List of undocumented SDK messages

August 2, 2017August 2, 2017 pawelgradecki2 Comments

I believe that very often, searching for a clue if something can be done in Dynamics 365, you can stumble upon some Message that is not documented in Microsoft Dynamics 365 SDK, but works perfectly fine (like for example ExportToExcel message). I decided to prepare a list of all those messages, together with input and output parameters that they are using. Of course, I will not provide you the documentation – you must experiment with them by yourself. For most of them it’s really clear from their name, what functionality they provide. Remember that all these messages are not in official SDK – they are used internally by CRM, but I would think twice before I would decide to use them in some project (because of their internal nature, they can become obsolete in future releases of CRM without any notice from Microsoft, not like the messages from the offical SDK, but personally I think such scenario is highly unlikely), but some of them look like a great candidates for usage in tools or some helper code for developers. Also if you will find something really useful, please don’t hesitate to post crm idea to add such message into official SDK.

How you can call this messages? It’s simply executing OrganizationRequest with proper parameters from the below table. Look at the following example:

	public void DoRequest(IOrganizationService service)
	{
	var request = new OrganizationRequest("ResolveEmailAddress");
	request.Parameters["EmailAddresses"] = "test@test.com";
	request.Parameters["ObjectTypeCodes"] = new int[] { 1, 2 };

	var response = service.Execute(request);
	if (response.Results.Contains("Entities"))
	{
	var result = (EntityCollection)response.Results["Entities"];
	//go nuts with the result
	}
	}

view raw

DoRequest.cs

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Basically Input Parameters should be inserted in Parameters collection of the OrganizationRequest, and Output Parameters can be obtained from Results collection of the OrganizationResponse.

Here is the promised list of all Messages. Remember that this is to be used only by experienced Dynamics 365 Developers. If you are not sure what are you doing – don’t do it. And don’t test this messages on any important environments – I would suggest to create some local instance for yourself as a playground.

Having said that – have fun!

