Classic Solution Explorer Capabilities NOT yet available in Power Apps New Designer

Microsoft Power Apps Designer helps create Model Driven apps. However, there are capabilities in the Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer that are NOT yet available in the Microsoft Power Apps New Designer. Until then – use the Classic Solution Explorer to perform app making and customization tasks that can’t be completed from the Power Apps home page. Here are some Classic Solution Explorer capabilities NOT yet in Power Apps New Designer.

Relationship Behavior – Configurable Cascading

As of 5/25/2021. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer supports modifying the Relationship Behavior of 1:N Relationship settings – such as setting the Type of Behavior from the default “Parental” to “Configurable Cascading“, Assign behavior to “Cascade None” instead of the default “Cascade All“

Classic Solution Explorer

New Designer – unable to modify the Type of behavior

Form Navigation Area Editing

As of 5/25/2021. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer supports form navigation area editing. Located on the left side of the classic form designer, use the navigation area to control access to related entities or to add links to URLs to be displayed in the main pane of the form. To edit navigation, you must first select the Navigation command in the Select group of the Home tab. No such editing option in the new Designer.

Classic Solution Explorer

Navigation Pane Item Custom Label

As of 5/25/2021. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer supports Navigation Pane Item Custom Label. This allows for the editing of the Related Table (1:N Relationship) display label different than the table name.

Classic Solution Explorer

Custom Label display under Unified Interface App

Real-Time Workflows / Legacy Workflows / Business Process Flows

As of 5/31/2021. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer supports the creations of Real-Time Workflows or Legacy Workflows. It also supports the creations of Business Process Flows (BPF). The Microsoft Power Apps New Solution Designer under the “Process” type can display Real-Time Workflows, Legacy Workflows and BPFs, however there is no option to create them. Need to Switch to classic to do this at this time.

New Solution Designer has NO option to create NEW Real-Time Workflows / Legacy Workflows / BPFs

Classic Solution Explorer New button allows creation of Workflows and BPFs

Activity Type Party List Field

As of 6/15/2021. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer displays Party List type in Table (Entity) Columns (Fields). The only supported option to setup a new Party List field is via a Custom Activity Type table (entity) – and re-purpose the existing 11 Party List fields such as To, CC, Customers, etc.

Classic Solution Explorer displays Party List type

Reference Panel

As of 6/21/2021. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer Form Designer supports the Reference Panel section option. A reference panel is a single column section. You can insert sub-grids, quick view control, or a knowledge base search control inside a reference panel section. Each control that you added in the reference panel appears as a vertical tab within the panel at runtime. This is a good UI option – but for now only able to add it via the Classic Form Designer. Here is a nice write-up on Reference Panels by MVP Dian Taylor

Reference Panel only shows up in the Classic Form Designer Section options

Reference Panel in Out of the Box Case for Interactive experience form

Editable Grids / Editable Sub-Grids / Nested Grids

As of 6/23/2021. With editable grids, users can do rich in-line editing directly from views and sub-grids whether they’re using a web app, tablet, or phone. Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer is the only option currently to setup/configure the Editable Grid or Sub-grid/Nested Grid control. Here is a good write-up on Nested Editable Grids by MVP Priyesh Wagh

Editable Grid at the Table (Entity) level available only in Classic Explorer

Editable Grid / Nested grid within the Form’s Sub-Grid available only in Classic Explorer Form Designer

New Form Designer displays Error loading control on the Editable Sub-Grid

Select entities for Relevance Search

As of 7/7/2021. Relevance Search delivers fast and comprehensive search results in a single list, sorted by relevance. Select entities for Relevance Search is only available via Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer.

Option Set / Choice field type NOT using existing Option Set

As of 8/29/2021. The field type “Choice” (previously called Option Set) to NOT use an existing Option Set is only available via Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer.

It is available on Power Apps Add column – click on View More to display the option of Global Choice (which is same as Yes to using Existing Option Set) or Local Choice (No to using Existing Option Set)

Web Resource / IFrame / Bing Maps Controls

As of 1/25/2022. To insert the Web Resource / IFrame / Bing Maps components / controls to a Form is only available via Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Form Designer.

