Updated PCF Tooling version is now available (August 2019)!

[peterv333]

The updated version of PCF tooling (PowerApps CLI) is now available! Today we released new capabilities for several of our most popular feature requests in the PowerApps CLI. We are now providing PowerApps component framework developers the ability to not only see changes in the test harness as they are made but to also push components directly into an org using the CLI. These innovations will greatly speed up the development inner loop!

The push capability will make you more efficient because it bypasses the custom component versioning requirements and does not require you to build your solution in order to import into your development environment. The watch capability removes the need to reload your test harness after every change is made.

If you have not yet updated your PowerApps CLI to the latest version, this release is definitely the time to do it!  To get all the latest capabilities, please install the latest MSI by following the tooling documentation .

Once you have the latest version of the CLI you can always refer to the tooling documentation or get quickly started using the steps outlined below.

Enable Watch Mode in the Test Harness

The test harness can be set up to watch and recompile the source code of your PowerApps Component Framework projects. To enable watch mode, start the test harness using the command “npm start watch” from the command prompt. The watch capability will detect changes in index.ts, ControlManifest.Input.xml, other bundled .ts files, and all resources declared in the manifest, then rebuild your component and automatically update the test harness without having to restart it.

Push Component to your Org

To start pushing your custom component directly into an environment, there is a quick but essential step of setting up your authentication profile in the CLI. This setup is a one-time effort where your profile can be saved for future connections. Here is how to do it:

To start with, please create your authentication profile using the command:

"pac auth create --url"

Now that you have an authentication profile, you can start pushing your updated component by following two simple steps:

1. In your VS command prompt, go to the root directory of your custom component project
2. Run the command "pac pcf push --publisher-prefix"

Let us know what you think!

We hope you enjoy the newly added features and are excited to hear what you thinks about them. If you have questions or other feedback, please let us know on the PowerApps component framework forum. We look forward to hearing from you!

[Anonymous]

The watch was already possible if you altered the pcf-scripts a bit. Love the new push feature!

[cakhaing]

When I test 'pac pcf push', I am getting the following error. My machine was installed with .NET 4.6.2

It seems the command requires .NET 4.0. Does it mean I have to install both .NET 4.6.2 and .NET 4.0? Otherwise, can you please override Framework path in executing msbuild command?

[23:1:59] [clean] Initializing...
[23:1:59] [clean] Cleaning build outputs...
[23:1:59] [clean] Succeeded
Cleaning output directory: bin\Debug\, Intermediate directory: obj\Debug\ and Solution Packager working directory: obj\Debug\
Removing log file: bin\Debug\SolutionPackager.log and generated solution package: bin\Debug\PowerAppsTools_dyco.zip
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1183,5): error MSB3644: The reference assemblies for framework ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0" were not found. To resolve this, install the SDK or Targeting Pack for this framework version or retarget your application to a version of the framework for which you have the SDK or Targeting Pack installed. Note that assemblies will be resolved from the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) and will be used in place of reference assemblies. Therefore your assembly may not be correctly targeted for the framework you intend.

[devendramsft]

Hi
Thanks for reporting it. Can you provide more details while we investigate this?
a) Are you able to run msbuild on PCF control directory without errors?

[sgpchenchang]

Hi cakhaing,

Where did you see these outputs? The snippet you pasted above was not something one would observe on command prompt during pcf push. Can you provide my specifics of repros? Thanks!

[cakhaing]

I can run "msbuild" under the path where .cdsproj is located.

The followings are from build.log

Restore completed in 14.83 ms for C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\PCF-ReactDemo.pcfproj.
Restore completed in 402.42 ms for C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\obj\PowerAppsTools_dyco\PowerAppsTools_dyco.cdsproj.

