In the world of enterprise applications, ensuring that custom solutions are built correctly, follow best practices, and do not negatively impact system performance is crucial. Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides a variety of tools to help developers and administrators maintain the health and efficiency of the system. One such tool is the Solution Checker. This powerful tool is designed to assess the quality of custom solutions within Dynamics 365 and provide actionable insights into areas that need improvement.
In this article, we will delve into what the Solution Checker Tool is, how it works, why it’s important for your Dynamics 365 environment, how to use it, and the best practices for ensuring that your solutions remain in optimal health.
What is the Solution Checker Tool?
The Solution Checker Tool is a feature within Microsoft Power Platform that helps analyze your custom solutions in Dynamics 365 for potential issues, performance bottlenecks, and adherence to best practices. The tool scans custom solutions for a wide range of checks, including code quality, security, performance, and reliability, then generates a detailed report outlining potential issues and how to resolve them.
This tool works for both Canvas Apps and Model-driven Apps, ensuring that all custom development within the Power Platform ecosystem can be validated. The Solution Checker Tool is especially helpful for identifying common issues that can arise in solutions, such as inefficient workflows, poor code practices, or violations of platform best practices.
Why is the Solution Checker Tool Important?
Custom solutions within Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform are often built to meet specific business needs, making it crucial to ensure these customizations are robust, scalable, and maintainable. The Solution Checker tool provides several important benefits:
1. Quality Assurance and Best Practices
Custom solutions built on the Power Platform or Dynamics 365 can sometimes result in performance problems if they are not built with best practices in mind. Solution Checker helps identify these problems early by evaluating the solution against a set of best practices and guidelines defined by Microsoft.
2. Improved System Performance
By identifying inefficient code, unnecessary data operations, and redundant logic, the Solution Checker tool helps improve system performance. It ensures that the solution does not cause any delays, slowdowns, or unexpected errors.
3. Enhanced Security
Security vulnerabilities in custom solutions can pose significant risks to business data. The Solution Checker tool scans for security issues such as missing or weak security roles, improper access control settings, and unsafe data handling, helping you ensure that sensitive business information is well protected.
4. Faster Development and Deployment
By identifying and fixing issues early in the development cycle, the Solution Checker tool allows for faster iteration and deployment of custom solutions. It reduces the time spent on manual troubleshooting, which can lead to delays in delivery.
5. Prevent Regression and Ensure Compliance
When developers update or modify custom solutions, there is always the risk of breaking existing functionality. Solution Checker helps ensure that new changes do not cause regression, maintaining the integrity of the application. Additionally, it helps ensure compliance with the organizational and platform standards.
How Does the Solution Checker Tool Work?
The Solution Checker tool runs a set of pre-defined checks to evaluate the quality of a solution. These checks are based on best practices, Microsoft guidelines, and common performance and security patterns. The tool scans both the custom code (e.g., JavaScript, C# plugins) and configuration (e.g., workflows, business rules) within the solution.
Here’s a high-level overview of how the Solution Checker tool works:
1. Upload Solution
First, you need to upload the solution you wish to analyze. This solution can either be one you created or one you downloaded from the Power Apps or Dynamics 365 environment. The solution can include a variety of components, such as custom entities, fields, plugins, business rules, workflows, and more.
2. Run Analysis
Once the solution is uploaded, Solution Checker begins analyzing the solution. It examines various components of the solution for performance, security, reliability, and adherence to best practices. The tool checks code quality, performance bottlenecks, and compliance with platform standards.
3. Generate Report
After completing the analysis, Solution Checker generates a report that includes detailed information about issues identified in the solution. The report categorizes issues into different levels (e.g., critical, warning, information) based on severity.
4. Review Issues
You can then review each of the identified issues. For each issue, Solution Checker provides:
- Description: A detailed explanation of the issue, explaining why it’s important to resolve.
- Severity: The level of impact of the issue (critical, warning, information).
- Recommendation: Suggested steps or actions for fixing the issue.
- Component(s) Affected: Information about which part of the solution is affected by the issue.
5. Fix Issues
Using the information provided in the report, you can go back to your solution and make the necessary fixes. After making adjustments, you can re-run the Solution Checker to confirm that the issues have been resolved.
