What Makes Custom Pages Unique? Key Differences Between Custom Pages and Canvas Apps Benefits of Using Custom Pages in D365 Conclusion In conclusion, Custom Pages stand out as a powerful tool for enhancing the functionality and user experience within the D365 ecosystem. By offering seamless integration with Model-Driven Apps, advanced design capabilities, and tailored interactions, Custom Pages provide users with a dynamic, responsive interface that feels native to the D365 environment. While Canvas Apps offer broader cross-platform flexibility, Custom Pages excel in scenarios requiring deep integration and advanced Model-Driven functionalities. Whether you’re looking to improve user engagement or create personalized, context-sensitive workflows, Custom Pages offer a unique advantage, making them an essential tool for any D365 implementation. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com. Reference Links PowerApps Custom Page: Microsoft Documentation – Custom Page

Are you tired of spending hours searching for the right JavaScript functions to use in Dynamics 365 CRM? If so, you’re not alone. Developers often struggle to find commonly used functions scattered across different sources, making it frustrating to build quick solutions or bug fixing. What if you had a single repository containing all the essential JavaScript functions at your fingertips? That’s exactly what this blog offers, a one-stop resource where you’ll find everything you need, from retrieving field values to automating actions on forms. With these functions in one place, you can save time, eliminate guesswork, and focus on creating impactful solutions for your Dynamics 365 projects. As a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and Microsoft Certified Professional, I’ve spent my career deploying Dynamics 365 solutions for organizations across the globe. My hands-on experience in architecting and implementing complex solutions has given me deep insight into the challenges developers face—one of the most common being finding and applying the right JavaScript functions efficiently. Let’s explore the most commonly used JavaScript functions for quick reference and seamless development Best Practices: Always check if a field or control is null before interacting with it. Keep JavaScript functions modular and reusable. Avoid using deprecated APIs, always follow the latest Microsoft documentation. Conclusion: JavaScript is a game-changer when it comes to customizing Dynamics 365 CRM, and having a go-to repository for commonly used functions can save you significant time and effort. With these functions at your fingertips, you’ll be better equipped to build dynamic forms, automate processes, and enhance the overall user experience. And smoother operations for your business. Now that you’ve explored these essential JavaScript functions, why not take your Dynamics 365 knowledge even further? Check out this blog on error handling in Dynamics 365 plugins to strengthen your expertise in server-side customizations as well. Bookmark this repo, and let’s make development faster and easier together!

Are you struggling with deploying extensions from the sandbox to production in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations? I’m going to show you how to do it step by step for a smooth and error-free transition! In this guide, we will walk through the process of moving an extension from a sandbox environment to production in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O). This process involves exporting the extension from the sandbox, importing it into production, and ensuring that it functions as expected in the live environment. 3. Mark as Release and Sign Off: Once the extension is confirmed to be deployed, click on “Mark as Release” and ensure that you sign off on the extension. Signing off is crucial, as failure to do so will prevent the extension from appearing in the production environment. 4. Navigate to LCS and Open the Production Environment: Go to Lifecycle Services (LCS) and access the production environment. 5. Update Environment: Click on the “Maintain” and “Update Environment” option and select the sandbox environment. Wait for a few seconds to allow the system to load all the signed-off extensions that have been deployed in the sandbox. 6. Select the Latest Extension: Your extension will appear at the top of the list as the most recent signed-off version. Click on it and schedule the deployment for the desired time to update the production environment with the extension. Validate the Deployment – After deployment, test the Production environment to ensure the new logic works as expected. – Run key processes to validate the customizations and confirm no errors. Resolve Issues if Necessary – If there are any deployment errors or issues, review the error logs and fix them before re-deploying. Following the outlined process ensures that your extension is successfully migrated from sandbox to production, minimizing deployment errors and maintaining the integrity of your customizations in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. By adhering to these steps, you can confidently deploy your extensions to the production environment with minimal disruptions, ensuring a smooth transition and operational efficiency. Conclusion Successfully migrating an extension from the sandbox to production in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is a critical step in ensuring your customizations are properly implemented in the live environment. By following the steps outlined above, you can seamlessly transition your extension while maintaining control over the deployment process.If you’re facing challenges deploying an extension in the sandbox, check out our previous blog for a step-by-step guide. Here’s the link: Step-by-Step Guide: Deploying a Package from the Asset Library to UAT – CloudFronts Happy deploying!

