Enhancing Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Customer Portal: Adding Editing and Deleting Functionality to Orders

Ben Prins Power Platform

Within the Dynamics 365 ecosystem, the Customer Portal serves as a gateway for clients to interact with your organization and order products. While the default template for Power Pages/Portal facilitates order creation and product management, it falls short when it comes to allowing users to edit or delete existing orders and products.

In this blog post, we embark on a journey to enhance the functionality of the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Customer Portal. We’ll focus specifically on empowering users with the ability to edit and delete orders and products, providing them with greater control over their transactions.

By default, there is no option to go to orders that are not submitted, so I added the a page to see the draft orders.

Besides adding the draft order view, I renamed other tiles and a link to the create order page.

Order editing

I will assume that you already have a Power Pages setup with the Supply Chain Management Customer Portal template and that you know how to add a new page named Draft Orders with a view and how to make a tile. I will go straight into how to add the capability to edit an order and its products.

  • Add a new page called Update Order to the Portal.
  • Open the Draft Orders page and select the Edit Record option under List settings – Actions.
  • Select the newly created page Update order and give it the name Update Order.
  • The Target type is Webpage.
  • Then open the Portal Management tool to create the Web Form. A web form is a form with multiple steps.
  • Open the already existing Web Form called Create Order.
  • Open a new tab and create a new Web Form called Update Orders.
  • Setup the Update orders Web form exactly the same as the Create order Web form.
  • Under Web Pages add the existing page called Update Order.
  • Open the Update Order page to make sure the Web Form property is set to the newly created Update Orders web form and the Publishing State is Published.
  • Reopen the Web Form and open the Web Form Steps tabs.
  • Create four new web form steps equal to the steps in the create order web form.
  • Some of the settings cannot be set in the user interface. You will have to open the table adx_webformstep in Dataverse to make sure all the settings are the same.
  • Now that the steps are the same, we are going to make the following changes to them.
  • Open the step Items and set under Form Definitions the Mode to Insert.
  • Reconfigure the Source type to Results From Previous Step
  • Reconfigure the Entity Source Step to Order Information.
  • Open the tab Metadata under and create a new Subgrid
  • Select the Type Subgrid
  • Selected the salesoderdetailsGrid
  • In the Grid Configuration we will add the buttons for Edit, Delete and Add item.
  • Click on Create in the View Actions section to create the following action.
  • Create the delete action in the Item Actions section.
  • Create the view details action in the Item Actions sections.
  • Open the step Order Information and set under Form Definitions the Mode to Edit.
  • Reconfigure the Source type is Query String
  • Reconfigure the Primary Key to ID, if it changed.
  • Reconfigure the Name to Order (Salesorderid), if it changed.
  • You have now created the web form for your users to enjoy!

Add Power Fx buttons to model-driven apps

Ben Prins Power Platform

Model-driven apps, a fundamental component of the Power Apps suite, provide a robust framework for designing data-driven solutions. While they offer a wealth of functionality out of the box, adding customized actions and automations can greatly enhance the user experience and boost operational efficiency. This is where low-code Power Fx buttons come into play, providing a simple yet effective way to empower users to take control of their apps and automate routine tasks.

In this blog post, we will delve into the world of low-code development and explore how you can leverage Power Fx buttons to supercharge your model-driven apps. We’ll walk you through the process of adding a button that when pressed will save data in Dataverse.

Creating a Power Fx Button (command bar button)

  • Open your Model-driven app in edit modus.
  • Select … of the table (entity) where you need to add the button.
  • Click on Edit or Edit in new tab under Edit command bar.
  • Select the command bar that where the button needs to be added, in my case that is the Main form.
  • Click on Edit and the command bar will be loaded.
  • Click on New followed by Command to add a new button.
  • Change the label (name) of the button and place (drag) it to the correct location on the command bar.
  • If required select an Icon, selecting an icon help the user with recognizing the button and its function.
  • With the help of Power Fx code we can add when the button will be displayed (visible). For example; Only show the button when the the color field has the value Green.
  • Select the Show on condition from formula on the Visibility property.
  • Click on the Open formula bar, that appears below the property.
  • Add your Power Fx command that dictates when the button needs to be displayed. 
If(Self.Selected.Item.color = "Green", true, false)
  • Click on Open formula bar under the Action property to add the Power Fx code that needs to be executed when the button is pressed.
  • Add your Power Fx command that needs to be executed, in my example it set the color field value to Purple.
Patch(Tasks,Self.Selected.Item, {color:"Purple"});
  • Click on Save and Publish when the button is ready.
  • Play the Model-driven app to see if the button is working correctly.

