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Solutions stored in source control noise

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Posted on by Andrew7 Microsoft Employee

Question for people who use source control (git etc) to store solution files: have you experienced any unnecessary noise when you export solution without any modifications and source control system detects changes you didn't make? For example, autogenerated names have changed, solution.xml have changed, ordering changes or anything else?

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Power Apps Pro Dev & ISV

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cchannon 4,702 Moderator on at

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Just asking for a friend? 😉

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Phil_Cole 133 on at

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Yes! Particular paint points (with some fixes)

* AppModules - elements in the appmodule xml often changes order - see https://github.com/microsoft/coe-alm-accelerator-templates/pull/127
* AI Models - have an environment specific GUID embedded in them
* Solution.xml - Missing dependencies are not stable (better than they were), but sometimes come out in different order
* Solution.xml - especially when dependent solutions are bumped - I built a powershell script to centralise this information - see https://github.com/filcole/SolutionRefs/
* Solution.xml - the metadata version number (first line of the file)
* Unpacking canvas apps - especially component libraries often produces different output
* Business Rules created the first time have zero GUIDS - see fix here: https://github.com/microsoft/coe-alm-accelerator-templates/pull/88
* Classic workflows often have differences when imported from source control and exported again

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Betim Beja 56 on at

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ConnectionReferences json content comes in different order most of the time in a Custom Page
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <CanvasApp xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <Name>new_custompage_e7176</Name> <AppVersion>2022-10-27T07:14:00Z</AppVersion> <Status>Ready</Status> <CreatedByClientVersion>3.22102.32.0</CreatedByClientVersion> <MinClientVersion>3.22102.32.0</MinClientVersion> <Tags>{"primaryDeviceWidth":"1366","primaryDeviceHeight":"768","supportsPortrait":"true","supportsLandscape":"true","primaryFormFactor":"Tablet","publisherVersion":"3.22102.32","minimumRequiredApiVersion":"2.2.0","hasComponent":"false","hasUnlockedComponent":"false","isUnifiedRootApp":"false","sienaVersion":"20221026T160951Z-3.22102.32.0"}</Tags> <IsCdsUpgraded>0</IsCdsUpgraded> <GalleryItemId xsi:nil="true"></GalleryItemId> <BackgroundColor>RGBA(0,176,240,1)</BackgroundColor> <DisplayName>Resolution Approval</DisplayName> <Description xsi:nil="true"></Description> <CommitMessage xsi:nil="true"></CommitMessage> <Publisher xsi:nil="true"></Publisher> <AuthorizationReferences>[]</AuthorizationReferences> <ConnectionReferences>{"15ed0f3d-a26f-4b34-92cb-3adae489bfe2":{"id":"/providers/microsoft.powerapps/apis/shared_logicflows","displayName":"Logic flows","iconUri":"https://connectoricons-prod.azureedge.net/releases/v1.0.1534/1.0.1534.2605/logicflows/icon.png","dataSources":["ApproveOrRejectCaseResolution"],"dependencies":["2e94e300-18cf-4d39-8e90-6338460756f1"],"dependents":[],"parameterHints":{"workflowName":{"value":"22e242a6-21b4-4deb-be2f-6af50a064c6c"},"workflowEntityId":{"value":"43b0e403-3225-ed11-b83d-000d3ab9a8a8"},"2e94e300-18cf-4d39-8e90-6338460756f1":{"value":"shared_commondataserviceforapps"}},"parameterHintsV2":{"workflowName":{"value":"22e242a6-21b4-4deb-be2f-6af50a064c6c"},"workflowEntityId":{"value":"43b0e403-3225-ed11-b83d-000d3ab9a8a8"},"shared_commondataserviceforapps":{"value":"2e94e300-18cf-4d39-8e90-6338460756f1"}},"isOnPremiseConnection":false,"bypassConsent":false,"dataSets":{},"apiTier":"Standard","actions":["Run"]},"2e94e300-18cf-4d39-8e90-6338460756f1":{"id":"/providers/microsoft.powerapps/apis/shared_commondataserviceforapps","displayName":"Microsoft Dataverse","iconUri":"https://connectoricons-prod.azureedge.net/releases/v1.0.1588/1.0.1588.2938/commondataserviceforapps/icon.png","dataSources":[],"dependencies":[],"dependents":["15ed0f3d-a26f-4b34-92cb-3adae489bfe2"],"parameterHints":{},"parameterHintsV2":{},"isOnPremiseConnection":false,"bypassConsent":false,"dataSets":{},"apiTier":"Premium"}}</ConnectionReferences> <DatabaseReferences>{"default.cds":{"databaseDetails":{"referenceType":"Environmental","environmentName":"default.cds","overrideValues":{"status":"NotSpecified"}},"dataSources":{"Cases":{"entitySetName":"incidents","logicalName":"incident"}}}}</DatabaseReferences> <AppComponents>[]</AppComponents> <AppComponentDependencies>[]</AppComponentDependencies> <CanConsumeAppPass>1</CanConsumeAppPass> <CanvasAppType>2</CanvasAppType> <BypassConsent>0</BypassConsent> <AdminControlBypassConsent>0</AdminControlBypassConsent> <EmbeddedApp xsi:nil="true"></EmbeddedApp> <IntroducedVersion>1.0</IntroducedVersion> <CdsDependencies>{"cdsdependencies":[{"logicalname":"incident","componenttype":1}]}</CdsDependencies> <IsCustomizable>1</IsCustomizable> <BackgroundImageUri>/CanvasApps/new_custompage_e7176_BackgroundImageUri</BackgroundImageUri> <DocumentUri>/CanvasApps/new_custompage_e7176_DocumentUri.msapp</DocumentUri> </CanvasApp>

