Use Dataverse community tools for data manipulation

  • 7 minutes

The community of contributors for Microsoft Power Platform solutions provides great extensions to the set of tools that are available on the platform. One frequently used tool is XrmToolBox, which is a community-based, external tool. Developers publish these different extensions, called plug-ins in this context, in a gallery. The extensions are grouped under categories that help analysts, makers, and developers for Dataverse-related tasks, such as:

  • Configuration

  • Documentation

  • Migration

  • Reporting

Set up XrmToolBox

XrmToolBox is a Windows application that you’ll need to download and install. Current information and details of the requirements, along with installation steps, are available from the editor of the tool: https://www.xrmtoolbox.com/

Different connection methods are available for you to access the Dataverse environment that you want to work with. To provide the appropriate credentials, select Connect. You should receive a pop-up with a message, No connection found! Open Connection Manager to create a new connection. Select Open Connection Manager.

Screenshot of XrmToolBox no connection found. Focus is on the Open Connection Manager.

In the Connection Manager, select Create new connection.

Screenshot of Connection Manager. Focus is on Create new connection.

Choose your connect method from among the list that pops up and follow the instructions for your connection method to create the connection.

Screenshot of connection methods. Focus is on the connection method choices.

After you’ve created the connection, the different tools can reference it.

Browse the tool library

Make sure that you install the tools so that they’re available in your local version of the application. Two main areas provide search functionality to discover which tool might help you in your current tasks.

The first area is within the XrmToolBox application. To access it, select Open Tool Library on the left hand menu, or just select Tool Library at the top.

Screenshot of XrmToolBox Start page. Focus is on Open Tool Library.

Then, you can search with text or by category, and you can also install the selected tool. You can also filter the tools by open source, Microsoft MVP-created, top-rated tools, new tools, tools not yet installed, tools already installed, tools with updates, and tools not compatible with the current version of the XrmToolBox.

Screenshot of XrmToolBox. Focus is on the Tool library and search options.

The second area is located on the XrmToolBox editor's website. Select Tools, and then you can search by text or filter by category classification.

Screenshot of the XrmToolBox website. Focus is on the tools section and search options.

Tool example: FetchXML Builder

For specific actions in Microsoft Power Automate, or to help create new views for Microsoft Power Apps, you can use a tool that provides extensive functionality: FetchXML Builder. In the Tool Library, search for FetchXML Builder and then select Install. Wait for the install to complete. Once install is complete, navigate to Tools, and you can open the FetchXML Builder.

In FetchXML Builder, you can use Query Builder for building complex queries, creating column labels, filtering, sorting, and doing various types of data manipulation.

Screenshot of the FetchXML Builder tool in the XrmToolBox. Focus is on the Query Builder section.

In Query Builder, you can edit Dataverse views and update them directly.

Screenshot of the FetchXML Builder tool in XrmToolBox. Focus is on Open View on the Open menu.

Screenshot of the FetchXML Builder tool in XrmToolBox. Focus is on the Save View and Save View as options on the Save menu.

To extract the query in formats that you can use in other situations, such as in Power Automate actions, select View to select the applicable option.

Screenshot of the FetchXML Builder tool available in XrmToolBox. Focus is on the View menu items.

Use data manipulation tools

You can select from multiple tools that can help with data manipulation in Dataverse. To do so, search for the tools under the Data category (the little barrel in the left hand menu) in the Tools section of XrmToolBox.

Screenshot of XrmToolBox tools section. Focus is on the category search selection.

The most frequently used tools include:

  • CDS Data Migrator - This tool provides a user-friendly interface to help you generate schema files to use for exporting/importing data from one Dataverse environment to another.

  • SQL 4 CDS - This tool is for people who want to use standard SQL syntax to query and manipulate Dataverse data.

  • Bulk Data Updater - This tool provides a solution to update and delete Dataverse records in bulk with a single action.

Explore the different tools, browse through the documentation and user ratings, and then determine which tools can be applicable for your business scenarios.

Next steps

You’ve now learned how to take advantage of community tools, such as XrmToolBox, to have access to extra features for Dataverse and Microsoft Power Platform solutions. Next, you’ll review how to use Dataverse information to generate Power BI reports.