Introduction

Dynamics 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software, is an incredibly powerful tool. It can help businesses automate their workflows, manage their customer interactions, and streamline their operations. One of the key features of Dynamics 365 is its flexibility and extensibility through plugins. In this blog post, we’ll walk through the process of writing a simple Dynamics 365 plugin, step-by-step.

Step 1: Set up your development environment

To write a Dynamics 365 plugin, you’ll need to have access to a development environment with Microsoft Visual Studio installed. You’ll also need to install the Dynamics 365 SDK, which provides the tools and libraries you’ll need to develop plugins.

Step 2: Create a new project

Once you’ve set up your development environment, create a new project in Visual Studio. Choose the “Class Library” project type, and make sure that the target framework is .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later.

Step 3: Add references to the Dynamics 365 SDK

Next, add the necessary references to the Dynamics 365 SDK. To do this, right-click on your project in the Solution Explorer window and choose “Manage NuGet Packages.” Search for “Microsoft.CrmSdk.CoreAssemblies” and install it.

Step 4: Define the plugin class

Now it’s time to define the plugin class itself. In your project, add a new class file and name it something meaningful, like “MyPlugin.cs”. Inside that file, define a class that inherits from the “IPlugin” interface. This interface defines the methods that your plugin will need to implement.

Here’s an example of what your class might look like:

public class MyPlugin : IPlugin
{
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
// Your plugin code goes here
}
}

Step 5: Implement your plugin logic

Now it’s time to write the actual logic for your plugin. Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, this could involve interacting with the Dynamics 365 API, querying or updating records, or performing some other action based on a trigger in the system.

For example, let’s say you want to create a plugin that runs whenever a new contact is created in Dynamics 365. Your plugin might look like this:

public class MyPlugin : IPlugin
{
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
// Get a reference to the execution context
var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

// Check if the plugin was triggered by a create message and if the target entity is a contact
if (context.MessageName.ToLower() == “create” && context.PrimaryEntityName.ToLower() == “contact”)
{
// Get the new contact entity from the target of the execution context
var contact = (Entity)context.InputParameters[“Target”];

// Set the contact’s first name to “Hello” and last name to “World”
contact[“firstname”] = “Hello”;
contact[“lastname”] = “World”;
}
}
}

Step 6: Register your plugin

Once you’ve written your plugin code, you need to register it with Dynamics 365 so that it will be executed when the specified trigger occurs. To do this, you can use the Plugin Registration Tool provided with the Dynamics 365 SDK.

First, build your project to create the DLL. Then, open the Plugin Registration Tool and connect to your Dynamics 365 instance. From there, you can create a new plugin step for your assembly and specify the trigger for your plugin (in our example, the “Create” message for the “Contact” entity).

Conclusion

Writing a Dynamics 365 plugin might seem intimidating at first, but by following these steps, you should be able to create a simple plugin that performs useful functionality in your instance. Remember to test your plugin thoroughly before deploying it to production, and don’t hesitate to reach out to the Dynamics 365 community for help if you encounter any issues. Happy coding!