Request name	Parameters
AddDynamicProperty	Input: RegardingObject: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference DynamicProperty: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output: Id: System.Guid DynamicPropertyId: System.Guid
AddEditAppModule	Input: AppModuleComponents: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection AppModule: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity IsNew: System.Boolean RetainAppModuleComponents: System.Boolean Output: AppModuleComponentIds: System.Guid[]
AddMembersByFetchXmlList	Input: ListId: System.Guid FetchXml: System.String Output:
AddOrEditLocation	Input: LocationName: System.String AbsUrl: System.String RegardingObjectId: System.String RelativePath: System.String RegardingObjType: System.Int32 ParentType: System.Int32 ParentId: System.String IsAddOrEditMode: System.Boolean IsCreateFolder: System.Boolean DocumentId: System.String Output: LocationId: System.String
ApplyProfileRule	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output:
AssignAllRecordsTeam	Input: OldOwnerId: System.Guid OldOwnerType: System.Int32 NewOwnerId: System.Guid NewOwnerType: System.Int32 Output:
AssociateKnowledgeArticle	Input: RegardingObjectId: System.Guid RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 AssociationRelationshipName: System.String KnowledgeArticleId: System.Guid Output:
AuthenticateAndFetchACIData	Input: EntityName: System.String EntityRecordId: System.Guid ACIRequestURI: System.String Output: ACIResponse: System.String
BestTimeToEmail	Input: EntityReferenceCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReferenceCollection Output: PreferredTime: System.DateTime
BuildTopicModel	Input: TopicModelId: System.Guid Output:
BulkDeleteImportedRecords	Input: TargetEntityName: System.String ImportSequenceNumber: System.Int32 ImportId: System.Guid DeleteImportHistory: System.Boolean JobName: System.String SendEmailNotification: System.Boolean ToRecipients: System.String CCRecipients: System.String RecurrencePattern: System.String SourceImportId: System.Guid Output: JobId: System.Guid
BulkOperationStatusClose	Input: BulkOperationId: System.Guid FailureCount: System.Int32 SuccessCount: System.Int32 StatusReason: System.Int32 ErrorCode: System.Int32 Output:
CalculateTriggerDateTime	Input: CalendarId: System.Guid StartTime: System.DateTime TriggerDuration: System.Int32 Output: result: System.DateTime
CanCloseOpportunity	Input: OpportunityId: System.Guid QuoteId: System.Guid NewStatus: System.Int32 Output: CanClose: System.Boolean
CanUserSendEmail	Input: Output: HasPrivileges: System.Boolean
CheckClientCompatibility	Input: CrmClientVersion: System.String Output: Result: System.Int32
CheckInDocument	Input: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity CheckInComments: System.String RetainCheckout: System.Boolean Output:
CheckInSharePointDocument	Input: DocumentId: System.String CheckInComments: System.String RetainCheckout: System.Boolean SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String Output:
CheckNotifications	Input: Events: System.Int32[] LastChecked: System.DateTime Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
CheckoutDocument	Input: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
CheckoutSharePointDocument	Input: DocumentId: System.String SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String Output:
CheckRouterCompatibility	Input: CrmRouterVersion: System.String Output: Result: System.Int32
CleanUpBulkOperation	Input: BulkOperationId: System.Guid BulkOperationSource: System.Int32 Output:
CloneProductAssociation	Input: Source: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output:
CloseOpportunity	Input: OpportunityId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Status: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue ActualRevenue: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Money CompetitorId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference CloseDate: System.DateTime Description: System.String Output:
ConfigureReportingDataConnector	Input: DataProviderType: System.Int32 Output:
ConvertActivity	Input: ActivityId: System.Guid ActivityEntityName: System.String TargetEntity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity TargetEntityName: System.String CreateCampaignResponse: System.Boolean Output: RecordId: System.Guid
ConvertCampaignResponse	Input: CampaignResponse: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference EntityName: System.String CreateOpportunityForExistingCustomer: System.Boolean Customer: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Currency: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Owner: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: EntityReference: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference
CopySharePointDocuments	Input: DestinationLocation: System.String AbsoluteUrls: System.String[] RelativeUrls: System.String[] Source: System.String Output: Status: System.String
CreateAndAssociate	Input: RegardingObjectId: System.Guid RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 AssociationRelationshipName: System.String Article: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
CreateDocumentLibraries	Input: DocumentLibraryNames: System.String Url: System.String Output: DocumentLibraryResult: System.String
CreateEmailReplyDraft	Input: MessageId: System.String ReplyText: System.String Output: MailWebLink: System.String
CreateFolderAndNewDocuments	Input: FolderName: System.String FileNameList: System.String[] RegardingObjectType: System.Int32 RegardingObjectId: System.String LocationType: System.Int32 ParentLocationId: System.String Output: LocationId: System.Guid
CreateFolder	Input: FolderName: System.String RegardingObjectType: System.Int32 RegardingObjectId: System.String DocumentType: System.Int32 ParentLocationId: System.String SiteType: System.Int32 ValidateFolder: System.Boolean Output: LocationId: System.Guid
CreateFromTemplate	Input: WizardXml: System.String IsOrgReport: System.Boolean Output: id: System.Guid
CreateOrUpdateImportMapFromApp	Input: MapXml: System.String ColMappingIdsToDelete: System.Guid[] Output: ImportMapId: System.Guid
CreateOutlookSubscriptionSubscriptionClients	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output: id: System.Guid
CreatePostRelationships	Input: EntityLogicalName: System.String Output:
CreateProducts	Input: Entities: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection ParentEntity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
CreateRecommendationModelVersion	Input: RecommendationModelId: System.Guid Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output: id: System.Guid
CreateSchedule	Input: ReportId: System.Guid ScheduleXml: System.String ParameterXml: System.String ScheduledReportName: System.String Output: id: System.Guid
CreateSharePointDocumentLibraries	Input: DocumentLibraryNames: System.String[] Url: System.String Output: Status: System.String[]
CreateSharePointFolderAndUploadDocuments	Input: FolderName: System.String Path: System.String DocumentLibrary: System.String SiteUrl: System.String IsNoteBookFolder: System.Boolean FileName: System.String[] DocumentContents: System.String[] Output: FileEditUrls: System.String[]
CreateSharePointFolder	Input: FolderName: System.String Path: System.String DocumentLibrary: System.String SiteUrl: System.String IsNoteBookFolder: System.Boolean Output:
CreateSubscriptionSyncInfo	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
CreateWithMappingImportMap	Input: ImportMap: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity ColumnMappings: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection PickListMappings: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection LookUpMappings: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection OwnerMappings: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection TransformationMappings: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection TransformationParameterMappings: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection Output: Id: System.Guid
DebugCacheGetContents	Input: CacheName: System.String Output: CacheItems: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.CacheItem[]
DebugCacheGetSize	Input: CacheName: System.String OutputFormat: System.String IncludeLogs: System.Boolean Output: CacheSizeDetails: System.String
DebugFlushCache	Input: CacheName: System.String Output:
DebugGenerateFault	Input: FaultType: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.FaultType Output:
DebugRetrievePipelinePerformanceResult	Input: WebRequestId: System.Guid Output: PerformanceResult: System.String
DebugTraceBufferGetContents	Input: Output: TraceBuffer: System.String[] TraceBufferSizeSetting: System.Int32
DeleteDocument	Input: Entities: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection Output:
DeleteRecommendationModel	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: IsModelDeletedInAzure: System.Boolean
DeleteRecommendationModelVersion	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: IsBuildIdDeletedInAzure: System.Boolean
DeleteSharePointDocument	Input: DocumentIds: System.String[] SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String Output:
DisassociateKnowledgeArticle	Input: RegardingObjectId: System.Guid RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 AssociationRelationshipName: System.String KnowledgeArticleId: System.Guid Output:
DiscardDocumentCheckout	Input: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
DiscardSharePointDocumentCheckout	Input: DocumentId: System.String SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String Output:
EditDocumentProperties	Input: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
EditSharePointDocumentProperties	Input: DocumentId: System.String FullName: System.String Title: System.String SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String Output:
EnableNewFormsForAllUsers	Input: Output:
ExecuteDataPerformanceAction	Input: QueryingUnitId: System.Guid ActionName: System.String Output:
ExecuteQuickFind	Input: SearchText: System.String EntityGroupName: System.String EntityNames: System.String[] Output: Result: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.QuickFindResultCollection
ExpandWorkflows	Input: ExpansionTaskId: System.Guid Output:
ExportDynamicToExcel	Input: View: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference FetchXml: System.String LayoutXml: System.String ExportType: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.ExportDynamicToExcelType PostData: System.String IsRefresh: System.Boolean QueryApi: System.String QueryParameters: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.InputArgumentCollection Output: ExcelFile: System.Byte[]
ExportFullSolution	Input: SolutionName: System.String Output: ExportSolutionFile: System.Byte[]
ExportLinearMappingsImportMap	Input: ImportMapId: System.Guid Output: MappingsXml: System.String
ExportTemplateToExcelOnline	Input: Template: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference FetchXml: System.String QueryApi: System.String QueryParameters: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.InputArgumentCollection Output: EditLink: System.String
ExportTemplateToExcel	Input: EntityLocalizedDisplayName: System.String LayoutXml: System.String FetchXml: System.String Output: ExcelFile: System.Byte[]
ExportTemplateToWord	Input: EntityTypeCode: System.Int32 SelectedEntities: System.String Output: WordFile: System.Byte[]
ExportToExcelOnline	Input: View: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference FetchXml: System.String LayoutXml: System.String QueryApi: System.String QueryParameters: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.InputArgumentCollection Output: EditLink: System.String
ExportToExcel	Input: View: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference FetchXml: System.String LayoutXml: System.String QueryApi: System.String QueryParameters: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.InputArgumentCollection Output: ExcelFile: System.Byte[]
ExportWordDocument	Input: EntityTypeCode: System.Int32 SelectedTemplate: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference SelectedRecords: System.String Output: WordFile: System.Byte[]
FetchSiteUrl	Input: DocumentId: System.String RegardingObjectId: System.String RegardingObjType: System.Int32 Output: SiteAndLocationUrl: System.String
FireNotificationEvent	Input: EventType: System.Int32 EventData: System.String Output:
FlushMetadataCache	Input: Output:
FollowEmailAttachment	Input: ActivityMimeAttachmentId: System.Guid Output: Response: System.String
FollowInYammer	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
GenerateNumber	Input: PrefixName: System.String CurrentNumberName: System.String AddSuffix: System.Boolean Output: GeneratedNumber: System.String
GenerateSnapshot	Input: ReportId: System.Guid Output:
GetActualDate	Input: Date: System.String Output: Result: System.String
GetAssociatedDocuments	Input: AssociatedDocumentsRequestParams: System.String Output: BusinessEntityCollection: System.Object
GetAzureServiceConnectionIdByType	Input: ConnectionType: System.Int32 Output: ConnectionId: System.Guid
GetCommitmentSubjects	Input: ActivityIds: System.Guid[] Output: Subjects: System.String[]
GetComponents	Input: CustomizationFile: System.Byte[] Output: GetComponents: System.String
GetCurrentServerDateTimeInUtc	Input: EntityName: System.String EntityId: System.String Output: ServerDateTime: System.String
GetDataForTopicWordCloud	Input: Filter: System.String Output: Topics: System.String
GetDefaultDocumentLibrary	Input: SiteUrl: System.String Output: DefaultDocumentLibrary: System.String
GetEmailLinkTrackingUrls	Input: TrackingId: System.Guid ConversationTrackingId: System.Guid ClientType: System.String EmailLinkUrls: System.String[] Output: EmailLinkTrackingUrls: System.String[]
GetEmailTrackingPixelUrl	Input: TrackingId: System.Guid ConversationTrackingId: System.Guid ClientType: System.String Output: EmailTrackingPixelUrl: System.String
GetEntitiesForAzureML	Input: Filter: System.String Output: Result: System.String
GetEntityWiseDuplicatesCount	Input: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output: DuplicatesCount: System.Int32[] EntityLogicalNames: System.String[]
GetFieldListForAzureML	Input: EntityName: System.String Filter: System.String Output: Result: System.String
GetMailMergeTargetEntityType	Input: CampaignActivityId: System.Guid Output: EntityType: System.Int32
GetOutlookSyncDataSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid EntityName: System.String SyncAction: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.SyncAction BatchSize: System.Int32 ColumnSetXml: System.String Output: SyncDataXml: System.String
GetRecommendationModelId	Input: Output: id: System.Guid
GetRecommendationModelVersionOverLimit	Input: RecommendationModelId: System.Guid Output: BusinessEntity: System.Object
GetRecommendations	Input: VersionId: System.Guid ItemIds: System.Guid[] NumberOfResults: System.Int32 Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
GetRelationshipsForAzureML	Input: EntityName: System.String Filter: System.String Output: Result: System.String
GetReportParameters	Input: ReportId: System.Guid Output: ParametersXml: System.String
GetRIProvisioningStatus	Input: Output: ProvisioningStatus: System.String
GetRITenantEndpointUrl	Input: Output: TenantEndpointUrl: System.String
GetSimilarRecords	Input: Id: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
GetSyncDataSubscription	Input: SubscriptionId: System.Guid EntityName: System.String SyncAction: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.SyncAction BatchSize: System.Int32 ColumnSetXml: System.String Output: SyncDataXml: System.String
GetTrackingServiceBaseUrl	Input: Output: TrackingServiceBaseUrl: System.String
GetUnprocessedRecords	Input: EntityName: System.String Columns: System.String[] RuleId: System.Guid PageSize: System.Int32 Output: UnprocessedRecords: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection VersionNumbers: System.String[]
GetValidStatusTransition	Input: IncidentId: System.String ToStateCode: System.Int32 Output: Result: System.Int32
ImportLinearMappingsImportMap	Input: MappingsXml: System.String ReplaceIds: System.Boolean Output: ImportMapId: System.Guid
IntersectRecordsWithQueueAndAggregate	Input: QueueId: System.Guid ViewId: System.Guid VisualizationId: System.Guid InteractionCentricFilterXml: System.String Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
InviteUser	Input: UserId: System.Guid Output: InvitationToken: System.String
IsPartnerSolutionInstalled	Input: SolutionName: System.String Output: IsPartnerSolutionInstalled: System.Boolean
IsPrimaryClientSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid Output: isPrimaryClient: System.Boolean
IsReportingDataConnectorInstalled	Input: DataProviderType: System.Int32 Output: IsReportingDataConnectorInstalled: System.Boolean
IsServerWorkgroup	Input: Output: IsWorkgroup: System.Boolean
IsSupportUserRole	Input: RoleId: System.Guid Output: SupportUserRole: System.Boolean
IsSystemAdministratorRole	Input: RoleId: System.Guid Output: SystemAdministratorRole: System.Boolean
ListSnapshots	Input: ReportId: System.Guid Output: HistoryIds: System.String[] CreatedDates: System.DateTime[]
LogExternalResultsClicked	Input: Source: System.String Output:
LogFailureBulkOperation	Input: BulkOperationId: System.Guid RegardingObjectId: System.Guid RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 ErrorCode: System.Int32 Message: System.String AdditionalInfo: System.String Output:
LogSuccessBulkOperation	Input: BulkOperationId: System.Guid RegardingObjectId: System.Guid RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 CreatedObjectId: System.Guid CreatedObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 AdditionalInfo: System.String Output:
MigrateToS2S	Input: SiteUrl: System.String EnableOneDrive: System.Boolean Output:
MobileOfflineDeprovision	Input: Output:
MobileOfflineProvision	Input: Output:
MyExecuteCampaignActivity	Input: CampaignActivityId: System.Guid Propagate: System.Boolean ActivityXml: System.String TemplateId: System.Guid OwnershipOptions: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.PropagationOwnershipOptions PostWorkflowEvent: System.Boolean Owner: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference SendEmail: System.Boolean QueueId: System.Guid Output: BulkOperationId: System.Guid
NavigateToNextEntity	Input: CurrentEntityId: System.Guid CurrentEntityLogicalName: System.String NextEntityId: System.Guid NextEntityLogicalName: System.String NewActiveStageId: System.Guid NewTraversedPath: System.String ProcessId: System.Guid ProcessInstanceId: System.Guid Output:
NewDocument	Input: FileName: System.String RegardingObjectId: System.String RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.String LocationId: System.String Output: EditLink: System.String
OverrideDynamicProperties	Input: RegardingObject: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference DynamicPropertyCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection Output:
OverrideDynamicProperty	Input: RegardingObject: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference DynamicProperty: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: Id: System.Guid DynamicPropertyId: System.Guid
OverwriteDynamicProperty	Input: RegardingObject: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference DynamicProperty: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: Id: System.Guid DynamicPropertyId: System.Guid
PopulateCard	Input: UserId: System.Guid Output: Data: System.String
PopulateRecommendationCacheForRecord	Input: ParentRecord: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: ShowAzureRecommendations: System.Boolean
PopulateRecommendationCache	Input: EntityName: System.String ItemId: System.Guid Output: ShowAzureRecommendations: System.Boolean
PostOutlookSyncSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid EntityName: System.String SyncAction: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.SyncAction BatchSize: System.Int32 Output:
PostSyncSubscription	Input: SubscriptionId: System.Guid EntityName: System.String SyncAction: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.SyncAction BatchSize: System.Int32 Output:
PrepareOutlookSyncSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid Type: System.Int32 Output: SyncInfoXml: System.String
PrepareSyncSubscription	Input: SubscriptionId: System.Guid Type: System.Int32 Output: SyncInfoXml: System.String
ProcessOneMemberBulkOperation	Input: BulkOperationId: System.Guid Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity BulkOperationSource: System.Int32 Output: ProcessResult: System.Int32
ProcessReplicationBacklog	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output:
PromoteToAdmin	Input: UserId: System.Guid Output:
PublishAppModule	Input: AppModuleId: System.Guid Output:
PublishExternal	Input: ReportId: System.Guid Output:
PublishKnowledgeArticle	Input: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity CopyRelatedProductFromAssociatedPrimary: System.Boolean CopyRelatedCategoryFromAssociatedPrimary: System.Boolean PublishApprovedRelatedTranslations: System.Boolean Output: IsPublish: System.Boolean
PublishResourceGroups	Input: Output:
RegisterSolution	Input: PluginAssembly: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Steps: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.SdkMessageProcessingStepRegistration[] Output: PluginAssemblyId: System.Guid
RemoveClientFromSubscriptionSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid Output:
RemoveDynamicProperty	Input: RegardingObject: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference DynamicProperty: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output:
RemoveMembersByFetchXmlList	Input: ListId: System.Guid FetchXml: System.String KeepReturned: System.Boolean Output:
RenameFolderNameForOneDrive	Input: FolderName: System.String Output:
RenameFolderName	Input: SiteUrl: System.String FolderPath: System.String NewFolderName: System.String Output:
RenderTemplateFromView	Input: Template: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference View: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: ExcelFile: System.Byte[]
RenderTemplate	Input: Template: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference FetchXml: System.String QueryApi: System.String QueryParameters: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.InputArgumentCollection Output: ExcelFile: System.Byte[]
ResetPerformanceReport	Input: Output:
ResetSyncStateSubscription	Input: SubscriptionId: System.Guid ResetSyncInfo: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.ResetSyncStateInfo[] Output:
ResolveEmailAddress	Input: EmailAddresses: System.String ObjectTypeCodes: System.Int32[] Output: Entities: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
ResolveIncident	Input: IncidentId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Status: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue BillableTime: System.Int32 Resolution: System.String Remarks: System.String Output:
ResolveQuote	Input: Subject: System.String Status: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue QuoteId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Description: System.String CloseDate: System.DateTime Output:
RetrieveAADAccessToken	Input: ClientId: System.String ServerId: System.String Tenant: System.String Output: AccessToken: System.String
RetrieveAttributeList	Input: RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 Output: Result: System.String
RetrieveBusinessRulesForForm	Input: EntityTypeCode: System.Int32 FormId: System.Guid BusinessProcessId: System.Guid IncludeDraftRules: System.Boolean DetailGridTypeCollectionString: System.String IsHomePage: System.Boolean IsAssociatedGrid: System.Boolean Output: BusinessRulesScript: System.String
RetrieveCardData	Input: CardTypeId: System.Guid AdditionalParameter: System.String Output: Data: System.String
RetrieveClientSubscriptionSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid ColumnSet: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.ColumnSet Output: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity
RetrieveCollation	Input: Output: Result: System.String
RetrieveCustomersNotPlacedOrders	Input: Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveDashboardForms	Input: SystemUserId: System.Guid AppModuleId: System.Guid Output: SystemForms: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReferenceCollection
RetrieveDefaultStatusForState	Input: EntityName: System.String State: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue Output: Status: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue
RetrieveDocumentsFromAllLocationsAndShared	Input: Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase AllSitesAndLocations: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String PageToken: System.String SharedDocuments: System.Boolean Output: BusinessEntityCollection: System.Object
RetrieveDocumentTemplates	Input: EntityTypeCode: System.Int32 DocumentType: System.Int32 Output: DocumentTemplateEntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntitiesForAggregateQuery	Input: OuterQuery: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase SubQueries: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.QueryByEntityNameDictionary Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntitiesToFilter	Input: CampaignActivityId: System.Guid EntityName: System.String Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntitiesToMailMerge	Input: CampaignActivityId: System.Guid Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase EntityName: System.String Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntitiesToSync	Input: ClientId: System.Guid EntityName: System.String SyncAction: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.SyncAction BatchSize: System.Int32 ColumnSetXml: System.String Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntitlementsForCase	Input: CustomerId: System.String PrimaryContactId: System.String ProductId: System.String Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntityDynamicPropertyDefinitions	Input: RegardingObject: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference ForDraftRegarding: System.Boolean Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveEntityGroupConfiguration	Input: EntityGroupName: System.String Output: EntityGroupConfiguration: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.QuickFindConfigurationCollection
RetrieveEntityXml	Input: EntityName: System.String Output: EntityXml: System.String
RetrieveExternalRequiredComponents	Input: ComponentId: System.Guid ComponentType: System.Int32 IncludeSubcomponents: System.Boolean SolutionUniqueName: System.String Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveExternalRoots	Input: ComponentId: System.Guid ComponentType: System.Int32 Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveFilteredProcesses	Input: EntityLogicalName: System.String Output: Processes: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveImportJobProgress	Input: ImportJobId: System.Guid Output: Progress: System.String
RetrieveItemIdsForRecord	Input: ParentRecord: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: ItemIds: System.Guid[]
RetrieveKeyPhrasesForKnowledgeSearch	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: KeyPhrases: System.String[]
RetrieveKeyPhrasesForSimilaritySearch	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: KeyPhrases: System.String[]
RetrieveLanguagesAvailableForProvisioning	Input: Output: LanguagesAvailableForProvisioning: System.Int32[]
RetrieveMetadataChangesForRichClient	Input: LastTimestamp: System.Int64 LastSyncTime: System.DateTime LastUserLanguage: System.Int32 MetadataVersion: System.String Output: SyncType: System.Byte NewTimestamp: System.Int64 NewSyncTime: System.DateTime NewUserLanguage: System.Int32 NewCalculatedTimestamp: System.String AddedOrUpdatedLocalizedLabelMetadata: System.Byte[] AddedOrUpdatedOtherMetadata: System.Byte[] DeletedMetadata: System.Byte[]
RetrieveMetadataForRichClient	Input: Output: Metadata: System.Byte[]
RetrieveMultipleSystemFormsWithAllLabels	Input: Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RetrieveOfficeGroupsSetting	Input: SettingType: System.Int32 Output: Setting: System.String
RetrieveOptionalFeatureStatus	Input: Name: System.String Output: IsEnabled: System.Boolean InstallationStatus: System.Int32
RetrievePerformanceReport	Input: DumpStrategy: System.Int32 FilterByOrganization: System.Boolean FilterByTestName: System.String Output: ReportXml: System.String
RetrievePersonalSite	Input: SiteUrl: System.String Output: PersonalSiteUrl: System.String MainSiteUrl: System.String
RetrievePersonalSiteUrl	Input: Output: PersonalSiteUrl: System.String
RetrievePrivilegeMaxDepthFromTeamRoles	Input: UserId: System.Guid Output: RolePrivileges: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.RolePrivilege[]
RetrieveProcessActiveStage	Input: EntityId: System.Guid EntityLogicalName: System.String ProcessId: System.Guid ProcessInstanceId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity
RetrieveProcessControlData	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference ProcessId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference ProcessInstanceId: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity GlobalNavigationData: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity
RetrieveProcessWithFallback	Input: EntityLogicalName: System.String Process: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference AppModuleId: System.Guid Output: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity
RetrievePublishedAppModuleWithLocale	Input: LcId: System.Int32 Output: AppModuleCollection: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.AppModuleCollection
RetrieveRecommendationLineItemMetadata	Input: ParentEntityName: System.String Output: RecommendationLineItemMetadata: System.String
RetrieveRecommendationLineItemProducts	Input: ParentEntityName: System.String ParentEntityId: System.Guid Output: RecommendationLineItemProducts: System.String
RetrieveRecommendationsCount	Input: ParentRecord: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference PriceLevelId: System.Guid Output: RecommendationsCount: System.Int32
RetrieveReferenceSiteMap	Input: Output: Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity
RetrieveReportSqlFromQuery	Input: FetchXml: System.String UseStoredProcedures: System.Boolean RetrieveAllColumns: System.Boolean Output: ReportSql: System.String
RetrieveSharePointData	Input: Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String PageToken: System.String Output: BusinessEntityCollection: System.Object
RetrieveSharePointGlobalSettings	Input: Output: SharePointGlobalSetting: System.String
RetrieveTenantInfo	Input: Output: TenantInfo: System.String
RetrieveTrendingDocuments	Input: Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase SharePointSiteUrl: System.String Output: BusinessEntityCollection: System.Object
RetrieveUserDefaultCurrency	Input: Output: Currency: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference
RetrieveValidSLA	Input: RecordTypeName: System.String RecordId: System.Guid Output: BusinessEntity: System.Object
RetrieveWallByView	Input: View: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference PagingCookie: System.String PageNumber: System.Int32 PageSize: System.Int32 CommentsPerPost: System.Int32 Source: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
RollupForActivityWall	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Query: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query.QueryBase RollupType: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.RollupType Output: EntityCollection: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityCollection
SaveEntityGroupConfiguration	Input: EntityGroupName: System.String EntityGroupConfiguration: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.QuickFindConfigurationCollection Output:
ScheduleBuildTopicModel	Input: TopicModelId: System.Guid ScheduleBuildStartTime: System.DateTime ScheduleBuildRecurrence: System.String Output:
SearchDocument	Input: RegardingObjectType: System.Int32 RegardingObjectId: System.String DocumentId: System.String Output: SearchLocation: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String
SearchSharePointDocument	Input: SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String GetSharedDocumentsKeyword: System.Boolean Output: SearchLocation: System.String
SetActionCardState	Input: ActionCardId: System.Guid ActionState: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue MessageId: System.String Output:
SetDevErrors	Input: UserId: System.Guid OrganizationId: System.Guid Value: System.Boolean Output:
SetOptionalFeatureStatus	Input: Name: System.String NewStatus: System.Boolean Output:
SetPrimaryClientSubscriptionClients	Input: ClientId: System.Guid Output:
SetStateAzureServiceConnection	Input: EntityMoniker: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference State: System.Int32 Status: System.Int32 CascadeModelState: System.Boolean Output:
SetWordTemplate	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference SelectedTemplate: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output:
ShouldDisplaySLALimitNotification	Input: RegardingObjectTypeCode: System.Int32 Output: Result: System.Boolean
SnoozeActionCard	Input: ActionCardId: System.Guid Output:
StartRIProvisioning	Input: HubName: System.String PrimaryKey: System.String Output:
StatusUpdateBulkOperation	Input: BulkOperationId: System.Guid FailureCount: System.Int32 SuccessCount: System.Int32 Output:
TestAzureServiceConnection	Input: AzureServiceConnectionId: System.Guid Output:
TestTopicModel	Input: TopicModelId: System.Guid ConfigurationUsedId: System.Guid MaxTopics: System.Int32 Output:
ToggleGuidedHelp	Input: Value: System.Boolean Output:
ToggleGuidedHelp	Input: Value: System.Boolean Output:
TrackEmail	Input: ExchangeItemId: System.String Regarding: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference Output:
UnfollowEmailAttachment	Input: ActivityMimeAttachmentId: System.Guid Output:
UnregisterSolution	Input: PluginAssemblyId: System.Guid Output:
UpdateDelveActionStatus	Input: MessageId: System.String ActionState: System.Int32 RecordId: System.String Output:
UpdateDocumentManagementSettings	Input: SiteCollection: System.String FolderStructureEntity: System.Int32 EntityDocMgmtXml: System.String ValidateStatus: System.Int32 ValidateStatusReason: System.Int32 Output:
UpdateFromTemplate	Input: ReportId: System.Guid WizardXml: System.String IsOrgReport: System.Boolean Output:
UpdateGlobalSharePointSettings	Input: SharePointRealm: System.String IsSharePointOnline: System.Boolean UseAuthorizationServer: System.Boolean Output:
UpdateRITenantInfo	Input: HubName: System.String PrimaryKey: System.String Output:
UpdateSchedule	Input: ReportId: System.Guid ScheduleXml: System.String ParameterXml: System.String ScheduledReportName: System.String Output:
UpdateYammerProperties	Input: BusinessEntity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity Output:
UpgradeToS2S	Input: Output:
UploadDocument	Input: Content: System.Byte[] Entity: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity OverwriteExisting: System.Boolean Output:
UploadSharePointDocument	Input: DocumentContent: System.String FileName: System.String OverwriteExisting: System.Boolean SiteUrl: System.String DocumentLocation: System.String ReferencedEntity: System.String Output: EditLink: System.String
ValidateAppModule	Input: AppModuleId: System.Guid Output: AppModuleValidation: Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages.AppModuleValidationResponse
ValidateOfficeGraphAuthentication	Input: Output: ValidationResult: System.String
ValidateSharePointFolder	Input: FolderUrls: System.String[] SiteUrls: System.String[] Output: ValidationStatus: System.Boolean[]
ValidateSharePointSite	Input: SiteUrls: System.String[] Output: ValidationStatus: System.Boolean[] ValidationLog: System.String
ValidateUrl	Input: SharePointUrls: System.String Output: UrlValidationResult: System.String
VerifyProcessStateData	Input: Target: Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference ProcessState: System.String Output: IsValid: System.Boolean

