Designing a simple table

Our primary master data table will be the Radio Show table. This table lists our inventory of shows that are available to be scheduled.

First, create a new file in Visual Studio Code. Click on File | New and Visual Studio Code will create a new file and open the code editor window.

Each master table has a standard field for the primary key (a Code data type field of 20 characters called No.) and has standard information regarding the entity the master record represents (for example, Name, Address, and City for the Customer table, and Description, Base Unit of Measure, and Unit Cost for the Item table).

The Radio Show table will have the following field definitions (we may add more later on):

Field names	Definitions
No.	20-character text (code)
Radio Show Type	10-character text (code)
Name	50-character text
Run Time	Duration
Host No.	20-character text (code)
Host Name	50-character text
Average Listeners	Decimal
Audience Share	Decimal
Advertising Revenue	Decimal
Royalty Cost	Decimal

 

In the preceding list, three of the fields are defined as Code fields, which are text fields that limit the alphanumeric characters to uppercase values. Code fields are used throughout Business Central for primary key values. Code fields are used to reference or be referenced by other tables (foreign keys). No. will be the unique identifier in our table. We will utilize a set of standard internal Business Central functions to assign a user-defined No. series range that will auto-increment the value on table insertion and possibly allow for user entry (as long as it is unique in the table) based on a setup value. The Host No. references the standard Resource table, and the Radio Show Type field will reference a custom table that we will create to allow for flexible Type values.

We will have to design and define the reference properties at the field level in the table designer, as well as compile them, before the validation will work. At this point, let's just get started with these field definitions and create the foundation for the Radio Show table.