How-to: form

List, clone, and export entity main forms (systemform). See the CLI reference for every flag.

List the main forms for an entity

crm form list cwx_ticket

Output columns: name, type, formid, isdefault. Only main forms are returned — quick-create, card, and mobile-express forms are not included.

Clone a form to another entity

crm form clone cwx_ticket "Ticket Main Form" --to new_incidentlog

The source form's formxml is read from cwx_ticket, the entity reference is retargeted to new_incidentlog, the form's internal element/label ids are regenerated, and a new systemform record is created via the Web API. No solution-zip is needed. Regenerating the internal ids lets you clone the same source form repeatedly without collisions on on-premises (which — unlike Dataverse online — enforces those ids as unique); references to control types, security roles, and subgrid views are preserved.

By default the clone also runs PublishAllXml. To defer the publish (e.g. when doing multiple operations before a single publish at the end):

crm form clone cwx_ticket "Ticket Main Form" --to new_incidentlog --no-publish

Add the clone to a solution

crm form clone cwx_ticket "Ticket Main Form" --to new_incidentlog \
    --solution cwx_crmworx

Use --require-solution to fail if no solution name is resolved:

crm form clone cwx_ticket "Ticket Main Form" --to new_incidentlog \
    --require-solution

Ambiguous form names

If two main forms share the same name, the command errors rather than guessing:

Error: Ambiguous: 2 forms named 'Ticket Main Form' — cannot pick one
automatically. Matches: formid='aaa...' type=2, formid='bbb...' type=2

Use crm form list cwx_ticket to inspect the colliding formids, then rename one form in the UI before cloning.

Relationship to metadata clone-entity --with-forms

crm form clone is the standalone surface for the same form-clone logic that crm metadata clone-entity --with-forms invokes when duplicating a whole entity. Use crm form clone when you only need to push a single form to another entity without cloning the entity itself.

Export a form's formxml

crm form export cwx_ticket "Ticket Main Form"      # prints formxml to stdout
crm form export cwx_ticket "Ticket Main Form" --output ticket_main.xml

export is read-only and does not require --solution. The exported XML can be inspected directly or used as a reference when authoring customizations. --output writes the XML to the given path; omitting it prints to stdout, which is convenient for piping or quick inspection.