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I am new to Dynamics 365 and have just started learning it. I am looking for a developer toolkit for Dynamics 365 which is supported for VS 2019.

The below MS toolkit supports VS 2015 and not the higher versions. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DynamicsCRMPG.MicrosoftDynamicsCRMDeveloperToolkit&ssr=false#overview

While I could find some hacks to get it working for VS 2019 , I could not get it installed.

I tried following the steps mentioned here:(https://crmfortress.com/2017/06/02/dynamics-365-developer-toolkit-extensions-for-vs2017/) but no luck.

extension.vsixmanifest file contents: -->

I am getting this error:

This VSIX package is invalid because it does not contain the file extension.vsixmanifest at the root. The VSIX file may be corrupted.

(1) Can someone please suggest how do I get this working for VS 2019 ?

(2) If #(1) is not possible, can you please suggest a good alternative to the Microsoft Dynamics Developer toolkit which would work for VS 2019 ?

Thank you in advance.

user1685854
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1 Answers1

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The following article contains the instructions: How to upgrade extensions to support Visual Studio 2019.

In short, you have downloaded the right software, but the extension.vsixmanifest file needs to be adapted to VS2019:

Here’s a version that support every major and minor versions of Visual Studio 14.0 (2015) and 15.0 (2017) all the way up to but not including version 16.0.

<Installation InstalledByMsi="false"> 
   <InstallationTarget Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Pro" Version="[14.0,16.0)" /> 
</Installation>

Simply change the upper bound of the version range from 16.0 to 17.0, like so:

<Installation InstalledByMsi="false">
    <InstallationTarget Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Pro" Version="[14.0,17.0)" />
    </Installation>
<Prerequisite>

Next, update the version ranges in the <Prerequisite> elements. Here’s what it looked like before:

<Prerequisites> 
   <Prerequisite Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreEditor" Version="[15.0,16.0)" DisplayName="Visual Studio core editor" /> 
</Prerequisites>

We must update the version ranges to have the same upper bound as before, but in this case we can make the upper bound open ended, like so:

<Prerequisites> 
   <Prerequisite Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreEditor" Version="[15.0,)" DisplayName="Visual Studio core editor" /> 
</Prerequisites>

This means that the Prerequisite needs version 15.0 or newer.

If you have a dependency on Microsoft.VisualStudio.MPF then delete it. This dependency is a legacy one that hasn’t been needed since before Visual Studio 2010. It looks something like this:

<Dependencies>
   <Dependency Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.MPF.14.0" DisplayName="Visual Studio MPF" d:Source="Installed" Version="[14.0]" />
</Dependencies>
harrymc
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  • Hi @Harrymc , Thanks for your reply but I have already tried this approach. When I follow these steps, I am getting this error: This VSIX package is invalid because it does not contain the file extension.vsixmanifest at the root. The VSIX file may be corrupted. Any more suggestions ? – user1685854 Oct 25 '19 at 06:58
  • The above changes worked apparently for many users. If you don't have a `extension.vsixmanifest` file, then your installation is corrupted. Try downloading it again. – harrymc Oct 25 '19 at 08:07
  • The package does have extension.vsixmanifest file with VS version updated to 16 (to support VS 2019). – user1685854 Oct 25 '19 at 09:08
  • extension.vsixmanifest file contents: – user1685854 Oct 25 '19 at 09:12
  • This is what everyone recommends. Have you looked into the VSIXInstall log (perhaps file VSIX.log)? – harrymc Oct 25 '19 at 09:14
  • Initializing Install... 10/25/2019 3:04:25 PM - Microsoft.VisualStudio.ExtensionManager.MissingPackagePartException: This VSIX package is invalid because it does not contain the file extension.vsixmanifest at the root. The VSIX file may be corrupted. at Microsoft.VisualStudio.ExtensionManager.InstallableExtensionImpl.ReadVSIXManifestFromPackage(Stream stream, CultureInfo preferredCulture) – user1685854 Oct 25 '19 at 09:36
  • This is the VSIX Install log (pls see my previous comment) @harrymc – user1685854 Oct 25 '19 at 11:18
  • The error message might be misleading. I have downloaded and unpacked `Microsoft.CrmDeveloperTools.vsix` and taken a look. I think the above advice in my answer is incorrect or out of date. See [this blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/how-to-upgrade-extensions-to-support-visual-studio-2019/) that looks to me much better. I also don't like the `` section which should maybe be totally replaced by `` as in this link. – harrymc Oct 25 '19 at 15:12
  • Hi @Harrymc, this blog worked for me. Thank you so much for your time and suggestions on this. I had to setup few paths also in VS 2019. – user1685854 Oct 29 '19 at 08:41
  • I have replaced the advice in my answer with the blog. – harrymc Oct 29 '19 at 08:55
  • Hi @harrymc, marked your answer as accepted. I really appreciate your help ! – user1685854 Oct 29 '19 at 09:14