Summary of CRM 2011 plug-in

Topic 1: IserviceProvider

Defines:

IServiceProvider Interface: Defines a mechanism for retrieving a service object; that is, an object that provides custom support to other objects.

ServiceProvider Contains:

A container for service objects. Contains references to the plug-in execution context (IPluginExecutionContext), tracing service (ITracingService), organization service (IOrganizationServiceFactory), and notification service (IServiceEndpointNotificationService).

Remarks:

Called by the event execution pipeline during processing of a message request for which the plug-in was registered. For more information, see the IServiceProvider Interface. The notification service is only provided for asynchronous registered plug-ins.

How to use:

//Extract the tracing service for use in debugging sandboxed plug-ins.

            ITracingService tracingService =

                (ITracingService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ITracingService));

 

 

            // Obtain the execution context from the service provider.

            IPluginExecutionContext context =

                (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

 

            //IOrganizationServiceFactory

            IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory =

                (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));

 

            //IServiceEndpointNotificationService

            IServiceEndpointNotificationService endPointService =

                (IServiceEndpointNotificationService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IServiceEndpointNotificationService));

 

 

 

 

Topic 2: ItracingService

 

Function:

Provides a method of logging run-time trace information for plug-ins.

Remarks:

A reference to a tracing service implementation can be obtained from the service provider passed to plug-in’s Execute method.

The ITracingService interface provides a way to log plug-in run-time information. This method of logging information is especially useful for sandboxed plug-ins registered with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that cannot otherwise be debugged using a debugger.

The tracing information is displayed in a dialog of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application only if an exception is passed from a plug-in back to the platform

How to use:

//Extract the tracing service for use in debugging sandboxed plug-ins.

            ITracingService tracingService =

                (ITracingService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ITracingService));

            tracingService.Trace("FollowupPlugin begin:");

            tracingService.Trace("FollowupPlugin: {0}","Test Tracing Service");

 

How to enable tracing server:

Articles refrences from here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907490

How to enable tracing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Topic 3: IOrganizationServiceFactory Interface

 

Defines & Functions:

Represents a factory for creating IOrganizationService instances.

Members:

	Name	Description
	CreateOrganizationService	Returns an IOrganizationService   instance for the organization that the specified user is a member of.

 

How to use:

// Obtain the execution context from the service provider.

            IPluginExecutionContext context =

                (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

 

            //IOrganizationServiceFactory

            IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory =

                (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));

           

            //IServiceEndpointNotificationService

            IServiceEndpointNotificationService endPointService =

                (IServiceEndpointNotificationService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IServiceEndpointNotificationService));

 

            IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

 

 

Topic 4: IpluginExecutionContext

Function:

Defines the contextual information passed to a plug-in at run-time. Contains information that describes the run-time environment that the plug-in is executing in, information related to the execution pipeline, and entity business information.

Remarks:

The execution context is passed to a plug-in at run time in the System.IServiceProvider parameter of the Execute method. You can obtain the context from the service provider as shown in the following plug-in code.

 

IPluginExecutionContext Members:

	Name	Description
	ParentContext	Gets the execution   context from the parent pipeline operation.
	Stage	Gets the stage in the   execution pipeline that a synchronous plug-in is registered for.

 

How to use:

It contains so many properties,  you can study them by yourself.

 

Topic 5: IServiceEndpointNotificationService Interface

Function:

Posts the plug-in execution context to the Windows Azure platform AppFabric Service Bus.

 

 

Topic 6: How to register a plug-in

 

Plug-in Storage:

Plug-ins not-registered in the sandbox can be stored in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server's database or the on-disk file system. We strongly recommend that you store your production-ready plug-ins in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM database, instead of on-disk. Plug-ins stored in the database are automatically distributed across multiple Microsoft Dynamics CRM servers in a data center cluster. On-disk storage of plug-ins is useful for debugging plug-ins using Microsoft Visual Studio but is mostly provided for backward compatibility with callouts. You can debug a plug-in that is stored in the database.

Plug-ins registered in the sandbox must be stored in the database regardless of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment (on-premises, IFD/SPLA, or Online).

IExecutionContext.PostEntityImages Property:

Gets the properties of the primary entity after the core platform operation has been completed.

IExecutionContext.PreEntityImages Property:

Gets the properties of the primary entity before the core platform operation has begins.

How to update a plug-in:

1. End process of w3wp.exe
2. Disable the services of  sandbox service, asyn service and ..
3. Use a user as administrator or has the privileges

Topic 7: Sandbox

TOPic 8: Pass data & SharedVariables

Introduce:

The message pipeline model defines a parameter collection of custom data values in the execution context that is passed through the pipeline and shared among registered plug-ins, even from different 3rd party developers. This collection of data can be used by different plug-ins to communicate information between plug-ins and enable chain processing where data processed by one plug-in can be processed by the next plug-in in the sequence and so on. This feature is especially useful in pricing engine scenarios where multiple pricing plug-ins pass data between one another to calculate the total price for a sales order or invoice. Another potential use for this feature is to communicate information between a plug-in registered for a pre-event and a plug-in registered for a post-event.

The name of the parameter that is used for passing information between plug-ins is SharedVariables. This is a collection of key\value pairs. At run time, plug-ins can add, read, or modify properties in the SharedVariables collection. This provides a method of information communication among plug-ins.

How to use & sample code:

/// <summary>
        /// A plug-in that sends data to another plug-in through the SharedVariables
        /// property of IPluginExecutionContext.
        /// </summary>
        /// <remarks>Register the PreEventPlugin for a pre-event and the 
        /// PostEventPlugin plug-in on a post-event.
        /// </remarks>
        public class PreEventPlugin : IPlugin
        {
            public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
            {
                // Obtain the execution context from the service provider.
                Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext context = (Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext)
                    serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext));

                // Create or retrieve some data that will be needed by the post event
                // plug-in. You could run a query, create an entity, or perform a calculation.
                //In this sample, the data to be passed to the post plug-in is
                // represented by a GUID.
                Guid contact = new Guid("{74882D5C-381A-4863-A5B9-B8604615C2D0}");

                // Pass the data to the post event plug-in in an execution context shared
                // variable named PrimaryContact.
                context.SharedVariables.Add("PrimaryContact", (Object)contact.ToString());
            }
        }

        public class PostEventPlugin : IPlugin
        {
            public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
            {
                // Obtain the execution context from the service provider.
                Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext context = (Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext)
                    serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext));

                // Obtain the contact from the execution context shared variables.
                if (context.SharedVariables.Contains("PrimaryContact"))
                {
                    Guid contact =
                        new Guid((string)context.SharedVariables["PrimaryContact"]);

                    // Do something with the contact.
                }
            }
        }