Introduction Tooltips are a powerful feature in Power BI, offering additional context and information for visuals. However, tooltips are not natively supported for column headers in Power BI. This means users cannot view detailed information about column headers directly. Fortunately, there’s a workaround to address this limitation, which we’ll explore in this blog post. The method we are going to use is the Action buttons. We will add an action button to column headers, and the action button will have a tooltip that shows header details. Please find a step-by-step guide for the same – 1.       First, we need to insert a button. Here I have used a blank button since I want to show the tooltip when the user hovers through a particular column area, but you can use any of the buttons based on your choice. 2. Now, go to the button visual settings, turn on the action button, set the type to bookmark with None as an option, and specify the tooltip. Conclusion In this blog post, we discussed adding tooltips to the column headers to give users more context. we hope you found this blog post helpful! If you have any questions or want to discuss further, please contact us at transform@cloudfronts.com.

Integration platforms are critical to modern business operations, allowing different applications, data, and systems to communicate effectively. While both serve the purpose of integration, they cater to different needs and scenarios. In this blog, we’ll compare BizTalk and Azure Logic Apps, helping you choose the right platform for your business. Outline 1. Opening Section: 2. Introduction: 3. Core Content: Key Differences Between BizTalk and Azure Logic Apps: When to Choose BizTalk Server: When to Choose Azure Logic Apps: 4. Conclusion and CTA: In conclusion, BizTalk Server and Azure Logic Apps cater to different integration needs. While BizTalk excels in enterprise-grade, on-premises scenarios, Azure Logic Apps shines in cloud-native, modern workflows. Choosing the right platform depends on your organization’s integration requirements, scalability goals, and budget. CTA: If you’re still unsure which platform aligns best with your needs, our team of integration experts can help. Contact us for a detailed assessment and tailored recommendations for your business integration journey. Let’s streamline your operations and drive growth together

  Have you ever encountered the error:“The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel”while deploying from Visual Studio to Finance and Operations. This error is often linked to an expired or invalid SSL certificate in your environment.  This also shows up as an expired SSL Certificate warning when you open your Finance and Operations environment from the browser. Certificates are critical for securing communication channels, and an expired certificate can disrupt services and integrations.In this blog, we’ll explore the cause of the error and provide steps to resolve it. References Eugene Dmytriienko – Onpremise Certificate Rotation Said Nikjou – Rotate Secrets via LCS MS Docs – Certificate Rotation Configuration In a new cloud hosted environment, the SSL Certificate stays valid for one year by default.Post that, it expires at which point it is essential to renew the SSL Certificate. For Cloud Hosted environments, it is really simple to do via the LCS. Go to LCS and open the environment which has the expired SSL. Click on Maintain and then “Rotate Secrets” In the pop-up menu, select the change type as “Rotate SSL Certificates” After that the environment will go into servicing and the status will reflect “Rotating Secrets” This entire process should take less than 15 minutes. The documentation suggests secrets rotation should show up in the enviroment history however in my attempt it didn’t so I’m not sure if that’s reliable or not or whether that is only for Tier 2 and above environments though that doesn’t make much sense. Anyways, once this is done we can see that the SSL error has been resolved. Conclusion SSL certificates are the backbone of secure communication in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations environments.An expired certificate can disrupt critical functionalities, but with proper certificate management, such issues can be avoided.Regularly monitor your SSL certificate validity to ensure uninterrupted operations. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

