Azure Functions and SharePoint

The first module provides an overview of the Azure Functions and SharePoint course. We will look at complimentary features between Dataverse and SharePoint and their existing integration capabilities before moving on to more complex business scenarios that require extending with custom code. To illustrate, we establish a real world scenario and build out our integration between Dataverse and SharePoint using Power Automate and Azure Function Apps.

Dataverse and SharePoint provide complimentary features and functionality for enterprise Line of Business solutions. In this module, we take a look at the features for each platform and discuss the pros and cons of each – how can we leverage the strengths of each platform to build a solid line of business solution.

Line of business solutions often require both persisting relational data and collaboration tools. In this module, we review existing out of the box Dataverse and SharePoint integration capabilities available to users and developers to meet these common business requirements.

Dataverse and SharePoint offer configuration only integration capabilities out of the box, so why would we need to extend? In this module, we take a look at common scenarios customers face that force extending past the out of the box integration capabilities. We then take a look at Azure Functions as a platform for building complex integrations between Dataverse and SharePoint - what are Azure Functions and why are they a good choice for our situation?

Before we take a deep dive into code, let's set up our scenario for extending the Dataverse and SharePoint integration. We have a short set of requirements and a business process that we will develop to demonstrate how we can build on the existing integration between Dataverse and SharePoint and add new capabilities required by our business solution.

Now that we have a business scenario, we take a look at our solution in action. In this module, we first review our Power Automate Flow steps and stages and how we intercept actions occurring in Dataverse. We then take a look at setting up our Azure Function App, including the configuration in the Azure Portal, the Visual Studio project, and how to publish our code once we have it working.

The Dataverse SDK allows developers to connect to both the application data and solution metadata for a Dataverse instance. In this module, we review the code to connect to Dataverse using the latest version of the SDK that supports the .NET Core runtime and retrieve Dataverse records required for our business scenario.

The SharePoint Client Side Object Model (CSOM) SDK allows developers to connect to SharePoint much like the Dataverse SDK. In this module, we review code required to connect to our Document Library, extend it’s metadata, and move documents between the two systems. This module also talks to some of the challenges faced in coding with CSOM under the .NET Core runtime.

Writing code involves a lot of testing and debugging. In this module, we take a quick look at some options for debugging our Azure Function Apps using Visual Studio and the Azure Functions Core Tools.

This module wraps up our course with a review of our business scenario and some additional scenarios that might lead to extending Dataverse and SharePoint integration. We also take a look at next steps we can take with Azure Functions and some additional reading on Azure Functions, Dataverse and SharePoint.