> pcf-project@1.0.0 clean C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo
> pcf-scripts clean "--noColor" "--buildMode" "development" "--outDir" "C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\out\controls" "--buildSource" "MSBuild"

[14:25:17] [clean] Initializing...
[14:25:17] [clean] Cleaning build outputs...
[14:25:17] [clean] Succeeded
Cleaning output directory: bin\Debug\, Intermediate directory: obj\Debug\ and Solution Packager working directory: obj\Debug\
Removing log file: bin\Debug\SolutionPackager.log and generated solution package: bin\Debug\PowerAppsTools_dyco.zip
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1183,5): error MSB3644: The reference assemblies for framework ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0" were not found. To resolve this, install the SDK or Targeting Pack for this framework version or retarget your application to a version of the framework for which you have the SDK or Targeting Pack installed. Note that assemblies will be resolved from the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) and will be used in place of reference assemblies. Therefore your assembly may not be correctly targeted for the framework you intend. [C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\PCF-ReactDemo.pcfproj]

[cakhaing]

If I correctly understand, 'pac pcf push' is to eliminate the creation of .cdsproj. Probably, it is an issue with reference path.

For example, I have following folder structure. Solution folder contains .cdsproj. If I run 'msbuild' command in Solution folder, it works.

If I run 'pac pcf push' under the parent folder, I got this error.

Output in build.log as following.

Restore completed in 14.83 ms for C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\PCF-ReactDemo.pcfproj.
Restore completed in 402.42 ms for C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\obj\PowerAppsTools_dyco\PowerAppsTools_dyco.cdsproj.

> pcf-project@1.0.0 clean C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo
> pcf-scripts clean "--noColor" "--buildMode" "development" "--outDir" "C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\out\controls" "--buildSource" "MSBuild"

[14:25:17] [clean] Initializing...
[14:25:17] [clean] Cleaning build outputs...
[14:25:17] [clean] Succeeded
Cleaning output directory: bin\Debug\, Intermediate directory: obj\Debug\ and Solution Packager working directory: obj\Debug\
Removing log file: bin\Debug\SolutionPackager.log and generated solution package: bin\Debug\PowerAppsTools_dyco.zip
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1183,5): error MSB3644: The reference assemblies for framework ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0" were not found. To resolve this, install the SDK or Targeting Pack for this framework version or retarget your application to a version of the framework for which you have the SDK or Targeting Pack installed. Note that assemblies will be resolved from the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) and will be used in place of reference assemblies. Therefore your assembly may not be correctly targeted for the framework you intend. [C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\PCF-ReactDemo.pcfproj]

My .NETFramework folder under Reference Assemblies looks like this. (only v4.6.2 is existed)

If I create a new folder named 'v.4.0' and copy assemblies from v4.6.2, 'pac pcf push' works.

[devendramsft]

Are you running on Windows 10?
Can you please also review the pre-reqs for powerapps CLI & let us know the configuration that you have?
a) OS version
b) DotNet core version
c) VS 2017/VS 2019 /VS edition.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/component-framework/get-powerapps-cli

[cakhaing]

---

@devendramsft wrote:
Are you running on Windows 10?
Can you please also review the pre-reqs for powerapps CLI & let us know the configuration that you have?
a) OS version
b) DotNet core version
c) VS 2017/VS 2019 /VS edition.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/component-framework/get-powerapps-cli

---

a) Windows 10 Pro

b) .NET Framework 4.6.2

c) VS Code for development and VS Build Tools 2019 for build

I can create, and build PCF projects. Watch mode works fine, but not 'pac pcf push'.

I have posted more details at https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-component-framework/Updated-PCF-Tooling-version-is-now...

[devendramsft]

We will try this repro.
Couple of observations & steps that you can try.
a) cdsproj needs to move out of control project. Meaning the directory containing cdsproj & the directory containing pcfproj, should be next to each other, not nested. We need to see if you are hitting the cyclic reference issue.
b) after you fix a), make sure you fix you open cdsproj & fix project reference path of pcfproj as well.
c) run msbuild clean on both directories.
d) manually delete obj folder under pcf directory.
e) run msbuild /t:restore
f) run msbuild
g) after step f, has no errors, run pac pcf push

[alchin]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

The watch was already possible if you altered the pcf-scripts a bit. Love the new push feature!

---

npm start watch provides additional capabilities in that files like ControlManifest.Input.xml as well as resource files registered in ControlManifest.Input.xml are watched.