange it's self as follows:
Full width - all the columns and sections are shown as they are laid out in the form designer:
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Narrower – wrapping section columns underneath each other:
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Narrowest – wrapping sections underneath each other:
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The Web UI will simply truncate the fields. This difference is one of the most important aspects of the UCI.
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Header/Footers
The headers and footers in the UCI render very differently to the Web UI, where the fields that do not fit are added to the overflow flyout much the same as the Command Bar.
Header overflow flyout:
The fields that don't fit in the single header row are shown in the popup flyout:
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Footer Overflow flyout:
The fields that don't fit into the footer single row are shown as a popup flyout.
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Well, that's it. Overall the UCI honours most properties in the form designer where applicable and it does a great job of being responsive enough to show on both mobile and desktop form factors.