Power Platform and Chat GPT

Ben Prins Power Platform

In today’s digital age, businesses are constantly looking for ways to streamline their processes and improve their customer experience. One way to do this is by leveraging the power of chatbots, which can quickly and efficiently answer customer inquiries. In this blog post, we will explore how to create a canvas app that uses Power Automate flow to ask ChatGPT API questions and display the response in the canvas app. By the end of this tutorial, you will have the tools and knowledge to build your own chatbot app that can answer your customers’ questions in real-time, enhancing their overall experience and increasing your operational efficiency. So, let’s get started!

Create a Chat GPT Api secret

  • Open the ChatGPT API site.
  • Login or create an account.
  • Click on Personal, followed by View API keys.
  • Click on Create new secret key and save the key in a password vault.

Creating the Power Automate Flow

  • Create a new Power Automate flow with the name Canvas app – Chat GPT.
  • Add as the trigger a PowerApps V2.
  • Add a text input with the name Question.
  • Add a HTTP action with the name Post to Chat GPT.
  • Set the Method to POST.
  • Set the URI to https://api.openai.com/v1/completions.
  • Set the header to Content-Type with value application/json.
  • Set a second header to Authorization with the value Bearer [API Secret].
  • Set the body to the following json code.
{
  "model": "text-davinci-003",
  "prompt": "triggerBody()['text']",
  "temperature": 0,
  "max_tokens": 4000
}
  • Add a Parse JSON action with the name Chat GPT Response.
  • Set the Content to Body (response of the HTTP call).
  • Set the following schema (update the schema is the response is different).
{
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "id": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "object": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "created": {
            "type": "integer"
        },
        "model": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "choices": {
            "type": "array",
            "items": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "text": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "index": {
                        "type": "integer"
                    },
                    "logprobs": {},
                    "finish_reason": {
                        "type": "string"
                    }
                },
                "required": [
                    "text",
                    "index",
                    "logprobs",
                    "finish_reason"
                ]
            }
        },
        "usage": {
            "type": "object",
            "properties": {
                "prompt_tokens": {
                    "type": "integer"
                },
                "completion_tokens": {
                    "type": "integer"
                },
                "total_tokens": {
                    "type": "integer"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
  • Add the Respond to a PowerApp or Flow action.
  • Add a text output called ChatGPTRepsonse and add the response from Chat GPT with the following code.
first(body('HTTP_-_Post_to_Chat_GPT')?['choices'])?['text']
  • The overall Power Automate flow will look like this.

Creating the Canvas app

  • Open the Power Apps Studio and create a new canvas app.
  • Rename Screen1 to Home.
  • Add the Canvas app – Chat GPT Power Automate flow to the canvas app.
  • Add a Rectange Shape to the top of the canvas app with the name RectTitle.
  • Add a label over the RectTitle with the name lblChatGPT.
  • Set the Text to “Send your question to the all powerful Chat GPT AI bot”.
  • Add a label with the name lblGPTRepsonse.
  • Place the lblGPTRepsonse on the right side of the screen.
  • Add a text input with the name txtQuestion.
  • Place the txtQuestion on the left side of the screen.
  • Set the txtQuestion Default to “What is your question?”.
  • If you like add an Image with the name imgRobot and add an image of a robot in the Image property.
  • Place the imgRobot left and next to the lblGPTRepsonse.
  • Add a button with the name btnSendQuestion.
  • Set the following code on the Onselect of the btnSendQuestion.
    • This will save the response in the variable repsonsegpt.
    • Start the flow with the text provided in the textQuestion text input box.
Set(responsegpt, 'Canvasapp-ChatGPT'.Run(txtQuestion.Text).chatgptrespondse)

Power Automate: Dataverse Contact automatic invitation redemption

Ben Prins Power Platform

In my previouse blog post I explained how to automatically create and delete B2C account for Dataverse Contacts. In this post, I will dive deeper into the process by automating the redemption of an invitation code process. By default, new contacts need to redeem an inventation code before they can access the Power Pages. I am using the one-time-password setup for access to the Power Pages and for ease of use I don’t want the contact (external users) to have to redeem an inventation code.

