Afna CRM

Error: The specified type was not recognized: name='usersettings'

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:09:00 +0000

Simple task: Try to retrieve user settings of a CRM user.

Simple solution:
RetrieveUserSettingsSystemUserRequest request = new RetrieveUserSettingsSystemUserRequest();
request.EntityId = systemUserId;
request.ColumnSet = new AllColumns();

RetrieveUserSettingsSystemUserResponse response= (RetrieveUserSettingsSystemUserResponse)crmService.Execute(request);

NOT!

The specified type was not recognized: name='usersettings', namespace='http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices', at <BusinessEntity xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2006/WebServices'>.

Real solution:

Add the following line: request.ReturnDynamicEntities = true;

Microsoft CRM 4.0 – Applications certification and SQL 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:27:00 +0000

On Microsoft learning page (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/dynamics-crm-professional.aspx#tab2) it is said that exam 70-431 - Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – Implementation and Maintenance is elective for Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Professional – Applications for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 certification.

There is nothing said about SQL 2008 exams on this page.

So I sent an email to Microsoft and here is their response:

Dear Dejan,
Thank you for your email.
We are glad to inform you that the Exam 70-432: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance can be counted as an elective for Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Professional – Applications for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 certification.
As that new exam has been released recently, it has not been added to the certification path yet.
Please note that the update of the Certification Tree has been planned for the end of September 2009.
Then, the exam 70-431 will be visible in the certification path for
Applications for Microsoft Dynamics CRM4.0 certification on the
Microsoft Learning website, as that certification will be uploaded to the Transcripts of all customers who have completed the certification requirements by passing exam 70-432.
We hope that provided information is of assistance.
If you have any further questions please get in touch with us and we will be happy to assist you in any way we can.

Link to custom entity – use of etn instead of etc argument

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:33:00 +0000

If you want to create a direct link to an out-of-a-box entity it is a very simple task: Right-click on one instance (let’s say account) and select “Copy Shortcut”.

Then just just change the GUID in the URL to open desired account. For the Account this URL looks like this: http://SERVER:PORT/OrganizationName/sfa/accts/edit.aspx?id={GUID}

Custom entities

All custom entities have the same URL structure: http://SERVER:PORT/OrganizationName/userdefined/edit.aspx?id={GUID}&etc=EntityTypeCode

Notice the entity type code? This code is created when creating the entity. But for some reason Entity Type Code can be (in most cases) different on every CRM instance. This means that if you are creating a plugin that needs to create a link to the entity, you will have to query metadata to get the code or enter that code in configuration part.

But there is a better way:

Instead of “etc” argument you can use “etn” (Entity Name) in the query string. Then use the logical name of the entity. Logical name is the same on all instances.

http://SERVER:PORT/OrganizationName/userdefined/edit.aspx?id={GUID}&etn=EntityName

http://testsrv:5555/Contoso/userdefined/edit.aspx?id={08B91EBF-525A-DE11-94A6-002354F5ABA2}&etn=new_testentity

Get a list of searchable attributes from database

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:33:00 +0000

(The final solution is at the bottom)

Today my colleague wanted to check which attributes were marked as searchable in a specific entity.

One way to do this is to open each attribute in MSCRM and check if it is marked as searchable. A long way if you have an entity with 220 attributes.

So I went to the database and checked the MetadataSchema.Attribute table. There is a column named DisplayMask. SDK says that display masks are following (ValidForAdvancedFind = Searchable):

Name	Value	Description
None	1	Specifies no restrictions.
ObjectTypeCode	4	Specifies that the attribute is an entity type code. The name of the entity is displayed.
PrimaryName	2	Specifies to display the attribute as the primary name.
RequiredForForm	0x40	Specifies that the attribute must be shown on a form.
RequiredForGrid	0x80	Specifies that the attribute can be shown in a grid view.
ValidForAdvancedFind	8	Specifies that the attribute can be shown on the Advanced Find form. This attribute is shown as Searchable in the UI.
ValidForForm	0x10	Specifies that the attribute can be shown on a form.
ValidForGrid	0x20	Specifies that the attribute can be shown in a grid view.

But the value in the database is 469762048 (this attribute is searchable)! Bitwise comparison fails: 469762048 & 8 = 0 WTF!!!

After some googling and 30 minutes of using reflector if found that the former values are meant to be used only when working with metadata web service, like in this example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc151072.aspx

Thank you Reflector!

Microsoft.Crm.Platform.Sdk.dll (found it in GAC) contains DisplayMasks enumeration in Microsoft.Crm.Metadata namespace.

