Month: February 2025

Call Custom Actions in Dataverse using Web API – Quick Recap

Hi Folks,

Here is how you can quickly call action using Web API, with this method you can execute a single action, function, or CRUD operation. In the below example, let’s see how you can call an action. Here is function…to achieve this..

var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext();
var message = "Please enter a valid NRIC Number";
var uniqueId = "nric_valid";
var NRIC = formContext.getAttribute("new_nric").getValue();
if(NRIC !== null)
{
var execute_ValidateNRIC = {
NRIC: NRIC, // Call this function only when NRIC value which is non-null
getMetadata: function () {
return {
boundParameter: null,
parameterTypes: {
NRIC: { typeName: "Edm.String", structuralProperty: 1 }
},
operationType: 0,
operationName: "new_ValidateNRIC",
outputParameterTypes: {
IsValid: { typeName: "Edm.Boolean" }
}
};
}
};
Xrm.WebApi.execute(execute_new_ValidateNRIC).then(
function success(response) {
if (response.ok) {
response.json().then(function (data) {
if (!data.IsValid) {
formContext.getControl("new_nric").setNotification(message, uniqueId);
} else {
formContext.getControl("new_nric").clearNotification(uniqueId);
}
}).catch(function (error) {
Xrm.Navigation.openAlertDialog("Error occured from Validate NRIC "+error);
});
}
}
).catch(function (error) {
Xrm.Navigation.openAlertDialog(error.message);
}).catch(function (error) {
Xrm.Navigation.openAlertDialog(error.message);
});
}
}
view raw Js to Call Custom Action using Web API hosted with ❤ by GitHub

This example details with Unbound action, which is not tagged to any entity, however if in case on Bound action, you will specify the entity name for bound parameter instead of null. You need to specify the Metadata accordingly for your Action. Let’s understand it’s syntax first…

Xrm.WebApi.online.execute(request).then(successCallback, errorCallback);

Parameters

Encrypting/Decrypting a file using Public & Private Key Pair with GnuPG

Hi Folks,

Thank you for visiting my blog today…this is post is mainly for Pro developers. Encryption is crucial to maintain the confidentiality in this digital age for the security of our sensitive information. So here is a blog about it. This is in continuation to my previous blog post on encrypting files using GnuPG.

In this blog post, I will give you sample how you can encrypt/decrypt using GnuPG with command line scripts from C# code.

If you didn’t go through my previous article, I strongly recommend you go through that article below first to understand the background.

Installing GnuPG – Your open-source software companion to encrypt/decrypt files for your Power Platform Integrations

Next, in order to encrypt/decrypt a given csv file (taken for simplicity), we can use the following C# codes. For illustration purpose, I have just provided you the logic in the form of a Console.

Encryption:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace eHintsBatchDecryptionTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string gpgPath = @"D:\Softwares\Kleo Patra\GnuPG\bin\gpg.exe"; //This is the place where you have installed GnuPG Software
string inputFile = "location of input file";
string outputFile = "location of output file";
string passphrase = "passPhrase";
DecryptGPGFile(gpgPath, inputFile, outputFile, passphrase);
}
static void DecryptGPGFile(string gpgPath, string inputFile, string outputFile, string passphrase)
{
using (Process process = new Process())
{
process.StartInfo.FileName = gpgPath;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = $"–batch –yes –pinentry-mode=loopback –passphrase {passphrase} -d -o \"{outputFile}\" \"{inputFile}\"";
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.Start();
string output = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string error = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
process.WaitForExit();
if (process.ExitCode == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine("Decryption successful.");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Decryption failed. Error: " + error);
}
}
}
}
}
view raw Encrypt csv file using GnuPG from C# using command line hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Decryption:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace BatchDecryptionTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string gpgPath = @"D:\Softwares\Kleo patra\GnuPG\bin\gpg.exe";//Once GPG installed, you can look for gpg.exe in the bin folder of the installation
string inputFile = "Input encrypted file";//Replace with your gpg encrypted file location
string outputFile = "Decrypted CSV file"; //give it a name for the decrypted file and location, output file path doesnt exists yet, you may give a sample name
string passphrase = "passPhrase";
DecryptGPGFile(gpgPath, inputFile, outputFile, passphrase);
}
static void DecryptGPGFile(string gpgPath, string inputFile, string outputFile, string passphrase)
{
using (Process process = new Process())
{
process.StartInfo.FileName = gpgPath;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = $"–batch –yes –pinentry-mode=loopback –passphrase {passphrase} -d -o \"{outputFile}\" \"{inputFile}\""; //Pass the PassPhrase, Input and Output file paths as parameters
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.Start();
string output = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string error = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
process.WaitForExit();
if (process.ExitCode == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine("Decryption successful.");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Decryption failed. Error: " + error);
}
}
}
}
}
view raw Decrypt csv file using GnuPG from C# using command line hosted with ❤ by GitHub

All you need is to copy and replace the file locations in the code. Sit back and enjoy encrypting and decrypting with GnuPG. I should say once known, this is the easiest way to encrypt/decrypt from C# code, no strings attached.

