add support for trailing * to entityNamesFilter in pac modelbuilder

[danosted]

When using pac modelbuilder with entityNamesFilter parameter it would be immensely useful to have support for wildcard character * for specific prefix models - e.g. "custom_*". This makes it possible to bulk add custom prefix models, instead of having to manually add all of a certain prefix.
It is the exact same idea as is implemented for messagenamesfilter.

[petrochuk]

It would be better to open the discussion here: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerPlatform-DataverseModelBuilder

Our tooling uses this library.

[JimDaly]

Removed comment saying it worked. It doesn't.

[nicreuss]

OK great thanks for the confirmation! Perhaps it would be beneficial to amend the article in the interim to prevent further readers from thinking this functionality exists for entities.

[JimDaly]

Better to spend time fixing it than documenting that it is broken.

[joe-oli]

Just to confirm it does NOT work, in fact I read the article that @JimDaly mentioned which suggested that wildcard functionality exits, but in practice that's not the case, so I came here looking for answers.

[JimDaly]

I just tested this again using the same entityNamesFilter I tested earlier:

  "entityNamesFilter": [
    "account",
    "contact",
    "sample_*"
  ],

This time it didn't work.

But the messageNamesFilter works fine.

I opened this issue Wildcard characters on entityNamesFilter aren't working on the PowerPlatform-DataverseModelBuilder repo.

[JimDaly]

I was wrong. This never worked. I've updated Generate early-bound classes for the SDK for .NET to remove the parts that said it worked.

[daryllabar]

@danosted this ability is supported in the Early Bound Generator V2 for the XrmToolBox:

This uses the PAC CLI under the covers, but provides additional features, like this one that you seek.

[JimDaly]

@danosted & @joe-oli

As a workaround you can use with PowerShell & PAC CLI, this PowerShell function returns an array of table logical names that match an array of prefix values:

. $PSScriptRoot\Core.ps1

function Get-TableNamesFromPrefix {
   param (
      [Parameter(Mandatory)] 
      [String[]] 
      $prefixes
   )
   # Get table definitions
   $query = 'EntityDefinitions?$select=LogicalName'
   $tables = (Invoke-RestMethod `
         -Uri ($baseURI + $query) `
         -Method Get `
         -Headers $baseHeaders).value
   # The table names to return
   $tableNames = @()

   foreach ($table in $tables) {
      $logicalName = $table.LogicalName
      # some tables should be ignored
      if (!$logicalName.StartsWith('new_system_donotuseentity')) {
         foreach ($prefix in $prefixes) {
            if ($logicalName.StartsWith($prefix)) {
               $tableNames += $logicalName
            }
         }
      }
   }
   return $tableNames
}

For example:

Connect 'https://yourorg.crm.dynamics.com/' # change this
$names =  Get-TableNamesFromPrefix @('sample_','new_')

It is based on the pattern described in this article: Use PowerShell and Visual Studio Code with the Dataverse Web API > Create reusable functions

@petrochuk Since model-builder has already said they will not support this at this time, perhaps PAC CLI can include this until they do?