Through development and deployment of plug-ins we can extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. In this article we will discuss development, deployment and debugging of plug-ins. additionally we will see what tools and techniques we can use for improving your efficiency and experienced for developing plug-ins.

Applies To

" Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

" Visual Studio 2005

" Visual Studio 2008

Prerequisites

We assume that you are aware of writing applications in Microsoft Visual C# or Microsoft Visual Basic.NET with the use of .NET framework. Developers who are experienced in .Net development, CRM solutions, Cloud CRM and CRM application development are aware of the framework. In order to write plug-in code you need to download and extract Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 SDK and then install Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 on your PC. For deploying and executing plug-ins you need to access Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premise or IFD server. The online one does not support upload of custom code to the server. By writing workflows you can extend the functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

How to set up the Development Environment?

To improve your experience in .Net development or CRM application development and for writing code faster with less run-time errors you need to set up an efficient development environment. You may search the Internet for tools and techniques which may help you to improve experience. It is possible to set up development environment in any computer that runs Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. While it is also possible to develop directly on the server but it is not advisable as it affects the stability and performance of the system.

For more information, see the MSDN article: Setting Up Your Development Environment.

Installation of SDK: You need to download the latest version of SDK and you will get programming documentation, source code samples and tools and the required assemblies for developing plug-ins.

Installation of plug-in template: You will also find Microsoft Visual Studio templates which contains basic plug-in code in the latest version of SDK which makes writing of plug-ins easier. Just select MSCRM Plug-in template while creating new project and use the template.

Build the sample tools and other useful tools that are easily available free on internet. Some of the tools are Microsoft Dynamics CRM Developer Toolkit, Dynamic Entity Visualizer, Plug-in Samples, and Snippet Designer. Then it is the time to set up the test server before development and deploying.

Design and Write a Plug-in: After having set up an environment for development of plug-in we can move to writing of the plug-ins. Please check out Quick start Guide to Plug-in Development.

Building a Plug-in:

It is same like building the plug-in project like any other Microsoft Visual Studio project. Only thing you need to do is to sign the assembly by which plug-ins are loaded and executed by MDCRM.

However, one thing that you must do is to sign the assembly. Only plug-ins from signed assemblies are loaded and executed by Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For this follow these steps:

" Open property page, right click in Solution Explorer and select Properties.

" Select Signing tab

" Select Sign the assembly

" Choose a string name key file

" Type a name in the dialog box, make sure Protect my key file with a password is no checked and click OK

" Build the project

Deploying a Plug-in:

While deploying a plug-in you need to copy one or more plug-in assemblies to MDCRM. If your plug-in requires other custom assemblies, those assemblies must be deployed to the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) on the target computer. In addition, each plug-in must be registered with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server. On-disk and Database are two kinds of plug-in deployments. A copy of assembly will be stored in server database. Thus your database deployed plug-in assembly will be deployed automatically to each server.