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Add 'Action' Method on Data Entity to Expose to Flow Fin & Ops Connector 'Execute Action'

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Posted on by HAIRUL HAZRI

1,214

Hi,

I extended FreeTextInvoiceHeaderEntity and add a simple oData action method.

[ExtensionOf(tableStr(FreeTextInvoiceHeaderEntity))]
final class FreeTextInvoiceHeaderEntity_Test_Extension
{
    /// 
    /// Infolog
    /// 
    [SysODataActionAttribute('Post', true)]
    public void post()
    {
        info('FreeTextInvoiceHeaderEntity-Post');
    }

}

Then I create a power automate flow with Fin & Ops connector. In Execute Action, I'm unable to see my custom method to run in the flow.

I made sure to refresh entity list, restart DIXF service in DEV environment, but still the action method is not visible.

What am I missing? As far as I know, adding SysODataActionAttribute to the method is the only thing we need to do.

I was referring to official documentation here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/dev-itpro/data-entities/odata#exposing-odata-entities .

Thank you.

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nmaenpaa 101,162 Moderator on at

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As far as I know, you can't add OData actions to existing entities via extension.

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HAIRUL HAZRI 1,214 on at

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Hi Nikolaos,

that's strange. Doesn't seem documented anywhere.

Anyway, I duplicated FreeTextInvoiceHeaderEntity, and created the same method as above.

Then I tried to create a simple flow to run the execute action. Seems like custom action in custom entity is usable now.

However, even after refresh entity list, running the action returns "NotFound" error:

How to properly create a successful action? Ultimately, I want to perform free text invoice posting on the action method, but for starters I just want to test a simple action, hence only the infolog.

If you have any example that I can refer, please share. Thank you.

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nmaenpaa 101,162 Moderator on at

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Hi,

this doc page says: "OData actions added via extensions are currently not supported."

docs.microsoft.com/.../odata

How to create OData actions in your entities? You should find plenty of blogs, discussions and examples by searching the web.

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André Arnaud de Cal... 301,075 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi Hairu,

Can you show how you did setup this action in your flow? What type of environment are you using here?

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HAIRUL HAZRI 1,214 on at

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Thank you Nikolaos for pointing that out.

Hi Andre,

I simply use ExecuteAction action in Fin & Ops connector and call the method. This is my first time discovering oData action, so I'm testing in a cloud hosted DEV environment:

Inside the method is just a simple infolog and return a string;

public class FreeTextInvoicePostingEntity extends common { ///
/// Infolog ///
[SysODataActionAttribute('TestPost', true)] public str testPost() { info('FreeTextInvoicePostingEntity-TestPost'); return 'Test OData action here. Success.'; } }

After build the entity, I check the action metadata exists:

But the flow output returns "not found" error:

I don't understand what is the problem here. What am I still missing?

Thank you.

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zhifeng on at

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Hello HAIRUL ,

Can you change method name to testPost in below code?

[SysODataActionAttribute('testPost', true)]

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HAIRUL HAZRI 1,214 on at

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Hi Kevin,

thank you for your suggestion. I changed the action attribute name. However, the error persists. I even tried to:

1. Restart IIS express

2. Restart DIXF service

3. Refresh entity list in Data Management

4. Delete and recreate the flow

But still unable to get past the error. Do you know any other possible cause? Thank you.

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André Arnaud de Cal... 301,075 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi Hairul,

I noticed another action which returns a string value in the standard application. This is having another code pattern as start of the method, e.g.:

[ SysODataActionAttribute('getBusinessEventsCatalog', false), SysODataCollectionAttribute('return', Types::String) ]

It is explicitly mentioning the expected return type. You can try to align it with this example to see if it helps here.

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HAIRUL HAZRI 1,214 on at

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Hi Andre,

After:

1. changing 2nd argument of the action attribute to false

2. Change the method to static

the flow run successfully.

[ SysODataActionAttribute("testPost", false) ] public static str testPost() { }

But I still don't understand what's going on here. What does the 2nd argument & static method have to do with the "NOT FOUND" error?

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