If you need any other information, please do let me know in comments.

Cheers,

PMDY

Microsoft Power Platform Center of Excellence (CoE) Starter Kit – Core Components – Setup wizard – Learn COE #02

Hi Folks,

This post is continuation to my previous post on COE Starter Kit, if in case you have just landed on this page. I would suggest go here and check out my blog post on introduction to COE Starter Kit.

Important:

Do test out each and every component, rolling out to production without testing as you need to keep in mind that there were many flows which can trigger emails to users which may keep them annoyed.

You need to install the components present in the COE Starter Kit extracted folder in the dedicated environment, preferably Sandbox environment (not in Default environment, so that you can test it out first before moving changes to Production), make sure you have Dataverse installed in the environment. First let’s install the Solutions and later we can proceed to customize them.

Install CenterofExcellenceCoreComponents managed solution from your extracted folder, the exact version may be different and differ as the time goes at the time of installing this, the version was as below CenterofExcellenceCoreComponents_4.24_managed

Then proceed to click on Import as we will be configuring these environment variables whenever required later. It takes a couple of seconds to process, it asks to set the connections which I had talked about in previous post, just create new connection if one not available and click next. Make sure you have green checkboxes for each connection, and you are good to click next.

Then you will be presented with the screen to input Environment variables as below, we will configure later so for now, just proceed by clicking on Import button.

The import process may take a while like around 15 minutes, once imported, you should see a notification message on your screen something like below.

Step 1:

You will have a bunch of Apps, Flows installed in your environment. Configure the COE Settings by opening the Centre of Excellence setup and upgrade wizard from the installed Center of Excellence – Core Components managed solution.

It should look something like below when opened. You will be presented with some prerequisites

Proceed with this step-by-step configuration, you don’t need to change any of the setting, just proceed by clicking on Next.

Step 2: In this step, you can configure different communication groups to coordinate by creating different personas

You can click on Configure group, choose the group from the drop down and enter the details and click create a group.

Provide a group name and email address without domain in the next steps and proceed to create a group, these were actually Microsoft 365 groups.

Once you have setup, it should show..

However, this step is optional, but for efficient tracking and maximum benefit of COE, it is recommended to set this up.

Step 3: While the tenant Id gets populated automatically. Make sure to select no here instead of yes if you were using Sandbox or Production Environment and configure your Admin email and click Next.

Step 4: Configure the inventory data source.

Tip: In case you were not able to see the entire content in the page, you can minimize the Copilot and press F11 so that entire text in the page would be visible to you.

This is required for the Power Platform Admin Connectors to crawl your tenant data and store them in Dataverse tables. This is similar to how search engines crawl entire internet to show any search results. While Data export is in preview, so we proceed with using Cloud flows.

Click Next.

Step 5:

This step is Run the setup flows, click on refresh to start the process. In the background, all the necessary admin flows will be running. Refresh again after 15 minutes to see all the 3 admin flows are running and collecting your tenant data as below and click Next.

Step 6:

In the next step, make sure you set all the inventory flows to On.

By the way inventory flows are a set of flows that are repeatedly gathering a lot of information about your Power Platform tenant. This includes all Canvas Apps, Model Driven Apps, Power Pages, Cloud Flows, Desktop Flows, Power Virtual Agent Bots, Connectors, Solutions and even more.

To enable them, open the COE Admin Command Center App from Center of Excellence – Core Components Solution. Make sure you turn on all the flows available.

So, after turning on all the flows, come back and check on Center of Excellence Wizard Setup, you should see a message something like below saying all flows have been turned on.

Configure data flows is optional, as we haven’t configured it earlier, this step would be skipped.

Step 7: In the next step, all the Apps came in with Power Platform COE Kit should be shared accordingly based on your actual requirement to different. personas.

Step 8:

This part of the wizard currently consists of a collection of links to resources, helping to configure and use the Power BI Dashboards included in the CoE.

Finish

Once you click Done, you will be presented with more features to setup.

These setups have similar structure but varies a bit based on the feature architecture.

As we got started with setting Starter Kit and had set up the Core Components of the Starter Kit which is important one, now you can keep customizing further, in the future posts, we will see how we can set up Center of Excellence – Governance Components, Center of Excellence – Innovation Backlog. These components are required to finally set up the Power BI Dashboard and use effectively to plan your strategy.

Everyone who’s ever installed or updated the CoE knows how time-consuming it can be. Not just the setup procedure, but also the learning process, the evaluation and finally the configuration and adoption of new features. It’s definitely challenging to keep up with all this. Especially since new features are delivered almost every month. This attempt from me is to try my best to keep it concise, yet making you understand the process.

While such setup wizard is clear and handy resource to get an overview of the CoE architecture and a great starting point for finding any documentation. This simplifies administration, operations, maintenance and may be even customizations.

If you face issues using the COE Starter Kit, you can always report them at https://aka.ms/coe-starter-kit-issues

Hope this helps…. someone setting up COE starter kit…. if you have any feedback or questions, do let me know in comments….

Cheers,

PMDY