bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/ui/factbox-design.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	ui	factbox subpagelink listpart cardpart page-part related-information flowfield-sift	al	w1	all

Filter ListPart FactBoxes With SubPageLink To The Parent Record

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Description

A FactBox is a page part that surfaces related data beside the main record so users avoid navigating away. Every FactBox runs a database query as its host page loads, so an unfiltered one is a hidden performance tax paid on every page open. The remedial trap: a ListPart FactBox with no SubPageLink does not show "the related rows" — it loads and pages through the entire source table, because nothing ties it to the host record. This makes correct SubPageLink linkage, not visual layout, the load-bearing design decision.

Best Practice

Give every ListPart FactBox a SubPageLink that maps a field on the part's source table to a field() of the host record (for example SubPageLink = "Document No." = field("No.")), so it returns only rows belonging to the current record. Prefer a CardPart when you only need summary figures (balance, availability, status) — it reads a single record and avoids list overhead entirely. When a FactBox shows FlowFields, ensure the calculated total is backed by a SIFT key (MaintainSIFTIndex) so the sum is read from the index rather than aggregated row-by-row on each load. Keep FactBox count modest and avoid heavy OnAfterGetRecord logic in the part.

Anti Pattern

Adding a ListPart FactBox without a SubPageLink, expecting it to "just show related lines." The consequence is a full-table scan on every page load that grows with the dataset and is felt worst on list pages, where the FactBox re-queries on each row selection. Reviewer signal: any part(...) referencing a list-type page part where the SubPageLink property is absent, or a FactBox FlowField filtered on non-indexed fields. A second smell is duplicating data already on the page or stacking many FactBoxes, which multiplies queries for little context gain.