Use managed properties

 

Applies To: Dynamics CRM 2013

You can control which of your managed solution components are customizable by using managed properties. You should allow as much customization as possible for those solution components that represent business entities. This lets organizations customize your solution to their requirements. Limit or eliminate customization of critical solution components that provide the core functionality of your solution so that you can predictably support and maintain it.

Managed properties are intended to protect your solution from modifications that may cause it to break. Managed properties do not provide digital rights management (DRM), or capabilities to license your solution or control who may install it.

Apply managed properties

You apply managed properties when the solution is unmanaged. The managed properties will take effect after you package the managed solution and install it in a different organization. After the managed solution is installed, the managed properties cannot be updated except by an update of the solution by the original publisher.

Most solution components have a Managed Properties button when viewing a list of solution components. You can view or update the managed properties for a solution component when you click this button. To access managed properties for solutions that do not display this button, select Managed Properties from the More Actions drop-down list.

By default, all custom solution components are customizable. To change the managed properties for a solution component, click the Managed Properties button in the toolbar for the solution component. Each solution component has a Can be customized (IsCustomizable) property. As long as this property is true, more properties specific to the type of solution component can be specified. If you set the IsCustomizable.Value property to false, after the solution is installed as a managed solution the solution component will not be customizable. The following table lists the managed properties for each solution component.

Component	Display Name	Property
Entity	Can be customized	.Value
	Display name can be modified	.Value
	Can be related entity in relationship	.Value (Read Only)
	Can be primary entity in relationship	.Value (Read Only)
	Can be in many-to-many relationship	.Value (Read Only)
	New forms can be created	.Value
	New charts can be created	.Value
	New views can be created	.Value
	Can change any other entity properties not represented by a managed property	.Value
Field (Attribute)	Can be customized	.Value
	Display name can be modified	.Value
	Can change requirement level	.CanBeChanged Note RequiredLevel is the only managed property to use the CanBeChanged property.
	Can change any other attribute properties not represented by a managed property	.Value
Entity Relationship	Can be customized	.Value
Form	Can be customized	SystemForm.IsCustomizable.Value
Chart	Can be customized	SavedQueryVisualization.IsCustomizable.Value
View	Can be customized	SavedQuery.IsCustomizable.Value
Option Set	Can be customized	.Value
Web Resource	Can be customized	WebResource.IsCustomizable.Value
Workflow	Can be customized	Workflow.IsCustomizable.Value
Assembly	Can be customized	SdkMessageProcessingStep.IsCustomizable.Value
Assembly Registration	Can be customized	ServiceEndpoint.IsCustomizable.Value
E-mail Template	Can be customized	Template.IsCustomizable.Value
KB Article Template	Can be customized	KbArticleTemplate.IsCustomizable.Value
Contract Template	Can be customized	ContractTemplate.IsCustomizable.Value
Mail Merge Template	Can be customized	MailMergeTemplate.IsCustomizable.Value
Dashboard	Can be customized	SystemForm.IsCustomizable.Value
Security Roles	Can be customized	Role.IsCustomizable.Value

Update managed properties

After you release your managed solution, you may decide that you want to change the managed properties. You can only change managed properties to make them less restrictive. For example, after your initial release you can decide to allow customization of an entity.

You update managed properties for your solution by releasing an update to your solution with the changed managed properties. Your managed solution can only be updated by another managed solution associated with the same publisher record as the original managed solution. If your update includes a change in managed properties to make them more restrictive, those managed property changes will be ignored but other changes in the update will be applied.

Because the original publisher is a requirement to update managed properties for a managed solution, any unmanaged solution cannot be associated with a publisher that has been used to install a managed solution.

Note

This means you will not be able to develop an update for your solution by using an organization where your managed solution is installed.

Check managed properties

Use the IsComponentCustomizableRequest to check whether a solution component is customizable. Alternatively, you can check the solution component properties but you must consider that the ultimate determination of the meaning depends on the values of several properties. Each solution component has an IsCustomizable property. When a solution component is installed as part of a managed solution, the IsManaged property will be true. Managed properties are only enforced for managed solutions. When checking managed properties to determine if an individual solution component is customizable, you must check both the IsCustomizable and IsManaged properties. A solution component where IsCustomizable is false and IsManaged is false, is customizable.

Entity and attribute have more managed properties in addition to IsCustomizable. These managed properties are not updated if IsCustomizable is set to false. This means that in addition to checking the individual managed property, you must also check the IsCustomizable property to see if the managed property is being enforced.

See Also

IsComponentCustomizableRequest
Managed properties
Plan for solution development
Maintain managed solutions
Package and distribute extensions using solutions