Dynamics 365 Tools — VS Code Extension

Work with Dynamics 365 (Dataverse) without leaving VS Code. You can publish web resources, manage plugins, build and deploy PCF controls, and edit ribbons. You bind local files to CRM components once, then push updates to one or many environments with a few clicks.

Table of contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Install
• Views
• Configure environments and solutions
• Authenticate
• Web resources
• Plugins
• PCF controls
• Ribbons
• All commands
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Publish web resources from the Explorer with a couple of clicks. No DevOps pipeline needed.
• Manage plugins in a tree view: assemblies, plugin types, steps, and images. Register or update assemblies straight from VS Code.
• Build and deploy PCF controls: create a new control, build or watch it, push it to an environment, or package it as a solution.
• Edit ribbons: find and filter ribbon items, add custom buttons, hide or reorder out-of-the-box buttons, add commands and rules, then publish to an environment.
• Multiple environments: keep dev, test, and prod side by side and pick the target when you publish.
• Share settings with the team through small JSON files in .vscode/.
• Safe credentials: secrets are kept in VS Code Secret Storage. Interactive sign-in and client secrets are both supported.
• Fast folder publish: all supported child files are published, up to 4 at a time. Unchanged files are skipped, and you can cancel any run.
• Status bar shortcuts to republish the last web resource or plugin assembly in seconds.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.84 or newer.
• .NET SDK — needed to register or update plugin assemblies (a small helper reads the plugin types from your .dll), to generate a strong name key (uses the sn tool), and to package PCF solutions. The dotnet command must be on your PATH.
• Power Platform CLI (pac) — needed for PCF commands such as New PCF Control and Push PCF Control. See the install guide.
• Node.js and npm — needed to build and watch PCF controls.

You only need the tools for the features you use. For example, web resource publishing works without any of them.

Install

• Open the VS Code Marketplace, search for “Dynamics 365 Tools”, and click Install.
• Or install a packaged .vsix file with Extensions: Install from VSIX….

Views

The extension adds its own Dynamics 365 Tools icon to the Activity Bar. It holds three views:

• Plugins — browse and manage plugin assemblies, types, steps, and images.
• PCF Controls — see PCF controls in your workspace and the ones deployed to each environment.
• Ribbons — open ribbon XML, edit it, and publish it.

Web resource actions (bind, publish, open in Power Apps) live in the Explorer right-click menu instead, under Dynamics 365 Tools.

Configure environments and solutions

Create the config by running Dynamics 365 Tools: Add Environment or Dynamics 365 Tools: Sign In (Interactive). After that you can edit .vscode/dynamics365tools.config.json by hand if you want.

• Add an environment quickly: Dynamics 365 Tools: Add Environment.
• Add a solution from Dataverse: Dynamics 365 Tools: Add Solution. It loads the unmanaged solutions from the chosen environment and fills in the publisher prefix for you.

{
  "environments": [
    {
      "name": "dev",
      "url": "https://your-dev.crm.dynamics.com",
      "authType": "interactive",
      "manageMissingComponents": true,
    },
    {
      "name": "prod",
      "url": "https://your-prod.crm.dynamics.com",
      "authType": "clientSecret",
      "resource": "https://your-prod.crm.dynamics.com",
      "manageMissingComponents": false,
      "userAgentEnabled": true,
      "userAgent": "Dynamics365Tools-VSCode",
    },
  ],
  "solutions": [
    { "name": "CoreWebResources", "prefix": "publisherPrefix_" },
    { "name": "ComponentWebResources", "prefix": "publisherPrefix_" },
  ],
}

Config parameters:

• environments (optional, default []): the Dataverse environments you can publish to.
  • name (required): a short label shown in the VS Code pickers (for example dev, test, prod).
  • url (required): the org base URL (for example https://contoso.crm.dynamics.com).
  • authType (optional): interactive or clientSecret. If it is missing, interactive sign-in is tried first.
  • resource (optional): a custom token audience or scope base. Use it only when your auth setup needs a different audience than url.
  • manageMissingComponents (optional, default false): when true, publishing can create missing web resources and plugin components, and plugin sync can delete plugin types that are not in the assembly. When false, only existing components are updated.
  • userAgentEnabled (optional, default false): adds a User-Agent header to the Dataverse and token HTTP calls.
  • userAgent (optional): a custom User-Agent value. If it is empty and userAgentEnabled is true, the extension uses Dynamics365Tools-VSCode/<version>.
• solutions (optional, default []): the Dataverse solutions used for bind, publish, and plugin actions.
  • name (required): the solution unique name in Dataverse (for example CoreWebResources).
  • prefix (required): the web resource prefix used for default paths (for example new_, cmp_). Add Solution saves this from the publisher prefix and makes it end with _.
  • solutionName (legacy alias): the old key is still accepted and mapped to name.

