Datavers-gen-cli

Dataverse early-bound generator for Power Platform, built as a .NET 7 CLI on top of Scriban templates.

What Changed Recently

• The CLI now reads dataversegen.config.json from the current working directory.
• If ConnectionString is missing, the app falls back to Windows Credential Manager and prompts for one.
• The Scriban generator supports both C# and ts output types.
• Generation can run in single-file or multi-file mode.
• TypeScript generation also emits custom API request wrappers under customapi/.
• C# generation also emits custom API request wrappers under customapi/.
• Built-in templates are available through TemplateName = "Main", and project templates can be copied under a Templates folder.
• Release builds are packaged into self-contained and framework-dependent ZIP archives by build.ps1.

Current Behavior

• The app loads Dataverse metadata for the entities listed in Entities.
• If CustomApis is set, the custom API output is narrowed to the listed custom API unique names.
• It validates the connection string when EnableConnectionStringValidation is enabled.
• It can throw when an entity from Entities is missing if ThrowOnEntityNotFound is enabled.
• TemplateEngine.Name currently supports scriban.
• TemplateEngine.Type accepts C# or ts.
• When TemplateEngine.IsSingleOutput is true, the generator writes one output file per target.
• When TemplateEngine.IsSingleOutput is false, the generator writes multiple files per entity.

Quick Start

1. Create dataversegen.config.json in the directory where you want to run the generator.
2. Fill in the Dataverse connection string, entity names, namespace, and output directory.
3. Run the CLI from that directory.

Example:

dotnet run --project DataverseGen.Cli

Configuration Example

C# output

{
  "Entities": [
    "account",
    "contact"
  ],
  "ConnectionString": "AuthType=ClientSecret;Url={url};ClientId={ClientId};ClientSecret={ClientSecret}",
  "Namespace": "sad.Dataverse.DataAccess.Entities",
  "OutDirectory": "Dataverse",
  "TemplateName": "Main",
  "TemplateDirectoryName": "Templates",
  "EnableConnectionStringValidation": true,
  "ThrowOnEntityNotFound": true,
  "TemplateEngine": {
    "IsSingleOutput": false,
    "Name": "scriban",
    "Type": "C#"
  }
}

TypeScript output

{
  "Entities": [
    "account",
    "contact"
  ],
  "CustomApis": [
    "newupdatestatus"
  ],
  "ConnectionString": "AuthType=ClientSecret;Url={url};ClientId={ClientId};ClientSecret={ClientSecret}",
  "Namespace": "sad.dataverse.ui.webresource",
  "OutDirectory": "/src/dataversegen/",
  "TemplateName": "dataverse-template",
  "TemplateDirectoryName": "Templates",
  "EnableConnectionStringValidation": true,
  "ThrowOnEntityNotFound": true,
  "TemplateEngine": {
    "IsSingleOutput": true,
    "Name": "scriban",
    "Type": "ts"
  }
}

Custom API

Custom API request wrappers are generated automatically for both C# and ts output. Configuration is minimal:

• set TemplateEngine.Type to C# or ts
• keep the normal Dataverse connection string and output directory configuration
• optionally set CustomApis to a list of custom API unique names to generate
• make sure the environment contains customapi, customapirequestparameter, and customapiresponseproperty metadata

No extra flag is required in dataversegen.config.json and there is no separate custom API switch. The generator reads the Dataverse metadata and writes custom API wrappers into:

<OutDirectory>/customapi/

Example TypeScript config that enables the feature:

{
  "Entities": [
    "account",
    "contact"
  ],
  "CustomApis": [
    "newupdatestatus"
  ],
  "ConnectionString": "AuthType=ClientSecret;Url={url};ClientId={ClientId};ClientSecret={ClientSecret}",
  "Namespace": "sad.dataverse.ui.webresource",
  "OutDirectory": "/src/dataversegen/",
  "TemplateName": "dataverse-template",
  "TemplateDirectoryName": "Templates",
  "EnableConnectionStringValidation": true,
  "ThrowOnEntityNotFound": true,
  "TemplateEngine": {
    "IsSingleOutput": true,
    "Name": "scriban",
    "Type": "ts"
  }
}

The generated wrappers use:

• the custom API unique name as the operation name
• request parameter names from Dataverse metadata
• boundParameter metadata when the custom API is bound to an entity

If CustomApis is omitted or empty, all available custom APIs are generated.

Filtering custom APIs

Use CustomApis to limit custom API generation to specific uniquename values:

{
  "CustomApis": [
    "newupdatestatus",
    "newregistercustomer"
  ]
}

The names are matched against the Dataverse uniquename field, case-insensitively.

Configuration Fields

• Entities - Dataverse schema names to generate.
• CustomApis - Custom API unique names to generate. If omitted or empty, all custom APIs are generated for the selected output type.
• ConnectionString - Dataverse connection string. If omitted, the CLI asks for it and stores it in Windows Credential Manager.
• Namespace - Namespace used in generated code.
• OutDirectory - Output folder for generated files.
• TemplateName - Template set to use. Main selects the built-in templates.
• TemplateDirectoryName - Folder name that contains project templates.
• EnableConnectionStringValidation - Enables connection string validation. Default: false.
• ThrowOnEntityNotFound - Throws when an entity from Entities is not found. Default: false.
• TemplateEngine.Name - Template engine name. Current value: scriban.
• TemplateEngine.Type - Output type. Use C# or ts.
• TemplateEngine.IsSingleOutput - Controls single-file or multi-file generation.

Templates

Built-in templates

Use the built-in template set with:

{
  "TemplateName": "Main"
}

Project templates

Copy the Scriban template files into a Templates folder next to your config file:

MyProject
  Templates
    Dataverse-Template
      ...
  dataversegen.config.json

Then reference the template folder name in the config:

{
  "TemplateName": "Dataverse-Template",
  "TemplateDirectoryName": "Templates"
}

Release Build

• pwsh -NoProfile -File build.ps1 publishes the CLI in Release mode.
• The script creates both includedotnet and nodotnet ZIP packages under publish/.
• Release automation also publishes those ZIPs as GitHub Release assets.

Development Notes

• The solution targets net7.0.
• Run dotnet test DataverseGen.sln after changing generator logic.
• The test project is Tests/DataverseGen.Core.Tests.