Query Builder Error when exporting solution in Dynamics 365

July 17, 2017October 3, 2017 pawelgradecki7 Comments

Solutions in Dynamics 365 are very useful and there is no doubt about that. One of the latest features is possibility to add single fields, views or forms to the solution, not the whole entity with all its dependencies. That allows us to better control what is transferred and deployed on out staging and production environments. Few times I came across the problem, which is caused clearly by this granularity of solutions:

Query Builder Error

The specified field does not exist in Microsoft Dynamics 365

Fortunately this error was in on-premise environment, so I was able to check the tracing logs and the problem has become clear:

“attribute with id=’86e616c0-64fc-413c-9957-470272c3f198′ does not exist”

So, apparently, someone has removed some attribute from the system, but somehow it was orphaned in our solution and is causing the export to fail (no doubt – we are trying to export the solution, so system is getting all the metadata, for all the Solution Components and cannot find one of the component). This is very unfortunate, because we cannot see this missing object in the solution view, it’s only in database in SolutionComponentBase table. In on-premise environment, it’s not a problem – we simply check the id in traces and then go to our database and do:

SELECT FROM SolutionComponentBase where ObjectId = ‘guid of missing component’

This will get us the failing components from all our solutions. We can remove them on DB level (sic!) but if you are afraid that this is not supported (which it is, but really cannot break anything) you can do it using SDK.

