Sanjaya Yapa
Customizing Dynamics 365Implementing and Releasing Business Solutions
Sanjaya Yapa
Kandy, Sri Lanka
ISBN 978-1-4842-4378-7e-ISBN 978-1-4842-4379-4
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4379-4
© Sanjaya Yapa 2019
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Introduction

The objective of this book is to introduce the reader to the features of Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement, provide examples, and show how release management can help to increase productivity when delivering software to users. The platform has a ton of features, and it is growing extremely fast; in fact, it is difficult to condense such a plethora of features into a book of this size. Therefore, this book covers the features that are used primarily to design and develop solutions using the platform and gives references for further reading. This book can be used by intermediate to advanced programmers with Dynamics 365 knowledge. The topics covered in this book are ideal for both technical and functional consultants.

Specifically, Chapter 1 will set the stage for the book by introducing you to the evolution of the platform and by explaining how to capture requirements using Azure DevOps. This chapter will also introduce you to the example scenario, which will be used to explain the platform features in the upcoming chapters. Chapter 2 is all about setting up a development environment and configuring release automation. Chapters 3 and 4 cover how to customize the platform to implement the requirements using form customizations, autonumbering, business rules, workflows, and business process automation. These chapters will also introduce you to using TypeScript instead of JavaScript and to Microsoft Flow.

Advanced customizations are introduced from Chapter 5 onward, starting with plug-ins and custom workflows. In Chapter 6 , you will gain knowledge about Azure integrations including WebJobs, Functions, and Logic Apps. Reporting is covered in Chapter 7 , which highlights a wide range of features and configurations. The commonly used features are described, and additional reading references are given. Like Chapter 7 , Chapter 8 covers another mammoth feature, the Dynamics 360 portals for external user interactions. Since this is a bulky topic, this chapter introduces the feature and gives additional references. The book concludes in Chapter 9 with the discussion of data migration along with design tips and best practices.

This book will serve as your reference for your Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement implementation needs. I hope it will be your go-to reference when faced with an implementation challenge.

Acknowledgments

A special thanks must go to Chaminda Chandrasekara, who has been the encouraging influence for me to move into this amazing world of authoring technical content. Also, I am thankful to Scott Durow for providing valuable technical reviews in order to make this book a success. I am extremely grateful for all my mentors who have encouraged and helped me during my carrier and provided me with so many opportunities to gain the maturity and courage required to write this book.

Last, but in no way least, I owe a huge debt to my family, not only because they have put up with late-night and weekend typing, research, and my permanent air of distraction from them for the past eight months. My heartful gratitude is offered to them for all the encouragement and the help to make this wonderful dream come true. Finally, I would also like to express gratitude to my friends for cheering me on.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:​ Getting Ready 1
How This Book Is Structured 3
The Case Study Domain 3
The Case Study Requirements 4
Why Use Dynamics 365 as the Platform?​ 9
Implementing Features with Dynamics 365 10
Creating a Membership 10
Submitting the Required Documents 12
Generating a Member Subscription 13
Generating Reports 14
Processing Direct Debit Payments 16
The Entity Model 17
Summary 21
Chapter 2:​ Setting Up the Development Environment 23
Dynamics 365 Online vs.​ On-Premises 23
Setting Up a Dynamics 365 Development Environment 24
Setting Up Visual Studio for Development 29
Source Control 33
Explaining Solutions 39
Default Solution 40
Unmanaged Solution 41
Managed Solutions 41
Managed vs.​ Unmanaged Solutions 41
Solution Patches and Upgrades 42
Management Strategy for SBMA 44
Source Controlling the Customizations 45
Why Is It Important to Automate Releases?​ 46
Creating the Base Solution 47
Creating the Publisher 47
Creating the New Solution 49
Adding Entities to the Solution 51
Other Entity Settings 54
Add Entity Icons 57
Installing SPKL Task Runner 62
Summary 67
Chapter 3:​ Out-of-the-Box Customizations 69
Form Customizations 69
Autonumbering Option 79
Basic Validations 85
Setting a Field as Required 85
Calculated Fields 86
Rollup Fields 88
Business Rules 91
JavaScript and TypeScript 96
JavaScript Example 97
TypeScript Example 102
Summary 107
Chapter 4:​ Automating Business Processes 109
Business Process Flows 110
Workflows 115
Actions 123
Microsoft Flow 129
Summary 134
Chapter 5:​ Advanced Customizations 135
Getting Ready 135
Creating the Plugin 136
Creating Custom Workflow Activities 145
Calling Custom Actions from JavaScript 154
Summary 156
Chapter 6:​ Azure Integration 157
Azure WebJobs 157
Writing Code for a Web Job 158
Creating a Web Job 167
Azure Functions with Dynamics 365 174
Creating an Azure Function 175
Consuming the Azure Function 180
Integrating Azure Logic Apps with Dynamics 365 188
The Azure Logic Apps Solution 190
Deploying the Project 201
Summary 204
Chapter 7:​ Reports 205
Grid Filters 205
Advanced Find Views 207
Creating Reports with the Dynamics 365 Report Wizard 214
Creating Fetch XML Reports 228
Apply Prefilters 234
Dashboards 235
Dynamics 365 and Power BI 240
Summary 253
Chapter 8:​ An Introduction to Dynamics 365 Portals 255
Dynamics 365 Portals 255
Customizing the Portal 268
Web Forms 276
Liquid Templates 276
Other Portal Technologies 277
Summary 278
Chapter 9:​ Data Migration 279
Data Migration Strategy 279
Microsoft FastTrack for Dynamics 365 281
Import Wizard 282
Data Importing with SSIS 290
Creating the Connection Manager 291
Configuring the Source 292
Configuring the Destination 294
Configuring Error Handling 296
Data Transformation 299
Summary 307
Index 309

About the Author and About the Technical Reviewer

About the Author

Sanjaya Yapa
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currently works as a Microsoft Dynamics 365 consultant in Melbourne, Australia. He has more than 12 years of experience in the industry and has been working with various Microsoft technologies since 2005. He possesses a wealth of experience in software design, development, team leadership, product management, and consultancy. He specializes in solution design and development with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the application life cycle management with Azure DevOps. Sanjaya was the coauthor of Effective Team Management with VSTS and TFS ( www.apress.com/us/book/9781484235577 ). Find him on @sanjaya_yapa and at techjukebox.wordpress.com and almbox.wordpress.com .

 

About the Technical Reviewer

Scott Durow
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is an experienced software architect and technologist with a passion for enabling business transformation through Microsoft technologies.

Scott is a Microsoft Business Applications MVP specializing in Dynamics 365. He is also the author of the Ribbon Workbench and SparkleXRM.

Find him on Twitter as @ScottDurow , and read his blog at scottdurow.develop1.net .

 
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