Create Environments with a Flow

[MarkPP]

So i have asked this question in the Flow community but haven't really got an answer so thought it was worth asking on here as it is around environment creation just using a Flow.

I am using a flow to create a number of Power Platform environments based on some data in an Excel spreadsheet. The flow loops through the Excel table and creates an environment for each row in the table. As well as creating the environment it then also creates a CDS database for the environment. This is using the PowerPlatform for Admins connectors.

It creates the environment fine. However, for all the environments it creates it sets the prefix for all custom entities and fields to craad_. Usually it is different per environment E.g. cr90b_, cr73b_ etc (With the exception of solutions where you can specify the prefix via a publisher).

I cant see any parameters you can specify in the connector to set the prefix so wondering if anyone else has had this issue?

I am also wondering if i am missing some further steps in the flow that i should be doing when setting an environment up? Nothing is shouting out to me so any help is appreciated. Permissions will be setup separately on the environment but if there are any other actions people recommend when setting up environments via flow i am interested to understand what they are.

Thanks

[v-yutliu-msft]

Hi @MarkPP ,

Do you mean that you always generate the same entity prefix by using this flow?

The reason why you met this problem is that the prefix is set based on the solution publisher for the solution you’re working in.

I'm afraid it's not supported to edit solution publisher in flow.

You could only operate it in powerapps.

Here's a doc about how to make this:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/common-data-service/change-solution-publisher-prefi...

So, you could firstly set the solution publisher then run this flow.

I suggest you post your idea about editing  solution publisher when creating environment in flow here:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Give-Feedback-Share-Ideas/ct-p/FL_Comm_Ideas

Your precious feedback will be very helpful for our work.

Best regards,

[MarkPP]

Thanks for the response @v-yutliu-msft 

I am not working in a solution. As per the images i am using a Flow to create environments. Every environment that gets created gets the same prefix which is what i am raising as an issue.

Environments created via Flow

The prefix in every environment created via the Flow is craad_

Environments created via the admin centre

The prefix is cr<three digit number>_ where the three digit number is different for every environment created.

[HSheild]

Hi @MarkPP ,

Just to be super clear.  I assume you are creating the environments via Flow and then manually going into each environment (via make.powerapps.com) to create the custom entities?

If you are doing this then, if you want to specify the prefix  (or have a different one to craad_) for the custom entities then you should be creating the custom entities within a Solution.  When you create the Solution you specify the prefix for all custom components that you create inside it. This is best practice as you can then have a prefix that has meaning to your organisation instead of some random bunch of letters.

I know this doesn't solve the issue around each environment having the same default prefix when created through Flow but using Solutions to create your custom components in will enable you to create your own unique prefixes if you need them.

[MarkPP]

@HSheild Yes that is correct. Environment created via Flow and then manually going to make.powerapps.com to create entities.

Any custom entities we create are absolutely being done within a solution and has a custom prefix to identify the solution.

My concern is more the fact that the default prefix in any environment created this way is the same. Maybe i am worried about nothing but don't want to get further down the line to find it causes a problem. Sounds like i may need to raise a support ticket with MS to see if this is an issue or 'by design'

Thanks

[HSheild]

Hi @MarkPP,

Completely understand your concerns and raising with MS support is probably your next best bet.

Personally, I would not worry about this if you are using Solutions to create all of your customisations.  For Dynamics 365 environments (where CDS came from) the default prefix has always been "new_" for every single environment, regardless of how it was created.  There has never been any problems with this in the past.