This project is a compilation of tools and design pattern that has been used on several Microsoft Services Dynamics 365 projects.

Several design pattern are included in this framework :

1. Definition of Services to access CRM Data from Plugins or external code (Webservices, console apps, ...)
2. Automatic Plugin Step registration from source code (use of attributes to describe plugin and plugin steps)
3. Advanced plugin traces (service calls are logged)
4. Metadata Definition extraction tool (no more plain string attribute references)

Add a connectionStrings.config file as follows in the Config\ folder near App.config (you can copy connectionStrings.sample to start you file)

  <connectionStrings>
    <!-- You must specify here the connection string to your environment
         You can specify several connection strings, you will select the one corresponding to the deployment
         environnement in the xrmFramework selectedConnection attribute below    
    -->
    <add name="Xrm" connectionString="AuthType=Office365; Url=https://yourorg.crm4.dynamics.com; Username=****@***.**; Password=*****"/>
  </connectionStrings>

The connectionStrings.config file is added to the .gitignore so your connectionString will not be sent to the repository and each developer can use his credentials.

Edit the App.config file in the Config solution folder to configure the connection to Dynamics 365 and the configuration of project deployments.

Define the connection string to Dynamics 365

You can specify several connection strings and pick the one to use in deployment tools by modifying the attribute selectedConnection

<xrmFramework selectedConnection="Xrm">
    ...    
</xrmFramework>

Specify the solution unique name of the solution that is holding the entities in your Dynamics 365 implementation.

<entitySolution name="EntitiesSolutionUniqueName" />

Define project list you have in your solution and the corresponding deployment target solution

<projects>
    <add name="Plugins" targetSolution="PluginsSolutionUniqueName" type="PluginsWorkflows" />
    <add name="Workflows" targetSolution="WorkflowsSolutionUniqueName" type="PluginsWorkflows" />
    <add name="Webresources" targetSolution="WebResourcesSolutionUniqueName" type="WebResources" />
</projects>

Launch the executable DefinitionManager.exe in the Deploy solution folder ( you can set the project as Startup project and run it pressing Ctrl + F5 )

The program retrieves all the entities that are referenced in you entities solution.

The definitions already added to you solution will be automatically selected.

You can select attributes to add them to already generated definitions or select new entities to generate definition files for them.

Optionset attributes, when selected, generate corresponding enums

	[OptionSetDefinition(AccountDefinition.EntityName, AccountDefinition.Columns.AccountCategoryCode)]
	public enum Category
	{
		Null = 0,
		[Description("Preferred Customer")]
		PreferredCustomer = 1,
		[Description("Standard")]
		Standard = 2,
	}

When you have finished selecting the needed elements you can click on the "Generate Definitions" button.

The Model is now updated with the definitions you chose

Implement a plugin using the Plugin base class.

using Model;
using Plugins;

public class SamplePlugin : Plugin
{
    ...
}

Implement the AddSteps method to define the steps that this plugin will manage

    protected override void AddSteps()
    {
        AddStep(Stages.PreValidation, Messages.Create, Modes.Synchronous, AccountDefinition.EntityName, nameof(Method1));
        AddStep(Stages.PreValidation, Messages.Update, Modes.Synchronous, AccountDefinition.EntityName, nameof(Method1));

        AddStep(Stages.PostOperation, Messages.Update, Modes.Synchronous, AccountDefinition.EntityName, nameof(Method2));
    }

For each method that you reference you can specify several information using method attributes :

   
    [PreImage(AccountDefinition.Columns.Name)]
    [PostImage(AccountDefinition.Columns.Name)]
    [FilteringAttributes(AccountDefinition.Columns.Name, AccountDefinition.Columns.AccountNumber)]
    [ExecutionOrder(100)]
    public void Method(...)

• PreImageAttribute is used to define the fields that will be added in the preImage that will be registered

• PostImageAttribute is used to define the fields that will be added in the postImage that will be registered

• FilteringAttributesAttribute is used to define on which attribute change the method should launch

• ExecutionOrderAttribute allows specifying the execution order that will be registered

public void Method(IPluginContext context, IAccountService accountService, ...)

The code is currently on production on several big project but is not at all finished. If you have time and motivation to contribute to it you are welcome to make pull requests. Il will study them and include the changes in this repo.