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Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity

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Posted on by HBrook 40
We have an unusual requirement for one of our custom entity to mark the data as whether it was inserted/updated from external source (excel or integration) or whether it was inserted/updated using D365UI.
 
My question is is there any API that we can extend to mark a record as coming externally?
 
Thanks in advance.
  • André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 291,996 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at
    Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity
    Hi HarryFromBrook,
     
    When I read your latest reply, it looks like you have a completely different question. Is the question now how to ensure users can't import data using data entities or marking if records were imported?
     
    Note that access to data entities is also managed via security privileges. 
     
    In your implementation, have you some security configurations via the user interface or only changes done via development in Visual Studio? The answer on this question would be helpful to recommend you a next step for comparing security access before and after updates.
     
     
  • HBrook Profile Picture
    HBrook 40 on at
    Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity
    Thanks all.
     
    OK, I will come clean :) We nave found out that a lot of users in our environment have write access to data entities. Fixing this one by one is very tedious and prone to mistake. Plus every upgrade microsoft adds data entities and every upgrade we have to fix this. (Our auditors expect a detailed security access comparison before and after upgrade) At the same time our management is on our back to reduce the time it takes to upgrade. 
     
    I don't want mess up with DMFWriter since that would be very intrusive. Plus it will stop all scenarios where code is legitimately writing to data entities.
     
    Hence, I was looking for a excel-integration method to hook on to. I can create a simple form as to which roles have write access to which data entity. my hook will check if the user has the write access in the underlying table. This is autdit-compatible as well.
     
     
  • Kevin Xia Profile Picture
    Kevin Xia Microsoft Employee on at
    Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity
    Hi,
    Depending on the problem you described, it seems that you want to have a way to flag foreign data. Maybe you can add a custom field:Add an identifier field to your custom entity to indicate the source of the data. You can create a boolean field (e.g., “IsExternal”) and set the appropriate value when the record is inserted/updated.
    Best regards,
    Kevin
  • Suggested answer
    Mohit Rampal Profile Picture
    Mohit Rampal 12,554 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at
    Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity
    Hi, You can create a Boolean field isUserCreated or isCreatedFromUI and set it to True in form datasource write method. By default value will be false, so don't expose the field in data entity so record created from Data Entity or Third Party will always have value false.
  • GirishS Profile Picture
    GirishS 27,821 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at
    Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity
    Hi HarryFromBrook,
     
    I agree with Andre, there is no out of box feature available. You can create one custom field called "source" which will identify the records during insertion or updation.
     
    Thanks,
    Girish S.
  • Suggested answer
    André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 291,996 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at
    Excel add-in to import data for e.g. VendVendorV2Entity
    Hi HarryFromBrook,
     
    There is no out of the box feature for this. In case the external source is running with a different user account, the created by column can be used as distinction. You can also consider creating a specific custom field and have this filled with a specific value when performing an insert/update.

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