Pillaro.Dataverse.PluginTemplate.DotNetNew 1.0.3

Pillaro Dataverse Plugin Template (dotnet new)

Generates a Microsoft Dataverse plugin solution — a .NET Framework 4.6.2 plugin assembly plus an integration test project — for C# developers building Dataverse plug-ins with the Pillaro Dataverse Plugin Framework.

Install and create

dotnet new install Pillaro.Dataverse.PluginTemplate.DotNetNew
dotnet new pillaro-dataverse-plugin-dotnet -n MySolution -o MySolution

-n sets the solution name. It is substituted into namespaces, assembly names, project file names and the solution file, so -n MySolution produces MySolution.Logic, MySolution.Plugins and MySolution.Tests.

Generated solution

MySolution/
├── MySolution.slnx
├── LICENSE.txt
├── .vscode/
│   ├── extensions.json          # recommends the C# Dev Kit
│   └── settings.json            # points OmniSharp at MySolution.slnx
├── Logic/                       # net462 – all business logic lives here
│   ├── MySolution.Logic.csproj
│   ├── README.md                # in-solution guide to the task model
│   ├── Plugins/
│   │   ├── PluginBase.cs        # solution-wide plugin base, returns GetVersion()
│   │   └── ExamplePlugin.cs     # registers ExampleTask + declarative step metadata
│   └── Tasks/Example/
│       └── ExampleTask.cs       # validation rules + DoExecute() business logic
├── Plugins/                     # net462 – the assembly deployed to Dataverse
│   ├── MySolution.Plugins.csproj # signed, with an ILMerge post-build event
│   └── key.snk                  # strong-name key (replace before release)
└── Tests/                       # net8.0 – xUnit v3 integration tests
    ├── MySolution.Tests.csproj
    ├── appsettings.json          # Dataverse connection string placeholder
    ├── appsettings.Development.json
    ├── TestAutofacModule.cs      # Autofac registrations for test data + cleanup
    └── Tests/
        ├── TestBase.cs           # shared fixture, settings, cleanup handlers
        └── ConnectionTests.cs    # WhoAmI smoke test against your environment

Logic holds the plugins and tasks; Plugins produces the single merged, strong-name signed DLL that Dataverse requires; Tests runs against a real Dataverse environment and cleans up the data it creates.

The first build of Logic and Plugins scaffolds package-managed tooling into each of those projects — Tools/ILMerge/ (merge tooling and two post-build script variants), Tools/Deployment/ (DeployPlugins.bat, DeployPlugins.ps1), Tools/EarlyBound/ (GenerateEarlyBound.bat, EarlyBoundSettings.json) and a PillaroSettings.json. These are regenerated on build; configure behaviour in PillaroSettings.json rather than editing them.

What to do next

1. Build the solution. This restores the framework package and writes the deployment and ILMerge tooling described above.

   dotnet build MySolution.slnx
   

2. Point the deployment at your environment. Edit Plugins/PillaroSettings.json and set solution to your Dataverse solution's unique name. It reads the connection string from the environment variable named in dataverse.connectionStringEnvironmentVariable (DV_CONN by default):

   $env:DV_CONN = "Url=https://yourorg.crm4.dynamics.com/;AuthType=ClientSecret;ClientId=...;ClientSecret=..."
   

3. Replace Plugins/key.snk with your own strong-name key before you ship.

4. Import the Pillaro framework solution into your Dataverse environment. It ships in the framework repository under power-platform-solutions/framework. Without it the framework's runtime features — settings, logging and their supporting components — do not work. See Getting started.

5. Deploy the assembly and synchronize the registered steps:

   .\Plugins\Tools\Deployment\DeployPlugins.bat
   

   The wrapper uses the debug profile; pass release for the release profile.

6. To run the tests, put your connection string into Tests/appsettings.Development.json (or set ConnectionStrings__Dataverse), then dotnet test. ConnectionTests verifies the connection with WhoAmI.

7. Replace ExamplePlugin and ExampleTask with your own. The example registers a synchronous PreValidation step on contact Create/Update; the GUIDs in Register(...) are step identifiers you should regenerate for your own steps.

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 8.0 or later, to run dotnet new and build the test project
• .NET Framework 4.6.2 targeting pack, for the Logic and Plugins projects (Dataverse plug-ins run only on .NET Framework 4.6.2)
• A Dataverse environment and an application user, to deploy and to run the tests
• Power Platform CLI (pac), only if you use the early-bound entity generation in Tools/EarlyBound/

Windows is required for deployment and ILMerge: both tools are Windows-only.

Links

• Framework repository
• Pillaro.Dataverse.PluginFramework on NuGet
• Pillaro.Dataverse.PluginFramework.Testing on NuGet
• Documentation
• Getting started
• Deploying plugins
• Visual Studio version of this template
• License: Apache-2.0 — LICENSE