Publishing Dataverse Events

Sending events to the outside world

Two publishing approaches

PRT for 'publish everything'; code for selective publishing

Feature	PRT Registration (No Code)	IServiceEndpointNotificationService (Code)
Setup	Configure in Plug-in Registration Tool	Write C# in a plug-in
Conditional publishing	No — publishes on every matching event	Yes — publish only when your code decides
Custom payload	Standard execution context	Execution context — you control WHEN to publish (the payload is still the context, enriched via shared variables)
Plug-in mode	N/A — configured via PRT step	Must be registered as an ASYNCHRONOUS plug-in
Best for	Simple event broadcasting	Conditional publishing, enriched payloads

Code-based publishing

// IMPORTANT: This plug-in must be registered as ASYNCHRONOUS
public class ConditionalEventPublisher : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)
            serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
        Entity target = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];
        
        // Only publish if order value exceeds threshold
        decimal orderValue = target.GetAttributeValue<Money>("totalamount")?.Value ?? 0;
        
        if (orderValue > 10000)
        {
            var notificationService = (IServiceEndpointNotificationService)
                serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IServiceEndpointNotificationService));
            
            Guid endpointId = new Guid("your-endpoint-id");
            notificationService.Execute(
                new EntityReference("serviceendpoint", endpointId), context);
        }
    }
}

Choosing a listening strategy

Choose based on reliability needs and consumer count

Listener	Delivery	Reliability	Best For
Webhook	HTTP POST to URL	Low — lost if endpoint down	Simple notifications, low volume
Service Bus (Queue)	Message in queue	High — guaranteed delivery	Reliable processing, one consumer
Service Bus (Topic)	Message to topic	High — filtered subscriptions	Multiple subscribers
Event Hub	Event in stream	High — massive throughput	Telemetry, analytics, streaming
Power Automate	Flow trigger	Medium — built-in retry	Low-code reactions

💡 Exam tip: Webhook vs Service Bus

If the question mentions reliability, guaranteed delivery, or consumer might be offline — the answer is Service Bus. If it says simple notification to an always-available endpoint — webhook is fine.

Question

What is IServiceEndpointNotificationService?

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Answer

A Dataverse service in plug-in code that programmatically publishes events to registered service endpoints. Unlike PRT-based publishing (fires on every event), code-based publishing gives you conditional control — publish only when specific criteria are met.

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Question

What is the difference between Service Bus queues and topics?

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Answer

A queue delivers each message to ONE consumer (point-to-point). A topic delivers to MULTIPLE subscriptions (pub-sub). Each subscription can have its own filter. Use queues for single-consumer; topics for multiple systems.

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Knowledge Check

A developer needs to publish Dataverse events to a warehouse system that may be offline for hours during maintenance. Which approach?

AA webhook to the warehouse APIBAzure Service Bus queue — messages persist until processedCAzure Event Hub streamingDPower Automate flow calling the warehouse API

Check Answer

Next up: Service Endpoints — configuring webhooks, Azure Service Bus, and Event Hub.