Dataverse Request Studio for Power Platform ToolBox

A metadata-driven studio for composing, previewing, and executing Microsoft Dataverse Web API requests — covering OData reads, record writes, table associations, bound and unbound action/function invocation, on-demand workflows, and file / image / attachment operations.

Built for Power Platform ToolBox with React 18, Fluent UI v9, TypeScript, and live Dataverse metadata integration.

✨ Features

DRS ships with 17 request modes organized into 5 functional groups. Every mode is metadata-driven, generates the correct OData / Web API shape, and emits ready-to-copy code in five languages (xrm.WebApi single + batch, fetch, curl, PowerShell).

📖 Read group

• Retrieve Multiple — full OData query composer with $select, $filter, $orderby, $expand, $top, $skip, $count, $apply (groupby / aggregate), and a virtualized results grid with infinite scroll via @odata.nextLink.
• Retrieve Single — by primary key OR by alternate key (composite alternate keys supported).
• Retrieve NextLink — paste a @odata.nextLink URL to continue paging any query.
• Predefined Query — execute saved-query (?savedQuery=<id>) and user-query (?userQuery=<id>) URLs against an entity set; layout-aware results grid that matches the source view's column order.

✏️ Write group

• Create Record — POST /<set> with metadata-driven field-set editor. Required-field guard with red req badges, Prefer: return=representation toggle, optional $select return list, MSCRM.* bypass-header family.
• Update Record — PATCH /<set>(<id>) multi-field OR PUT /<set>(<id>)/<col> single-column. Diff view (before → after) with per-row drill-down to switch to PUT mode.
• Upsert Record — full upsert / create-only / update-only / etag-guarded variants. By GUID OR alternate key.
• Delete Record — DELETE /<set>(<id>) with a typed-confirmation safety affordance + cascade-impact preview. Single-property delete via DELETE /<set>(<id>)/<col> also supported.
• Merge Records — POST /Merge for account / contact / incident with target + subordinate record cards, field-override matrix, and PerformParentingChecks / SuppressDuplicateDetection settings.

🔗 Relate group

• Associate — links related records via POST /<set>(<id>)/<nav>/$ref for collection-valued navs, or PATCH @odata.bind for single-valued. Cardinality detected from metadata; verb auto-flips with the picker. Polymorphic lookups (Customer / Owner / regardingobjectid) fully supported with target-disambiguated nav properties.
• Disassociate — DELETE /$ref for collection-valued, PATCH @odata.bind: null for single-valued. Same polymorphism story.

⚡ Execute group

• Execute Action — OOB / Custom API / Custom Action invocation via bound POST /<set>(<id>)/Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.<Action> OR unbound POST /<Action>. CSDL-driven parameter form with type-aware controls: required-first UX, Form ↔ JSON toggle, EntityReference / EntityCollection / Edm primitives / Enum / Status-code OptionSet enrichment.
• Execute Function — OData function calls with parameter aliasing (?@p1=...) vs inline literal toggle. CSDL-driven param form with the same type-aware controls as actions.
• Execute Workflow — runs on-demand workflows via POST /workflows(<id>)/Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.ExecuteWorkflow with the bound record id. Live picker over activated, on-demand process workflows (statecode eq 1 and type eq 1 and ondemand eq true and category eq 0).

💾 Binary group

• Manage File Data — File-column upload / download / delete with three upload paths (single-request PATCH, chunked PATCH with session token, InitializeFileBlocksUpload / UploadBlock / CommitFileBlocksUpload messages), four download paths (single GET /$value, ranged GET with Range, message-based block download, GetFileSasUrl function), and the DeleteFile message + DELETE-on-property alternatives.
• Manage Image Data — Image columns with thumbnail vs full-size download (?size=full), CanStoreFullImage awareness, and pointers to the file-column path for full-size uploads.
• Manage Attachment / Note — activitymimeattachment.body and annotation.documentbody. Inline base 64 OR Initialize{Attachment|Annotation}BlocksUpload / Commit{Attachment|Annotation}BlocksUpload messages. Single-request GET /$value OR Initialize{...}BlocksDownload / DownloadBlock for download.

🔍 Cross-cutting capabilities

• Live metadata — Tables, columns, relationships, alternate keys, action / function CSDL all fetched lazily from the host's dataverseAPI. Per-org TTL cache with in-flight promise dedup. Type-specific column properties (Targets, OptionSet, MaxLength, MinValue/MaxValue, Format) loaded on-demand by the editor that needs them.
• Antipattern advisories — Surfaces real-time guidance per the Microsoft query-antipatterns doc: FilteringOnCalculatedColumns, LargeAmountOfLogicalAttributes, large-text contains, leading-wildcard rewrites — all flagged inline AND aggregated into an Advisory drawer in the URL bar.
• Polymorphic lookup support — Customer, Owner, and multi-target lookups (regardingobjectid) emit the correct target-disambiguated <navName>@odata.bind binding shape automatically.
• Code generators — Every mode emits the same request as Xrm.WebApi.online.execute (single + executeMultiple batch), fetch, curl, and PowerShell Invoke-RestMethod snippets. Multi-request pipelines (chunked uploads, message-based binary ops) render as full ordered sequences.
• Saved-request library — Per-org localStorage persistence with auto-suggested names (account · 3 sel · 2 flt · 2026-05-23), rename / delete / overwrite, dirty-state detection, and cross-tab sync.
• PPTB host integration — isEmbedded()-aware UI: theme sync, environment-aware URLs, header pass-through, host-stripped header advisories. Header / theme controls hide when the host owns them.