But what if we have online instance without access to the database? We can request Microsoft Support for the traces and then we will know which attribute is failing. But if we are in a hurry, we would have to loop through all Solution Components is our solution, check if it exists in the system and remove it from the solution. I believe that in 99% of cases, the missing component would be an attribute, so here is the code that would help you to get rid of this error:

	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
	var solutionUniqueName = "SOLUTIONNAME";
	var orgService = new CrmServiceClient(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["CRM"].ConnectionString);
	var solutionComponentQuery = new QueryExpression("solutioncomponent");
	solutionComponentQuery.Distinct = true;
	solutionComponentQuery.ColumnSet.AddColumns("objectid", "componenttype", "solutioncomponentid");
	var solutioncomponentSolutionLink = solutionComponentQuery.AddLink("solution", "solutionid", "solutionid");
	solutioncomponentSolutionLink.EntityAlias = "aa";
	solutioncomponentSolutionLink.LinkCriteria.AddCondition("uniquename", ConditionOperator.Equal, solutionUniqueName);

	var results = orgService.RetrieveMultiple(solutionComponentQuery);
	foreach (var item in results.Entities)
	{
	if(item.GetAttributeValue<OptionSetValue>("componenttype").Value == 2)
	{
	var attributeRequest = new RetrieveAttributeRequest
	{
	MetadataId = item.GetAttributeValue<Guid>("objectid")
	};

	try
	{
	var result = (RetrieveAttributeResponse)orgService.Execute(attributeRequest);
	Console.WriteLine(result.AttributeMetadata.LogicalName);
	}
	catch
	{
	//attribute is missing, remove it from solution
	Console.WriteLine($"Attribute {attributeRequest.MetadataId} is missing. Removing from the solution.");
	var removeSolutionComponent = new RemoveSolutionComponentRequest()
	{
	ComponentId = item.GetAttributeValue<Guid>("objectid"),
	ComponentType = item.GetAttributeValue<OptionSetValue>("componenttype").Value,
	SolutionUniqueName = solutionUniqueName
	};

	orgService.Execute(removeSolutionComponent);
	}
	}
	}
	}

view raw

SolutionExportFixer.cs

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It simply iterates through all attributes in the solution and tries to retrieve metadata for each one of them. If it fails, it simply removes this component from the solution. That should be enough for most of the cases, but if there will be any other component types missing, you will have to modify the code to check for those missing components (which I described in one of my previous posts). I have prepared a very simple program, that iterates through all of the solution components and tries to retrieve every single type – and if it fails it just removes it from the solution. Feel free to use it for any means necessary:

https://github.com/pawelgradecki/SolutionExportFixer

Dynamics 365 – Create SharePoint folders without GUID

July 4, 2017 pawelgradeckiLeave a comment

If you have ever come across the problem that Dynamics CRM out-of-the-box documents integration creates SharePoint folders with GUID appended to the record name, you probably wonder if this can be disabled in a supported way. The answer is – yes it can, but you cannot do it using CRM Web Interface. Instead, it can be achieved by using the tool OrgDBOrgSettings which is available alongside all other Dynamics 365 related downloads. Firstly, go to the:

https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=55117

Scroll down and choose CRM2016-Tools-KBXXXXXXX-ENU-amd64.exe. After downloading the tool, extract it to some folder and open Microsoft.Crm.SE.OrgDBOrgSettingsTool.exe.config file. Inside you will have to provide some authentication details – most likely you are not connecting to CRM 4.0, so you can skip OrgDBOrgSettingsTool_CrmService_CrmService, but you should fill:

OrgDBOrgSettingsTool_CrmDiscoveryService_CrmDiscoveryService – your discovery service endpoint, for CRM Online it would be for example https://disco.crm4.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc
OrgDBOrgSettingsTool_SKU – possible values are Online/Office365/SPLA/OnPrem
OrgDBOrgSettingsTool_UserName – username, for CRM Online it will be something like user@contoso.com
OrgDBOrgSettingsTool_OrgServiceUri – address of organization service, for example: https://orgname.api.crm4.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc

After you filled in all this information, you can simply run the tool the following way:

 Microsoft.Crm.SE.OrgDBOrgSettingsTool.exe Retrieve [/u] <OrgName>

Which (after providing the password) will give you all the settings for the orgname (/u specifies if this is unique name of the organization or friendly name), so for example:

Microsoft.Crm.SE.OrgDBOrgSettingsTool.exe Retrieve /u orgname

If you want to update some setting you can run:

Microsoft.Crm.SE.OrgDBOrgSettingsTool.exe Update [/u] <OrgName> <SettingName> <Value>

All the settings, with allowed values, are listed here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2691237/orgdborgsettings-tool-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm

I advise every admin/customizer to look through this options, as some of them can completely change the behaviour of CRM.

Back to our initial problem – if we would like to disable appending the GUID after the name of the record, we just have to run:

Microsoft.Crm.SE.OrgDBOrgSettingsTool.exe Update /u onedynamics  CreateSPFoldersUsingNameandGuid False

And now all the folders created by Dynamics 365 in SharePoint will not have this ugly GUID after the name of the record (of course you should remember not to have duplicated names for your entity records, otherwise you are asking for trouble).

Making use of transactions in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement

May 11, 2017July 21, 2017 pawelgradecki4 Comments

I believe that if you have ever written a CRM plugin, you are aware of the event execution pipeline (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg327941.aspx) and that the operation is run in transaction which means that if there will be any exception, the whole transaction will be rolled back. Pre-operation plugins and Post-Operation plugins are also run in transaction, so if there will be an exception raised by the plugin, changes will not be reflected in CRM. This includes not only chaning attributes for the entity that the plugin is running on – create/update/delete changes on any other entities are also rolled back. This is really convenient – we can perform a bunch of operations and we are sure that even if anything goes wrong during Post-Operation, everything will be changed back to the original state.

The usage of transactions can be embraced even more by using custom Actions and ExecuteTransactionRequest. Custom Actions can also be run with a rollback option (which can be enabled or disabled on Action configuration page). ExecuteTransactionRequest allows to group different OrganizationRequests and send them in bulk to the server – they will be run in single transaction.

Ok, but how this transactional behaviour works in real world? To make it easier to understand for you I created a custom entity “new_lock” and prepared a very simple CRM plugin:

public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
    var factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
    var service = factory.CreateOrganizationService(null);
    var @lock = new Entity("new_lock");
    @lock.Id = new Guid("590424F1-611F-E711-80D2-00155D010402");
    @lock["new_name"] = "lockme";
    service.Update(@lock);
    Thread.Sleep(30 * 1000);
}

I registered this plugin on Create message of the Contact entity. As you can see it simply retrieves the “new_lock” record and updates its name to some different value and then waits 30 seconds. Let’s open this record in a browser:

Now, let’s create a Contact (using a different browser window). After clicking “Save” you will notice that the loader starts but the data is not getting saved. That’s ok because our plugin is running in the background and it takes about 30 seconds to finish. If you try to save the opened “new_lock” record with some different name, you will notice that… you can’t do this:

This is the principal idea of transactions – by creating a Contact we opened a transaction and “locked” the “new_lock” record by updating it. Before the transaction is finished nothing can write to this record. After 30 seconds, our contact is created and the “new_lock” is updated with the new value. Is this a value from the plugin or from what we have entered on the form? Well it’s the second option, because we updated the value after the transaction has done it (it does not matter that it waited 30 seconds after that).

