Customer Engagement & Dynamics CRM Forum

Hi! I am hoping someone can clarify for me what I think happened so I can wrap my head around it... :)

So, we installed the non-profit accelerator which adds a ton of entities, fields, and a few model driven apps. It was not super clear to us where the forms within NPA app live, so we had the idea to open the app, edit the form and then do a Save As so we could start really customizing what we needed for our org. (I really really wish the "edit form" option would come back from within the form...)  I went into our solution today to do more edits and behold, the forms aren't there - but I did find them eventually in the default solution. 

I am guessing they saved here because the NPA put all of its things into the default solution? And thus from here, we add the subcomponent (the new forms) to our solution and edit as we normally would for future use? 

Is my train of thinking on the right track here or did we royally screw things up? From here is it better to somehow copy the NPA apps and create our own? Or just edit these as we see fit? 

Thanks for any insights for us new-ish admins. :) 

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Gretchen Garcia
Systems Administrator
Denver Public Library
Denver CO
------------------------------

Hi,

I have never used the NPA but it's highly unlikely that it would add the components to the default solution. All the customisations one make goes to the default solution that's why it's there. The best way is to create an unmanaged solution, add all the subcomponents you would like to customise and then change them. In this way, you will have all the customisation in one place and you can move these customisations across other environments

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Noor Khemji
BBox
Perth
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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2020 05:41 PM
From: Gretchen Garcia
Subject: Solutions vs default solution

Hi! I am hoping someone can clarify for me what I think happened so I can wrap my head around it... :)

So, we installed the non-profit accelerator which adds a ton of entities, fields, and a few model driven apps. It was not super clear to us where the forms within NPA app live, so we had the idea to open the app, edit the form and then do a Save As so we could start really customizing what we needed for our org. (I really really wish the "edit form" option would come back from within the form...)  I went into our solution today to do more edits and behold, the forms aren't there - but I did find them eventually in the default solution. 

I am guessing they saved here because the NPA put all of its things into the default solution? And thus from here, we add the subcomponent (the new forms) to our solution and edit as we normally would for future use? 

Is my train of thinking on the right track here or did we royally screw things up? From here is it better to somehow copy the NPA apps and create our own? Or just edit these as we see fit? 

Thanks for any insights for us new-ish admins. :) 

------------------------------
Gretchen Garcia
Systems Administrator
Denver Public Library
Denver CO
------------------------------

Hi Gretchen,

Did you deploy the accelerator on top of the Sales app? What was the base that you applied this on?

------------------------------
Scott Florance
Business Applications Consultant
KTL Solutions, Inc, Frederick MD
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2020 05:41 PM
From: Gretchen Garcia
Subject: Solutions vs default solution

Hi! I am hoping someone can clarify for me what I think happened so I can wrap my head around it... :)

So, we installed the non-profit accelerator which adds a ton of entities, fields, and a few model driven apps. It was not super clear to us where the forms within NPA app live, so we had the idea to open the app, edit the form and then do a Save As so we could start really customizing what we needed for our org. (I really really wish the "edit form" option would come back from within the form...)  I went into our solution today to do more edits and behold, the forms aren't there - but I did find them eventually in the default solution. 

I am guessing they saved here because the NPA put all of its things into the default solution? And thus from here, we add the subcomponent (the new forms) to our solution and edit as we normally would for future use? 

Is my train of thinking on the right track here or did we royally screw things up? From here is it better to somehow copy the NPA apps and create our own? Or just edit these as we see fit? 

Thanks for any insights for us new-ish admins. :) 

------------------------------
Gretchen Garcia
Systems Administrator
Denver Public Library
Denver CO
------------------------------

HI Scott! I don't know how to answer that to be honest. We don't use sales since we are a govt agency and don't have a use for it. Most of our stuff happens in the customer service areas. :)  We chose to install NPA because we have a department who's focus is on applying & winning grants and a host of other non-profit type activities and this gave us a bunch of stuff out of the box to work with. I hope that helps. :) 

Ok - so I guess to clarify my statement a bit that Chad helped clear my head about. The NPA did install several solutions which are managed and we can't edit. We did create a new solution, brought that stuff in as well as contact / account to modify to our needs. Glad to know that anything we do make, does in fact propagate back into the default as visibility so it can be pulled in for something else later. There are so many layers to this that sometimes I get lost with it all. :P 

We def have copied / saved as a new form if for nothing else if I had to revert or see what it used to be - it's there. I'll make the new form the default for this solution / app eventually but we're not there yet. :) We are really early in this build (like I started last week.) and we're still just trying to find our way around. It created like 4 or 5 apps and a zillion things in the left side bar. :P Sadly, the MS forums have like, 5 posts talking about the NPA so that hasn't been much help for us either. 