In manufacturing industry, there are scenarios where there is need to change some bill of materials items due to various reasons. i.e. due to lack of availability of original material, or there may be increase in price of original material. & once production order is scheduled then it is not possible to change raw materials. As a result, Microsoft has added a new feature that allows users to switch out BOM items for other items on planned or estimated production orders. This feature is useful for production manager to keep production running as well as to business personnel to keep business running in absence of or lack of required material, provided that alternate material is available. Prerequisites for altering BOM items on production orders: – system must meet the following requirements: Also note that, one can change BOM items only for production orders that have a status of Estimated or Scheduled. 1.Now, will consider finish good L0001 for this example. Finish good number L0001, as per original BOM has raw materials M0001, M0002, M0003, M0004, M0005, M0006 & P0002. 2.Create production order for item L0001. 3.Change status to Estimate. 4.Now check estimation from Manage cost -> View calculation details -> original raw materials are considered for production order. 5.Now to change BOM item go to Production order -> Change BOM item 6.Now select raw material which needs to be replaced “From item” & “To item”.  & “To item quantity” specify required quantity of new item. Or if “To item quantity” indicates how much of the new item is needed. 7.In Production order lines Tab, select required production order / Orders in which needs to replace BOM item. Click Ok. 8.Now if we check estimation from Manage cost -> View calculation details -> New raw material is considered for production order. M0007 is considered for production order instead of M0006. & consumption is same as original material as “To quantity” was kept as 0. Conclusion – By activating “Change BOM item” feature on system version 10.0.38 or later, can change BOM item on Estimated or scheduled production orders. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Are you looking for a cost-effective way to set up a development and testing environment for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365FO)? If Azure expenses are a concern, deploying a local Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) is a practical alternative. This step-by-step guide will walk you through the process to get started. Why This is ImportantA local VHD setup provides a robust environment for developers to test and build without incurring cloud costs. With sufficient technical planning, you can have a fully functional Dynamics 365 instance running locally. Step 1: Download the VHD Step 2: Set Up the Virtualization Environment Step 3: Configure the Virtual Machine Step 4: Finalize Setup Step 5: Launch D365FO Environment Tips for Maintenance By following these steps, you can set up a robust development environment for D365FO without relying on Azure. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Integrating Shopify with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (FnO) requires structured data management and seamless automation.  This blog covers how to create a setup table and page in FnO to securely store API credentials and endpoints.  In the next blog, we’ll create an automated batch job to push product data from FnO to Shopify, automating product creation on the e-commerce platform. If you are new to this series, you can refer to my blog here for setting up the necessary Shopify components for getting started. Pre-requisites Shopify API credentials (API Key, API Secret, Auth Token)Access to the development environment in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. References MS Docs – Create a table MS Docs – Create a form Configuration Step 1: Create the model and project I’m going to be starting from scratch so I’ll create a new model for this. If you already have a model you’ll be using, you can skip this part. Open Visual Studio and click on Continue without Code. Click on Extensions > Model Management > Create Model. Give your model an appropriate name. After everything is selected, click on Next. Give your solution/project appropriate names and click on Create. Step 2: Create Extended Data Types Right click on the project, click on Add > EDT > String. I’ve also created a Label file to store the labels. In the properties of my EDT, I’ll set the string length to 40 and set the label. Similarly I create 2 more EDTs, with the Shopify Auth Token with string size 50. Step 3: Create Table Right click on the project, click on Add > Table. Give it an appropriate name and click on Add. Then, we’ll drag the three EDTs into the fields section of table and set the label to the table. I’ll also add a Parameters Key from the Application Platform Module Next, we create an index on the basis of the ParametersKey (renamed to Key) Drag the Key field into the newly created index and be sure to set the “Allow Duplicates” property to “No” Then we set the necessary properties. This is useful as this will prevent multiple records in our setup table. Then right click on the Methods and click on “New Method” Then add this method logic. Step 4: Create Form Right click on the project, click on Add > Form Give it an appropriate name and click on Add. Right click on the Pattern > Apply Pattern > Table of Contents Right click on the Pattern > New > Tab. Next drag your table onto the Data Sources tab. Select the datasource you just created and set the below properties. Next right click on your Tab and click on “New Tab Page” Right click on the newly created tab page, click on New > Group