How to get the code of a Dynamics CRM online solution?

Question

My case is the next one: We have a Dynamics CRM online 2016 with some solutions that a third party created and I need to bring the whole code of one solution, I need to see the code of all the plugins, workflows and Javascript files that the solution has.

I tried in Visual Studio creating a new Dynamics CRM project and then select "New Visual Studio Solution for Dynamics CRM". Then I connected to our Dynamics CRM server and I chose the solution that I wanted. The problem is that with these steps only brings me the structure of the solution with its plugins and workflow but it doesn't bring me the code (plugins and workflows code) that is what I actually wanted. I need to modify a plugin that is already done by the third party company.

I will appreciate if someone can help me with my question. I'm new in the community and any advice will be appreciate.

New Dynamics CRM project

Answer 1

Plugins are compiled and stored on the disk/database as dlls. So unless you own the source code, there is no way to achieve what you are trying to do.

What you can try doing though it to use a decompiler like dotpeek to extract the source if it is not obfuscated. You can then copy the source and make necessary changes, deploy the plugin and disable the other plugin.

Answer 2

Have you considered reaching out to the third party vendor? They might be able to handle your issue a lot better than trying to extract the source through a complex method only to find out it still will take several days to understand their approach properly. You would think Occam's Razor would apply here.