Tips:

• Use authType: "interactive" for local work. Use authType: "clientSecret" for CI or service accounts.
• If authType is not clientSecret, the extension can still use stored client credentials as a fallback when interactive sign-in is not available.
• manageMissingComponents: false is safer for production: nothing new is created by mistake, but existing components are still updated. Use true only for development environments.
• Turn on userAgentEnabled only if your proxy, gateway, or audit policy needs a custom client header.

Authenticate

• Interactive (default): run Dynamics 365 Tools: Sign In (Interactive), then pick a saved authorization or create a new one. The command can create .vscode/dynamics365tools.config.json with the selected environment if the file does not exist.
• Client credentials: run Dynamics 365 Tools: Set Environment Credentials, then pick or create an authorization. The command stores clientId, clientSecret, and an optional tenantId in Secret Storage.
• Sign out: run Dynamics 365 Tools: Sign Out to clear the interactive session for an environment. You can also remove any stored client credentials for it.

Web resources

Bind a local file or folder to a CRM web resource once, then publish it whenever you want.

Supported file types

.js, .css, .htm, .html, .xml, .json, .resx, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .xsl, .xslt, .ico, .svg.

The Explorer Dynamics 365 Tools menu shows up on these file types and on folders.

Bind resources

• From the Explorer: right-click a file or folder → Dynamics 365 Tools → Bind Resource.
• From the Command Palette: Dynamics 365 Tools: Bind Resource (it uses the active file or folder).
• The default remote path uses the publisher prefix of the chosen solution when it matches the local path. You can change it.
• For a folder binding, the extension asks for an environment and compares the local files with the CRM web resources under the target remotePath. If the counts are different, you get a short warning before the binding is saved.
• Bindings are saved to .vscode/dynamics365tools.bindings.json so the team can share them. Example:

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "relativeLocalPath": "src/webresources/publisherPrefix_",
      "remotePath": "publisherPrefix_",
      "solutionName": "CoreWebResources",
      "kind": "folder",
    },
    {
      "relativeLocalPath": "src/webresources/publisherPrefix_/contact/form.js",
      "remotePath": "publisherPrefix_/contact/form.js",
      "solutionName": "CoreWebResources",
      "kind": "file",
    },
  ],
}

A file binding wins over a folder binding when both cover the same file.

Publish resources

• In the Explorer, right-click a bound file or folder → Dynamics 365 Tools → Publish Resource (or run Dynamics 365 Tools: Publish Resource). Pick an environment when asked.
• For a bound folder, all supported files inside are published. Up to 4 files go at once, and you can cancel from the progress dialog.
• Unchanged files in a folder publish are skipped, using .vscode/dynamics365tools.publishCache.json (based on content hash, size, and modified time).
• Quick publish: click the status bar item (cloud upload icon) or run Dynamics 365 Tools: Publish Last Resource to publish the most recent file or folder again, with the same environment and binding.
• Open in Power Apps: right-click a bound file → Dynamics 365 Tools → Open in Power Apps, pick the environment, and the extension opens the classic web resource editor for that solution and resource.

Plugins

Open the Plugins view in the Dynamics 365 Tools Activity Bar to browse assemblies → plugin types → steps → images for any configured environment.

Assemblies

• Dynamics 365 Tools: Generate Strong Name Key (Public Key Token) creates a .snk file with the local sn tool and shows the public key token for signing.
• Dynamics 365 Tools: Register Plugin Assembly uploads a .dll to the chosen environment and adds it to your solution.
• Dynamics 365 Tools: Update Plugin Assembly replaces the content of an existing assembly with a new .dll.
• Plugin and CodeActivity classes are found for you when you register or update an assembly. New plugin types are created only when manageMissingComponents is true. Existing types are always updated. Types that were removed from the assembly are deleted only when manageMissingComponents is true. Missing types are deleted before an update, because CRM blocks the update while the old type still points to the assembly.
• Quick publish: click the status bar item (package icon) or run Dynamics 365 Tools: Publish Last Plugin Assembly to upload the last assembly again, reusing the last environment.
• Use the trash icon next to a plugin type to remove it. Its steps and images are deleted with it.

Steps and images (right-click menu or Command Palette)

• Create, edit, enable, disable, or delete plugin steps. Creating a step asks for message, entity, stage, mode, rank, attributes, and solution. Deleting a step also deletes its images first.
• Create, edit, or delete plugin images for a step. The defaults include sensible aliases and message property names.
• Copy step or image details to the clipboard with the inline copy actions.

Filter

• Turn on Show Configured Solutions Only in the view title to show only the assemblies and types from the solutions in your config. The default solution is skipped automatically.

PCF controls

Open the PCF Controls view to work with PowerApps Component Framework controls. The view shows the controls in your workspace and the controls already deployed to each environment.

Needs the Power Platform CLI (pac) and Node.js/npm. Packaging a solution also needs the .NET SDK. See Requirements.