Key Features of the Solution Checker Tool
The Solution Checker Tool is loaded with features that make it invaluable for Dynamics 365 administrators and developers. Some of the most notable features include:
1. Wide Range of Checks
Solution Checker scans several areas of your solution, including:
- Performance Issues: Identifies issues that may lead to slow performance, such as excessive queries, unnecessary operations, and non-optimal design patterns.
- Security Best Practices: Detects potential security vulnerabilities in your solution, such as improper use of security roles, access permissions, or security concerns in custom code.
- Reliability and Maintainability: Analyzes your solution to ensure that it is built with maintainability in mind. This includes checks for error handling, code readability, and the proper use of reusable components.
- Compliance with Microsoft Best Practices: Ensures that your custom solution follows Microsoft’s recommended best practices for Dynamics 365 development and configuration.
2. Easy-to-Understand Reports
The generated reports are user-friendly, providing an overview of issues in plain language, along with recommendations and severity levels. This makes it easier for both developers and non-developers (e.g., administrators) to understand and resolve issues.
3. Integrates with Power Platform
Solution Checker is integrated directly into the Power Platform Admin Center. This makes it easy for system administrators and developers to run the tool within the same environment where they manage solutions.
4. Customizable Scans
You can choose to run a scan for specific types of issues. For example, if you’re concerned about performance only, you can run the Solution Checker to focus specifically on performance-related issues.
5. Cross-Environment Compatibility
Solution Checker can be used for solutions in both test and production environments. This flexibility allows you to validate solutions in different stages of the deployment cycle.
6. Integrates with CI/CD Pipelines
For organizations using continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices, Solution Checker can be integrated into the pipeline. This allows developers to automate the process of checking solutions during the development lifecycle.
How to Use the Solution Checker Tool
Using the Solution Checker tool is simple and can be done in a few straightforward steps. Here’s a step-by-step guide to using Solution Checker in your Dynamics 365 environment:
Step 1: Navigate to the Power Platform Admin Center
To access the Solution Checker, go to the Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com). You will need appropriate permissions to access the Solution Checker, so make sure you are logged in as a system administrator or have the necessary roles assigned.
Step 2: Select the Environment
Choose the environment where your solution is located (e.g., test, production). The Solution Checker tool can be used for solutions in both development and production environments.
Step 3: Upload Your Solution
In the Solution Checker dashboard, select the option to upload your solution. You can either upload a solution package directly or choose a solution from the available list within the environment.
Step 4: Run the Analysis
Once the solution is uploaded, click on the “Analyze Solution” button to start the analysis process. Depending on the size of the solution, the process may take a few minutes to complete.
Step 5: Review the Report
Once the analysis is complete, you can view the detailed report. The report will be divided into categories of issues (e.g., critical, warning, and info). Each issue will have a description, severity, and a set of recommendations for resolving the problem.
Step 6: Fix the Issues
Address the issues highlighted in the report. Depending on the nature of the issue, you may need to optimize code, adjust configurations, or follow Microsoft’s best practices to resolve the identified problems.
Step 7: Re-run the Solution Checker
After making the necessary fixes, re-run the Solution Checker to ensure that the issues have been resolved. You may need to iterate through this process until all critical issues are addressed.
Best Practices for Using the Solution Checker Tool
To maximize the effectiveness of the Solution Checker Tool, follow these best practices:
1. Run Solution Checker Early in Development
It’s a good practice to run Solution Checker early in the development process. Identifying and addressing issues early will save time and effort later in the development cycle.
2. Regularly Re-run Solution Checker
As your solution evolves, regularly re-run Solution Checker to ensure that new issues haven’t been introduced with each update or change.
3. Focus on Critical Issues First
When reviewing the report, prioritize fixing critical issues that may impact system performance or security. These issues
should be resolved as soon as possible to minimize risks.
4. Integrate Solution Checker into CI/CD Pipelines
If you are using a CI/CD pipeline, integrate the Solution Checker tool into your deployment process. This ensures that every time a new solution is built or deployed, it is automatically validated for issues.