How to restrict item creation in Dataverse during a predefined timeframe.

[Anonymous]

Hi all, 

We have a requirement to restrict users from creating new records in a Dataverse table during a pre-set timeframe (eg. no new items can be created between 10:00 and 12:00 o'clock). 

Also, we will need to be able to delegate this setup to end users, so they can modify the timeframe when needed. 

What is the (and is there any?) solution for such requirements?

[thomasfnorthrup]

Thanks for reaching out. There is no straightforward way to restrict permissions on a schedule. However, to create tables the user needs the system customizer or system admin security role. You could create a Power Automate Flow that runs on a schedule adds the security role to a specific group of users and another Flow that removes the security role from a specific group of users. You could create a table that holds these settings like start and end times and maybe a 1:N to users so it holds a list of users who should be removed at the particular time. Then create another flow that runs every hour and checks that table, if the start time has passed then that flow triggers the child flow to add security role to users, if end time has passed then it triggers the flow to remove the security role from users. 

But I have say this is an odd request. What would be the need to limit the "time" of creation and if you do place that limit why would you give the end users the ability to change that time? Perhaps there is a different issue we could solve.  

[Anonymous]

Hi thomasfnorthrup, 

Thanks for the suggestion, will definitely explore it.

It's a global application spanned across different countries and each country has a specific market open & close hours. To avoid user errors, they should be stopped from submitting orders when the market is closed. Also the market hours can change so some of the end users (with elevated privileges) should be able to update them. 

[thomasfnorthrup]

Oh, I thought you were talking about customizing the system by creating tables. You are talking about creating records within the model-driven app. The same setup of flows would work you would just change what security role is assigned/removed. Good Luck.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

I've managed to achieve the expected result via the Client API for Model-Driven app and JS. 

In a nutshell - the below code will close the create form & trigger a warning message for 8 seconds in the UI.

• It works only with UTC time (so you will need to calculate the UTC representation of the local start & end times). 
• It supports elevated user role - if you want to have specific user role have different blocking time. It leverages a "hasCurrentUserRole" JS function I found in the world wide Power web. 😛
• Error message displayed is parameterized in the "notificationMessage" parameter. 
• We have a stage which is defined as "New". If you don't have that - the code will not run as it's in the initial checks, so you may want to remove it.

It's far from ideal, but a good starting point. Hope this helps another soul that is lost in a similar requirement like I. 

Cheers!

function stopItemCreation(executionContext, UTCStartHours, UTCEndHours, UTCElevatedUsersStartHours, UTCElevatedUsersEndHours, notificationMessage, elevatedUserRoleName) {

    const formContext = executionContext.getFormContext();
    //Start the check only if it's case in New stage (this is defined in a separate process)
    const currentStage = formContext.data.process.getActiveStage().getName();
    //Check if the current stage contains the string "new", case insensitive. Setup to execute the block only if a new case is being created.
    if (currentStage.match(/new/i)) {

        var outsideMarketHours = false;
        //Extract the user roles and check if the elevated role name is present.
        var isElevatedUser = hasCurrentUserRole(elevatedUserRoleName);

        //Gets the current time in UTC. Used afterward for the marker hours check
        const currentTime = new Date().getUTCHours();

        //Below lines compare if the current hour is within the market close hours defined in the variables. All times are in UTC.
        if (currentTime >= UTCStartHours && currentTime <= UTCEndHours && !isElevatedUser) {
            outsideMarketHours = true;
        };
        if (currentTime >= UTCElevatedUsersStartHours && currentTime <= UTCElevatedUsersEndHours && isElevatedUser) {
            outsideMarketHours = true;
        };

        //If it's outside of market hours - close the form & trigger a notification.
        if (outsideMarketHours) {
            //Close the form
            formContext.ui.close();
            //Create the notification message
            var notification =
            {
                type: 2,
                level: 2, //error
                message: notificationMessage,
                showCloseButton: true
            };
            //Trigger the notification & set timeout for 8 seconds
            Xrm.App.addGlobalNotification(notification).then(
                function success(result) {
                    //Clear the notification after 8 seconds
                    window.setTimeout(function () {
                        Xrm.App.clearGlobalNotification(result);
                    }, 8000);
                });
        }
    }
}

function hasCurrentUserRole(roleName) {
    let hasRole = false;
    let roles = Xrm.Utility.getGlobalContext().userSettings.roles;
    roles.forEach(x => {
        if (x.name === roleName) {
            hasRole = true;
            return;
        }
    });
    return hasRole;
}