DEVKIT1012 - phuocle/Dynamics-Crm-DevKit GitHub Wiki

DEVKIT1012: Consider Using ITracingService in Plug-ins

Description

This analyzer recommends using ITracingService in plug-in classes. Tracing is essential for debugging and monitoring plugin execution in Dynamics 365 / Dataverse.

Microsoft Best Practice

📚 Use ITracingService in Plug-ins

Use ITracingService in plug-ins to write diagnostic information that helps debug and monitor your plug-ins.

Why This Matters

Without tracing:

  1. Difficult Debugging: Production issues are hard to diagnose
  2. No Execution Visibility: Can't see what your plugin is doing
  3. Slow Incident Resolution: Takes longer to identify root cause
  4. Missing Audit Trail: No record of plugin behavior

Detection

The analyzer reports when:

  • A class implements IPlugin interface
  • The class doesn't contain any reference to ITracingService

Code Examples

❌ Code Without Tracing

public class AccountPlugin : IPlugin
{
    // ⚠️ No tracing - difficult to debug
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider
            .GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
        
        var target = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];
        // Do something with target...
    }
}

✅ Code With Tracing

public class AccountPlugin : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        // ✅ Get tracing service for debugging
        var tracingService = (ITracingService)serviceProvider
            .GetService(typeof(ITracingService));
        
        tracingService.Trace("AccountPlugin: Execute started");
        
        var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider
            .GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
        
        tracingService.Trace("Message: {0}, Stage: {1}", 
            context.MessageName, context.Stage);
        
        var target = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];
        tracingService.Trace("Target entity: {0}, Id: {1}", 
            target.LogicalName, target.Id);
        
        // Do something with target...
        
        tracingService.Trace("AccountPlugin: Execute completed");
    }
}

How to Fix

  1. Get ITracingService: Retrieve from the service provider
  2. Add Trace Calls: Log entry/exit, key variables, and decisions
  3. Include Context: Log message name, stage, entity details

Before and After

  public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
  {
+     var tracingService = (ITracingService)serviceProvider
+         .GetService(typeof(ITracingService));
+     tracingService.Trace("Plugin started");
+     
      var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider
          .GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
+         
+     tracingService.Trace("Depth: {0}", context.Depth);
      
      // ... rest of code
+     
+     tracingService.Trace("Plugin completed");
  }

Viewing Trace Logs

To view trace logs in Dynamics 365:

  1. Go to Settings → Plug-in Trace Log
  2. Filter by plugin assembly or message
  3. Review the MessageBlock field for trace output

Note: Tracing must be enabled in the environment (Plug-in Trace Log Setting).

Suppression

If you intentionally don't want tracing (e.g., a minimal helper plugin):

#pragma warning disable DEVKIT1012
public class MinimalPlugin : IPlugin
{
    // No tracing needed
}
#pragma warning restore DEVKIT1012

Or in .editorconfig:

[*.cs]
dotnet_diagnostic.DEVKIT1012.severity = none

Rule Properties

Property Value
Rule ID DEVKIT1012
Category DynamicsCrm.DevKit
Severity Warning
Enabled by default Yes
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