Model Driven Apps

Skill: Model-Driven Apps

When to Use

Trigger when building, configuring, reviewing, or troubleshooting Model-Driven Apps — including forms, views, business rules, app modules, site maps, command bar customizations, custom pages, and generative pages.

When to Use Model-Driven Apps vs Alternatives

Key MDA strengths: Forms, views, charts, dashboards with zero custom code. Business rules on client and server. Role-based form switching, audit trail, duplicate detection, merge records. Offline mobile via Dynamics 365 mobile app.

App Module (Site Map) Structure

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App Module
├── Navigation Groups
│   ├── Group: "Operations" → Subareas (entities)
│   └── Group: "Configuration" → Settings, Users
├── Dashboards
└── Security Roles (who can access this app)

Create App Module via Web API

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POST /api/data/v9.2/appmodules
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Contoso Projects",
  "uniquename": "contoso_ProjectsApp",
  "description": "Project management app",
  "clienttype": 4,
  "isdefault": false
}

⚠️ REQUIRED: Load Sub-Files Before Implementation

SKILL.md is a summary only — it is NOT sufficient for implementation.

The detailed content (complete payloads, XML templates, working examples, edge-case handling) lives in sub-files in the same directory as this SKILL.md. Before writing any code, you MUST use read_file on the sub-files relevant to your task:

• Forms — form types, Quick View, role-based switching, lookup/choice columns, embedded Canvas Apps, form performance
• Views — view types, Quick Find, subgrids, Power Apps grid control, deprecated Editable Grid, view performance
• Sitemap — sitemap XML schema, Area/Group/SubArea structure, single Area layout (left-nav vs bottom tabs), Titles format, IntroducedVersion requirement, dashboard navigation
• Business Rules — scope options (Entity/AllForms/SpecificForm), supported actions, when NOT to use
• Command Bar — Command Designer (no-code), modern JavaScript commands, Power Fx commands, lookup parameter naming for form pre-population
• Custom Pages — Custom Pages vs embedded Canvas Apps, creating, navigating to, passing parameters
• Generative Pages (Genux) — React 17 + Fluent UI V9 single-file components, DataAPI, RuntimeTypes, PAC CLI workflow, localization, sample templates

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Model-Driven Apps (Preview)

Note: The previous "Copilot chat" feature in MDA is deprecated (January 2026) for non-Dynamics 365 environments. Use M365 Copilot instead.

M365 Copilot requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Provides AI-assisted record summarization, data exploration. Works within the MDA shell for D365 and custom MDA apps.

Deprecated & Removed Controls

Naming Conventions

ALM for Model-Driven Apps

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All MDA configuration lives in solutions:
  - App module (site map), Forms, views, charts, Business rules
  - Command bar customizations, Security role assignments

Export / unpack: pac solution export → pac solution unpack --processCanvasApps true
Forms and views unpack to readable XML — review diffs carefully
Business rules unpack to XAML — treat as opaque, don't edit manually

Anti-Patterns

• Using Editable Grid in new development (deprecated March 2026 — use Power Apps grid control)
• Using hierarchy control (removed October 2025)
• Relying on Copilot chat feature in non-D365 environments (deprecated January 2026)
• Building Model-Driven Apps outside of solutions ("My Apps")
• Using JavaScript where a Business Rule suffices (harder to maintain)
• Business rules with scope "Entity" for UI-only logic (wastes server cycles)
• More than 7 tabs on a form (unusable cognitive load)
• Subgrids loading all records without default views (performance)
• Advanced Find views in production dashboards (personal views break sharing)
• Mixing managed and unmanaged customizations in the same environment
• Hardcoded GUIDs in JavaScript form scripts
• Not setting a Quick Find view (renders lookup search unusable or slow)

Related Skills

• web-resources — JavaScript form scripts and ribbon customizations
• canvas-apps — Embedded Canvas Apps in Model-Driven forms
• dataverse — Underlying table, form, and view design
• security — Security roles that control form and field visibility