So, as I go through making new creations with Microsft’s Power Automation (previously Flow), I thought I’d collect my observations and ways of doing things.
Setting a variable = null (using an expression) and then testing if it is null (expression) does not work. Type the word null into the value box rather than using an expression and it will work.
To work out the difference in time between two date/time values, convert them both to ticks (using the ticks expression) and subtract the later one from the earlier one. Divide the answer by the relevant number below to get the answer you want:
Divide by 600000000 to get the difference in minutes
So, getting icons for your custom entities was relatively simple. You just needed to find an icon that was relevant to the purpose of the entity and it would have to satisfy the following guidelines:
For classic web application, a 16×16 pixel image in .gif, .png or .jpg formats
For entity forms, a 32×32 pixels image in .ico format (later these could be in .gif, .png or .jpg format as per the 16×16 image)
Some sites which provide useful sources of royalty free images, at no cost with or without attribution are:
With the introduction of the Unified Interface, a new approach is now needed as the image needs to be in the scalable vector graphic (.svg) format which, as the name suggests, can scale itself to suit different sizes as required. The issue is that a lot of sites that provide icons don’t cater for .svg files as the method for creating them isn’t quite as straight forward as fixed size images.
After trying a few sites that claim to automatically convert from standard image formats to svg, I couldn’t find one that provided usable results. Eventually I discovered an online image editor that allows images (eg. .png, .jpg) to be loaded, edited if required, and exported to a .svg file. The editor is the Method Draw SVG Editor and can be found at https://editor.method.ac/
The Method Draw SVG Editor
Start by changing the canvas size in the top right corner. Double click on each number and change them to Width: 32 and Height: 32.
Once the canvas has been resized, go to File > Import Image… Load the image you want to convert, make any adjustments as required and then go to File > Same Image… to save the image to a .svg file.
Resized canvas with File menu open
Once you have all of your icons in .svg files, the XrmToolbox () has a great add-in called Iconator which allows you to easily upload the images to D365 CE and associated each one with the relevant custom entities.
Hopefully this helps in adding that bit of pizazz to your systems.
I’ve released version 2 of my pricing quick reference guide for Microsoft Business Applications suite of products. They are only minor updates primarily on the capacity allowances thanks to feedback from Ben Thompson. I’ve also moved it to a different page on this site (ie. from /licensing to /guides).
Let me know if I haven’t done one for your currency and I’ll put one together pretty quickly.
In this video, we use the Configuration Migration Utility to define which reference data should be extracted by our Azure DevOps Pipelines to take our data into version control (Git) ready for deployment to a Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement / Power Platform CDS instance.
In this video, we explore CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) using Azure DevOps Pipelines to take our portal configuration into version control (Git), package it up and deploy it to a Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement / Power Platform CDS instance.
I’ve compiled together the pricing and licensing restrictions of many of the Microsoft Business Application products into a single page quick reference guide as it makes things a lot simpler when having discussions with clients or putting together a quote.
I’ve also done different versions for various currencies. Let me know if I haven’t done one for your currency and I’ll put one together pretty quickly.
In this video, we explore CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) using Azure DevOps Pipelines to take our solution contents from version control (Git), package it up and deploy it to a Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement & Power Platform CDS instance. We also look at how we can recall a solution from any point in time as the basis for our deployment.
To make things easier for you, below are the strings used to specify the source folder and
Source Folder of Solution to Pack:
$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/Azure_Source/D365_Solutions/$(SolutionName)
Solution Output File and Solution Input File:
$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\$(SolutionName).zip
Your support by SUBSCRIBING to my YouTube channel is very much appreciated.
In this video, we explore CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) using Azure DevOps Pipelines to copy our Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement & Power Platform solutions to version control (Git) so that we can a) see what has changed over time and b) recall a solution at any point in time that was captured.
In the video, a couple of copy/paste blocks were used. I’ve provided them below for easy reference.
In this video, we explore CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) using Azure DevOps Pipelines to automate releasing Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement & Power Platform solutions between environments.
Your support by SUBSCRIBING to my YouTube channel is very much appreciated.
Come along and join us for breakfast at the Microsoft Melbourne offices this Thursday 26th September 2019.
The folks from Sprinklr will be talking about their user experience platform. Nilhan will be giving some tips about embedding canvas apps in model driven apps. And finally I’ll be tackling the licensing changes across D365 and the Power Platform that are coming next week on October 1.
Not Just 365 