For anyone interested, a beta of v4 is available here: http://crmsolutionmanager.com/downloads/XrmToolkit.vsix
Please note that the name is being changed from CRM Solution Manager to XrmToolkit. This is an exciting release as this version has been built from the ground up to better facilitate the ability to add new features more quickly and to take advantage of many of the language improvements in C# over the last several years.
Even though this is a beta version it has been tested and found to be quite stable. If you run into any issues, please contact support@crmsolutionmanager.com. Any links that point to the new XrmToolkit.com domain do NOT currently work. The new site is still being updated with the new features and enhancements of v4.

We do not have any documentation on the new features yet but a list of some of the major enhancements are:

• Proxy Classes now derive from the ‘Entity’ class and can now use the CRM LINQ query provider.
• Support for generating early bound classes via the CrmSvcUtil generator is now supported. This includes the ability to regenerate any class or classes easily by selecting the ‘Regenerate from CRM’ menu option.
• Additional extension methods have been added to the BaseProxy class that allow for executing requests using the C# and VB.net “Async” keyword
• Plugin and Workflow templates have been updated and improved
• A new wizard allows for easily adding new plugins or workflows to a plugin assembly project. You can choose to generate an early bound class for which the plugin will be registered against. When you go to the plugin registration window, any newly created and not yet registered items will appear greyed out with the option to register them as previously configured or you can easily modify the registration configuration at that time.
• You can now easily link existing assets to CRM using the ‘Link items to CRM’ menu option found at the project level in Visual Studio. This allows you to bulk create/link to CRM assets. Note, for best results, the naming convention and folder structure should match what XrmToolkit is expecting based on the folders defined in the XrmToolkit options.
• You can now easily transfer linked assets from one organization to another. If a solution has been linked to an organization and you go to link another organization to the same solution, a dialog will appear helping you transfer links from another org to a new org. You can also invoke this dialog at any time using the solution level menu item titled ‘Copy Links from another CRM Organization’.
• The ability to transfer a plugin assembly and any configured steps and images has been implemented. When ‘Downloading Items from CRM’ select items under the new node titled ‘Plugin Configurations’. This will save the DLL along with any registered plugins to a file that can be opened in Visual Studio. This file can also be placed under source control if desired. Opening this file will invoke a window that is similar to the plugin registration editor with the exception that you can only register or unregister items in the file. If you wish to upload the configuration to a new org, simply link the new CRM organization and then open the file in Visual Studio. You can then register any of the steps by using the appropriate menu items. The Guids of the records are preserved so that when moving items between organizations via solutions, no duplicates are created.
• A new LINQ query provider is being provided to the community for free. This query provider overcomes many of the shortcomings of the current LINQ query provider. The only caveat is that the custom query provider should not be used in plugins or workflows registered in the sandbox (ie CRM online). The query provider uses .Net reflection behind the scenes which in most instances requires full trust in order to work without throwing any errors. Some of the enhancements to the query provider include:
o Ability to specify columns to return. This is helpful if you need ‘Read-only’ properties like ‘Created On’ or ‘Modified On’ to be returned.
o Ability to create ‘In’ or ‘Not In’ queries.
o Ability to create queries with ‘IsNotNullOrEmpty’ or ‘IsNullOrEmpty’.
o Ability to create simple aggregate queries like ‘Sum’, ‘Min’, ‘Max’, ‘Count’, and ‘Average’ including the use of ‘Grouping’.
o Ability to create a left outer join for querying records where something is NOT present. For example, query contacts that have not had any activities in the last 30 days.
o Ability to query based on the ‘Id’ property instead of first knowing what the name of the Id field is. This is helpful when using late bound entities.

Breaking changes:

• Since the Proxy Classes now derive from the ‘Entity’ class instead of instantiating a backing field for the entity, if you are converting an ‘Entity’ to a proxy class, you are essentially creating a copy of the record. Any changes to the proxy class do not get persisted to the original entity record and vice versa. This comes into play if you are manipulating the ‘Target’ of a plugin. You can no longer create a ‘Proxy’ class of the ‘Target’ just for manipulation of the underlying record. All changes will need to be done to the ‘Target’
• New file extensions and formats used for the configuration files. Previously the extensions .crmsm, .crmsmu, and .crmmeta were used. They have been replaced with .xrm, .xrmsuo, and .xrmcache. The file contents are now saved in json instead of Xml. You shouldn’t encounter any issues unless you were creating/modifying these files outside of the GUI interface. Due to the new files and formats, an upgrade process will occur to the files. Both sets of files will exist at the end of the process but only the new formats will be used moving forward. If you have users on older versions they can continue to use the older version and files but they will not stay in sync with the updated files.

