We will learn to set up notifications in Model-Drive App of Dynamics 365. Before we start, make sure to subscribe to CRM Crate so that you stay up-to-date in field of Dynamics 365.

What are the “In-App” notifications in Model-Driven app?

With the new “In-App” notifications, users can be alerted to key items to address, which makes them more likely to be successful.

In-app notifications in model-driven apps are displayed to users as a notification either in the notification center. Notifications are directed to a specific user and can be sent through external systems, Power Automate, or from within the system. This new in-app notification feature allows you to create notifications that will show in the browser.

How to enable the “In-App” notifications?

As per the Microsoft updates by date “28th September 2021”, this feature is not yet released in the Microsoft’s release plan.

Enabled for	Public preview	Early access	General availability
Users by admins, makers, or analysts	Jul 22, 2021	–	To be announced

Follow the below steps to enable the “In-App” notifications (Preview).

Important Note: –

1. Please keep in mind that this is a preview feature so we wouldn’t recommend doing this in a production environment. Please ensure to use a sandbox instance instead. 
2. Ignore the below steps if you are already have the “In-App” notifications enabled in your Model-Driven App.

Step 1 – Collect App ID

We need to collect the unique App ID defined for our Model-Drive App.

• Open the Model-Driven App or Dynamics 365 in the browser and copy the URL.
• From the copied URL, extract the GUID for parameter “appid” as shown below.

Collect App ID-

Web URL = https://crmcrateindia.crm8.dynamics.com/main.aspx?appid=f4390255-0c86-eb11-a812-6045bd726f3b&forceUCI=1&pagetype=dashboard&id=81430b27-92d9-eb11-bacb-6045bd730eae&type=system&_canOverride=true

App ID – f4390255-0c86-eb11-a812-6045bd726f3b

Step 2- Collect Setting Definition ID

We need to collect the unique Setting Defination ID defined for the “In-App” notifications.

• Open the below given API URL (Get Request) as shown below.

Collect Setting Definition ID-

API URL = https://<Your Dynamics 365 URL>/api/data/v9.1/settingdefinitions

• Once the above API response has appeared, search for the term “AllowNotificationsEarlyAccess” as shown below.

• Copy and collect the GUID value of “settingdefinitionid”.

Step 3 – Create a new record in the App Setting table / entity from backend.

Now, we will create a new in App Setting table using a console application. Click here to learn more about console application in Dynamics 365.

• Create a new console application (.Net Framework 4.7.2) with the code given below.

                using (var service = new CrmServiceClient(conn))
                {
                    if (service.IsReady)
                    {
                        Entity appSettingRecord = new Entity("appsetting");
                        appSettingRecord.Id = Guid.NewGuid();

                        //Paste the previously collected App ID.
                        appSettingRecord.Attributes["parentappmoduleid"] = new EntityReference("appmodule", new Guid("f4390255-0c86-eb11-a812-6045bd726f3b"));
                        //Paste the previously collected Setting Definition ID.
                        appSettingRecord.Attributes["settingdefinitionid"] = new EntityReference("settingdefinition", new Guid("69f83f8e-efd7-433d-bf67-6e29323913a5"));

                        //Use the default value for unique name as "prefix_AllowNotificationsEarlyAccess".
                        appSettingRecord.Attributes["uniquename"] = "cc_AllowNotificationsEarlyAccess";
                        appSettingRecord.Attributes["value"] = "true";
                        service.Create(appSettingRecord);
                    }
                }

• Paste the previously collected App ID and Setting Definition ID in the above code and execute the console application.
• Once done, navigate to the below given API URL for validating the newly created record in the App Settings table.

Validate App Setting Record –

API URL = https://< Your Dynamics 365 URL >/api/data/v9.1/appsettings

• We can view the newly created row with unique name “prefix_AllowNotificationEarlyAccess” as shown below.
  

Step 4 – Validate if the notification button is visible in the Model-Driven App.

• Since we have configured the App Settings in our Model-Driven App, let us now verify if the notification button is visible in the Model-Driven App as shown below.

Step 5 – Create a demo Power Automate flow.

• We will utilize the Power Automate flow to create notifications on creation of an entity record.
• Navigate to the Power Automate studio and configure the flow as shown below.

• In the above flow, we are creating a record in “Notification” entity on creation of record in “CRM Crate Accounts” entity.
• Once done, validate and save the Power Automate flow.

Validate the “In-App” notifications in Dynamics 365 Model-Driven App.

Open the Dynamics 365 (Model-Driven App) and perform the actions to trigger the above created Power Automate flow and validate the notifications as shown below.

Thus we learned to set up notifications in Model-Drive App (In-app notifications).

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