To achieve this, we will automate the process by granting the contact a web role, connecting the B2C account ID, and adding the external identity. This will allow the contact to access the Power Pages without having to redeem an invitation code.

Creating the automated redemption process

  • Add the following actions below the Scope – Create B2C Users.
  • Initialize a variable called Role URL as a string.
  • Open the required web role in the Portal management tool, the ID is in the end of the URL.
https://[environment].crm4.dynamics.com/main.aspx?appid=39b012bd-1234-1234-1234-0022489fd314&pagetype=entityrecord&etn=adx_webrole&id=04ae7aa4-1234-1234-1234-0022489b74da
  • Add the following URL as the value, with your own unique web role id.
https://[environment].crm4.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.1/adx_webroles(04ae7aa4-1234-1234-1234-0022489b74da)
  • Initialize a variable called Invitation as a string.
  • Add as a value two guid()
  • Initialize a variable called External Identity URL as a String.
  • Add the following URL (with your environment name).
https://[environment].crm4.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.1/adx_externalidentities
  • Add a scope called Add Role to new contact and add the following actions.
  • Add the Dataverse Relate rows action called Add Role to Contact.
  • Set the Table name as Contacts.
  • Set the Row ID to Contact (the contact id of the contact where the flow was triggert on).
  • Set the Relationship to adx_webrole_contact.
  • Set the Relate with to the variable Role URL.
  • We are going to update the existing Dataverse Update a row action called Contact – Add User information.
  • Drag this action into the scope Add Role to new contact.
  • Set the Table name to Contacts.
  • Set the Row ID to Contact (the contact id of the contact where the flow was triggert on).
  • Set the Email Confirmed to Yes.
  • Set the Lockout Enabled to Yes.
  • Set the Login Enabled to Yes.
  • Set the Security Stamp to the guid() expression.
  • Set the Time Zone Rule Version Number to 0.
  • Set the User Name to the ID of the B2C account.
  • Add the Dataverse Add a new row action called External Identities.
  • Set the Table name to External Identities.
  • Set the Contact (Contacts) to Contacts(Contact) (the contact id of the contact where the flow was triggert on).
  • Set the Identity Provider to your Identity Provider URL
  • Set the User Name to the ID of the B2C account.
  • Add the Dataverse Relate rows action called Add External Identity to Contact.
  • Set the Table name to Contacts.
  • Set the Row ID to Contact (the contact id of the contact where the flow was triggert on).
  • Set the Relationship to adx_contact_externalidentity.
  • Set the Relate with the following code, the External Identity is the ID of the newly created External Identity.
https://[environment].crm4.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.1/adx_externalidentities()
  • The flow will now create a new B2C account when a new contact is created, link them together and automatically redeem the invitation.

Create and delete B2C accounts for Dataverse Contact

Ben Prins Power Platform

Today, we’ll be discussing a crucial aspect of B2C account management – the creation and deletion of B2C accounts in response to changes in the Dataverse Contact. This is an important topic for businesses that deal with external Power Pages user (contacts) that want to ensure the security of their records and Power Pages. In this post I will explain how to create or delete B2C accounts that are connected to a Dataverse Contact. So, let’s dive in!

Create a B2C account when a Dataverse Contact is created

Whenever a new contact is created a new B2C account needs to be created automatically that is linked to the contact. This is done thought the email address of the contact and the Azure B2C account id. These automations will limit the amount of manual admin work.

