Answers to the easy and hard questions to consider as we think about Managed and Unmanaged Solutions
1) How do you create a managed or unmanaged solution?
- Select Settings
- Select Solutions
- Select New
- Give your solution a name
- Add a publisher (see next question for details on publishers)
- Add a version such as 1.0.0.0
- Add existing entities you want to modify or new entities you want to create
- Save your solution
- Export as either an unmanaged or managed solution
2) What is a CRM publisher?
A publisher allows you to define a prefix and variables for your solutions. A publisher can be used to organize or classify components added to a solution. To create a publisher
- Select Settings
- Select Customizations
- Select Publishers
- Select New
Give your publisher a name- Set your prefix
- You can also set the starting number for any values in option sets
- Save your publisher (you can now use it when creating solutions)
3) What benefit does the publisher give the customizer?
- Every component (attribute, entity, etc. is prefixed with that publisher prefix)
4) What happens when you import an unmanaged solution?
- The solution is merged with all other unmanaged solutions.
5) Can you export a managed solution?
- No, you can only export an unmanaged solution which gives you the option to create a managed solution.
6) Who is the primary audience for managed solutions?
- Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)
7) What are the disadvantages of using managed solutions?
- The components of a managed solution can not be changed.