Dynamics CRM 4.0 SDK

This is taken directly from a MS Readme, but I thought it was useful. When I sink my teeth into the SDK, I will post my thoughts on it.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK is available for download. This download includes sample code and an installer for viewing the documentation in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK is for developers, system customizers, and report writers. It contains the following sections:

Server Programming Guide.
A guide for developers who write server-side code, custom business logic, plug-ins, integration modules, custom workflow modules, and more. This guide has an architectural overview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the entity model, security model, Web services, and sample code.

Client Programming Guide.
A guide for developers who want to customize the Web application or Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook. This guide includes forms scripting, integration of custom Web pages and other UI, and sample code.

Report Writers Guide.
A guide for developers who write reports for Microsoft Dynamics CRM using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Report Designer.

Note: The Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK is available only in English and Japanese.

Auto-fill Opportunity's topic attribute

This might seem really simple, but sometimes it is really useful.

A lot of people don't know what to write in the TOPIC field of an opportunity record. If you don't write something, then the record appears to be unnamed to the user.

You can auto-fill the topic several ways:
1. You can have all Opportunities have a default name:
//OnLoad Code
if (crmForm.all.name.DataValue==null)
{
crmForm.all.name.DataValue="Opportunity";
}

2. You can set the CustomerID name into the TOPIC field:
//This will name the Opportunity after the client.
//OnChange for the CustomerID attribute
crmForm.all.name.DataValue = crmForm.all.customerid.DataValue[0].name;

Using User's Business Unit

This is something that I have done before, and it utilized Michael Höhne's code again. I made a modification to the User/Datetime Stamp that I previously posted.

In this code, I use the XML call to get the current user's business unit, and use this information to set a picklist. This "defaults" the picklist for the user, based on what his/her business unit normally picks.

Practical uses: This was requested by a client, to ensure that Opportunities were typed according to their business unit, so that the pipeline would be trackable by what business unit the user was in at the time.


(Sorry for the screenshot: Again, I don't know the best way to post XML without it rendering directly in the webpage.)

FAQ on using the Bulk Import Tool

Here is a good link off of the MSFT CRM site about some FAQ on using the Bulk Import Tool in CRM.
http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/using/troubleshooting/tsbulkimport.mspx

This is also a good paper to view:
http://www.consultcrm.co.uk/documents/knowledge/Troubleshooting%20bulk%20import.pdf

Datetime User Stamp

I modified some of Michael Höhne's genius to compile an excellent datetime/user stamp.

Example Scenario: Checkbox on the Opportunity form called "Reviewed" When a user checks the bit that it is reviewed, you can kick off this action to automatically capture the current user's name and the datetime in other fields.

I normally make the new_text and new_date fields disabled and then use OnSave code to ForceSubmit those fields. This ensures that those fields can't be tampered with.

You can do other modifications to this, such as: disabled the checkbox once it is checked. This ensures that it can't be rechecked and have the datetime/user information changed in the future. If you do this, then you should place some JS in the OnLoad to check for that bit's value. If it is true, then disable it, so that it won't be accessible again.

Note: when doing this, it ties your hands if someone accidently checks the box and then saves the form. Remember, just be logical. :)

Please comment and be sure to check out Michael's site.

I couldn't figure out how to get the code formatted cleanly on the webpage without the tags rendering. If you have a better solution than "xmp" (it just isn't friendly). Please let me know and I will repost it.

Thanks.

Non-Sequential Dynamic Picklist

I know I haven't posted to my blog in a long time because I have been busy with work.

Here is something that I finished up today.

I needed to create a set of dynamic picklists that could be non-sequential. The SDK gives a solution for a sequential based picklist, but that doesn't take in account for additional values in the future. I found this post by Greg Owens' post here and have edited and rearchitected parts of it. Since he helped me out, I have decided to post it to help you out!

Feel free to post comments. Thank you again Greg!

//****************************************************************
//**Non-Sequential Dynamic Picklist
//**------------------------
//**Developers: Greg Owens (Initial structure)
//** Mark Nagao (Rearchitecture)
//**Date: December 17, 2007
//**Purpose: Dynamic SubPicklist of non-sequential values
//**MSCRM 3.0: OnChange Event Code
//****************************************************************
//****************************************************************
//**Assign your main and sub picklist
var oPicklist= crmForm.all.new_mainpicklist;
var oSubPicklist = crmForm.all.new_subpicklist;

//**End of Assignment editing
//****************************************************************

//Saving and Resetting Original Picklist Values
if(!oSubPicklist.originalPicklistValues)
{
oSubPicklist.originalPicklistValues = oSubPicklist.Options;
}
else
{
oSubPicklist.Options = oSubPicklist.originalPicklistValues;
}

//****************************************************************
//**Add Arrays and specify values to display in SubPicklist

var oArray1 = new Array(0,1,3,4);
var oArray2 = new Array(0,2,5,6);


//**End of ARRAY Editing
//****************************************************************

//Check that Main Picklist value is not Null
if(oPicklist.DataValue != null)
{
switch(oPicklist.SelectedText)
{

//****************************************************************
//**Edit Case: Add a case for each Array

case "Array1":
filterPicklist(oArray1);
break;

case "Array2":
filterPicklist(oArray2);
break;


//**End of CASE editing
//****************************************************************

}
}

//Function to Filter SubPicklist
function filterPicklist(oDesiredOptions)
{

//Create temporary array to hold selected Values
var oTempArray = new Array();
//FOR loop to cycle through all SubPicklist Values
for (var i=oSubPicklist.length;i >= 0;i--)
{
//FOR loop to cycle through desired SubPicklist Values
for (var j=oDesiredOptions.length;j >= 0;j--)
{
//Compare i(SubPicklist Value) and j(Desired Value)
if (i == oDesiredOptions[j])
{
oTempArray[i] = true;
oDesiredOptions.splice(j,1);
}
}
}
//FOR loop to cycle through all SubPicklist Values
for (var i=oSubPicklist.length;i >= 0;i--)
{
//Compare with Temporay Array
if(oTempArray[i] != true)
{
//Remove Value from list if not TRUE in Temporary Array
oSubPicklist.remove(i)
}
}
}

//****************************************************************
//**Notes:
// - Place code in the OnChange of the Main Picklist
// - In the array, you must have two values, so if there is
// only one value, then include the 0 (null) value
//****************************************************************
//**End of Non-Sequential Dynamic Picklist Code
//****************************************************************

MS CRM 3.0.5 SDK

A very helpful resource is the Software Developer's Kit (SDK) from MS. Here is a link to the latest version that was released on 6/26/06:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9c178b68-3a06-4898-bc83-bd14b74308c5&DisplayLang=en

The SDK has samples of code for advanced functionality-all with syntax that has the blessing from Microsoft...which is always good because of the guarantee of compatability with the next version.

Running .Net Framework 1.1x and 2.0

I recently came across this problem of needing both .Net Frameworks on a crm server. When installing sql server 2005, .net 2.x is installed on the server. In order to "grandfather" the 1.1x on the server, you need to install the .net 1.1x framework before the sql server 2005.

Here are the links for .Net Framework 1.14

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable Package
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a83353618b38&DisplayLang=en