Is there a simple tutorial for Solutions?

[ghdunn]

Hi there,

The community has been of great help in trying to get me up the curve with best practice on using Solutions...however I still need some assistance.

Firstly the documentation is a bit obsolete, but we managed to work through that.  I have worked through the 74 page ALM white paper and although it is full of interesting information I am not sure it is a step by step guide!

I want to create the simplest possible Development and Production environment and put one app into one solution into Dev, then release it as a managed solution into Prod.  If i want to change the app then I would change in Dev and then re-deploy into Prod.

1. I created two environments: GD_Dev_01 and GD_Prod_01

2. I created a solution in GD_Dev_01 called GD_Solution_01

3. I wanted to add an app to that solution:

a.I started by adding an app that i had previously created in the Dev enviroment, but when I tried to export and then import into prod it failed as it said it didn't have all dependencies such as Site Map.

b. I therefore clicked on +,New, App and created what i wanted and then published/saved/closed, (it confused me by generating two objects...one MDA and one 'Client Extension' but I guess thats what was missing in step 3a)   

4. I exported that solution, and then imported into GD_Prod_01

5. I can access that App in my prod environment - hurrah!  (I think!)

QUESTIONS

1. Why did the 3a step fail...I am guessing it is because it didn't have the 'Client Extension' object, given that step 3b succeeded, but what is going on there?  Why can't I add a pre-existing app to a solution, or what would I have to do to make that work.

2.Why am I am able to Edit that App in the prod environment...I would assume that since it is 'managed' I would not be able to edit.  I see if I go into the Solution in prod then it tells me I can't edit the solution...but I am confused as to why i can edit the app...I was (naively??) expecting the app to be 'locked down' in Prod.  Surely that is the whole point 

3. More generally, I am still struggling to understand how exactly this works from here.  If i want to add an new entity to my app, do I edit the app object in the Dev solution (ie select Edit,and add an entity using the Site Map) and then release over the top of my original version?  I have tested that and it seems to work, without deleting any data. Is that a reasonable practice given my simple requirements/

4. Finally..can anyone point me at a dummy's guide or tutorial covering these issues?  The documentation moves immediately to using Package Deployer..I want to learn how to do that, but it brings in a whole level of complexity with Visual Studio etc.  I would like to do it manually first to get some confidence.

Thanks once again, all

Ged

[poweractivate · Accepted solution]

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@ghdunn wrote:

QUESTIONS

1. Why did the 3a step fail...I am guessing it is because it didn't have the 'Client Extension' object, given that step 3b succeeded, but what is going on there?  Why can't I add a pre-existing app to a solution, or what would I have to do to make that work.

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You must put something in the sitemap. You should not create a Model Driven App then export the solution right away. You need to put at least one thing in the sitemap - open the Model Driven App for editing, notice the red icon near Sitemaps. Click Sitemaps then put one Subarea in there, make it an Entity Subarea point it to an Entity (e.g. Accounts). Save and Publish the sitemap. Then go one level back to Model Driven App save and publish that as well. Open (i.e. "Play") your Model Driven App and confirm your subarea is there. Then, try exporting the solution.

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@ghdunn wrote:

2.Why am I am able to Edit that App in the prod environment...I would assume that since it is 'managed' I would not be able to edit.  I see if I go into the Solution in prod then it tells me I can't edit the solution...but I am confused as to why i can edit the app...I was (naively??) expecting the app to be 'locked down' in Prod.  Surely that is the whole point 

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You would export the solution as Managed first. Then import the solution you exported into production.

It has to be unmanaged when you are editing it - so if you didn't export as managed, it remains unmanaged.

As for the App itself, it should not be editable under managed solution. Make sure the App was actually included in the solution. Also, make sure the App you reference here that is editable, wasn't created by you in Production in the beginning as a one-off app to play around with - if so, that became part of the Default Solution in production (which is unmanaged) if you did that. if this is the case, then you should delete that app first - but careful and make sure you don't need it - so you may want to export the app first and keep it just in case.

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@ghdunn wrote:

3. More generally, I am still struggling to understand how exactly this works from here.  If i want to add an new entity to my app, do I edit the app object in the Dev solution (ie select Edit,and add an entity using the Site Map) and then release over the top of my original version?  I have tested that and it seems to work, without deleting any data. Is that a reasonable practice given my simple requirements/

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Make sure to use make.powerapps.com -> Solutions -> Your Solution and do things like adding new Entities and all other customizations from there.

If you do it another way like going to make.powerapps.com -> Data -> Entities then you may be inadvertently adding to the default solution, and not your actual solution.

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@ghdunn wrote:

4. Finally..can anyone point me at a dummy's guide or tutorial covering these issues?  The documentation moves immediately to using Package Deployer..I want to learn how to do that, but it brings in a whole level of complexity with Visual Studio etc.  I would like to do it manually first to get some confidence.

So then you can consider avoiding Package Deployer and Visual Studio for now, and just practice using basic solution customizations and by simply using your web browser to do all of this easily. Go to make.powerapps.com -> Solutions -> Your Solution from Dev and make the customizations without any coding. Just create a new Entity or something like that. Then export the solution as well from a simple button on that page listing your solutions (Go to make.powerapps.com -> Solutions then select your solution and simply click Export). On Prod, go to make.powerapps.com -> Solutions then select Import on that page, and input your zip file in there to import it. That is all that should be needed to export and import a solution and practice doing that.

For deploying custom code or plugins such as those in C#, we can tell you how to do it but we will not go into that for now, for the time being you can start with the above.

[poweractivate]

@ghdunn 

Elaborating on 

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@ghdunn wrote:

2.Why am I am able to Edit that App in the prod environment...I would assume that since it is 'managed' I would not be able to edit.  I see if I go into the Solution in prod then it tells me I can't edit the solution...but I am confused as to why i can edit the app...I was (naively??) expecting the app to be 'locked down' in Prod.  Surely that is the whole point 

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An unmanaged solution's components remain unmanaged. You may have imported an unmanaged solution into prod when playing with it. Once that happens those components remain unmanaged. Deleting unmanaged solutions also does not delete the unmanaged components that came with it, whereas deleting a managed solution does delete the managed components that came with it. Furthermore, we believe that Importing a managed solution will not transform a previously imported unmanaged component into a managed component. You may need to manually delete all such components as they will remain editable until you remove them. After removing all such components, try importing your managed solution again after that.

[ghdunn]

Thanks @poweractivate 

Just to be clear:  I exported a Managed solution from Dev, and imported it into Prod, but still it is editable (see the two screenprints).  Is that expected?  Am I missing a step?

[ghdunn]

Thanks for your help on this @poweractivate 

I am moving (slowly! up the curve on MDA development.  I just wondered if you had any more thoughts on my follow on question...should I be surprised that i can edit a managed solution in prod?

Ged

[Anonymous]

I am having the same issue. I am able to edit apps imported from a managed solution. Were you able to figure it out? Thanks