Choice (Option Set) Display Order Change

As of 2/15/2022. Changing the Choice option (Option Set values) display order is only available via Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer.

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

Error: Table could not be updated: entitymap With Id Does Not Exist

Doing some configurations on a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM environment and received this error while trying to add a NEW Lookup column (previously called field) to a just created NEW custom table (previously called entity) in a Model Driven App:

The table could not be updated: entitymap With Id = xxxxx Does Not Exist.

I was using the Microsoft Power Apps Designer to setup the new table and new columns. I had created an UN-managed Solution that contains the new table and then published the Solution. Then I proceeded to create a new Lookup column and clicked Done. So far so good.

However, when I tried to clicked on the “Save Table” – I received the “The table could not be updated: entitymap With Id = xxxxx Does Not Exist.” error.

Note: new text or date format columns were created OK – no error after clicking “Save Table”

Tried clicking the “Save Table” a few times within a few minutes – still same error.

Searching the internet yield no good ideas. I speculated that because the new custom table was just created – the new table’s meta data has not yet propagated to all the Microsoft’s cloud data locations that the new lookup column creation process is dependent on.

Waited another 10 minutes and tried again. This time worked OK! No support ticket needed.

If someone else encounters this error in the future – resolution may be just to wait a few minutes and try again.

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

How to setup the Dynamics 365 Field Service Free Trial

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service helps organizations deliver onsite service to customer locations. A little bit of history – Microsoft acquired FieldOne, a global provider of field service management solution back in July, 2015. This has evolved to the current Dynamics 365 Field Service offering. The solution gears toward enterprise businesses. With the latest 2021 release wave 1 – it could be a good fit for small to mid-market businesses too. It does takes some setup time and need administration/support to properly operate – it is pretty cool technology and will help your field service resources be more efficient and ultimately deliver better customer experience.

To check it out – I would highly recommend working with a Dynamics 365 Consultant and spin up a Trial environment.

Link to Sign up for a free trial. Click on the “Sign up now“

If message “Looks like you’re already using [email@xyz.com] with another Microsoft service. Sign in to use this account with this trial, or create a new account.

Recommend “Create a new account instead“. This way the trial setup will NOT clutter up your existing environments.

Complete the “Tell us about yourself” and “Create your business identity“

Create you user ID and click on Sign up:

Click on the Get Started and it will take you to the Power Platform admin center. We will need to create a new environment Type of “Trial (subscription-based)“. Enter the Name of this new environment and then click on Next

Under “Add database” – Enter the URL. Be sure that “Enable Dynamics 365 apps” is set to Yes. Select “All enterprise applications” under Automatically deploy these apps (there is NO entry for only Field Service at this time). Click Save

Microsoft will begin preparing the Trial environment. Usually takes only a few minutes.

Once it is ready – click into the Trial environment and then click “Open environment” OR the Environment URL

The Trial environment has the Field Service app ready for you to check out along with other related Field Service apps. Here is the link to Get started with Dynamics 365 Field Service and link to Dynamics 365 Field Service user guide. Have fun.

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

How to Export the Audit History Values from Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 supports Audit Logging of various events. Authorized users can view the Audit History on any Dynamics 365 tables enabled for Auditing.

However, there is NO Export audit data function available from the Dynamics 365 Audit History or Audit Summary View.

The good news is that there is an out of the box option via Microsoft 365 Compliance’s Audit to Export the Dynamics 365 audit data including the Changed Values.

Here is an example from the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Audit History showing a Create and two Updates for “Test Contact 210409” record: Notice that there is NO option to export this data from the Dynamics 365 Contact’s Audit History view.

Now let’s look at this result from the Microsoft 365 compliance Audit Search on Dynamics 365 activities. Notice that there is the option to Download all results!

The Download is a CSV file. Notice that column D “AuditData” is in JSON format.

