Cmdlets for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Build 24.0.9060

Establishing a Connection

With the CData Cmdlets users can install a data module, set the connection properties, and start scripting. This section provides examples of using our DynamicsCRM Cmdlets with native PowerShell cmdlets, like the CSV import and export cmdlets.

Installing and Connecting

If you have PSGet, installing the cmdlets can be accomplished from the PowerShell Gallery with the following command. You can also obtain a setup from the CData site. 

Install-Module DynamicsCRMCmdlets

The following line is then added to your profile, loading the cmdlets on the next session: 

Import-Module DynamicsCRMCmdlets;

You can then use the Connect-DynamicsCRM cmdlet to create a connection object that can be passed to other cmdlets: 

$conn = Connect-DynamicsCRM -CRMVersion "CRM2011+" -Url "http://MySite/MyOrganization" -User "MyUser" -Password "MyPassword"

Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

To connect, set the root URL of your organization.

Authenticating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise

To authenticate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise, set CRMVersion = CRM2011+.

NTLM

To use SPNEGO over NTLM authentication on a CRM On-Premise deployment, set these parameters:

  • AuthScheme: NTLM.
  • User: The user's login Id.
  • Password: The user's login password.

Example NTLM connection string: 

AuthScheme=NTLM;Url='https://myOrg.crm.dynamics.com/';User=username;Password=password;CRM Version='CRM2011+'

Kerberos

To use SPNEGO over Kerberos authentication on a CRM On-Premise deployment, set these parameters:

  • AuthScheme: Kerberos.
  • User: The user's login Id.
  • Password: The user's login password.

Example Kerberos connection string: 

AuthScheme=Kerberos;Url='https://myOrg.crm.dynamics.com/';User=username;Password=password;CRM Version='CRM2011+'

Internet-Facing Deployments (IFDs)

To authenticate via an IFD, set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

Example IFD connection string: 

AuthScheme=NTLM;Url='https://myOrg.com/';User=username;Password=password;InternetFacingDeployment=True;CRM Version='CRM2011+'

Authenticating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

You can authenticate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online via either Azure AD (for user-based authentication) or Azure Service Principal (for Service Principal-based authentication).

To authenticate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, set CRMVersion = CRMOnline.

Azure AD

Azure AD is Microsoft’s multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to AzureAD.

Authentication to Azure AD over a Web application always requires the creation of a custom OAuth application. For details, see Creating an Azure AD Application.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies connection to Azure AD from a Desktop application.

You can also authenticate from a desktop application using a custom OAuth application. (For further information, see Creating an Azure AD Application.) To authenticate via Azure AD, set these parameters:

  • AuthScheme: AzureAD.

  • Custom applications only:

    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • CallbackURL: The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.

When you connect, the cmdlet opens Microsoft Dynamics CRM's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

The cmdlet completes the OAuth process, obtaining an access token from Microsoft Dynamics CRM and using it to request data. The OAuth values are saved in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the cmdlet refreshes it automatically.

Headless Machines

To configure the driver with a user account on a headless machine, you must authenticate on another device that has an internet browser.

You can do this in either of the following ways:

  • Obtain the OAuthVerifier value as described below in Option 1: Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code.
  • Install the cmdlet on another machine as described below in Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings. After you authenticate via the usual browser-based flow, transfer the OAuth authentication values.

Option 1: Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code

  1. Find the authorization endpoint.

    Custom applications only: Set these properties to create the Authorization URL:

    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your application.

    Custom and embedded applications: Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationUrl stored procedure.

    1. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.
    2. Log in and grant permissions to the cmdlet. You are redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
    3. Save the value of the verifier code. You will use this later to set the OAuthVerifier connection property.

  2. Exchange the OAuth verifier code for OAuth refresh and access tokens.

    At the headless machine, set these properties:

    • AuthScheme: AzureAD.
    • OAuthVerifier: The verifier code.
    • OAuthSettingsLocation: The location of the file that holds the OAuth token values that persist across connections.

    • Custom applications only:

      • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
      • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in the custom OAuth application settings.

  3. After the OAuth settings file is generated, reset the following properties to connect:

    • OAuthSettingsLocation: The location containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. Make sure this location grants read and write permissions to the cmdlet to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

    • Custom applications only:

      • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
      • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your application.

Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings

Before you can connect via a headless machine, you must create and install a connection with the driver on a device that supports an internet browser. Set the connection properties as described above, in Desktop Applications.

After you complete the instructions in Desktop Applications, the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Once you have successfully tested the connection, copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

At the headless machine, set these properties:

  • AuthScheme: AzureAD.
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: The location of your OAuth settings file. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the cmdlet to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

  • Custom applications only:

    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your application.

Azure Service Principal

Service principals are security objects within an Azure AD application that define what that application can do within a particular Azure AD tenant. Service Principals are created in the Azure service portal. As part of the creation process we also specify whether the service principal will access Azure AD resources via a client secret or a certificate.

Instead of being tied to a particular user, service principal permissions are based on the roles assigned to them. The application access to the resources is controlled through the assigned roles' permissions.

When authenticating using an Azure Service Principal, you must register an application with an Azure AD tenant, as described in Creating an Azure AD Application with Service Principal.

You are ready to connect after setting the properties described in this subsection. These vary, depending on whether you will authenticate via a client secret or a certificate.

Authentication with Client Secret

  • AuthScheme: AzureServicePrincipal.
  • AzureTenant: The Azure AD tenant to which you wish to connect.
  • OAuthGrantType: CLIENT.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your application settings.

Authentication with Certificate

  • AuthScheme: AzureServicePrincipalCert.
  • AzureTenant: The Azure AD tenant to which you wish to connect.
  • OAuthGrantType: CLIENT.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
  • OAuthJWTCert: The JWT Certificate store.
  • OAuthJWTCertType: The JWT Certificate store type.

Retrieving Data

The Select-DynamicsCRM cmdlet provides a native PowerShell interface for retrieving data: 

$results = Select-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table "Lead" -Columns @("Id, FirstName") -Where "FirstName='Bob'"
The Invoke-DynamicsCRM cmdlet provides an SQL interface. This cmdlet can be used to execute an SQL query via the Query parameter.

Piping Cmdlet Output

The cmdlets return row objects to the pipeline one row at a time. The following line exports results to a CSV file: 

Select-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table Lead -Where "FirstName <> 'Bob'" | Select -Property * -ExcludeProperty Connection,Table,Columns | Export-Csv -Path c:\myLeadData.csv -NoTypeInformation

You will notice that we piped the results from Select-DynamicsCRM into a Select-Object cmdlet and excluded some properties before piping them into an Export-CSV cmdlet. We do this because the CData Cmdlets append Connection, Table, and Columns information onto each row object in the result set, and we do not necessarily want that information in our CSV file.

However, this makes it easy to pipe the output of one cmdlet to another. The following is an example of converting a result set to JSON: 

 
PS C:\> $conn  = Connect-DynamicsCRM -CRMVersion "CRM2011+" -Url "http://MySite/MyOrganization" -User "MyUser" -Password "MyPassword"
PS C:\> $row = Select-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table "Lead" -Columns (Id, FirstName) -Where "FirstName <> 'Bob'" | select -first 1
PS C:\> $row | ConvertTo-Json
{
  "Connection":  {

  },
  "Table":  "Lead",
  "Columns":  [

  ],
  "Id":  "MyId",
  "FirstName":  "MyFirstName"
}

Deleting Data

The following line deletes any records that match the criteria: 

Select-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table Lead -Where "FirstName = 'Bob'" | Remove-DynamicsCRM

Modifying Data

The cmdlets make data transformation easy as well as data cleansing. The following example loads data from a CSV file into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, checking first whether a record already exists and needs to be updated instead of inserted. 

Import-Csv -Path C:\MyLeadUpdates.csv | %{
  $record = Select-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table Lead -Where ("Id = `'"+$_.Id+"`'")
  if($record){
    Update-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table Lead -Columns @("Id","FirstName") -Values @($_.Id, $_.FirstName) -Where "Id  = `'$_.Id`'"
  }else{
    Add-DynamicsCRM -Connection $conn -Table Lead -Columns @("Id","FirstName") -Values @($_.Id, $_.FirstName)
  }
}

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Build 24.0.9060