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Installation and Setup

Prerequisites​

  • .NET 9.0 SDK or later
  • Access to Dynamics 365 environment
  • Appropriate security roles for export/import operations

Installation​

Install the FlowOn.Xrm.Tools package from NuGet:

# Install as a global .NET tool
dotnet tool install --global FlowOn.Xrm.Tools

# Or install a specific version
dotnet tool install --global FlowOn.Xrm.Tools --version 1.0.224

# Verify installation
flowon --version

NuGet Package: FlowOn.Xrm.Tools

Update to Latest Version​

dotnet tool update --global FlowOn.Xrm.Tools

Project-Level Installation​

For project-specific installation (useful in CI/CD pipelines):

# Create tool manifest (one-time)
dotnet new tool-manifest

# Install as local tool
dotnet tool install FlowOn.Xrm.Tools

# Run using dotnet tool run
dotnet tool run flowon --version

Configuration​

Create a connection configuration file flowon.config.json:

{
  "connectionString": "AuthType=ClientSecret;Url=https://org.crm.dynamics.com;ClientId=xxx;ClientSecret=xxx",
  "projectName": "CustomerPortal",
  "outputDirectory": "./artifacts",
  "mappingsDirectory": "./mappings"
}

Environment Variables​

VariableDescription
FLOWON_CONNECTION_STRINGDynamics 365 connection string
FLOWON_PROJECT_NAMEDefault FlowOn project name
FLOWON_OUTPUT_DIRDefault output directory

Architecture Overview​

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     FLOWON CI/CD ARCHITECTURE                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                      │
│   DEVELOPMENT                    VERSION CONTROL                     │
│   ┌─────────────┐               ┌─────────────────┐                 │
│   │  Dynamics   │               │                 │                 │
│   │  365 Dev    │──── Export ───│   Git Repo      │                 │
│   │  Environment│               │                 │                 │
│   └─────────────┘               │  • Solutions    │                 │
│                                 │  • .flop files  │                 │
│   ┌─────────────┐               │  • Data maps    │                 │
│   │  FlowOn     │──── Export ───│  • Config maps  │                 │
│   │  Designer   │               │  • Data specs   │                 │
│   └─────────────┘               └────────┬────────┘                 │
│                                          │                          │
│                                          │ CI Pipeline              │
│                                          ▼                          │
│                          ┌───────────────────────────┐              │
│                          │      BUILD ARTIFACTS      │              │
│                          │                           │              │
│                          │  • Managed Solutions      │              │
│                          │  • FlowOn Packages        │              │
│                          │  • Transformed Data       │              │
│                          └─────────────┬─────────────┘              │
│                                        │                            │
│                      ┌─────────────────┼─────────────────┐          │
│                      │                 │                 │          │
│                      ▼                 ▼                 ▼          │
│               ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐    │
│               │    UAT    │     │  Staging  │     │Production │    │
│               │Environment│     │Environment│     │Environment│    │
│               └───────────┘     └───────────┘     └───────────┘    │
│                                                                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Differentiators​

1. Unified Package Format (.flop)​

The FlowOn Package (.flop) consolidates all FlowOn artifacts into a single, versioned package:

  • Logic Blocks and Flows
  • BPM Process definitions
  • API configurations
  • Event definitions and handlers
  • Service connections
  • Schedules and recipes
  • Localized resources

2. Intelligent Data Mapping​

Environment-specific transformations happen automatically using Source/Target mapping files that handle:

  • Configuration values (URLs, feature flags)
  • Entity record IDs (GUIDs that differ per environment)
  • Service connection credentials
  • Localized resources