Create view: Active Contacts in My State
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and Common Data Service offer us the querying language FetchXML to retrieve data. Since this is the language used for views saved in the system, we can use FetchXML Builder for XrmToolBox to alter the features of views beyond what is possible using platform features, without making them unsupported. I recently got a question from Mike if it would… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
Balancing Cool Tech, Usability and TCO
I’m a techie. I like new, shiny, cool stuff.Newest however, usually costs.And customers usually like cheap.Users don’t care about either.They just want a system that empowers more than it obstructs.So how do you find the balance between the three? Is it even possible? Or is it just another Project Management Triangle? Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a secret formula to solve the… Continue Reading Jonas...
No more Export as Unmanaged ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
Ever since “CRM 2011” Microsoft has been pushing the message that we should have unmanaged solutions only in Development environments. That message is being emphasized even more as we walk into the new Power Platform era.Ideas have been raised that one day we might not be allowed to import unmanaged solutions to an environment that is not explicitly tagged for Development. I would… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on...
No more Export as Unmanaged
Ever since “CRM 2011” Microsoft has been pushing the message that we should have unmanaged solutions only in Development environments. That message is being emphasized even more as we walk into the new Power Platform era.Ideas have been raised that one day we might not be allowed to import unmanaged solutions to an environment that is not explicitly tagged for Development. I would suggest… Continue Reading Jonas...
The Milliseconds Are Here! ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
Ever since I started using the Plugin Trace Log for investigation of my plugins around three years ago, I have wondered why we don’t have timestamps with better granularity than seconds.As I expressed it in an article from 2017: Given the CPU power we have today, it is just incomprehensible why we should not get more detail in the timing of plugin execution.It is like defining my age… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article...
The Milliseconds Are Here!
Ever since I started using the Plugin Trace Log for investigation of my plugins around three years ago, I have wondered why we don’t have timestamps with better granularity than seconds.As I expressed it in an article from 2017: Given the CPU power we have today, it is just incomprehensible why we should not get more detail in the timing of plugin execution.It is like defining my age by… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
Easter week in the media
As the Easter approaches, this is a short week at work.Nevertheless, a lot has happened around the media. Here’s a recap. Press release On Monday I started my new job at CRM-Konsulterna, an infinitesimal Dynamics consultancy (compared to Avanade that I just came from) started by fellow MVP Gustaf Westerlund. My signing was highlighted in Swedish media through this press… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on their...
Easter week in the media ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
As the Easter approaches, this is a short week at work.Nevertheless, a lot has happened around the media. Here’s a recap. Press release On Monday I started my new job at CRM-Konsulterna, an infinitesimal Dynamics consultancy (compared to Avanade that I just came from) started by fellow MVP Gustaf Westerlund. My signing was highlighted in Swedish media through this press… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on their...
Avoid nested conditionals in Microsoft Flow by using Guard Conditions
After working as a developer for a quarter century I have seen my fair share of nested conditionals and probably caused way beyond my fair share.Nested conditionals make the code harder to read and simply less aesthetic. When working with Microsoft Flow, this becomes even more obvious with the screen real estate that the Flow designed requires. An alternative design pattern is to use
Avoid nested conditionals in Microsoft Flow by using Guard Conditions ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
After working as a developer for a quarter century I have seen my fair share of nested conditionals and probably caused way beyond my fair share.Nested conditionals make the code harder to read and simply less aesthetic. When working with Microsoft Flow, this becomes even more obvious with the screen real estate that the Flow designed requires. An alternative design pattern is to use… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article...
Dynamic content in Auto Numbers for Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM
As the creator of the Auto Number Manager tool in XrmToolBox, I get two questions more than any other questions: How can I number existing records?How can I add dynamic content to the numbers? In a previous article I gave my solution to the first question. I will now dive into the second one and show a simple way of adding dynamic information from the numbered entity and related entities… Continue Reading Jonas...
We create XrmToolBox tools at Dynamics 365 Saturdays!
The community of developers for Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM in general and for XrmToolBox in particular is a great bunch of people. But I wish there were more of us – the more the merrier The D365 Saturday phenomenon with pro bono speakers at a full day event, free of charge for participants, has spread like wildfire over the last couple of years.The connection to the XrmToolBox is… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
Auto Numbering existing records in Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM
As the creator of the Auto Number Manager tool in XrmToolBox, I get two questions more than any other questions: How can I number existing records?How can I add dynamic content to the numbers? To answer these questions once and for all, I will post my suggestions in two articles. I will step way outside my comfort zone of coding the solutions and give you strictly no-code… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on their...
Bulk Data Updater for XrmToolBox – YouTube
Learn how to use the Bulk Data Updater tool for XrmToolBox to update values, trigger workflows and plugins, and even delete records in Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM. This tutorial demonstrates the basics of the tool, with live examples. XrmToolBox: Home · XrmToolBox XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to the Common Data Service for Apps (CDS). Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) applications, like Dynamics 365 for...
We created an XrmToolBox tool at Dynamics 365 Saturday Stockholm!
Last Saturday some 100+ experts, partners and user of Microsoft Dynamics 365 met up at the Microsoft offices in Stockholm, Sweden for a day packed with content at the Dynamics 365 Saturday event. I delivered two sessions at the event, and in one of them I took on a somewhat challenging session called Let’s build an XrmToolBox tool! I started with a few introductory slides, to set the stage,… Continue Reading Jonas...
Managed or Unmanaged solutions – a hot case still slightly open ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
The case is obviously not entirely closed. My recent article Case closed: Managed or Unmanaged solutions in Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM received a lot of attention, and sparked writers, podcasters, tweeters and commenters around the world to give feedback, yell at me, agree with me, or simply continue the discussion both publicly and privately. Readers of the “Case Closed” article… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on...
Managed or Unmanaged solutions – a hot case still slightly open
The case is obviously not entirely closed. My recent article Case closed: Managed or Unmanaged solutions in Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM received a lot of attention, and sparked writers, podcasters, tweeters and commenters around the world to give feedback, yell at me, agree with me, or simply continue the discussion both publicly and privately. Readers of the “Case Closed” article last… Continue Reading Jonas...
Translating the Easy Way – YouTube
In this tutorial I will show you the benefits of using Easy Translator for XrmToolBox instead of translating youe Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement or CDS environment using out of the box functionality. Home · XrmToolBox XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to the Common Data Service for Apps (CDS). Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) applications, like Dynamics 365 for Sales, Service or Talent also use the...
Case closed: Managed or Unmanaged solutions in Microsoft Dynamics 365 / CRM
If you have problems shifting gears in your car, you don’t call Volvo to say “Hey, I don’t like how this gear shifting thing works, so I’m just going to use reverse and drive backwards from now on.” What you probably do is call them to say “I’m having trouble shifting, you need to fix the problems or show me how to use it properly.“ Ever since Microsoft introduced the Solution platform...
Managed or Unmanaged solutions in Microsoft Dynamics 365
If you have problems shifting gears in your car, you don’t call Volvo to say “Hey, I don’t like how this gear shifting thing works, so I’m just going to use reverse and drive backwards from now on.”What you probably do is call them to say “I’m having trouble shifting, you need to fix the problems or show me how to use it properly.“ Ever since Microsoft introduced the… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on their...
Portal Records Mover with Nick Doelman
MVP Nick Doelman shows us how to use the Portal Records Mover tool in XrmToolBox to copy Dynamics Portals configuration data from one Dynamics 365 CE organization to another. source
Telling VS to not use latest packages ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
When your C# projects are referencing NuGet packages, you are always encouraged to update to latest version.This can be annoying, when you really don’t want to. In the world of Microsoft Dynamics 365/CE/CRM, you may have to use SDK of previous major version (8.x), while Visual Studio still wants you to use the latest available packages (9.x). But there IS a way to tell Visual Studio to… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
A first look at FetchXML Builder for XrmToolBox
In this episode we will take a first look at FetchXML Builder for XrmToolBox. We will create basic queries, look at output options, and some of the setting. XrmToolBox: Home · XrmToolBox XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to the Common Data Service for Apps (CDS). Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) applications, like Dynamics 365 for Sales, Service or Talent also use the Common Data Service for Apps as their...
Introduction to XrmToolBox
In this episode I show how to set up XrmToolBox, how to install plugins, and have a look at some of the settings. XrmToolBox: Home · XrmToolBox XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to the Common Data Service for Apps (CDS). Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) applications, like Dynamics 365 for Sales, Service or Talent also use the Common Data Service for Apps as their foundational data service. Tweets by XrmToolBox Me...
FetchXML Builder and Friends at D365UG Virtual Summer Camp
On August 7-9, the first ever Virtual Summer Camp for the Dynamics 365 platform will take place. During this free event the D365UG offer some 30+ sessions with focus on Customer Service and Field/Project Service. I will be doing one of a few cross vertical sessions, where I discuss and demonstrate some useful XrmToolBox tools that help customizers, administrators and users with information… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
Relationship data analysis with XrmToolBox ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
Background Relationships in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CRM) and PowerApps Model Driven Apps can be decorated with a number of characteristics that define their behavior. These characteristics instruct the platform how to behave in regard to child data when different actions are taken on the parent record of the relationship. The configuration of relationships describe what… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
Use VSTS to publish XrmToolBox plugins ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
Recently a fellow D365 developer, Lars Müller, wrote an article on how to Build a versioned XrmToolBox plugin. I am taking this one step further, to show you how to create a complete CI/CD pipeline for your XrmToolBox tools. Of course, the primary reason for creating an automated pipeline for Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment is to standardize versioning, naming, and any… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
More Auto Numbering features ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
In my previous article I described the details of the new Auto Number attributes feature of Microsoft Dynamics 365, and how to manage them using Auto Number Manager for XrmToolBox. Since this article, a few new possibilities have been verified to be supported. The most important new feature is the possibility to apply numbering to existing attributes!This means that you can now apply… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s...
A canary in CRM ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
Have you ever faced a situation when you don’t know why your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement system behaves the way it does, or why your own plugins behave the way they do? If you have, this might be a good time to put a canary in your system. – A what?– A canary. You know when we were manually laboring down the coal mines, it happened that drilling into the rock… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article on their...
Build and Deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365 projects using VSTS ⋆ The Dynamics 365 Trenches
Recently I posted a series of three articles describing our approach to DevOps for Microsoft Dynamics 365, and the technology behind it. After giving a session on this topic at CRM Saturday in Madrid, Spain, it is now time to announce “public preview” of our tools. If you want the full story – these are the articles describing the background and technology behind our tools: Part I –… Continue Reading Jonas Rapp’s Article...
