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How to configure Dynamics CRM in a copy activity

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This article outlines how to use the copy activity in a data pipeline to copy data from and to Dynamics CRM.

Prerequisites

To use this connector with Entra ID service-principal authentication, you must set up server-to-server (S2S) authentication in Dynamics CRM. First register the application user (Service Principal) in Microsoft Entra. For more information, see Create a Microsoft Entra application and service principal that can access resources.

During application registration you will need to create that user in Dynamics CRM and grant permissions. Those permissions can either be granted directly or indirectly by adding the application user to a team which has been granted permissions in Dynamics CRM. For more information on how to set up an application user to authenticate with Dynamics CRM, see Use single-tenant server-to-server authentication.

Supported configuration

For the configuration of each tab under copy activity, go to the following sections respectively.

General

For General tab configuration, go to General settings.

Source

Go to Source tab to configure your copy activity source. See the following content for the detailed configuration.

Screenshot showing source tab and the list of properties.

The following properties are required:

  • Data store type: Select External.
  • Connection: Select an existing Dynamics CRM connection from the connection list. If no connection exists, then create a new Dynamics CRM connection by selecting New.
  • Connection type: Select Dynamics CRM.
  • Use query: Specify the way used to read data. You can choose Entity name to read data using entity name or Query to use query to read data.

    • Entity name: Select your entity name from the drop-down list, or select Edit to enter it manually. It is the logical name of the entity to retrieve.

    • Query: Using FetchXML to read data from Dynamics CRM. FetchXML is a proprietary query language that is used in Dynamics online and on-premises. See the following example. To learn more, see Build queries with FetchXML.

      Sample FetchXML query:

      <fetch>
  <entity name="account">
    <attribute name="accountid" />
    <attribute name="name" />
    <attribute name="marketingonly" />
    <attribute name="modifiedon" />
    <order attribute="modifiedon" descending="false" />
    <filter type="and">
      <condition attribute ="modifiedon" operator="between">
        <value>2017-03-10 18:40:00z</value>
        <value>2017-03-12 20:40:00z</value>
      </condition>
    </filter>
  </entity>
</fetch>

Under Advanced, you can specify the following fields:

  • Additional columns: Add additional data columns to store source files' relative path or static value. Expression is supported for the latter.

Destination

Go to Destination tab to configure your copy activity destination. See the following content for the detailed configuration.

Screenshot showing destination tab and the list of properties.

The following properties are required:

  • Data store type: Select External.
  • Connection: Select an existing Dynamics CRM connection from the connection list. If no connection exists, then create a new Dynamics CRM connection by selecting New.
  • Connection type: Select Dynamics CRM.
  • Entity name: Specify the name of the entity to write data. Select your entity name from the drop-down list, or select Edit to enter it manually. This is the logical name of the entity to retrieve.

Under Advanced, you can specify the following fields:

  • Write behavior: The write behavior of the operation. This property is required, and you must select Upsert. If you use Add dynamic content, specify the value to Upsert.
  • Alternate key name: Specify the alternate key name defined on your entity to upsert records.
  • Ignore null values: Indicates whether to ignore null values from input data during write operation. It is unselected by default.
    • When it is selected: Leave the data in the destination object unchanged when doing upsert/update operation, and insert defined default value when doing insert operation.
    • When it is unselected: Update the data in the destination object to NULL when doing upsert/update operation, and insert NULL value when doing insert operation.
  • Write batch size: Specify the row count of data written to Dynamics CRM in each batch.
  • Max concurrent connections: The upper limit of concurrent connections established to the data store during the activity run. Specify a value only when you want to limit concurrent connections.

Mapping

For Mapping tab configuration, go to Configure your mappings under mapping tab.

Settings

For the Settings tab configuration, go to Configure your other settings under settings tab.

Table summary

See the following table for the summary and more information for the Dynamics CRM copy activity.

Source information

Name Description Value Required JSON script property
Data store type Your data store type. External Yes /
Connection Your connection to the source data store. < your Dynamics CRM connection > Yes connection
Connection type Your connection type. Dynamics CRM Yes type (under typeProperties -> source -> datasetSettings):
DynamicsCrmEntity
Use query The way to read data from Dynamics CRM * Tables
* Query		 Yes /
Entity name The logical name of the entity to retrieve. < your entity name > Yes entityName
Query Use FetchXML to read data from Dynamics CRM. FetchXML is a proprietary query language that is used in Dynamics online and on-premises. To learn more, see Build queries with FetchXML. < your query > Yes query
Additional columns Add additional data columns to store source files' relative path or static value. Expression is supported for the latter. * Name
* Value		 No additionalColumns:
* name
* value

Destination information

Name Description Value Required JSON script property
Data store type Your data store type. External Yes /
Connection Your connection to the destination Dynamics CRM. < your connection > Yes connection
Connection type Your connection type. Dynamics CRM Yes type (under typeProperties -> sink -> datasetSettings):
DynamicsCrmEntity
Entity name The logical name of the entity to retrieve. < your entity > Yes entityName
Write behavior The write behavior of the operation. The value must be Upsert. Upsert Yes writeBehavior: upsert
Alternate key name The alternate key name defined on your entity to upsert records. < alternate key name > No alternateKeyName
Ignore null values Indicates whether to ignore null values from input data during write operation.
- Selected (true): Leave the data in the destination object unchanged when doing upsert/update operation, and insert defined default value when doing insert operation.
- Unselected (false): Update the data in the destination object to NULL when doing upsert/update operation, and insert NULL value when doing insert operation.		 selected or unselected (default) No ignoreNullValues:
true or false (default)
Write batch size The row count of data written to Dynamics CRM in each batch. < your write batch size >
The default value is 10		 No writeBatchSize
Max concurrent connections The upper limit of concurrent connections established to the data store during the activity run. Specify a value only when you want to limit concurrent connections. < max concurrent connections > No maxConcurrentConnections

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