New CRM SDK Feature - Plugin Trace Logging

19 April 2015
Daniel Cai

In the past, plugin debugging has been a very challenging task when working with CRM online environment, due to the lack of a proper way to log error trace information.

The good news is, CRM Online 2015 Update 1 release has introduced a new feature which allows you to turn on plugin trace logging, debugging plugin code for CRM online server is no longer such a daunting job.

How to turn on Plugin Trace Logging

To turn on CRM plugin trace logging, you would navigate to Settings -> Administration -> System Settings.

2015-04 Turn on CRM Plugin Trace Logging - 1

2015-04 Turn on CRM Plugin Trace Logging - 2

Then you would navigate to Customization tab, and choose the desired option under "Plug-in and custom workflow activity tracing" section.

2015-04 Turn on CRM Plugin Trace Logging - 3

Note that although you are only seeing two options in the above screenshot, the final release will contain the following 3 options.

  • Off - Writing to trace log is disabled.
  • Exception - A PluginTraceLog record will be created when an exception is thrown in your plugin or workflow code.
  • All - PluginTraceLog records will be created whenever you make a call to tracingService.Trace method (tracingService is an instance of ITracingService), or anytime when an exception is thrown in your plugin or workflow code. Use this option with extra caution, as it could affect your system performance if you have been using tracing services extensively in your plugin code.

How to view Plugin Trace Log records

After you have chosen either one of the last two options (Exception or All), CRM system will record a log entry to the newly introduced PluginTraceLog entity when the corresponding event happens (a call to tracingService.Trace method or when an exception is thrown). To view the trace log records, you would navigate to Settings -> Customizations -> Plug-in Trace Log as shown below.

2015-04 View CRM Plugin Trace Logs

The trace log record will be able to help you troubleshoot your CRM plugin or workflow code.

Some Final Thoughts

For more details about this particular feature, please check out the following documentation link from CRM SDK team.

Hope you like this feature.

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