🖼️ Interface overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [Request Type ▼] [Group · Method]               [⚙ Settings] [Theme]   │
├──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                          │  [Builder]  [Code]  [Results]                 │
│   Sidebar                ├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                          │                                               │
│   📋 Target              │   Active editor pane                          │
│      account             │                                               │
│   📊 $select       3 sel │   ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│   🔍 $filter       2 flt │   │ (clause editor — varies per mode)      │ │
│   🔁 $orderby      1 sort│   │                                        │ │
│   🔗 $expand       1 exp │   │  • Field-set editor (writes)           │ │
│   📃 $top                │   │  • Filter tree (reads)                 │ │
│   ⚙ Prefer               │   │  • Action param form (executes)        │ │
│   📥 Headers       1 act │   │  • Binary pipeline (file/image)        │ │
│                          │   └────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│   ⏱ Recent runs          │                                               │
│      200 · 142ms · 32B   │                                               │
│      200 · 89ms          │                                               │
│                          │                                               │
├──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  GET /accounts?$select=name,…                  0.4 KB  ⚠ 2 advisories  │
│                                                       [▶ Execute]      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🚀 Getting started

Prerequisites

• Power Platform ToolBox (for embedded use)
• A connection to a Dataverse environment
• For local development: Node.js ≥ 20.19 and npm

Installation

Dataverse Request Studio is available as a tool in Power Platform ToolBox. Install it from the tool gallery or load it as a custom tool.

🛠️ Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/mohsinonxrm/pptb-mxrm-dataverse-request-studio.git
cd pptb-mxrm-dataverse-request-studio
npm install

Common scripts

# Vite dev server (standalone, no PPTB host)
npm run dev

# TypeScript-only check (fast)
npm run typecheck

# Production build
npm run build

# Preview the production build locally
npm run preview

# Validate manifest against PPTB registry rules
npm run validate

# Pre-publish: validate → build → shrinkwrap
npm run finalize-package

Standalone vs PPTB-embedded

DRS runs in two modes:

• Standalone (npm run dev) — opens in a regular browser tab. Useful for UI iteration. Execute will return 501 Not Implemented for any operation because the host bridge isn't present; you can still build requests, preview URLs, and use the Code tab.
• Embedded in PPTB — loads inside the PPTB iframe. The host injects window.dataverseAPI (typed) and window.toolboxAPI. Execute runs against the active Dataverse connection.

See docs/CONTRIBUTING.md for branch conventions, commit style, code style, and PR guidance.

📦 Tech stack

| Technology | Version | Purpose | |---|---|---| | React | 18.3 | UI framework | | TypeScript | 5.9 | Strict mode, discriminated unions | | Vite | 7 | Build tooling + HMR | | Fluent UI v9 | 9.73 | Microsoft design system (Combobox, DataGrid, Tree, Drawer, Tabs, etc.) | | Monaco Editor | 0.54 | JSON / code editor for body authoring and Code tab | | @fluentui-contrib/react-data-grid-react-window | 1.4 | Virtualized results grid | | @dnd-kit | 6.3 | Drag-reordering for filter / orderby / select clauses | | @pptb/types | 1.2.1 | Power Platform ToolBox host API types |

📁 Project layout

src/
  App.tsx                    — root, ThemedApp, Frame, mode router
  main.tsx                   — Vite entry point

  modes/                     — one file per request mode (17 modes)
    RetrieveMultipleMode.tsx
    RetrieveSingleMode.tsx
    RetrieveNextLinkMode.tsx
    PredefinedQueryMode.tsx
    CreateMode.tsx / UpdateMode.tsx / UpsertMode.tsx / DeleteMode.tsx
    MergeMode.tsx
    AssociateMode.tsx / DisassociateMode.tsx
    ExecuteActionMode.tsx / ExecuteFunctionMode.tsx / ExecuteWorkflowMode.tsx
    ManageFileMode.tsx / ManageImageMode.tsx / ManageAttachmentMode.tsx

  editors/                   — clause editors shared across modes
    filter/                  — FilterEditor + value inputs + operator catalog
    FieldSetEditor.tsx       — metadata-driven write-side form
    SelectEditor.tsx, OrderbyEditor.tsx, ExpandEditor.tsx, ApplyEditor.tsx
    ActionParamForm.tsx      — CSDL-driven action / function params
    BinarySourceCard.tsx, BinaryPipelineCard.tsx, BinaryColumnPickers.tsx
    HeadersEditor.tsx, BypassEditor.tsx
    ActionPicker.tsx, RecordPicker.tsx, EntityListPicker.tsx
    ...