Excel has the option to transform/format the column JSON to regular Excel columns using Power Query Editor. Here is a link to the steps to format the exported audit log

After the transform and expansion of the AuditData columns. Then another level expansion of the AuditData.Fields column yielded the Audit History Field values in a pretty standard and easy to analyze Excel format:

Note: Dynamics 365 Audit Log data IS NOT immediately available in Microsoft 365 Compliance – takes up to 24 hours AFTER the event occurs for the corresponding audit log record to be returned

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

How to visually tell between Common Data Service vs Common Data Service (current environment) NEW name Microsoft Dataverse

NOTE: As of the 4/8/2021 Announcement – The Common Data Service (current environment) connector will now be known as Microsoft Dataverse, and appear with the new icon and color shade as shown below. The previous Common Data Service connector will be known as Microsoft Dataverse (legacy). It will be shown with the new icon, albeit in a de-emphasized color shade:

The good news based on my testing so far – no impact to importing existing Flows created with the previous Common Data Service and Common Data Service (current environment) connectors.

---

Microsoft Power Automate Flows support both Common Data Service and Common Data Service (current environment) connectors at the present time. The Common Data Service (current environment) connector is newer.

Both CDS and CDS (current environment) offer similar triggers and actions. Link to a good write up on the difference. Here is how to visually tell them apart to help properly setup the proper syntax/format.

Common Data Service icon has thinner line vs Common Data Service (current enviornment) which has bolder line

Common Data Service connector Triggers include “When a row is selected” – this is the trigger needed for Instant Cloud Flows. Triggers and Actions names use “record” instead of “row”. Instant Cloud Flows would be a good replacement option for Dynamics 365 / CRM On-Demand Workflows.

Common Data Service (current environment) connector Triggers include the flow step from a business process flow. Triggers and Actions names use “row” instead of “record” based on newer terminology

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

Power Automate Instant Cloud Flow in Dynamics 365 Solution

Microsoft Power Automate Instant Cloud Flow supports ON-Demand running from within Dynamics 365 such as running an Instant Cloud Flow on the Account table record/row – similar to Dynamics 365 On-Demand Workflow.

Here is a good blog from D365 Demystified on steps to build an Instant Cloud Flow in Dynamics 365.

Note: To find ALL the Power Automate Flows (Inside OR Outside a Solution) for an environment – use the Power Platform admin center. More details near the end of this blog.

Some notes regarding Dynamics 365 CDS Connector, Solution, Security and Microsoft Power Automate Instant Cloud Flow based on 2020 release wave 2 (Server version: 9.2.21021.00144):

• Power Automate Instant Cloud Flow is ONLY available using the Common Data Service (CDS) connector BUT NOT the Common Data Service (current environment) version at this time
  • ONLY the Common Data Service (CDS) connector offers the “When a row is selected” trigger

• The “When a row is selected” trigger will display the Instant Cloud Flow in the associated Dynamics 365 Entity (Table is the new name going forward) such as the Accounts table

• Power Automate Instant Cloud Flow CAN BE created outside of OR within a Solution – Flows created from either outside or inside a Solution will show up in the associated Dynamics 365 Table
  • An Instant Cloud Flow created outside of a Solution however CAN NOT be added to a Solution at this time, only an Instant Cloud Flow created FROM WITHIN a Solution CAN be added to another Solution. Add existing cloud flow to a Solution DOES NOT work for Instant Cloud Flow created outside of a Solution (other types of Flow such as Automated Cloud Flow is OK). Link to this limitation
  • There is the issue of UNABLE to Save As an Instant Cloud Flow created inside a Solution to another Solution – the Save As will save the copy of the Instant Cloud Flow OUTSIDE of a Solution

• Instant Cloud Flow has ONLY TWO security levels – “Owners” or “Run only users“
  • To limit specific Flows to only some Dynamics 365 users – ADD only those users as “Run only users” – THIS ONLY applies to Instant Cloud Flow that is created OUTSIDE of a Solution
  • Instant Cloud Flow that is created INSIDE of a Solution – will ignore the “Run only users” and be available to all Dynamics 365 users. There is an option to NOT Allow Running Flows based on Dynamics 365 Security Role settings (Security Role > Customization > Miscellaneous Privileges > Run Flows) but not at the individual specific Instant Cloud Flow level IF it was created INSIDE of a Solution

