Writing a Simple Dynamics 365 Plugin – A Beginner’s Guide

Dynamics 365 is a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) software that can improve business productivity. Plugins, in particular, are add-ons that can extend the functionality of Dynamics 365. You can use plugins to automate repetitive tasks, validate data, and trigger custom workflows.

In this article, we’ll show you how to write a simple Dynamics 365 plugin for a contact entity. We’ll be using C# code in Visual Studio, but the steps and concepts can apply to other programming languages and development environments.

Step 1: Setting up the Development Environment

To begin, you need to have access to a Dynamics 365 instance and Visual Studio. You also need to install the Dynamics 365 SDK, which provides the necessary libraries and tools for plugin development. You can download the SDK from the Microsoft website.

Once you’ve installed the SDK, create a new project in Visual Studio using the ‘Class Library’ template. Name the project ‘MyPlugin’ or any name you prefer. Next, add references to the following Dynamics 365 SDK assemblies:

– Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.dll
– Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Proxy.dll
– System.Runtime.Serialization.dll

Step 2: Writing the Plugin Code

Now that you’ve set up the project, you can start writing the code. The first thing you need to do is create a class that inherits from the ‘IPlugin’ interface. This interface provides the methods that the plugin needs to implement to interact with Dynamics 365.

Here’s a sample code for the plugin class:

using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;

namespace MyPlugin
{
public class ContactCreatePlugin : IPlugin
{
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
// TODO: Implement the plugin logic here
}
}
}

In this example, we’ve created a plugin class called ‘ContactCreatePlugin’ that implements the ‘IPlugin’ interface. The ‘Execute’ method is the entry point of the plugin, where the actual logic will be performed.

Step 3: Defining the Plugin Registration

To make the plugin available in Dynamics 365, you need to register it using the Plugin Registration Tool. This tool is included in the Dynamics 365 SDK and can be accessed from the Visual Studio menu by selecting Tools > Plugin Registration.

In the Plugin Registration Tool, create a new registration for the plugin assembly and specify the following details:

– Plugin type: Choose ‘Plugin’
– Message: Choose ‘Create’ (this means the plugin will run when a new record is created)
– Primary Entity: Choose ‘Contact’ (this means the plugin will run for the contact entity)
– Execution mode: Choose ‘Synchronous’ (this means the plugin will run immediately after the record is created)
– Stage: Choose ‘Pre-validation’ (this means the plugin will run before the data is validated)

After registering the plugin, you can test it by creating a new contact record in Dynamics 365. The plugin should run and perform the specified logic.

Step 4: Implementing the Plugin Logic

Now that the plugin is registered, you can add the actual logic to it. In this example, let’s say we want to set the contact’s email address to lowercase when it’s created. Here’s the updated plugin code:

using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;

namespace MyPlugin
{
public class ContactCreatePlugin : IPlugin
{
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
// Get the execution context
IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

// Get the target entity (the new contact record)
Entity target = (Entity)context.InputParameters[“Target”];

// Get the email attribute value and convert it to lowercase
if (target.Contains(“emailaddress1”))
{
string email = target.GetAttributeValue(“emailaddress1”);
target[“emailaddress1”] = email.ToLower();
}
}
}
}

In this code, we’ve added the logic to retrieve the target entity (the new contact record) and its email attribute value. We then convert the email value to lowercase and set it back to the attribute.

Step 5: Testing and Deploying the Plugin

After adding the logic, you can test the plugin again by creating a new contact record with an uppercase email address. The plugin should now set the email to lowercase automatically.

To deploy the plugin to a production environment, you need to create a solution that includes the plugin assembly and the plugin registration. You can then export the solution as a package and import it into the production environment.

Conclusion

Writing a simple Dynamics 365 plugin can be a great way to extend the application’s functionality and automate business processes. By following the steps in this article, you should be able to create and deploy a basic plugin for the contact entity. As you become more familiar with plugin development, you can explore more advanced features and scenarios to improve your Dynamics 365 experience.