In this blog, we will see how to create the service connection for PowerApps Build Tools.
Pre-requisite: Azure DevOps
The service endpoint for the source and the target environment that you want to export and import the solution to. For example, https://powerappsbuildtools.crm.dynamics.com. Service endpoints can be defined under Service Connections -> Generic Service Connection in Project Settings.
Navigate to Project Settings -> Service connections -> Click on New service connection.
Select Generic in Service connection
Provide the below details for the generic service connection as follows:
Username – Username for connecting to the endpoint
Password – Password/Token Key for connecting to the endpoint
Service connection name – Give the service connection as meaningful name.
Description (optional)
Security – Grant access permission to all pipelines – Enable
NOTE: MFA is not yet available. May be in the upcoming release Microsoft will add MFA to the service connection.
Once the above step is done, you will see your service connection in the list. You could add multiple other connections to various other environments.
Once the connection is established, you will be able to see this service connection in the PowerApps Build tools task like exporting and importing the solution as follows:
I hope this helps. If you have any challenges in creating “service connection”then please feel free to reach me out to me I am also always happy to assist you on your queries.
If you are interested in this topic and would like to do some further self-study, I encourage you to check out my blog on this.
In this blog, we will see how we can upload the video attachments into D365 using the Video Attachment Control – PCF Control.
The VideoAttachmentControl is used to upload any kind of video file which is of mp4 format as of now. It also lets you have a live preview of the video file uploaded and the files are stored in D365 as notes (Annotation).
Scenario – Once the field technician completes his work in the field, he can capture and upload the completed work as video. Without visiting the site inspector can play the video and review it.
Here is the reference link for the solution files and the source code.
Import the solution “Solution_managed.zip” into your D365 instance.
If you wanted to add “Video Uploader” to Case, open the Case entity’s, Main form in edit mode.
Create a new field or choose any field which is of type Single Line of Text. For demo, I have created a new field called, description and I will be using this field.
Open the field and click on the “Controls” link.
. Click on “Add Control”, select “Video Uploader”.
6. Check Web, Phone and Tablet radio buttons to get it loaded in all the three devices.
Once the above step is done then you can save and publish the case form. Now, you will be able to see the Video attachment control in your case form as below:
I hope this helps. If you have any challenges in adding “Video Uploader” then please feel free to reach me out to me I am also always happy to assist you on your queries.
If you are interested in this topic and would like to do some further self-study I encourage you to check out my blog on this.
Looking to learn ALM Fundamentals for the Power Platform, myself and Deepesh Somani have worked on creating this free course for you to learn it in under an hour.
$SolutionName – Name of the solution which you want to export the source instance.
$SolutionFilePath – Desired folder path to export the solution
$CRMSourceUserName – Username of the Dynamics 365 CE source instance
$CRMDestinationUserName – Username of the Dynamics 365 CE destination instance
$CRMDestinationPassword – Password of the Dynamics 365 CE destination instance
$CRMDestinationPassword – Password of the Dynamics 365 CE source instance
$CRMSourceUrl – URL of the Dynamics 365 CE source instance
$CRMDestinationUrl – URL of the Dynamics 365 CE destination instance.
After updating the values in the below script, you can copy and paste in Windows PowerShell and run it. This will establish the connection to the Dynamics 365 CE source instance and export the solution mentioned and import it into the Dynamics 365 CE destination instance.
In my previous blog, I wrote about how to set up a gated check-in, In this blog, we will see how to move the master data from source to target instance using our CI/CD pipeline.
Generally, we use the configuration migration tool to move the master data across multiple environments and organizations. Configuration data is used to define custom functionality in model-driven apps in Dynamics 365, such as Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service, and is typically stored in custom entities. Configuration data is different from end-user data (account, contacts, and so on). A typical example of configuration data is what you define in the Unified Service Desk for Dynamics 365 to configure a customized call center agent application. The Unified Service Desk entities, along with the configuration data that is stored in the entities, define an agent application.
Note: Disable plug-ins before exporting data and then re-enable them on the target system after the import is complete for all the entities or selected entities.
Define the schema of the source data to be exported: The schema file (.xml) contains information about the data that you want to export such as the entities, attributes, relationships, definition of the uniqueness of the data, and whether the plug-ins should be disabled before exporting the data.
Use the schema to export data: Use the schema file to export the data into a .zip file that contains the data and the schema of the exported data.
Import the exported data: Use the exported data (.zip file) to import into the target environment. The data import is done in multiple passes to first import the foundation data while queuing up the dependent data, and then import the dependent data in the subsequent passes to handle any data dependencies or linkages.
Instead of moving it manually we are going to automate this above process using Azure DevOps.
We have to create a separate Build Definition for moving the master data from source to target instance. Once the solution movement is done this below build definition should trigger.
In my previous blog, I have explained how to create a new build definition. Please refer to that for creating a new build definition.
What will do – It will connect to the source instance and export the master data using the configuration.xml and push it to artifacts repository
In this Build Definition we have used the following MSCRM Build Tools tasks:
MSCRM Tool Installer – Installs the Dynamics 365 tools required by all of the tasks