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cchannon 4,702 Moderator on at

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New release in the Power Platform Developer Tools: recent updates have been made to ensure these solution components are being sorted during solution export to reduce this noise.
Power Platform Developers tool – October update | Microsoft Power Apps

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Phil_Cole 133 on at

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Hi @Andrew7 ,

I'm noticing (and have been for a while) that the GUID in the uniqueid attribute in FormXml differs in case. See example below. Should it be upper or lower case?

I've put together a fix/hack for the above issue here: https://github.com/filcole/SolutionFormUniqueId

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Phil_Cole 133 on at

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Hi @Andrew7,

Sometimes new elements are added to the exports when MS are introducing new capabilities. Obviously this changes the output. I have had comments asking why is there a 'diff' here? While I actually quite like seeing the new capabilities arrive I wonder if it might be possible to only output an element when if it differs from the default, thus eliminating the diff. Doing this assumes the default will never change though - so I guess it's a balance.
Some recent examples:
new <CascadeArchive> in Relationships
new <IsChildEntity> option in Entity.xml
templateName in flow JSON
Would love to know your thoughts on this.

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Phil_Cole 133 on at

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* Unpacking canvas apps - especially component libraries often produces different output
Hi @Andrew7
Unpacking canvas apps for new Power Fx command libraries (where a default PowerFx command library is created automatically) have the differing names. I've reproduced and logged it here: https://github.com/microsoft/powerplatform-vscode/issues/386

There's a workaround/temporary fix here https://github.com/filcole/SolutionFixComponentLibraryFilename that renames the component library files in a determinate way manner.

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Phil_Cole 133 on at

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Hi @Andrew7,

I'd noticed that some FormXml only had differences in a 'disabled' attribute on the 'Control' element, causing noisy diffs.
Here's an example.
I finally managed to reproduce:
Add a solution
Add a new table to the solution
Export and unpack the solution to source control
Note that the 'disabled' attribute is missing for the 'Control' element on the primary attribute (e.g. pgc_name) for the main form.
Go into the maker portal and edit the main form
tick 'Read-Only', Save
untick 'Read-Only', Save - the form is now unchanged
Export and unpack the solution to source control
Notice that there's a diff because 'disabled="false"' has been added.

I suggest that the disabled=false attribute should be automatically added when the form is automatically created at the time the table is created.

There's similar instances for other attributes in FormXml

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Konst 4 on at

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* When MS bought adx they build a nice custom exporter, as I heard.
* HTML templates is an example of a thing that should be improved -- it's a HTML escaped to fit into XML. All xml-escaped content should be put into dedicated files. There might be other instances

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Konst 4 on at

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* `pac modelbuilder` and `pac solution sync` should know about each other. model should be able to build from local unpacked solution.

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