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!

[sgpchenchang]

Hi @cakhaing ,

In addition to what @devendramsft  suggests, can you also try to located the following log file? .\WhereYouInstallPac\pac\CLI\logs\pac-log.txt

If so can you please attach the log? Thanks!

[cakhaing]

pac-log.txt

2019-09-06 00:18:30.3374|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|StartExecutingVerb
2019-09-06 00:18:30.3846|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Verbs: ["pcf","push"]
2019-09-06 00:18:30.3846|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|ProductVersion: 0.4.3
2019-09-06 00:18:30.5704|INFO|bolt.module.auth.profiles.AuthProfilesManager|GetCurrent(): For Kind 'CDS'.
2019-09-06 00:18:30.7085|INFO|bolt.module.auth.store.AuthTokenStore|AcquireTokenSilentAsync(): Acquiring token for https://dynamicscode.crm6.dynamics.com
2019-09-06 00:18:32.9663|INFO|bolt.module.auth.store.AuthTokenStore|AcquireTokenSilentAsync(): Successfully acquired a token
2019-09-06 00:18:34.3419|INFO|bolt.module.cds.client.CdsClient|Connected to CDS Org
2019-09-06 00:18:34.3419|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|Executing solution init --pn PowerAppsToolsPublisher_dyco --pp dyco.
2019-09-06 00:18:34.8762|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|StartExecutingVerb
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9072|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Verbs: ["solution","init"]
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9072|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|ProductVersion: 0.4.3
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9605|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|CDS solution project with name 'PowerAppsTools_dyco' created successfully in current directory.
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9765|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|CDS solution files were successfully created for this project in the sub-directory Other, using solution name PowerAppsTools_dyco, publisher name PowerAppsToolsPublisher_dyco, and customization prefix dyco.
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9765|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|Please verify the publisher information and solution name found in the Solution.xml file.
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9919|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|EndExecutingVerb
2019-09-06 00:18:34.9919|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Success: True
2019-09-06 00:18:35.0078|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Execution Time(ms): 60
2019-09-06 00:18:35.2303|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|Executing solution add-reference --path C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo.
2019-09-06 00:18:35.7521|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|StartExecutingVerb
2019-09-06 00:18:35.7830|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Verbs: ["solution","add-reference"]
2019-09-06 00:18:35.7997|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|ProductVersion: 0.4.3
2019-09-06 00:18:35.8368|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|Project reference successfully added to CDS solution project.
2019-09-06 00:18:35.8534|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|EndExecutingVerb
2019-09-06 00:18:35.8534|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Success: True
2019-09-06 00:18:35.8534|INFO|bolt.cli.Worker|Execution Time(ms): 41
2019-09-06 00:18:35.9691|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|Temporary solution wrapper created at C:\Tools\CustomControl\PCF-ReactDemo\obj\PowerAppsTools_dyco
2019-09-06 00:18:35.9837|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|File dotnet.exe not found.; looking for msbuild.exe
2019-09-06 00:18:35.9837|INFO|bolt.cli.Verb|Found msbuild.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe; building solution using msbuild.exe.

Here is my screen recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ylvho7jI_k

Please skip from 2:00 to 2:40 where I restarted my VM.

Can you please check whether you have v4.0 folder under C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework. If you have it, can you please rename it to something else and re-run 'pac pcf push' command?

If it is still working, can you please check line 57 in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets whether it is referencing to v4.6.2?

In my case, I temporarily solve the issue either

1. by cloning v4.6.2 folder under C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework to v4.0

OR

2. by changing TargerFrameworkVersion from v4.0 to v4.6.2 in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets

As you can see in my screen recording, I can successfully build using 'msbuild' only with .net v4.6.2.

Shouldn't 'pac pcf push' work with v4.6.2 as well?

[sheldoncopper73]

Love the push feature great time saver and been using since a week, only issue(feedback)  I am facing is that after one solution push I have wait few minutes for next push, It gives error :

"The process cannot access the file '.path\obj\PowerAppsTools_ikl' because it is being used by another process. "

[sgpchenchang]

@Sheb , We are aware of this issue and it has been fixed. Unfortunately you will have to wait until the next update which will take place at the end of September. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[liun]

New issue:

I built a PCF and packaged with both solution types (managed.zip and unmanaged.zip). 

Import the unmanaged into a DEV instance, then exported as managed solution (exported_managed.zip) to get ready to import into downstream instances (QA/UAT/PRD). 

When I unpack the managed.zip and exported_managed.zip, I expect them to be similar, and both should be able to be imported into new environments. 

However that's not the case. It looks like the PCF build produced zip added publisher prefix (which is new in Aug tooling) to the component name, but the export one does not, causing import mismatch and fail. Please see the file compare between the two solution.xml. 

So will the tooling stop adding prefix, or the CRM export will add prefix in the future?

[peterv333]

We appologize for the issue you are experiencing! We are aware of this behavior and are working on a fix that will address the export issue. The prefix is there to ensure uniqueness of each component thus its essential that it is added.

[liun]

@peterv333 Thanks. So we'll just use the built solution file for now, until the export process can add prefix. 

[marocc]

Hi All
i have a question...
But .net framework 4.6.2 is mandatory? Is not possible to use 4.7.2, because in my machine win20 + visual studio 2017 + .net framework 4.7.2 I receive this error 
"  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\15.0\bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targe
ts(1179,5): error MSB3644: The reference assemblies for framework ".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.2" were not found. To res
olve this, install the SDK or Targeting Pack for this framework version or retarget your application to a version of th
e framework for which you have the SDK or Targeting Pack installed. Note that assemblies will be resolved from the Glob
al 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:\Project\PCF\LinearComponent\Solution\Solution.cdsproj]"
 
Thanks
Marco

[marocc]

I found this article https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/developer/component-framework/get-powerapps-cli I think that is necessary install .NET Framework 4.6.2 Developer Pack. It is correct? Thk

[liun]

@peterv333 A new but related issue regarding the export tool not adding prefix:

If a Dynamics solution used one of the PCF controls created after the August tooling update (where prefix were added), the exported solution can NOT be imported into a different environment. It gave a vague error of "An error has occurred. Try this action again. If the problem continues, check the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Community for solutions or contact your organization's Microsoft Dynamics 365 Administrator. Finally, you can contact Microsoft Support"

In this case, unlike the PCF solution itself, there is no built tool to create a zip file to use. What we found out is that "customization.xml" in the exported zip file stripped the prefix out, but the "solution.xml" actually kept the prefix. 

The workaround is to adding the prefix back to <customControl formFactor="2" name="prefix_NameSpace.PCFControl"> 
in the customization.xml manually and zip it back. 

So looks like a fix is really needed in the export code to accomodate the newly introduced prefix.