Dynamics 365 Business Central: What does the category (Lists, Tasks, Administration, Archive……) mean when searching from Tell Me? (Usage Category)

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Hi, Readers.
Today I would like to briefly talk about the question I saw in the Business Central forum before, what does the category (Lists, Tasks, Administration, Archive……) mean when searching from Tell Me? (Usage Category), more details: What does Archive means in Business Central when searching for General Ledger Entries?

The Business Central client includes the Tell me feature that lets users find objects by entering search terms.

When searching, whether it is a report, page or query, a category (Lists, Tasks, Administration, Archive…) is displayed on the right. What is this and how is it defined?

PS: Starting from BC23.1, you can add Query object to Tell Me.More details: Dynamics 365 Business Central: How to make a query searchable (Add Query to Tell me)

First of all, in AL, you make a page or report searchable from Tell me by setting the UsageCategory property in code.
UsageCategory property: Sets the department column for a searched page, report, or query in the web client. If the UsageCategory is set to None, or if you don’t specify UsageCategory, the page, report, or query doesn’t show up when you search in Dynamics 365 Business Central.

But its value is slightly different from what is shown on Tell me.

(property) UsageCategory: Option None,Lists,Tasks,ReportsAndAnalysis,Documents,History,Administration

The values for the UsageCategory property are listed in the table. The sub category helps the user navigate through the search results and it’s a best practice to be consistent when categorizing the pages and the reports that you add. A consistent approach helps guiding the user and improves productivity.

ValueDescription
NoneThe page or report isn’t included in search.
ListsThe page or report is listed as Lists under the Pages and Tasks category.
TasksThe page or report is listed as Tasks under the Pages and Tasks category.
ReportsAndAnalysisThe page or report is listed as Reports and Analysis under the Reports and Analysis category.
DocumentsThe page or report is listed as Documents under the Reports and Analysis category.
HistoryThe page or report is listed as Archive under the Reports and Analysis category.
AdministrationThe page or report is listed as Administration under the Pages and Tasks category.

Let’s look at some simple examples.
Lists: Page and Tasks -> Lists

Tasks: Page and Tasks -> Tasks

ReportsAndAnalysis: Reports And Analysis -> Reports And Analysis

Documents: Reports And Analysis -> Documents

History: Reports And Analysis -> Archive

Administration: Page and Tasks -> Administration

Very simple. And the UsageCategory is also used to categorize pages and reports shown in the role explorer of the client.

The role explorer includes two actions: Reports and Analysis and Administration.

Pages and reports set to ReportsAndAnalysis show when the Reports and Analysis action is selected.

Pages and reports set to Administration show when the Administration action is selected.

For example,

Great, give it a try!!!😁

PS: The AccessByPermission property and ApplicationArea Property are optional properties, which can be applied to set restrictions on an object accessibility, when you add the UsageCategory property. This was briefly mentioned when discussing the following topics.
1. What happens if users don’t have permission to read the table set in a FlowField?
2. How to make your custom features available only with the Premium license (ApplicationArea Property)

END

Hope this will help.

Thanks for reading.

ZHU

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