  engine/                    — URL / body construction + code generation
    urlBuilder.ts            — central URL builder for every mode
    executeBuilders.ts       — action / function / workflow body builders
    binaryBuilders.ts        — file / image / attachment pipelines
    codeGenerators.ts        — xrm, xrm-batch, fetch, curl, PowerShell
    runtime.ts               — single dispatch point for execute
    dataverseExecutor.ts     — live executor over the host's dataverseAPI
    odataParser.ts           — round-trips OData URL strings ↔ state

  host/                      — PPTB bridge + metadata loaders
    pptbBridge.ts            — typed wrapper over window.dataverseAPI
    metadataProvider.ts      — entity / attribute / relationship loaders
    csdlProvider.ts          — $metadata XML parsing + action / function index
    cache.ts                 — singleton TTL cache with in-flight dedup
    useLiveMetadata.ts, useColumnDetail.ts, useScopedEntities.ts, …

  primitives/                — small reusable UI bits
    Sidebar.tsx, ClauseTreeItem.tsx, SectionHeader.tsx, ModeCard.tsx
    StatusPill.tsx, MethodPill.tsx, AdvisoryDrawer.tsx, advisories.ts
    NavPathColumnPicker.tsx  — N:1 drill-down column picker for filter / apply
    KvGrid.tsx, Sortable.tsx, SegmentedToggle.tsx, …

  shell/                     — frame / header / URL bar / tabs / drawers
    Frame.tsx, FrameHeader.tsx, ModeShell.tsx
    UrlBar.tsx, MainTabs.tsx, SettingsDrawer.tsx

  state/                     — per-mode state shapes + persistence
    readState.ts, writeState.ts, relateState.ts, executeState.ts, binaryState.ts
    savedRequests.ts         — localStorage persistence (per-org scope)
    SaveContext.tsx          — cross-mode save/load context
    displaySettings.ts       — display preferences

  registry/                  — request-type catalogue
    requestTypes.ts          — 17 request types grouped into 5 groups

  views/                     — output panes
    CodeView.tsx             — Code tab: xrm/xrm-batch/fetch/curl/powershell
    ResultsView.tsx          — tabs (Detail/Grid/JSON/Headers) + error state
    results/                 — grid + cell renderers + flattening
    detail/                  — record detail card

  theme/                     — Fluent theme + studio-owned brand vars

📋 Web API coverage

| Operation | Status | |---|---| | Retrieve Multiple (full OData) | ✅ | | Retrieve Single (by GUID / alt key) | ✅ | | @odata.nextLink paging | ✅ | | Predefined / user queries | ✅ | | $apply (groupby / aggregate) | ✅ | | Lambda filter (any / all) | ✅ | | $expand (single + collection, nested) | ✅ | | Polymorphic lookups (Customer, Owner, regardingobjectid) | ✅ | | Create / Update / Upsert / Delete | ✅ | | Prefer: return=representation | ✅ | | Optimistic concurrency (If-Match ETag) | ✅ | | MSCRM.* bypass family (custom plug-ins, flows, async) | ✅ | | Single-property PUT / DELETE | ✅ | | Alternate-key upsert | ✅ | | Associate / Disassociate (collection + single-valued) | ✅ | | Merge (account / contact / incident) | ✅ | | Execute Action (OOB / Custom API / Custom Action) | ✅ | | Execute Function | ✅ | | Execute Workflow | ✅ | | File column (upload / download / delete) | ✅ | | Image column (thumbnail / full-size) | ✅ | | Attachment / Note (inline + message-based) | ✅ | | $batch envelope composer | ⏳ (see roadmap) | | CreateMultiple / UpdateMultiple / DeleteMultiple | ⏳ | | BulkDelete async job | ⏳ | | ExecuteMultiple envelope | ⏳ |

🤝 Contributing

See docs/CONTRIBUTING.md for branch conventions, commit style, code style, repo layout, and PR guidance.

📋 Roadmap

• $batch envelope composer mode
• Bulk-write modes (CreateMultiple, UpdateMultiple, DeleteMultiple)
• BulkDelete async-job composer
• ExecuteMultiple request envelope
• Recent-runs click-to-reload
• WriteResultCard "Retrieve this record" cross-mode jump
• EntitySpecific param — reference vs new-instance toggle
• Workflow input parameters (parse XAML InArgument)
• Predefined Query — apply to related collection
• CSV / JSON export from results grid
• Column resize with persisted widths
• Smoke-test suite covering URL builders + code generators

📄 License

Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0-only). See LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Dataverse REST Builder - Original inspiration.
• Power Platform ToolBox — host platform for the desktop / web app where DRS runs.
• FetchXML Studio — sibling tool that pioneered many of the patterns reused here (metadata cache, scope settings, results grid).
• Fluent UI — UI component library.
• Monaco Editor — VS Code's editor core.

Built with ❤️ for the Power Platform community.