Early Bound Plugins

Early Bound Classes in C# for Dynamics 365 are strongly typed representations of entities in Dataverse (formerly CDS). These classes are generated using the build command / CrmSvcUtil tool and provide compile-time checking, IntelliSense support, and better performance when interacting with Dynamics 365 data.

This repository guides generating early-bound classes for use with the Microsoft Dataverse SDK for .NET. Early-bound classes enhance development by offering:

Improved Code Readability and Maintainability:

Strongly typed classes represent Dataverse entities, making code more intuitive.

Compile-Time Type Checking:

Reduces runtime errors by ensuring type safety during development.
Enhanced Developer Productivity: Utilize IntelliSense to discover tables, columns, and choice options.

LINQ Query Support:

Leverage the OrganizationServiceContext class to write LINQ queries against Dataverse data.

Prerequisites

Before generating early-bound classes, ensure you have the following:

.Net Framework Class Library

Add the .Net Framework Class library to your solution.

Power Platform CLI:

Install the latest version.

Dataverse Plug-ins:

Microsoft.CrmSdk.CoreAssemblies

Client Applications

Microsoft.PowerPlatform.Dataverse.Client

Setup Instructions

1). Install Power Platform CLI: Follow the official installation guide.

2). Authenticate: Connect to your Dataverse environment using:

  pac auth create --url https://yourorg.crm.dynamics.com

Configure Settings:

1). Within the Project folder, create a builderSettings.json file.

2). Populate it with the desired configuration. Below is an example configuration:

 {
    "entityNamesFilter": ["account", "contact"],
    "generateSdkMessages": true,
    "namespace": "YourNamespace",
    "serviceContextName": "ServiceContext",
    "language": "CS",
    "generateGlobalOptionSets": false,
    "emitFieldsClasses": false,
    "emitEntityETC": false,
    "emitVirtualAttributes": false,
    "logLevel": "Off",
    "entityTypesFolder": "Entities",
    "optionSetsTypesFolder": "OptionSets",
    "messagesTypesFolder": "Messages"
}

3). Adjust the settings as needed. For a comprehensive list of configuration options, please take a look at the official documentation.

Generate Early-Bound Classes:

1). Open a command prompt and navigate to your project directory.

2). Execute the following command:

  pac modelbuilder build --settingsTemplateFile ./builderSettings.json --outdirectory ./Entities

3). This command generates the early-bound classes based on your configuration and outputs them to the Entities folder.

Run Locally

Clone the project

  git clone https://github.com/umargulzar1122/EarlyBound.git

Go to the project directory

Open the solution file

Restore Dependencies

Set Startup Project (Visual Studio)

Open EarlyBound.sln

In Solution Explorer:

Right-click the D365.Plugins.ConsoleApp Project

Select "Set as Startup Project"

Update Connection string App.Config file

Press F5 to start with debugging

Or Ctrl+F5 to start without debugging

Official Documentation