• Power Automate My flows DOES NOT show ANY Instant Cloud Flows created inside a Solution
  • Instant Cloud Flows created inside a Solution show up within the Solution only

To SEE ALL the Power Automate Flows (Inside OR Outside a Solution) for an environment – use the Power Platform admin center

Select the Environment > click on the Resources and select Flows

Note: The Owners column value will be blank for Flows that are INSIDE a Solution.

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

How to Add SharePoint Document Files Tab to a Dynamics 365 Custom or Out of the Box Table (Entity) Main Form

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Custom Table (Custom Entity) supports Document Management with SharePoint. The Main Form on the Custom Table (Custom Entity) however DOES NOT have the Files tab available by default.

WORK for Out of the Box Tables too. The same setup also applies to adding the Files tab to Main Forms (if missing and not present by default) of out of the box Dynamics 365 tables (entities) that are enabled for Document Management.

Note: We will need to use the Microsoft Power Apps Form Designer to do this since the Dynamics 365 Legacy / Classic Solution Explorer DOES NOT have the option to setup the related Documents subgrid under the Files tab.

Here is how to add a SharePoint Document “Files” tab to a Document Management enabled Dynamics 365 Table (Entity).

Part 1 – Create the Files tab and add the Related Documents Subgrid

• Open Power Apps > select the Dynamics 365 environment > open the Solution containing the custom entity main form to add the Files tab to

Note: For this example – we will use a custom table (entity) called “Company”

• From the opened Solution > Open the custom entity > Open the Main Form to add the Files tab

Note: For this example – we will use the main form called “Information”

• Add a 1 column tab and label it “Files” to the main form
• Select this new tab and click to focus on the Section
• Hide the Section label in this new “Files” tab

• Add a Subgrid component to this new Files tab
• Click on the “Show related records” and select the “Documents (Regarding)” for Table
• The Default view is defaulted to “All SharePoint Document” and NOT editable from Power Apps Form Designer at this time. We will set this to “Document Associated Grid” default view via Customization XML at a later step – see Part 2 below

Note: “Document Associated Grid” is the default view behavior found in out of the box Files tab and related Documents view

• Check the “Hide label” option for the Subgrid control
• Check the “Allow users to change view” option
• Check the “Show all views” option

• Save and Publish the change
• The Files tab is now functional except that it defaults to the “All SharePoint Document” and will NOT display the Document Location on the upper left corner below the view name. If this is OK – you can stop here. However, if you like to set the default view to “Document Associated Grid” – proceed to the next step – Part 2 Modify the Customization XML

Part 2 – Modifying the Customization XML to set Files tab default view to “Document Associated Grid“

Note: Need to be extra careful when editing the Customization XML since it will be via UNmanaged Solution – changes are final. Be sure to test it out in a test environment first.

• Open Power Apps > select the Dynamics 365 environment > Create a NEW Solution to contain only the updated main form component from Part 1 above AND NOTHING ELSE
• Add the custom Table to this NEW Solution from above

• Click on Select components and ONLY select the Main Form component with the Files tab from above
• DO NOT include all components
• DO NOT include table metadata

• Export this solution as Unmanaged solution

• Update the customizations.xml from the downloaded Unmanaged solution zip file
• Search for the Subgrid control label name in the customizations.xml. Example above is labeled “New SG control 1614755864750“
• Replace the <ViewId> value A5B008AC-07D9-4554-8509-2C05767BFF51 with 0016F9F3-41CC-4276-9D11-04308D15858D. THIS IS THE ONLY CHANGE
• Import the Unmanaged solution zip file
• Publish the table/entity

"All SharePoint Document" view GUID (replace this value in the UNManaged Solution's Customizaton XML):