Right click on the Group > Add > Static Text. Then, right click on the “GeneralTabPage” and add another tab.Inside that, add another tab page (as prescriped by the pattern) and set the pattern of the inner tab page to be “Fields and Field Groups” Inside this tab page, you can directly drag and drop your fields. For the “Shopify Auth Token” set the “Password Style” property to “Yes” Right click on Methods > Override > init. Call the find method of the Integration Parameters in the init method of the form. This ensure that the record is created if it doesn’t exist already. Step 5: Create the menu item for the form Right click on the Project > Add > New Item. In the menu click on User Interface  and select Display Menu item. Give it an appropriate name and click on Add. Assign the appropriate label and set the form we just created into the object field. Step 6: Extending standard menu Go to Application Explorer > Click on User Interface > Menus > right click on “System Administration” and click on “Create Extension” Go to Solution Explorer > Click on the newly created Menu Extension. Right click on the title and click on New > Sub Menu. Give it an appropriate name and an appropriate label. Drag and drop your display menu item into the submenu. Step 7: Configure Security Right click on the project > Add > New Item Go to Security and select Security Privilege. Give it an appropriate name and click on Add. Drag and drop your menu item into the “Entry points” tab of the Security Privilege. Similarly create a Security Role and give it an appropriate name. Then drag your privilege into the role. Set a label to this role. Build the entire project, sync it with database and deploy it. Search for”Assign users to roles” to assign the security role to yourself. Select the role and click on “Manually assign / exclude users” Select your User and click on Assign to role. Click on Modules > System Administration > Shopify Integration > Shopify Integration Parameters. Conclusion This blog demonstrated how to create a setup table and page in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations for securely storing Shopify API credentials.In the next blog, we’ll focus on handling product updates and synchronization between Shopify and Finance and Operations. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Introduction The integration of Shopify with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (FnO) starts by creating a secure link.The initial step in this process involves generating an API token within Shopify, serving as the credential for verified communication between both systems.In this blog I will walk you through the steps to create the API token, facilitating a seamless beginning for your integration. Pre-requisites Access to the Shopify Admin account with appropriate permissions to create private apps or access custom apps.API access enabled in your Shopify store.A basic understanding of API concepts and authentication methods. [Available in Reference]The URL or endpoint details where the API calls will be directed. [Available in Reference] References Shopify – How to generate API token ResfulAPI.net – Basics of REST APIsShopify.dev – REST API Documentation Configuration Step 1: Access the Shopify Admin Portal Log in to your Shopify store’s Admin account. Navigate to Apps from the main menu. Step 2: Create a Custom App Click on Develop Apps (available under Apps). Select Create an App and provide a name (e.g., “Dynamics365_Integration”). Assign a developer or admin as the app owner. Step 3: Configure API Scopes After creating the app, click on it to open the configuration page. Under the Configuration section, define the API scopes required for integration based on your requirements. You can change these later if required. For example: Click on Save to save the changes. Step 4: Generate the API Token Once scopes are set, click on the API credentials tab. Click Install App to generate the credentials. A unique Access Token will be displayed.  Copy and securely store this token, as it will not be shown again. If you scroll down, you’ll also see the API Key and API Secret; store these values as well. Step 5: Test the Token Use a tool like Postman to test the API token. Set up a GET request to an API endpoint (e.g., https://<API KEY>:<API Secret>@<Store Name>.myshopify.com/admin/api/2023-07/products.json). Include the token in the header as X-Shopify-Access-Token. Verify the response to confirm the token is working correctly. Or simply (https://<Store Name>.myshopify.com/admin/api/2023-07/products.json) Conclusion The API token is your gateway to integrating Shopify with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations.  By following this guide, you’ve taken the first critical step toward seamless data flow between your e-commerce platform and back-office operations.  In the next blog, we’ll explore how to configure Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations to connect with Shopify and start synchronizing data. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com