Before doing any customization for Dynamics 365 CE, it is very important to understand where we can keep our customized components. A solution acts as a container for Dynamics 365 CE components. All of the components that we see in Dynamics 365 CE are a part of the solution, which is known as a default or a base solution. When you are connected to your Dynamics 365 CE application, if you navigate to make.powerapps.com, which is a new way to access and modify your solutions, you can see the default solution for your organization, as shown in the following screenshot:
You can double-click on Default Solution to see all the components it has. We can use the filter dropdown to see only a specific type of solution component, such as the following:
This solution holds all the out-of-the-box Dynamics 365 CE components, any components customized by us, and components that are developed by ISVs. In the preceding screenshot, you can see all of the components of the solution. The list of the components given in the screenshot represents which of the components can be included in the solution. Keep in mind that when adding the preceding solution components, only the components' metadata is added in the solution; it does not include any user data.
In traditional applications, all of the components that are developed and changed are included in the package so that they can be moved from the development environment to other environments. In Dynamics 365 CE, we use solutions to package our changes so that our changes can be moved to other environments. When using solutions, we can segregate our customized components into custom solutions. Before starting any customization for Dynamics 365 CE, it is a best practice to create our own custom solution so that we can keep all of our new components as well as our customized components in this solution. This solution can be distributed to others after the testing process is over.
Now that we have a basic understanding of solutions, let's discuss some of the terms used for solutions.