Import, Export, and Publish Customizations

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK contains APIs to programmatically support import, export, and publish features that are available in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application.

The following features are supported:

You can import and export only between systems that are running the same version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
You can import, export, and publish specific entities or all entities to an XML file.
The export file can be compressed or uncompressed.
You can import and export Microsoft Dynamics CRM customizations such as views (saved queries), form customizations, custom attributes, custom entities, client scripts, and more.
You can move (export and then import) live customizations to other Microsoft Dynamics CRM installations running the same version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
You can import a customization file that is in a different base language than the destination server.

Export

When you export a selection of entities, it will include mappings and relationships between the specified entities, and relationships between the specified entities and system entities.

Mappings and relationships between the selected entities and any entities not specified will not be included. Some user information may be exported when you export workflows. This includes the domain logon, Forms Authentication user name, or Windows Live unique user identifier (PUID) value.

When an export operation is complete, the success or failure is logged in the trace file. For information about platform tracing, see the Maintaining and Operating Guide, which is part of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Implementation Guide.

Import

Some labels cannot be null in the import file. Typically these are required properties such as schema name and display name. If they are blank in the import file for a language, the label for the base language will be substituted.

When you import a security role:

You must be assigned the System Administrator role to import Security Roles.
It is attached to the root business unit on the target system.
If there are privileges for entities that do not exist on the target system, these privileges are not added.
If the privilege access level does not work with the entity ownership in the target system, that privilege will not be added to the role in the target system.
If the privilege is not available because of the entity ownership in the target system, that privilege will not be added to the system.

When you import a workflow, the following dependencies are checked:

Entity logical name and entity type
Dependent entity logical names and types
Dependent attributes logical names and types

All dependencies must be found on the target system for the workflow to import successfully.

Publish

You must publish your customizations for them to be visible to Microsoft Dynamics CRM users. You can publish changes for a set of selected entities or customization nodes or you can publish all changes.

For a list of messages, see Messages for Import and Export.