Item Attributes in Business Central

Item Attributes in Business Central

I’ve never talked about this feature of Business Central (and NAV 2017) that I find interesting and that can be useful. It can be used to store and manage some information related to articles in a simple way; it is not a product configurator but can be useful and can be enhanced with some small customizations.

Some Benefits

  • You can add additional details to items (ex: E-commerce attributes)
  • You can define many types of attributes fields
  • You can manage also multi language for attributes
  • You can block an old attribute and values (like in Dimensions)
  • In addition, you can use attributes in Sales Orders… or where you need, with a little and simple customizations.

Item Attributes – Tables

#1 – Let’s now look at some functional examples:

  • Open Item Attributes

  • Define a new attribute (ex: SIZE Attribute, Type=OPTION)

Note: If you select Option in the Type field, then you can choose the Item Attribute Values action to create values for the item attribute.

  • Define ATTRIBUTE VALUES and TRANSLATIONS

  • We can assign Item Attributes Values

Ex: Dimensions (Values) for “Size” Item Attribute

  • We can also define a “translation” for each value

At “the end”…. we can find the “New Item Attribute” SIZE ready to use in Attribute List Page.

Item Attributes, where I can find them on Item Card?

In Items List Page and in Item Card Page you can open “Attributes” to select attributes and assign values for them.

Ex: Attributes from Item Card

NOTE:

  • Blocked Attributes and blocked Attribute Values are hidden in the dropdown list.

Filtering by Attributes

You can filter objects by Attributes Ex: Filtering on Item List Page

#2 – Attributes for Item Categories

We can also define attributes for the “Item Categories” will be applied to the item while creating new Items.

Note: By Default, Item attributes for parent categories will be inherited to child categories, you can change\override them as you want.

#3 – Item Attributes utilization example: Item Attributes on Sales Order (from Advanced View)

Selecting items in a Sales Order Line, you can apply the Item Attributes filter using “Advanced View”

Item Attributes (on Microsoft Docs)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-nav-app/inventory-how-work-item-attributes

6 thoughts on “Item Attributes in Business Central

  • 20 May 2019 at 3:02 PM
    Permalink

    Hello, this is a nice feature, but is it possible to report on item Attributes in Power BI? Are the item attributes populated in the datasets available from Business Central in Power BI?

    Reply
    • 27 May 2019 at 3:40 PM
      Permalink

      hi, not possible to date.

      Workaround
      you can create a new Query on AL based on table “Attribute Value Mapping” and publish as Web Services.

      A query like this:
      query 50121 “Item Attribute Value Mapping”
      {
      //version v.1.0 RS
      elements
      {
      dataitem(Item;Item)
      {
      column(No_;”No.”)
      {
      }
      column(Description;Description)
      {
      }
      dataitem(Item_Attribute_Value_Mapping;”Item Attribute Value Mapping”)
      {
      DataItemLink = “No.”= Item.”No.”;
      column(Table_ID; “Table ID”)
      {
      }
      column(No;”No.”)
      {
      }
      column(Item_Attribute_ID;”Item Attribute ID”)
      {
      }
      column(Item_Attribute_Value_ID;”Item Attribute Value ID”)
      {
      }
      dataitem(QueryElement6;”Item Attribute”)
      {
      DataItemLink = ID=Item_Attribute_Value_Mapping.”Item Attribute ID”;
      column(Name;Name)
      {
      }
      column(Type;Type)
      {
      }
      column(Unit_of_Measure;”Unit of Measure”)
      {
      }
      dataitem(QueryElement10;”Item Attribute Value”)
      {
      DataItemLink = “Attribute ID”=Item_Attribute_Value_Mapping.”Item Attribute ID”,
      ID=Item_Attribute_Value_Mapping.”Item Attribute Value ID”;
      column(Value;Value)
      {
      }
      column(Numeric_Value;”Numeric Value”)
      {
      }
      column(Date_Value;”Date Value”)
      {
      }
      column(Blocked;Blocked)
      {
      }
      }
      }
      }
      }
      }
      }

      Reply
    • 17 April 2020 at 1:00 AM
      Permalink

      Yes, it’s possible.

      You just need to make a relation between tables

      27 – 7505 – 7501

      Between 27 and 7505 you need to use Item ID field.

      Between 7505 and 7501 you will need and aux column, linkin together “Attribute ID” + any character or number + “ID”.

      Hope it helps!

      Reply
  • 3 March 2020 at 9:39 PM
    Permalink

    Buona sera, vorrei sapere se era possibile estendere gli attributi non solo agli articoli ma anche ai clienti e fornitori.
    Se si è una modifica complicata?

    Reply
    • 4 March 2020 at 9:31 AM
      Permalink

      Si è possibile farlo, qualche partner l’ha già fatto, non è molto oneroso da implementare.
      Microsoft per ora non lo implementa, è pero presente nelle “Ideas” e quindi penso che lo faranno.

      Reply
  • 1 August 2021 at 8:24 AM
    Permalink

    Is it possible to add a checkbox field to select multiple items attributes? For example I want to select the color white and black.

    Currently, Item Attribute functionality in BC doesn’t support multi select. Is this possible? I’ve created page extension for page 7510 but its not working.

    Reply

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