Author: Carl

Creating an Azure Dashboard to Monitor App Services

In this post, we will look at how to create dashboards in the Azure portal so we can monitor the performance of app services. This is useful to ensure your apps are running smoothly and you can deal with any performance issues if they were to occur. First, let’s log into the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com and in the top left click on Dashboard: We now see a tile below. … Continue reading Creating an Azure Dashboard to Monitor App Services

Update Dynamics 365 Developer Tools to Latest Version

In this post, we will look at how to update the Dynamics 365 Developer Tools to the latest version. These tools include the CrmSvcUtil, Configuration Migration Tool, Package Deployer, Plugin Registration Tool, and Solution Packager. First, let’s look at how to see what version of the tools you are running. To get the version of the Plugin Registration Tool, click on the top right question mark: This opens the version: … Continue reading Update Dynamics 365 Developer Tools to Latest Version

Using Configuration Pages in Dynamics 365 Power Apps Solutions

Configuration pages are used in Dynamics 365 / Power Apps solutions so developers can provide some light documentation on what a solution contains. This might be useful for tracking what is deployed between environments, or what functionality a solution contains. To use configuration pages, first set up a new solution. Note the Configuration Page only has the option “None”. Let’s click Create to save the solution: Next, let’s create a new … Continue reading Using Configuration Pages in Dynamics 365 Power Apps Solutions

Configuring Virtual Applications with Azure App Services and APIM

In this post, we will look at how to configure virtual applications with App Services and API Management (APIM) in Azure. Let’s continue with the example here, where we created the CarlCRMAPI app service using .NET Core. Go to https://portal.azure.com and select the App Service. Then go to Configuration->Path Settings->Virtual Path: We see the path is set to wwwroot: Under Overview, stop the service: Let’s head over to Kudu: Go … Continue reading Configuring Virtual Applications with Azure App Services and APIM

New Features – Common Data Service, SQL and Power BI !!!

One of the cool recent announcements by Microsoft is the ability to write T-SQL queries against a Common Data Service database using SQL Server Management Studio. This also includes the ability to connect to the Common Data Service using Direct Query in Power BI. Let’s look at how to enable this preview feature and how to use it. Note this is a preview feature from Microsoft, so expect things to … Continue reading New Features – Common Data Service, SQL and Power BI !!!

Get Alerted When a Common Data Service Database Version Changes

In this post, we will look at how to create a Power Automate Flow that alerts someone when a Power Platform Common Data Service version changes. This can be very useful if you’re waiting for new features to come out, for example the T-SQL access to the Common Data Service. We can also use this to connect to any of the D365 / Power Apps Web API methods from Power … Continue reading Get Alerted When a Common Data Service Database Version Changes

Find Out When a Dynamics 365 Version Update is Scheduled for Installation

Microsoft releases Dynamics 365 updates periodically. You may want to see which is the current and next version for your region. To do this, go to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/business-applications-release-notes/dynamics/released-versions/dynamics-365ce#latest-version-availability. For example, below we see a list of updates per region: In this case, North America Station 5 is on version 9.1.0.16845 Service Update 168, with the next version 9.1.0.17154 Service Update 171 being rolled out on 5/22. Clicking into one of these release … Continue reading Find Out When a Dynamics 365 Version Update is Scheduled for Installation

How to Use FormContext in a Web Resource in Dynamics 365 Power Apps with getContentWindow

When working with web resources in Dynamics 365 / Power Apps in the past, we were able to access form elements by using Xrm.Page. This has now been deprecated in Dynamics 365 v9.x, so we need a way to access these controls from an HTML web resource. Microsoft documentation has stated that calling parent.Xrm.Page from web resources is still a way to access the form context. However, there is also … Continue reading How to Use FormContext in a Web Resource in Dynamics 365 Power Apps with getContentWindow

Users Not Seeing Model-Driven App? Check These 2 Things

When you create a model-driven app and deploy it to another environment such as from Dev to your Test or Production environments, your users may not see the app. For example, in https://home.dynamics.com (soon to be located in https://www.office.com/apps) we have an app called UciApp1: Our salesperson. Jeff, does not see the app – “We can’t find any apps for your role. To check for recently-added apps, select Refresh”: Note, Jeff has … Continue reading Users Not Seeing Model-Driven App? Check These 2 Things

Setting the Language of a Visual Studio Code File without Saving

Ever use Visual Studio Code and want to set the language of a file without having to save it? Let’s say we have copied some code from somewhere, or we are creating a new file from scratch. Below I have some JavaScript in a file, and the code is all the same color, i.e. VS Code has not recognized this file as JavaScript: To change the language of the file, … Continue reading Setting the Language of a Visual Studio Code File without Saving