Thanks everyone for the help in clearing things up for me. :) 

------------------------------
Gretchen Garcia
Systems Administrator
Denver Public Library
Denver CO
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 21, 2020 08:49 AM
From: Scott Florance
Subject: Solutions vs default solution

Hi Gretchen,

Did you deploy the accelerator on top of the Sales app? What was the base that you applied this on?

------------------------------
Scott Florance
Business Applications Consultant
KTL Solutions, Inc, Frederick MD

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2020 05:41 PM
From: Gretchen Garcia
Subject: Solutions vs default solution

Hi! I am hoping someone can clarify for me what I think happened so I can wrap my head around it... :)

So, we installed the non-profit accelerator which adds a ton of entities, fields, and a few model driven apps. It was not super clear to us where the forms within NPA app live, so we had the idea to open the app, edit the form and then do a Save As so we could start really customizing what we needed for our org. (I really really wish the "edit form" option would come back from within the form...)  I went into our solution today to do more edits and behold, the forms aren't there - but I did find them eventually in the default solution. 

I am guessing they saved here because the NPA put all of its things into the default solution? And thus from here, we add the subcomponent (the new forms) to our solution and edit as we normally would for future use? 

Is my train of thinking on the right track here or did we royally screw things up? From here is it better to somehow copy the NPA apps and create our own? Or just edit these as we see fit? 

Thanks for any insights for us new-ish admins. :) 

------------------------------
Gretchen Garcia
Systems Administrator
Denver Public Library
Denver CO
------------------------------

@Gretchen Garcia, 

Noor is right. Any and all customizations from unmanaged solutions are added to the default solution and available there. The solution simply acts as a container for the customizations. Regardless of how you open the form (any solution will do) for editing, it is updated nonetheless. 

As for editing what the NPA added to your system, you're safe modifying everything provided. With core/native forms, it's best practice to create copies of the forms so your changes are not overwritten with a future update. If you think this could happen with the NPA, then I'd recommend following the same practice. From what it sound like, this is the path that you've begun, but consider security role access to the forms as you do this. You don't want users to be confused as to which form to use. 

In you case, when you create a copy of a form it is by default only added to the default solution and none other. I'd recommend you either add the modified forms to the NPA solution or create your own solution for the components you desire. 

No need to sweat it, though; you're doing just fine from what it sounds. I'd encourage you to use the new Maker Portal (https://make.powerapps.com/) for all your customization, as well, as opposed to the old classic solution explorer. From the new portal, you can navigate into the solution and modify the forms from within the respective Tables. This is how I suggest modifying forms as opposed to opening from within the app designer. 

Hope this helps you understand!

------------------------------
Chad Althaus
IT Digital Transformation Analyst, Low Code Apps & Business Automation
Bray International, Inc.
Cypress TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2020 05:41 PM
From: Gretchen Garcia
Subject: Solutions vs default solution

Hi! I am hoping someone can clarify for me what I think happened so I can wrap my head around it... :)

So, we installed the non-profit accelerator which adds a ton of entities, fields, and a few model driven apps. It was not super clear to us where the forms within NPA app live, so we had the idea to open the app, edit the form and then do a Save As so we could start really customizing what we needed for our org. (I really really wish the "edit form" option would come back from within the form...)  I went into our solution today to do more edits and behold, the forms aren't there - but I did find them eventually in the default solution. 

I am guessing they saved here because the NPA put all of its things into the default solution? And thus from here, we add the subcomponent (the new forms) to our solution and edit as we normally would for future use? 

Is my train of thinking on the right track here or did we royally screw things up? From here is it better to somehow copy the NPA apps and create our own? Or just edit these as we see fit? 

Thanks for any insights for us new-ish admins. :) 

------------------------------
Gretchen Garcia
Systems Administrator
Denver Public Library
Denver CO
------------------------------