FieldGroups, originally a concept from Dynamics NAV, has undergone a migration to VS Code and AL. With the latest release of Business Central in 2023 Wave 2, it receives yet another revitalization.
When drop-down controls point to a source data in a different table, the system will display the fields in the FieldGroup.
Past
FieldGroups are defined at the table level, similar to keys(indexes).
Example: In a sales order, on sales line, if the type of the like is Item, the field “No.” is a drop-down field and if we click on it we get a list of fields defined in the FieldGroup:
Because we want to check the FieldGroups on Item table, In Dynamics NAV we would design the table, and in the menu, View, choose Field Groups:
The two field groups for Item table are displayed:
That proves that indeed the DropDown menu, characteristic to RTC and web client displays the fields No., Description, Base Unit Of Measure and Unit Price fields.
The field group Brick is used by Dynamics NAV mobile app or BC mobile app.
Present
With the transition to AL from C/AL and BC from NAV things did not change that much.
Yes, we have now a way to create a fieldgroup for our new tables.
Yes, we can add custom field(s) in a base table and include that/those field(s) in the fieldgroup, if the table has already fieldgroups defined in base.
What’s next
With Business Central 2023 Wave 2 we can now add fieldgroups into a base table that does not come with field groups. E.g. See my video to see how you can add a field group with your custom fields and base fields for table 286 Territory.
Moreover, different extensions can extend/create a base app fieldgroup, and the system will display all fields added to the fields group from both apps.
More details in the official New and Planned for Business Central 2023 wave 2.
For step by step examples, for Dynamics NAV and Business Central, check my YouTube video:
