Use a generic TypeScript to Open Custom Pages
When you want to open a custom page from the command bar in a model-driven app you still need a small TypeScript or JavaScript for that. If you then have several pages in your app it can easily get cluttered with these JavaScripts that only open a specific page. So I asked one of my favourite Pro-Coders Benedikt Bergmann to write me a generic TypeScript that I can configure myself to open… Continue Reading Sara...
When your Dataverse Environment doesn’t show up in the maker portal
Are you as impatient as I am and gets annoyed when you create or reset a Dataverse environment in the admin portal and can’t see it in the maker portal? Well with a couple of clicks I can show you how you go to open your environment and start building solutions in no time. The Problem If you have created or even just reset one of your dataverse environments, it could take a while for… Continue Reading Sara...
Build Deployable Power Automate Flows for Dynamics Customer Voice with Environment Variables
Dynamics Customer Voice is the survey tool that stores all its data in Dataverse. Dataverse have quite the process to maintain a healthy ALM and deployment process, but if you plan to include Customer Voice in your solution it can complicate things. This is how I solved this challenge, with help and inspiration from my colleague Carl Gustavsson. ALM and healthy deployment Being a… Continue Reading Sara Lagerquist’s Article...
A Double Expand Query and Some Missing Dynamic Content in Power Automate
Just earlier this week I had to do a double expand (getting data from a table that are two relationships away) and realized that when I did that, I didn’t get any dynamic content. Bleh. Well. Not too difficult to solve with an expression, continue to read to find out how. An example scenario So my example scenario here is that I have 3 tables, Buildings, Rooms and Contacts. Each Room… Continue Reading Sara...
Help! I Need a Code Component!
Have you browsed the PCF Gallery and thought: WOW, this is exactly what I need! Do you know how to actually incorporate an open source PCF/Code Component in your solution and maintain high quality? These are some of the things you need to consider. What is a Code Component/PCF? So let’s start with some background. A Code Component, also called PCF, is in short: JavaScript and… Continue Reading Sara Lagerquist’s...
How to create in-app Notifications with Navigation in Model-driven Apps with Power Automate
Isn’t that title a mouthful? The thing is when you read the microsoft documentation on this feature it’s mostly code instructions apart from how to create a really basic notifications. But what if I don’t want to use JavaScript and still want those fancy pancy navigation links in my notifications? Here is how. Background As some of you know I’ve been away for a bit going through… Continue Reading Sara...
Get EntitySetName with XrmToolBox
You know that annoying error you get when trying to populate a lookup field in Power Automate with the Current Environment connector? And you might have found blog posts that the solution is to set the EntitySetName before the dynamic data? Good so far – but how the hell do you find the EntitySetName? Let me help you out. The Problem (again) If you try to populate a CDS lookup with… Continue Reading Sara Lagerquist’s...
Get App ID with List Records in Power Automate
The new UCI and the ability to have several model driven apps changed the playground a lot for us ol’ dynamics folks. It brought shiny new capabilities and flexibility but it also brought a tiny bit of more complexity to the game. Suddenly when you want to send an e-mail with a record URL you need to define which model driven app to display to record from. No longer a workflow with a simple… Continue Reading Sara...
Child flows in Power Automate Compared to Child Workflows
The child flow feature in Power Automate differs from how the child workflow feature from the classic workflow engine in Dynamics 365 works. This article will take you through how you can build your first child flows in Power Automate and what to expect to be different from what you might be used to. Start with the Child Flow The trigger Start with the PowerApps trigger.
Compare Classic Workflows to Power Automate Flows
This past weekend I was in Amsterdam and presented on the differences between classic workflows and flows in Power Automate. It was such a great event, and a subject dear to my heart. I’m sharing my slides from the session if you would like to get an overview of my conclusions. Ask away if you have any questions! < div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”> < div class=”embed-slideshare”> < div...
First Party Apps shipped with different URS versions
If you plan on using Universal Resource Scheduling (URS) for custom entities or for scheduling services with Customer Service you should be aware of this. Different versions of URS I noticed the other day that you get different versions of URS depending on what first party app you install it with. If you install Field Service or Project Service Automation when creating your… Continue Reading Sara Lagerquist’s Article on...
CDS vs CDS: What Connector should I use in Power Automate?
I see lots of questions regarding the best way to connect to a dynamics environment with Power Automate and people who struggle to find functionality that should be offered but not sure where to look. It’s not clear as crystal that there are two available CDS Connectors in Power Automate and what differs the two. The Deprecated One Let’s just start this post by making it very clear… Continue Reading Sara...
Deploy Your CDS Flows Without Updating the Connection
Have you tried to deploy Solutions containing Flows? Do you always spend time on updating the connections in your target environment? You might not have to. Updating Connections The ALM story of Flows still have quite a journey to go. If you’ve ever deployed a solution with Flows you’ve noticed that they are generally turned off and need a manual unmanaged layer on top of it that… Continue Reading Sara...
MVP Advent Calendar: Transport Data Between Environments with Sara’s Favorite Tool!
Merry Christmas everyone! This post is part of the MVP Advent Calendar Initiative brought to you by Megan Walker. If you haven’t signed up yet and want more gifts all the way up until Christmas, do so here. My gift to you is about how to use my favorite data transport tool and and a small help “script” to get you started. Since I’m lazy by nature I can ensure you that this tool keeps my… Continue Reading...
How to Avoid the “Get Record” Action to Retrieve Related Data in Power Automate
In a previous blog post I wrote about how to use FetchXML to List Records from CDS in Power Automate. But what if a column you defined in your FetchXML doesn’t show up in the Dynamic content because it is a column from a related record? Defining the FetchXML Let’s start with using the most simple example. We want to list Contacts and use the Industry from their Company (Account)… Continue Reading Sara...
Be Lazy: Filter List Records in Power Automate with FetchXML Builder
If you navigate to the classic workflow designer you’ve probably seen the recommendation to use Microsoft Flow for background workflows. Although we’re not completely there yet with parity between the two – Power Automate is the way forward. Without mentioning all the differences between Flows and Classic Workflows, Power Automate has one HUGE advantage: List Records. Something… Continue Reading Sara...
Retrieve Records in N:N relationships with FetchXML and the New CDS Connector in Microsoft Flow
Have you tried to retrieve a list of records in Flow and had to go trough a many to many relationship condition? If you have I can relate to the frustration and complication that task brought. Earlier this week I found a solution – and it was easy, really easy. Let me show you what I found. What’s so new with this CDS Connector? So let’s start with talking about the “new” CDS… Continue Reading Sara...
Getting a Dynamics 365 Trial with URS
Universal Resource Scheduling (URS) is not a standalone Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement First Party App like Sales, Customer Service, Field Service or Project Service Automation. Therefore there’s been some confusion about how to get a hold of a trial that have URS installed. Well – let’s clarify how in this article. URS (Universal Resource Scheduling) is the scheduling engine that is… Continue Reading Sara...
No-Code Hack – Use Calculated Fields for Event Age Validation
This past weekend I was at Dynamics Power Saturday in Amsterdam an delivered a session I call “No-Code Hacks”. One of my hacks was to show how you can solve a requirement for age limit at event by only using customization, a requirement usually solved with JavaScript. What is a Hack? To start with I might need to explain the use of the word hack. About a month ago I recorded a chat… Continue Reading Sara...
New feature released: Quick Book in URS
A new, exciting and smoking hot feature for URS (Universal Resource Scheduling) was released in EMEA just earlier this week. It is the ability to enable quick scheduling for any entity in Dynamics CE that uses URS. How? Where? And why? Let’s take a look. When do I need Quick Book? Even though the Scheduling Board is probably the strongest feature in URS, there are several scenarios… Continue Reading Sara Lagerquist’s...
Geocode a Custom Entity with Microsoft Flow
One of my favorite features with URS is the ability to search for Resources based on their location and even get estimated travel time calculated into the result view on the schedule board. You can view your Resources and your Resource Requirements in a map view and even see real time traffic. To be able to use this feature you need to have Longitude and Latitude on your Resource Requirement … Continue Reading Sara...
Assign User Security Roles in a CDS Model Driven App
Being able to build model-driven apps on the Power Platform with out actually having it base it on a Dynamics CE first party app opens up a world of possibilities, but also a few new experiences for a former Dynamics-gal like myself. For instance when I was going to assign my Users their Security Roles the other day and the Manage Roles button in the command bar was missing. A bit amused and… Continue Reading Sara...
Use Characteristics to Fine-tune your Resource Result in URS – Part 2
In part one of this mini series within my URS series (I like series, OK?) I suggested a way to use Characteristics with the Scheduling Assistant to help fine-tune your resource results. In this article I suggest another option to that, one that is slightly more complex but also more flexible and applicable to more scenarios. This is part of a series of articles about Universal Resource… Continue Reading Sara Lagerquist’s...
How To Change Default Appointment Behaviour In Unified Interface
Recently I came across an inconsistent behavior regarding the Appointments entity in the UI (Unified Interface) compared to the Classic Interface. I asked my best friend Google… uhm I mean… Bing for advice but didn’t find anything to help me so I opened a Microsoft support case about it. This is the response I got: This is by design behavior currently. The appointment created in UCI doesn’t… Continue...
Use Characteristics to Fine-tune your Resource Result in URS – Part 1
In my previous article I refined my resource search with the Resource Category entity conditioned by the Event type. You can find that blog post here. In this article I will add additional filtering with the help of the Characteristic entity when I continue my search for the perfect Resource. This is part of a series of articles about Universal Resource Scheduling (URS) and examples on how… Continue Reading Sara...
Get Fields From Related Records Using Actions
Have you ever had that requirement where you know you can solve most of it with a workflow but the information you are after is one relationship too far away? For example: I have a custom entity called Event Registration that is related to Contact but the discount information is placed on Account. This article will explain how you can use an action as a placeholder for that information that… Continue Reading Sara...
Refining your Resource search in URS
In my previous post I wrote about how to enable a custom entity for scheduling with Universal Resource Scheduling, a part of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement. In this post I will take it one step further, and help to refine our resource search with the help of a workflow. This is part of a series of articles about Universal Resource Scheduling (URS) and examples on how to customize and use… Continue Reading Sara...
Get started with Universal Resource Scheduling
Universal Resource Scheduling is the scheduling engine in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement that allows you to enable scheduling for any entity, even custom entities. It’s used to find the best resource based on a set of different variables for example availability, skill set and location. I know what you are thinking… Even custom entities? But how? What should I think about?Well let… Continue Reading Sara...