Entities

Entities effectively allow you to model data within the CDS database. An entity defines the information that is related to a specific type of record. For example, an account entity may have an account number, a sort code, and an account name. This data can then be used within PowerApps and Flow if we refer to the entity. Microsoft provides a number of entities at the point in which you provision your CDS database to cover many basic examples, such as contacts, emails, tasks, and so on.

Each entity is comprised of several fields, each of which has a display name, an internal name, a data type, and some basic user settings so that you can govern how each field is used. Once you have these fields, you can add relationships to them so that you can enforce one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships with other entities.

Business rules can be applied so that you can build logic and validation routines without the user having to write any code. When selecting business rules, you will be redirected to the appropriate PowerApps screen, which relies on Dynamics 365:

The final area within data is related to Option sets, which we can use within our entities.