How can we make use of that transactional behaviour of CRM? I believe that a very cool feature that we can develop is proper auto-numbering. It’s pretty well known problem which is usually handled by some custom counter entity. The algorithm usually works like that:

Run plugin on create of numbered entity
Retrieve Counter
Assign current value of counter to entity record
Update counter with the next value
Plugin ends

If you don’t have many users or some custom apps creating entities, you will probably never run into any concurrency problems. But imagine what will happen if you have two concurrent calls and both retrieved value of the counter before point 3 was fulfiled. This means that both records will have the same number and counter will be increased only by 1. Some may say – ok let’s use standard locking, we can have a static object to lock on and before plugin starts it’s core logic, the running thread must obtain the lock. That would work flawlessly on single-frontend-server environments. But what happens if there are more application servers for CRM? You cannot synchronize threads between different servers…

Knowing what we already know about transactions, we can easily modify this scenario to:

Run plugin on create of numbered entity
Retrieve Counter
Update some dummy counter property to some dummy value (here we will lock the counter for usage only for this transaction)
Retrieve Counter (now we are sure nobody will modify its value)
Assign current value of counter to entity record
Update counter with the next value
Plugin ends (and any concurrent operations start from point 3)

This should work even on multi-server environments, because the transactions are locked on database level. Very simplified code (so pardon the style) can look like this:

public class TransactionPlugin : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
        var factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
        var service = factory.CreateOrganizationService(null);

        var counter = GetCounter(service);
        counter["new_name"] = "lockme";
        service.Update(counter);

        //now counter is locked

        //we have to get it again to prevent race conditions
        counter = GetCounter(service);

        var target = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];
        target["new_number"] = counter["new_nextnumber"];

        counter["new_nextnumber"] = (int)counter["new_nextnumber"] + 1;
        service.Update(counter);
        //after finishing the transaction, concurrent executes can go on from the lock
    }

    private Entity GetCounter(IOrganizationService service)
    {
        //return some counter
    }
}

UPDATE 21.07.2017

I prepared more detailed code for autonumbering plugin, which I have successfully used in my projects. The plugin works on Pre-Create of Account.

	namespace TransactionPlugin
	{
	public class Autonumber : IPlugin
	{
	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var pluginContext = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
	var factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
	var service = factory.CreateOrganizationService(null);

	var target = pluginContext.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity;

	var qExpression = new QueryExpression("new_lock");
	qExpression.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("new_name");
	qExpression.Criteria.AddCondition("new_name", ConditionOperator.Equal, "Counter");
	var results = service.RetrieveMultiple(qExpression);
	var counter = results.Entities.First();
	var blocker = new Entity("new_lock");
	blocker.Id = counter.Id;
	blocker["new_name"] = "Counter";
	service.Update(blocker); //NOW WE LOCK ALL TRANSACTIONS

	var lockedCounter = service.Retrieve("new_lock", blocker.Id, new ColumnSet("new_lastnumber"));

	var currentNumber = lockedCounter.GetAttributeValue<int>("new_lastnumber");

	target["accountnumber"] = $"{++currentNumber}";

	var counterUpdater = new Entity("new_lock");
	counterUpdater.Id = counter.Id;
	counterUpdater["new_lastnumber"] = currentNumber;
	service.Update(counterUpdater);
	}
	}
	}

view raw

Autonumber.cs

hosted with ❤ by GitHub

As you can see I’m retrieving my “new_lock” entity by its name using QueryExpression and after locking it with Update, I’m retrieving it again using Retrieve message. It is very important, because the following code will not work correctly:

	namespace TransactionPlugin
	{
	public class Autonumber : IPlugin
	{
	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var pluginContext = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
	var factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
	var service = factory.CreateOrganizationService(null);

	var target = pluginContext.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity;

	var qExpression = new QueryExpression("new_lock");
	qExpression.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("new_name", "new_lastnumber");
	qExpression.Criteria.AddCondition("new_name", ConditionOperator.Equal, "Counter");
	var results = service.RetrieveMultiple(qExpression);
	var counter = results.Entities.First();
	var blocker = new Entity("new_lock");
	blocker.Id = counter.Id;
	blocker["new_name"] = "Counter";
	service.Update(blocker);

	var qExpression2 = new QueryExpression("new_lock");
	qExpression2.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("new_lastnumber");
	qExpression2.Criteria.AddCondition("new_name", ConditionOperator.Equal, "Counter");
	var lockedResults = service.RetrieveMultiple(qExpression2);
	var lockedCounter = results.Entities.First();

	var currentNumber = lockedCounter.GetAttributeValue<int>("new_lastnumber");

	target["accountnumber"] = $"{++currentNumber}";

	var counterUpdater = new Entity("new_lock");
	counterUpdater.Id = counter.Id;
	counterUpdater["new_lastnumber"] = currentNumber;
	service.Update(counterUpdater);
	}
	}
	}

view raw

AutonumberingWrong.cs

hosted with ❤ by GitHub

If you try to run that, you will discover that you have a lot of duplicates. The reason is that the second RetrieveMultiple gets exactly the same value as the first one, so if we already obtained counter and some other thread will modify its value – this change will be not reflected. This is very important, so make sure you are not falling for this trap – for me this feature is quite surprising, QueryExpression results seem to be cached somehow in plugin context. What is even more interesting the following version will work flawlessly:

	namespace TransactionPlugin
	{
	public class Autonumber : IPlugin
	{
	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var pluginContext = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
	var factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
	var service = factory.CreateOrganizationService(null);

	var target = pluginContext.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity;

	var qExpression = new QueryExpression("new_lock");
	qExpression.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("new_name", "new_lastnumber");
	qExpression.Criteria.AddCondition("new_name", ConditionOperator.Equal, "Counter");
	var results = service.RetrieveMultiple(qExpression);
	var counter = results.Entities.First();
	var blocker = new Entity("new_lock");
	blocker.Id = counter.Id;
	blocker["new_name"] = "Counter";
	service.Update(blocker);

	var qExpression2 = new QueryExpression("new_lock");
	qExpression2.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("new_lastnumber");
	qExpression2.Criteria.AddCondition("new_name", ConditionOperator.Equal, "Counter");

	var rmRequest = new RetrieveMultipleRequest();
	rmRequest.Query = qExpression2;
	var lockedResults = (RetrieveMultipleResponse)service.Execute(rmRequest);
	var lockedCounter = lockedResults.EntityCollection.Entities.First();

	var currentNumber = lockedCounter.GetAttributeValue<int>("new_lastnumber");
	target["accountnumber"] = $"{++currentNumber}";
	var counterUpdater = new Entity("new_lock");
	counterUpdater.Id = counter.Id;
	counterUpdater["new_lastnumber"] = currentNumber;
	service.Update(counterUpdater);
	}
	}
	}

view raw

AutonumberCorrectAgain.cs

hosted with ❤ by GitHub

So simply replacing service.RetrieveMultiple with RetrieveMultipleRequest causes the results to be retrieved from the database, not from some kind of cache. That is something you should probably be aware of when implementing your own solution.

Solution Component types in Dynamics 365

April 26, 2017October 23, 2017 pawelgradeckiLeave a comment

CRM 2016 brought one great improvement – possibility to choose what subcomponents we want to include in the solution. We can choose single fields, views or relationships for an entity. Previously when an entity has been added to a solution, all its subcomponents were automatically added to this solution. This great feature allows to better control what is transferred between environments. Who has never imported a view or some chart that was changed on testing environment to live environment, by accident, please raise your hand. Currently we can include only the components that were changed and make sure nothing else will come along. Of course, it requires changing the mindset – quite recently I was asking a many-year CRM customizer, why he has added all components for Account entity to our solution, if the only thing that was changed were few added fields. “Because it always was like that” is not satisfying answer for me, as you probably already figured out 🙂

Because of this new feature, I believe that it’s important to better understand what is in fact kept in the solution from the metadata and data perspective. Every element in a solution is called Solution Component. It’s a simple entity that has a type and few values that help identify it (like ObjectId) if it’s a metadata or data component and if it includes all Subcomponents, does not include subcomponents or is only a shell of a component. Documentation on MSDN (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt608054.aspx) clearily defines all solution component types, and the most important fields, which are:

componenttype: The object type code of the component.
ismetadata: Indicates whether this component is metadata or data. (1 : Metadata, 0 : Data)
objectid: Unique identifier of the object with which the component is associated
rootcomponentbehavior: Indicates the include behavior of the root component (0 : Include Subcomponents, 1 : Do not include subcomponents, 2 : Include As Shell Only)
rootsolutioncomponentid: The parent ID of the subcomponent, which will be a root

I researched all available solution components. Below you can find a summary of their names, logical names, short description and how to get them using SDK. Basically there are three ways of getting this data using SDK:

Using dedicated OrganizationRequest: for example EntityMetadata, AttributeMetadata etc
Using RetrieveRequest (or simply IOrganizationService Retrieve message)
Using RetrieveMultiple specifying QueryExpression with proper entity name and id equal to ObjectId from Solution Component object. Don’t ask me why simple Retrieve does not work for this components – it simply does not.

