In this chapter, we dealt with a new and useful feature in Dynamics 365—virtual entities. Virtual entities make the integration of external data into the CRM much easier than before, as all we have to do is create a new data provider and create the virtual entity based on that data provider. This virtual entity record can then be used within CRM.
We also learned how to create a new OData v4 service that contains the required metadata to be used in the CRM. We also saw how to create a virtual entity data provider using the external source and, in turn, how to create the virtual entity using this data provider. We also saw how to use the virtual entity record elsewhere in the CRM by using lookup fields.
We learned about some of the limitations of virtual entities, as well—how the data fields have to be mapped exactly to avoid errors; how the data is read only...