<ViewId>{A5B008AC-07D9-4554-8509-2C05767BFF51}</ViewId>

TO THIS "Document Associated Grid" view GUID:
<ViewId>{0016F9F3-41CC-4276-9D11-04308D15858D}</ViewId>

This was tested OK on:

2021 release wave 2 enabled
Server version: 9.2.21112.00141
Client version: 1.4.3618-2111.2

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

How to Update an Existing Dynamics 365 Custom Report RDL

Dynamics 365 supports custom reports built using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report definition language (RDL). When the situation calls for updating an existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 custom report (.RDL) but you no longer have access to the original code/solution – here is how to download and update the existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 custom report (.RDL):

First, download the existing Custom Report’s .RDL file using Microsoft Dynamics 365’s Advanced Find.

Use Advanced Find to look for “Reports“

Select the existing Dynamics 365 CRM Report and click on Edit. Action > Download Report

Next step is to open Visual Studio that is setup for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Report writing/development

Create a new project based on the “Report Server Project” template

Right click on the “Reports” folder and Add an “Existing Item…”. Select the downloaded .RDL file from above step

Open (double-click) on the .RDL file and begin updating custom report in the “Design” tab

Click on the “Preview” tab to build the updated .RDL file.

The updated .RDL file is located in the Project directory. Use Advanced Find to edit the existing custom report and choose the updated .RDL file.

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

Dynamics 365 Configure Server Based SharePoint Integration Error – 403 Forbidden

Encountered this error while setting up the Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM SharePoint Document Management – when trying to Enable Server-Based SharePoint Integration: Validation Status: Failed. Default Site Invalid. Dynamics 365 Configure Server Based SharePoint Integration Error – The remote server returned an error: 403 Forbidden.

<errorlog><sites>
  <site>
    <url>https://demo210111.sharepoint.com/sites/CRMTS01</url>
    <exception>The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden.</exception>
  </site>
</sites></errorlog>

This is due to the CRM User setting up the SharePoint integration needing the proper SharePoint Site permission in-addition to CRM security roles. Need to add the CRM User to the SharePoint Site with Edit Permission to resolve this error.

Re-ran and it is OK and no more error. Yay!

Link to Permissions required for document management tasks

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley

Dynamics 365 Document Location Error – urloption is not defined

Encountered this error while setting up the Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM SharePoint Document Management – Document Location “urloption is not defined“

Here is the Error Details

ReferenceError: urloption is not defined
    at Object.mscrm.Form_onload (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/%7b637464136700026442%7d/webresources/SharePointDocumentLocation_main_system_library.js:1:1380)
    at pl._executeFunctionInternal (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:1142:3778)
    at pl.executeFunction (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:1142:3524)
    at pl.execute (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:1142:3339)
    at https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:110:21987
    at i (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:235:88)
    at z._executeIndividualEvent (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:110:21963)
    at z._executeEventHandler (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:110:19076)
    at Object.execute (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:110:16470)
    at w._executeSyncAction (https://demo210111.crm.dynamics.com/uclient/scripts/app.js?v=1.4.1967-2011.4:765:692)

This error is due to Server-Based SharePoint Integration is NOT enabled. Usually this is the first step in setting up the out of the box D365 SharePoint integration. Only encountered this error while trying out a “test environment” and unable to find anything on the error message.

To enable the Server-Based SharePoint Integration navigate to Power Platform admin center > Select the Dynamics 365 Environment > Settings > Integration > Document management settings > Enable Server-Based SharePoint Integration

Here is another error that is due to Server-Based SharePoint Integration NOT enabled:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 List component is not installed.

Install the List component to enable SharePoint to automatically create a hierarchical folder structure on SharePoint for Microsoft Dynamics 365 records. The List component also enables you to get the appearance and behavior of a Microsoft Dynamics 365 list.

Contact me if you need some Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Sales Customer Engagement assistance.

Frank Lee
12 times awarded Microsoft MVP – Dynamics 365 / CRM
San Francisco Bay Area | Silicon Valley