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How to Call a Custom Action in a SSIS Integration

Post Author: Joe D365 |

We know custom actions provide an extension to available business logic. Certainly, we want to take advantage of this when we are bringing in new data. SSIS is a powerful tool to connect data sources and it's scripting component allows us to take advantage of Dynamics 365 functions.

In Visual Studio 2015 SQL Server Data Tools, creating and editing SSIS packages is simple. The Script Component creates an instance of VSTA, a stripped-down version of Visual Studio. It cannot reference assemblies that are not in the GAC.

Microsoft's SDK provides all the assemblies we need to access Dynamics 365 resources. It is very important to have the version of the SDK that matches your version of Dynamics. After downloading and installing the SDK, it will create a Bin folder and that folder will contain the required assemblies.

There are four assemblies required for this script:

  • Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Proxy.dll
  • Microsoft.IdentityModel.Clients.ActiveDirectory.dll
  • Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.dll
  • Microsoft.Xrm.Tooling.Connector.dll

Using the gacutil.exe tool, we will add these assemblies to the GAC so that they will be available to us during script execution.

custom action

Now we can use these assemblies in our integration package. Launch Visual Studio and open our SSIS solution. We are going to create URL, username, and password parameters so that we can connect to our Dynamics instance. This provides security around sensitive information and the flexibility configure the package for multiple environments.

custom action

Create the script component and select the type of component we are creating.

custom action

We can use custom actions in any type of component. We will pass in the URL and authentication as ReadOnly variables.

custom action

Select the URL, username, and password.

custom action

Click Edit Script to open the scripting instance of VSTA. We will need to add references to the assemblies to the script project.

custom action

Right click References and select add references. Click Browse in the left pane.

custom action

Click the Browse button at the bottom of the window and browse to the Bin folder in your SDK installation. Select the dlls that we already registered.

custom action

Click Add to include these references in the available assemblies.

custom action

Finally, we are going to add the namespaces to our script and call our Dynamics custom action. At the beginning of the main.cs script expand the Namespaces region and insert the references for Microsoft.Crm.Sdk, Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk, and Microsoft.Xrm.Tooling.Connector.

custom action

The following script constructs a connection to Dynamics and requests for the custom action and then it executes the action and retrieves the response.

custom action

Using this technique, we can take advantage of advanced business logic during the import of additional data!

Be sure to subscribe to our blog for more Dynamics 365 tips and tricks!

Happy Dynamics 365'ing!

Joe CRM
By Joe D365
Joe D365 is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 superhero who runs on pure Dynamics adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe D365’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics 365 and bring the application to more businesses and organizations around the world.

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