Create and build

• Dynamics 365 Tools: New PCF Control scaffolds a new control with pac. It asks for the namespace, control name, template (field or dataset), and framework (TypeScript or React), and can run npm install for you. The main source file opens when it is ready.
• Dynamics 365 Tools: Build PCF Control runs the production build.
• Dynamics 365 Tools: Watch PCF Control rebuilds on every change. Stop it with Dynamics 365 Tools: Stop PCF Watch.

Deploy

• Dynamics 365 Tools: Push PCF Control to Environment does a fast developer deploy with pac pcf push. This is the quickest way to test a change.
• Dynamics 365 Tools: Package PCF Solution (Managed) or (Unmanaged) builds a solution .zip you can import or ship.
• Dynamics 365 Tools: Deploy Last PCF Solution Package imports the last package you built into a chosen environment.

From the view (deployed controls)

• Update PCF Control from Local Project pushes your local control that matches the deployed one.
• Use Deployed PCF Version in Manifest copies the deployed version number into your ControlManifest.Input.xml.
• Copy PCF Control ID puts the control ID on the clipboard.

Filter

• Filter the deployed controls by your configured solutions, or filter the local controls by workspace folder, from the view title.

Ribbons

Open the Ribbons view to load ribbon XML, edit it visually, and publish it back. You can open a single ribbon XML file, or open the ribbons from a solution .zip, or pull them straight from an environment.

Open and save

• Open Ribbon XML opens a local ribbon XML file.
• Open Ribbons from Solution... opens the ribbons inside a solution .zip.
• Pull Ribbons from Environment... downloads the ribbons from a connected environment.
• The view also finds flat customizations.xml files in the workspace, including child folders up to 4 levels deep, for example Ribbons/new_/account/customizations.xml.
• Save Ribbon Changes, Undo Ribbon Edit, and Redo Ribbon Edit manage your edits.
• Save Solution Zip... writes the changes back to a solution .zip.
• Publish Ribbons to Environment... sends your changes to an environment.
• Clean Up Generated Ribbon Solutions... removes the temporary solutions the publish step creates.

Find and filter

• Go to Ribbon Item... opens a quick pick for ribbon documents, views, buttons, commands, rules, actions, and labels. It searches by id, label, command, rule, and action details, then selects the item in the tree.
• Filter Ribbons... filters the tree by the same kind of text. Matching items stay visible with their parent nodes, so you can still see where each match is.
• Clear Ribbon Filter removes the active filter. While a filter is active, the filter button is hidden and only the clear button is shown.

Preview

• Preview Ribbon opens a visual command-bar preview of a ribbon view or document. Each scope (Home grid, subgrid, form) is drawn as one horizontal command bar. Standard buttons come from a built-in catalog. Custom buttons are highlighted and placed by sequence. Hidden buttons are struck through. Split buttons and flyouts show their child menu items. The action is on the view and document items and on the details panel.

Edit buttons

• Add Custom Button adds your own button to a ribbon.
• Add Custom Group, Add Custom Menu Section, Add Custom Flyout, and Add Custom Split Button add more control types.
• Add Smart Button creates a simple ready-to-edit button from a template: Quick JS, Open Dialog, Run Webhook, Run Report, or Run Workflow.
• Hide OOB Button hides an out-of-the-box button.
• The ribbon view ... button opens more actions, such as Hide OOB Buttons and Create Stubs and Reorder OOB Buttons.

Edit commands and rules

• The ribbon view ... button also has Add Command Definition, Override OOB Command, Add Enable Rule, Add Display Rule, and Add Loc Label.
• Add Command Action sets up what a command does.
• Add Enable Rule / Add Display Rule create new rules. Add Enable Rule Reference / Add Display Rule Reference link a command to an existing rule. Add Rule Step adds a step inside a rule.
• Add Loc Label and Add Loc Label Language manage localized labels.
• Move Ribbon Item Up / Down, Edit Ribbon Item, and Delete Ribbon Item work on any node in the tree.
• The ribbon validator warns about common problems, like missing commands, missing labels, empty dropdowns, and bad custom action locations.

Built-in rules

The extension ships with common enable rule references: Mscrm.SelectionCountExactlyOne, Mscrm.ShowOnQuickAction, Mscrm.ShowOnGrid, and Mscrm.ShowOnGridAndQuickAction.

You can also build custom rules:

• Enable rules can check: JavaScript, form state, field value, selection count, record privilege, entity, and command client type.
• Display rules can check the same things plus: entity privilege, form type, entity property, miscellaneous privilege, organization setting, tablet experience, relationship type, required referencing attribute, page address, and nested Or groups.

All commands

Every command is under the Dynamics 365 Tools: prefix in the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P). Many of them also appear in the Explorer right-click menu or in the view title and item menus, so you rarely need to type them.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

To build from source:

npm install
npm run compile   # type-check and bundle
npm test          # run the tests
npm run package   # build the production bundle

Before you send a change, please run:

npm run format
npm run lint
npm test

License

MIT