  • Create a new Power Automate flow with the name Create B2C user for Dataverse Contact.
  • Add the Dataverse trigger When a row is added.
  • Set the Change type to Added.
  • Set the Table name to Contacts.
  • Set the Scope to Organization.
  • Create the following 3 variables.
  • You will need to create an Application Registration in the B2C tenant with the following permissions.
Permission typePermissions (from least to most privileged)
Delegated (work or school account)User.ReadWrite.All, Directory.ReadWrite.All
Delegated (personal Microsoft account)
Not supported
ApplicationUser.ReadWrite.All, Directory.ReadWrite.All
  • Store the Client ID, Tenant ID and Secrect in the corresponding variables.
  • Add a HTTP action called HTTP – Delete User to the flow.
  • Set the Method to: Post.
  • Set the URI to the following code.
https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users
  • Set the body to the following code.
  • In my scenario the user will not be using the password but the one-time password from B2C. That’s why I have added a guid twice as the password.
  • This call will create an account of the type email address which allows for any valid email to be used. The email does not have to be part of the B2C domain.
  • Parse the JSON response of the HTTP – Create User call.
  • Add the Dataverse action Update a row.
  • Set the Table name to Contact.
  • Set the Row id to the contact id of the trigger.
  • Add the id that was returned by the HTTP call that created the B2C account.
  • Save the flow.

Delete B2C account when Dataverse Contact is deleted

In my scenario I am maintaining the Power Pages contacts within a canvas app, and when a contact is deleted the associated B2C account needs to be deleted too.

  • Create a new Power Automate flow with a Power Apps (V2) trigger with the name Delete B2C users for deleted Dataverse Contact.
  • Add an input Text field names ActiveDirectoryID.
    • This is the Object ID of the Azure B2C Active Directory User connected to the Contact.
  • Create the following 3 variables.
  • You will need to create an Application Registration in the B2C tenant with the following permissions.
Permission typePermissions (from least to most privileged)
Delegated (work or school account)User.ReadWrite.All
Delegated (personal Microsoft account)
Not supported
ApplicationUser.ReadWrite.All
  • Store the Client ID, Tenant ID and Secret in the corresponding variables.
  • Add a HTTP action called HTTP – Delete User to the flow.
  • Set the Method to: Delete.
  • Set the URI to the following code.
https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/
  • Add the PowerApp (V2) parameter ActiveDirectoryID to the end of the URI.
  • Set the Tenant, Client ID and Secret fields with their corresponding variables.
  • Set the Authentication to Active Directory OAuth.
  • Set the Audience to the following code.
https://graph.microsoft.com
  • Save the Power Automate Flow.
  • Open or create a canvas app (Power Apps).
  • Open the Power Automate panel in the canvas app.
  • Add the Delete B2C users for deleted Dataverse Contact Power Automate flow.
  • Add a gallery with the source set to the Dataverse Contact table.
  • Add a recycle bin or other delete Icon to the gallery.
  • Add the following code to the recycle bin icon under OnSelect.
    • This will remove the contact record.
    • Starts the Power Automate Flow and sending the User Name (Users B2C object ID).
    • Notifies the users.
Remove(Contacts, ThisItem);
DeleteB2CuserfordeletedDataverseContact.Run(ThisItem.'User Name');
Notify("Record deleted successfully", NotificationType.Success);
  • Save and publish the canvas app.

Power Platform: Custom administrator and developer role

Ben Prins Power Platform

Custom security roles on Power Platform are mostly used for Dynamics and model-driven apps, but they also work for canvas apps. By default an environment (without a Dataverse database) has two default roles (environment maker and environment admin). However if you create and environment with a Dataverse database, you get the ability to create custom security roles and 10 default roles. I strongly advise not to change the default roles.

Custom administrator role

At the moment of writing this blog it is possible to alter the default environment maker role (not system administrator), but I would not recommend it. Microsoft might push changes to the default roles and overwrite the customizations.

Creating a copy of the system administrator role or the environment maker role and making changes to the copied role, is also not an option. In the background Microsoft sets the CanEdit privilege to the administrator/environment maker role, and if you copy the role the CanEdit privilege is lost. The CanEdit privilege can only be set by Microsoft.

This practically means that creating a custom administrator role is not possible.

Note: Granting a user a role that effects the CanEdit privilege will take a non-specified amount of time to take effect. For example, if you switch from a copied role to a default role, it can take 30 minutes for the change to take effect.

Custom developer role

Creating a custom developer role is possible if you are willing to accept the following scenario. The developer gets an custom security role granting the required privileges, for example the ability to work with solutions and canvas apps but no export privileges. With only this security role the developer cannot access the environment and is missing the hidden CanEdit role.

The CanEdit role can also be granted by being an owner or a co-owner of a canvas app in the environment. If an administrator creates a canvas app and makes the developer co-owner of that app then the developer can access the environment and has the hidden CanEdit role.