For anyone interested, a beta of v4 is available here: http://crmsolutionmanager.com/downloads/XrmToolkit.vsix
Please note that the name is being changed from CRM Solution Manager to XrmToolkit. This is an exciting release as this version has been built from the ground up to better facilitate the ability to add new features more quickly and to take advantage of many of the language improvements in C# over the last several years.
Even though this is a beta version it has been tested and found to be quite stable. If you run into any issues, please contact support@crmsolutionmanager.com. Any links that point to the new XrmToolkit.com domain do NOT currently work. The new site is still being updated with the new features and enhancements of v4. We do not have any documentation on the new features yet but a list is of some of the major enhancements are:
• Proxy Classes now derive from the ‘Entity’ class and can now use the CRM LINQ query provider.
• Support for generating early bound classes via the CrmSvcUtil generator is now supported. This includes the ability to regenerate any class or classes easily by selecting the ‘Regenerate from CRM’ menu option.
• Additional extension methods have been added to the BaseProxy class that allow for executing requests using the C# and VB.net “Async” keyword
• Plugin and Workflow templates have been updated and improved
• A new wizard allows for easily adding new plugins or workflows to a plugin assembly project. You can choose to generate an early bound class for which the plugin will be registered against. When you go to the plugin registration window, any newly created and not yet registered items will appear greyed out with the option to register them as previously configured or you can easily modify the registration configuration at that time.
• You can now easily link existing assets to CRM using the ‘Link items to CRM’ menu option found at the project level in Visual Studio. This allows you to bulk create/link to CRM assets. Note, for best results, the naming convention and folder structure should match what XrmToolkit is expecting based on the folders defined in the XrmToolkit options.
• You can now easily transfer linked assets from one organization to another. If a solution has been linked to an organization and you go to link another organization to the same solution, a dialog will appear helping you transfer links from another org to a new org. You can also invoke this dialog at any time using the solution level menu item titled ‘Copy Links from another CRM Organization’.
• The ability to transfer a plugin assembly and any configured steps and images has been implemented. When ‘Downloading Items from CRM’ select items under the new node titled ‘Plugin Configurations’. This will save the DLL along with any registered plugins to a file that can be opened in Visual Studio. This file can also be placed under source control if desired. Opening this file will invoke a window that is similar to the plugin registration editor with the exception that you can only register or unregister items in the file. If you wish to upload the configuration to a new org, simply link the new CRM organization and then open the file in Visual Studio. You can then register any of the steps by using the appropriate menu items. The Guids of the records are preserved so that when moving items between organizations via solutions, no duplicates are created.
• A new LINQ query provider is being provided to the community for free. This query provider overcomes many of the shortcomings of the current LINQ query provider. The only caveat is that the custom query provider should not be used in plugins or workflows registered in the sandbox (ie CRM online). The query provider uses .Net reflection behind the scenes which in most instances requires full trust in order to work without throwing any errors. Some of the enhancements to the query provider include:
o Ability to specify columns to return. This is helpful if you need ‘Read-only’ properties like ‘Created On’ or ‘Modified On’ to be returned.
o Ability to create ‘In’ or ‘Not In’ queries.
o Ability to create queries with ‘IsNotNullOrEmpty’ or ‘IsNullOrEmpty’.
o Ability to create simple aggregate queries like ‘Sum’, ‘Min’, ‘Max’, ‘Count’, and ‘Average’ including the use of ‘Grouping’.
o Ability to create a left outer join for querying records where something is NOT present. For example, query contacts that have not had any activities in the last 30 days.
o Ability to query based on the ‘Id’ property instead of first knowing what the name of the Id field is. This is helpful when using late bound entities.
Breaking changes:
• Since the Proxy Classes now derive from the ‘Entity’ class instead of instantiating a backing field for the entity, if you are converting an ‘Entity’ to a proxy class, you are essentially creating a copy of the record. Any changes to the proxy class do not get persisted to the original entity record and vice versa. This comes into play if you are manipulating the ‘Target’ of a plugin. You can no longer create a ‘Proxy’ class of the ‘Target’ just for manipulation of the underlying record. All changes will need to be done to the ‘Target’
• New file extensions and formats used for the configuration files. Previously the extensions .crmsm, .crmsmu, and .crmmeta were used. They have been replaced with .xrm, .xrmsuo, and .xrmcache. The file contents are now saved in json instead of Xml. You shouldn’t encounter any issues unless you were creating/modifying these files outside of the GUI interface. Due to the new files and formats, an upgrade process will occur to the files. Both sets of files will exist at the end of the process but only the new formats will be used moving forward. If you have users on older versions they can continue to use the older version and files but they will not stay in sync with the updated files.

Official support for CRM 2016 is planned in v4 which is slated to be released in the next couple of months. That being said, most functionality can still be used without any issues with v3. If you are experiencing connectivity issues with CRM 2016 then please download the following update to v3: http://crmsolutionmanager.com/downloads/CRM%20Solution%20Manager_3_4_2_6.vsix

Regarding upgrades: Upgrade pricing for v4 will be similar to the pricing for v3 (which is currently 40% off the regular price). There is also a window where it is free for customers who purchased the prior version within 3-4 months of the new version being released. Since the new version has not been released it is still unknown as to when that cutoff will be. If you have any particular questions please email support@crmsolutionmanager.com