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Article | Stuart Elcocks | 23/03/2023

Connecting to Dynamics using a Bearer token

It's possible to connect to a Dynamics environment by providing a bearer token. The advantages of using a bearer token is that it's quick and easy to setup for testing template deployments locally.

Below is how a bearer token might look like in a template.

{ 
  "targetenvironment": {
     "bearerToken":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWIiOiIxMjM0NTY3ODkwIiwibmFtZSI6IkpvaG4gRG9lIiwiaWF0IjoxNTE2MjM5MDIyfQ.SflKxwRJSMeKKF2QT4fwpMeJf36POk6yJV_adQssw5c...",
     "url":"https://{yourdynamicsinstance}.crm11.dynamics.com" 
  }, 
  "type":"drm.crmbaseentity/queues", 
  "apiVersion":"2023-01-09", 
  ... 
}
Note

Although this option is available it's not recommended to use it in an automated setup.

Prerequisites

  1. A Dynamics environment with system administrator access, this is the environment you will deploy the template too.
  2. PowerShell with the DRM module installed. Follow this guide to install the powerhsell module

Generate a bearer token using connect-crmonline

In your PowerShell window, log into your dynamics instance using your user account and the Dynamics url of the environment we will deploy the template too.

connect-crmonline -Username "<useraccount>" -ServerUrl <dynamics url>

Now lets copy the bearer token so that we can use it in our template.

Run the command below to get the bearer token and copy it for use in the next step.

$conn.CurrentAccessToken

Generate a bearer token using an app reg

Another way of getting a bearer token is by requesting one from Azure.

Before trying this method you need to setup an App Reg Connection.

Once the app reg is in place you can simply paste the following url into a browser and you will be prompted to login with your user account. You could also use postman

// Line breaks for legibility only 

https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant}/oauth2/authorize?
resource=<your dynamics url> 
client_id=<your app reg client id> 
&response_type=token 
&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fmyapp%2F 
&scope=openid&response_mode=fragment 
&state=12345 
&nonce=678910

A successful response will look like something like this.

https://localhost/#access_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsIng1dCI6Im5PbzNaRHJPRFhFSzFqS1doWHNsSFJfS1hFZyIsImtpZCI6Im5PbzNaRHJPRFhFSzFqS1doWHNsSFJfS1hFZyJ9
....
&token_type=Bearer&expires_in=1199&state=&session_state=42d127f7-d04a-4d8f-a699-c5faf74d9adb

Copy the bearer token ready for the next step.

Create your template

Now lets generate a template that will create a simple account.

Create a new file called 'bearertokendrm.json' and copy the json template below.

{
  "$schema": "https://schemas.drmtemplates.io/2021-03-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "resources": [
    {
      "targetenvironment": {
        "bearerToken": "<paste your bearer token here>",
        "url": "<dynamics url>"
      },
      "type": "drm.crmbaseentity/accounts",
      "apiVersion": "2023-01-09",
      "name": "DemoBearerToken_accounts",
      "properties": {
        "data": [
          {
            "accountid": "a10443aa-5b1e-4b28-883e-e13f179d93a9",
            "name": "A Demo DRM account"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Deploy your template

Replace the paste your bearer token here text with the bearer token you copied from the previous step and save the template.

Replace the dynamics url with the url of your target Dynamics environment.

In your PowerShell window run the following command to deploy your template.

New-DrmDeployment -TemplateFile '<absolute path to your template>'

Log into your dynamics environment and check the new account has been created.

Dynamics Account

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