What happens after unmanaged layer is deleted from the solution?

[dave8]

Hello,

I have managed solution as follows:

Managed Solution 1 > Table 1 > column 1, Column 2

Then, I have created unmanaged solution as follows:

UnManaged Solution 2 > Table 1 > column 3

Can you please help me with the followings:

When unmanaged layer will be created for the "Table 1" by UnManaged Solution 2  ? Where can I see? ( Note : Currently, both the solution, Table 1 displays only managed layer, there is no active unmanaged layer)

What happens if I remove Unmanaged layer ? will it remove customization from the whole Dataverse environment or just from the solution from where the unmanaged layer is deleted?

Thanks,

[ChrisPiasecki]

Hi @dave8,

When you import an unmanaged solution to your other environment, you must publish all customizations to apply unmanaged changes.

When you remove the unmanaged layer, it will remove just that, so your top most managed layer will take precedence for the component.

More information on solution layering here.

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[dave8]

Hi @ChrisPiasecki 

"When you import an unmanaged solution to your other environment, you must publish all customizations to apply unmanaged changes." - This was my understanding too, however as per my experience and noticed behavior yesterday there are two observations I was able to make:

1. Unmanaged layers can be reproduced only if we make changes on the existing componenets via default solution and not any other unmanaged solutions.
2. If we make changes for example in column/rules/form of the table, it does not show at table level as unmanaged layer, it only shows at the underline component level.

This is something that makes me crazy for sure, as I can not go and check unmanaged layers on underline componenets manually. (In progress to identify automation around it)

Thoughts/suggestions?

Thank you!

[EricRegnier]

Hi @dave8,

Just to clarify a little, you cannot really removed an "unmanaged layer". You can only "remove" by undoing one-by-one the customizations in the environment for each component (e.g. table, column, etc) or redeploying your managed solution with the option "overwrite unmanaged customizations". Any further updates from the original managed solution will be done on the unmanaged layer which always sits on top of any managed layer(s). These updates to the unmanaged layer doesn't have to come from only importing an unmanaged solution, it can be done by directly updating a components.

Hope this helps!

[dave8]

@EricRegnier - Thank you for your attention!

Does it mean that CoE Starter Kit that mentions to "install updates" by removing the unmanaged layer manually is not an appropriate way? as I believe  "overwrite unmanaged customizations" will probably remove the existing customization/data as well, which is not something I look for.

What could be appropriate ways in order to install the updates in this case? can you please clarify?

Thanks,

[EricRegnier]

The best way to install CoE Starter kit solution updates is simply to install the updated version of the managed solution. I would not tick overwrite customizations because it would reset my connection references and any tweaks done in the current environment, unless you really want to undo you customizations on the environment. "overwrite unmanaged customizations" will not remove data. Hope this clarifies?

[dave8]

"The best way to install CoE Starter kit solution updates is simply to install the updated version of the managed solution." - Did you mean "Removing Unmanaged layer" is not required at all before installing updates as suggested in the documentation? ( I assume the install option here is - Maintain customizations (recommended))

Note:  by straight away installing the updated version of the managed solution of CoE , I have faced few more issues that I assumed could be the reason by not removing the unmanaged layer.

[EricRegnier]

Technically it's not required, and up to you if you want to under any customizations on top of the CoE solutions. In general, I usually do it, because some of my unmanaged customizations might no longer be valid at newer versions of a solution. Note, it's not something you should blindly do without being aware of the impact...