Interesting thing is that some components are known as not-transferable through solution (like Duplicate Detection Rules). I will try to investigate in the future if it’s possible to add them to the solution using SDK and successfully transfer to another environment using solution.

UPDATE: I investigated if it’s possible to add a solution component that is listed below, but it’s not available through UI, so for example Duplicate Detection Rule:

var solutionComponentRequest = new AddSolutionComponentRequest()
{
    ComponentType = 44,
    ComponentId = duplicateRule.Id,
    SolutionUniqueName = "solutionName"
};

service.Execute(solutionComponentRequest);

Unfortunately such operation ends with with an exception:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.ServiceModel.FaultException`1' occurred in Microsoft.Xrm.Tooling.Connector.dll
Additional information: Invalid component type provided 44

Solution components summary:

Type	Name	Logicalname	Comment	SDK
1	Entity	n/a	Entity metadata	RetrieveEntityRequest
2	Attribute	n/a	Attribute metadata	RetrieveAttributeRequest
3	Relationship	n/a	Relationship metadata, but it’s always bound to EntityRelationship metadata, internal	Obtained together with EntityMetadata using RetrieveRelationshipRequest
4	AttributePicklistValue	n/a	Value of the option set option, internal	–
5	AttributeLookupValue	n/a	Value of the lookup text, internal	–
6	ViewAttribute	n/a	Attributes used in views, internal	–
7	LocalizedLabel	n/a	Localized label (metadata in CRM that you can localize)	RetrieveLocLabelsRequest
8	RelationshipExtraCondition	n/a	Relationship metadata, internal	Obtained together with EntityMetadata using RetrieveRelationshipRequest
9	OptionSet	n/a	Option set metadata	RetrieveOptionSetRequest
10	EntityRelationship	n/a	Entity relationship metadata	RetrieveRelationshipRequest
11	EntityRelationshipRole	n/a	Relationship role (feature depreciated since CRM 2011, after introducing Connections)	–
12	EntityRelationshipRelationships	n/a	Mapping between EntityRelationship and Relationship, internal	Obtained together with EntityMetadata using RetrieveRelationshipRequest
13	ManagedProperty	n/a	Managed property metadata	RetrieveManagedPropertyRequest
14	EntityKey	n/a	Entity key metadata	RetrieveEntityKeyRequest
20	Role	role	Security role	RetrieveRequest (Target = role)
21	Role Privilege	roleprivileges	Security role privilege	RetrieveRequest (Target = roleprivileges)
22	Display String	displaystring	Display string	RetrieveRequest (Target = displaystring)
23	Display String Map	displaystringmap	Display string mapping	RetrieveRequest (Target = displaystringmap)
24	Form	form	internal	–
25	Organization	organization	Organization entity	RetrieveRequest (Target = organization)
26	Saved Query	savedquery	View	RetrieveRequest (Target = savedquery)
29	Workflow	workflow	Process	RetrieveRequest (Target = workflow)
31	Report	report	Report	RetrieveRequest (Target = report)
32	Report Entity	reportentity	Entity bound to report	RetrieveRequest (Target = reportentity)
33	Report Category	reportcategory	Category of report	RetrieveRequest (Target = reportcategory)
34	Report Visibility	reportvisibility	Visibility of report	RetrieveRequest (Target = reportvisibility)
35	Attachment	attachment	Attachment entity	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“attachment”)
36	Email Template	template	Email template	RetrieveRequest (Target = template)
37	Contract Template	contracttemplate	Contract template	RetrieveRequest (Target = contracttemplate)
38	KB Article Template	kbarticletemplate	KB Article template	RetrieveRequest (Target = kbarticletemplate)
39	Mail Merge Template	mailmergetemplate	MailMerge template	RetrieveRequest (Target = mailmergetemplate)
44	Duplicate Rule	duplicaterule	Duplicate rule	RetrieveRequest (Target = duplicaterule)
45	Duplicate Rule Condition	duplicaterulecondition	Duplicate rule condition	RetrieveRequest (Target = duplicaterulecondition)
46	Entity Map	entitymap	Entity mapping	RetrieveRequest (Target = entitymap)
47	Attribute Map	attributemap	Attribute mapping	RetrieveRequest (Target = attributemap)
48	Ribbon Command	ribboncommand	Ribbon command	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“ribboncommand”)
49	Ribbon Context Group	ribboncontextgroup	Ribbon context group	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“ribboncontextgroup”)
50	Ribbon Customization	ribboncustomization	Ribbon customization (Application Ribbon)	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“ribboncustomization”) or you can use RetrieveApplicationRibbonRequest
52	Ribbon Rule	ribbonrule	Ribbon rule	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“ribbonrule”)
53	Ribbon Tab To Command Map	ribbontabtocommandmap	Ribbon tab to command mapping	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“ribbontabtocommandmap”)
55	Ribbon Diff	ribbondiff	Ribbon diff	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“ribbondiff”)
59	Saved Query Visualization	savedqueryvisualization	Chart	RetrieveRequest (Target = savedqueryvisualization)
60	System Form	systemform	Form	RetrieveRequest (Target = systemform)
61	Web Resource	webresource	Web resource	RetrieveRequest (Target = webresource)
62	Site Map	sitemap	Site map	RetrieveRequest (Target = sitemap)
63	Connection Role	connectionrole	Connection role	RetrieveRequest (Target = connectionrole)
65	Hierarchy Rule	hierarchyrule	Hierarchy rule	RetrieveRequest (Target = hierarchyrule)
66	Custom Control	customcontrol	Custom control	RetrieveRequest (Target = customcontrol)
68	Custom Control Default Config	customcontroldefaultconfig	Custom control default config	RetrieveRequest (Target = customcontroldefaultconfig)
70	Field Security Profile	fieldsecurityprofile	Field Security Profile	RetrieveRequest (Target = fieldsecurityprofile)
71	Field Permission	fieldpermission	Field permission	RetrieveRequest (Target = fieldpermission)
80	App Module	appmodule	App module	RetrieveMultiple request using QueryExpression(“appmodule”)
90	Plugin Type	plugintype	Plugin type	RetrieveRequest (Target = plugintype)
91	Plugin Assembly	pluginassembly	Plugin assembly	RetrieveRequest (Target = pluginassembly)
92	SDK Message Processing Step	sdkmessageprocessingstep	Plugin step	RetrieveRequest (Target = sdkmessageprocessingstep)
93	SDK Message Processing Step Image	sdkmessageprocessingstepimage	Plugin step image	RetrieveRequest (Target = sdkmessageprocessingstepimage)
95	Service Endpoint	serviceendpoint	Service endpoint	RetrieveRequest (Target = serviceendpoint)
150	Routing Rule	routingrule	Routing rule	RetrieveRequest (Target = routingrule)
151	Routing Rule Item	routingruleitem	Routing rule item	RetrieveRequest (Target = routingruleitem)
152	SLA	sla	Sla agreement	RetrieveRequest (Target = sla)
153	SLA Item	slaitem	Sla item	RetrieveRequest (Target = slaitem)
154	Convert Rule	convertrule	Automatic creation rule	RetrieveRequest (Target = convertrule)
155	Convert Rule Item	convertruleitem	Automatic creation rule item	RetrieveRequest (Target = convertruleitem)
161	Mobile Offline Profile	mobileofflineprofile	Mobile offline profile	RetrieveRequest (Target = mobileofflineprofile)
162	Mobile Offline Profile Item	mobileofflineprofileitem	Mobile offline profile item	RetrieveRequest (Target = mobileofflineprofileitem)
165	Similarity Rule	similarityrule	Similarity rule	RetrieveRequest (Target = similarityrule)

Disable columns in editable grid

April 18, 2017April 18, 2017 pawelgradecki3 Comments

Editable grids are a long awaited feature of Dynamics 365. Without any fancy coding, they allow to provide users a nice and easy to use interface, for updating multiple records in an Excel-like experience. We can easily create a subgrid on the form, configure it to use an Editable grid as control and we are good to go, we can edit all the grid columns.

But what if we would like to edit only some of the columns of the grid, not all of them? This is not configurable, either we have an editable grid with all the columns editable, or we don’t have editable grid at all. The only way of handling this with configuration is enabling Field Security Profile – if user will not have privilege to update the field, it will appear as disabled for him. Fortunately there are quite a few client SDK features, that will allow us to achieve our goal with a little bit of JavaScript. First, we should register a function for OnRecordSelect event on our grid:

And my gridRowSelected function looks like that:

	function gridRowSelected(context) {
	context.getFormContext().getData().getEntity().attributes.forEach(function (attr) {
	if (attr.getName() === "odx_monthid") {
	attr.controls.forEach(function (c) {
	c.setDisabled(true);
	})
	}
	});
	}

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opportunity.js

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This function basically gets all attributes for the selected row and for specified attribute (in my case it was “odx_monthid”) disables the grid cell. Effects are the following:

Great, so only Month column is currently not editable, but we can still edit Amount column. The only drawback of this solution is that this “lock” on the field is shown only when you click on the row (because we registered the function to be fired on OnRowSelect event). Couldn’t it be fired for OnLoad of the form? Unfortunately, according to MSDN documentation:

we cannot run this, when form loads, because the internals of the grid are not yet loaded. Still it is quite an acceptable workaround. Maybe in future releases, editable grid will receive some more features like configuration of disabled columns.

Using early bounds in plugin for multiple entities

April 14, 2017April 15, 2017 pawelgradeckiLeave a comment

Recently I was caught up in the discussion about early bound entities and late bound entities. One of the argument of the “late bound supporters” was the fact, that using late-bound allows reusing the same plugin for multiple entities (so for example create a plugin that runs for all activities or a common plugin for leads/opportunities/accounts). This argument is not valid, I will show you how to write a clean code, that uses modern approach for coding and is perfectly testable.

Let’s start with the late bound version of the plugin to give you an idea what are we trying to achieve here:

	public class CalculateTotalAmountLateBoundPlugin : IPlugin
	{
	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var context = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext)) as IPluginExecutionContext;
	var serviceFactory = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory)) as IOrganizationServiceFactory;
	var service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

	var lateBoundEntity = context.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity;
	lateBoundEntity["new_totalsum"] = lateBoundEntity.GetAttributeValue<decimal>("new_netamount") + lateBoundEntity.GetAttributeValue<decimal>("new_margin");
	}
	}

view raw

CalculateTotalAmountLateBoundPlugin.cs

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The plugin simply adds values of “new_netamount” and “new_margin” fields on the entity and sets field “new_totalsum” to a resulting value. Of course this can be simply achieved by using calculated field, but I just want to show the basic idea here, real world scenario is usually much more complicated.

If we register this field on pre-update of any entity containing field “new_totalsum”, “new_netamount” and “new_margin” it would basically do its job. If you are not an experienced CRM Developer, who remembers CRM 3.0 or 4.0, just an ordinary .NET Developer, you would probably say, that this code looks ugly. It’s almost like it was taken from some JavaScript library – where are all the types, what is the type of “new_totalsum”, which year is that, are we still in 2017? And yes, you’ll be right – this code simply looks awful, does not allow to use any of great refactoring tools, because it uses some “magic” dictionaries and keys and without access to CRM you would not even have a clue, what are the proper types of the properties. It’s exactly the same story as with ORM – who of us still uses plain ADO .NET and not, for example, Entity Framework? Such approach is much less error prone, testable and also much more friendly for CRM newbies. Code using early bounds may look like that:

	public class CalculateTotalAmountAccountPlugin : IPlugin
	{
	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var context = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext)) as IPluginExecutionContext;
	var serviceFactory = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory)) as IOrganizationServiceFactory;
	var service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

	var account = (context.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity).ToEntity<Account>();
	account.new_totalsum = account.new_netamount + account.new_margin;
	}
	}

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CalculateTotalAmountAccountPlugin.cs

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Now it’s much better, but there is a significant problem with this code. We assumed that our plugin runs on Account entity. What if we will register it on Contact entity? Well, it will simply crash when we will try to convert our target!

So the basic approach would be to create a switch statement and simply check the entity type:

	public class CalculateTotalAmountEarlyBoundBADPlugin : IPlugin
	{
	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var context = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext)) as IPluginExecutionContext;
	var serviceFactory = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory)) as IOrganizationServiceFactory;
	var service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

	var lateBoundEntity = context.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity;
	switch (lateBoundEntity.LogicalName)
	{
	case Account.EntityLogicalName:
	var account = lateBoundEntity.ToEntity<Account>();
	account.new_totalsum = account.new_netamount + account.new_margin;
	break;
	case Opportunity.EntityLogicalName:
	var opportunity = lateBoundEntity.ToEntity<Opportunity>();
	opportunity.new_totalsum = opportunity.new_netamount + opportunity.new_margin;
	break;
	default:
	break;
	}
	}
	}

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CalculateTotalAmountEarlyBoundBADPlugin.cs

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Ok so now we can register the plugin on multiple entities, but our code looks even worse than the first version, because we have a lot of code that is copy-pasted. Imagine that the operation would be much more complex and would change frequently in time – we would have to change all the switch statements every time.

To overcome this problem we will take advantage of the fact that all early-bound classes are partial, so they can implement any interface we want. Let’s create such interface and some helper partial classes:

	interface IEntityWithTotalSum
	{
	decimal new_totalsum { get; set; }
	decimal new_netamount { get; set; }
	decimal new_margin { get; set; }
	}

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IEntityWithTotalSum.cs

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	public partial class Account : IEntityWithTotalSum {}
	public partial class Opportunity : IEntityWithTotalSum {}

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PartialHelpers.cs

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It would be great if we could use this like that:

	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var context = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext)) as IPluginExecutionContext;
	var serviceFactory = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory)) as IOrganizationServiceFactory;
	var service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

	var entityWithTotalSum = context.InputParameters["Target"] as IEntityWithTotalSum;
	entityWithTotalSum.new_totalsum = entityWithTotalSum.new_netamount + entityWithTotalSum.new_margin;
	}

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UsingInterfaceInPlugins.cs

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But unfortunately, our “Target” is an entity and we have to somehow convert it to an early bound. I developed a simple utility class that is capable of that:

	public static class Extensions
	{
	public static T Mock<T>(this Entity entity)
	{
	return InterfaceMocker.Mock<T>(entity);
	}
	}

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Extensions.cs

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	static class InterfaceMocker
	{
	public static T Mock<T>(Entity entity)
	{
	var type = ProxyTypesCache.GetProxyType(entity.LogicalName);
	var copy = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
	(copy as Entity).Attributes = entity.Attributes;
	(copy as Entity).Id = entity.Id;
	if (typeof(T).IsAssignableFrom(type))
	{
	return (T)copy;
	}
	else
	{
	throw new InvalidPluginExecutionException("Cannot mock interface. Target type does not implement interface " + typeof(T).Name);
	}
	}
	}

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InterfaceMocker.cs

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	static class ProxyTypesCache
	{
	private static Dictionary<string, Type> cachedTypes = new Dictionary<string, Type>();
	static ProxyTypesCache()
	{
	var assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
	var allTypes = assembly.GetExportedTypes();
	foreach (var type in allTypes)
	{
	if (typeof(Entity).IsAssignableFrom(type))
	{
	cachedTypes.Add(type.GetCustomAttribute<EntityLogicalNameAttribute>().LogicalName, type);
	}
	}
	}

	public static Type GetProxyType(string logicalName)
	{
	return cachedTypes[logicalName];
	}
	}

view raw

ProxyTypesCache.cs

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Simple explanation of the code – during first execution of the plugin, all the early-bound types are cached in a dictionary, that can be later fast accessed from the code (in this case it’s InterfaceMocker). It simply instantiates the early-bound and copies all attributes inside. There is also an extension method that simplifies the usage for Entity. Now our plugin can simply look like that:

	public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
	{
	var context = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext)) as IPluginExecutionContext;
	var serviceFactory = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory)) as IOrganizationServiceFactory;
	var service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

	var earlyBound = (context.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity).Mock<IEntityWithTotalSum>();
	earlyBound.new_totalsum = earlyBound.new_netamount + earlyBound.new_margin;
	}

view raw

CalculateTotalAmountEarlyBoundPlugin.cs

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And that’s it! This code looks much better then late bound version, provides type-checking for entity attributes and also is very nice when we implement unit tests, as we have an interface to test, not a full early-bound. If our logic is more complex we can create some additional classes that will be dependent upon IEntityWithTotalSum interface, not Account or Opportunity entity.

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Tag: Dynamics CRM 2016