This is what the reflector says:

public enum DisplayMasks
{
  ActivityPointerRegardingName = 0x80,
  ActivityRegardingName = 1,
  BitMask = 0x1000,
  DynamicFormatCode = 0x4000,
  None = 0,
  ObjectTypeCode = 0x400,
  PrimaryName = 0x100,
  QueueItemPriority = 0x10,
  QueueItemSender = 0x20,
  QueueItemState = 4,
  QueueItemStatus = 8,
  QueueItemTitle = 2,
  QueueItemToRecipients = 0x40,
  RequiredForForm = 0x20000000,
  RequiredForGrid = 0x40000000,
  ResourcePointerName = 0x200,
  ReturnedTypeCode = 0x800,
  StateCode = 0x2000,
  ValidForAdvancedFind = 0x4000000,
  ValidForForm = 0x8000000,
  ValidForGrid = 0x10000000
}

This means that the ValidForAdvancedFind has value of 0x4000000! I tested it with the previous example and it works! Hooray!

Solution

So the final answer to the problem of this post is:

select * from MetadataSchema.Attribute
where DisplayMask & 0x4000000 > 0 and EntityId = @entityId

Of course you can use all other values as well.

What I haven’t tested yet is whether you can change this mask value directly in the database - definitely not supported by Microsoft :)

Show custom notifications on Microsoft Dynamics CRM - upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:26:00 +0000

Marco Amoedo created cool javascript function that displays custom warning messages in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. http://marcoamoedo.com/blog/show-custom-warning-messages-on-microsoft-dynamics-crm/

I liked the idea so much, that I took the script and ~~upgraded~~ pimped it.

What it does?

The function simply adds a notification on top of the form, like in the picture below.

You can add multiple notifications with different icons.

Update or delete previously added notifications or add new ones. This image shows (after Name onChange event) changed error text, updated third notification to info style and a new warning. Compare it with previous picture.

How to use it?

Step 1: Insert this code into form OnLoad event.

     /*============== addNotification function =============

    Adds a message on the top of the entity form using

    the same visual style as Microsoft CRM.

    If function is called more than once,

    the messages are added at the bottom of the list

    If the message with same ID already exists,

    then the message is updated and not added to a list.

    It also supports deleting of previously added notifications.

    Put this function in the OnLoad event,

    so you can use it in all form and field events.

    Parameters:

    message - message to be shown to the user

    messageType - Type of the message: 1 - critical, 2 - info, 3 - warning

    notificationId - ID of the notification (needed for updating purposes)

    Created by:

    Marco Amoedo (http://marcoamoedo.com) - the idea and initial function

    Dejan Dular (http://a-crm.blogspot.com) - upgraded functionality (different icons, updating and deleting notifications)

    =======================================================*/

    addNotification = function(message, messageType, notificationId)

    {

        var notificationsArea = document.getElementById('Notifications');

        if (notificationsArea == null)

        {

            //Don't display message when deleting a notification.

            if (messageType != 4)

            {

                //Sorry. Notifications are not possible on this form.

                //Display a message box instead of notification.

                alert(message);

            }

            return;

        }

        var notificationDIV = document.getElementById('NotificationDiv_' + notificationId);

        //Delete the notification

        if (messageType == 4)

        {

            if (notificationDIV != null)

            {

                //Remove the notification

                notificationsArea.removeChild(notificationDIV);

            }

            return;

        }

        //Get the notification image. The default is info image.

        var notificationImage;

        switch (messageType)

        {

            case 1:

                notificationImage = '/_imgs/error/notif_icn_crit16.png';

                break;

            case 2:

                notificationImage = '/_imgs/error/notif_icn_info16.png';

                break;    

            case 3:

                notificationImage = '/_imgs/error/notif_icn_warn16.png';

                break;    

            default:

                notificationImage = '/_imgs/error/notif_icn_info16.png';

        }

        //Create notification

        var notificationTable = '<TABLE cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="0"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign="top"><IMG class="ms-crm-Lookup-Item" alt="" src="' + notificationImage + '" /></TD><TD><SPAN>' + message +'</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>';

        //Check if the notification with same ID already exists

        if (notificationDIV == null)

        {    

            //Create a new notification

            var notificationHTML = '<DIV class="Notification" ID="NotificationDiv_' + notificationId + '">' + notificationTable + '</DIV>';

            notificationsArea.innerHTML += notificationHTML;

            notificationsArea.style.display = 'block';

        }

        else

        {

            //Update the notification.

            notificationDIV.innerHTML = notificationTable;

        }

    }

    /*============= END addNotification function ===========*/

Step 2: Run the following function when there is a need for a notification.

addNotification(string message, int messageType, string notificationId)

Parameters:

message – Notification message displayed

messageType – Type of the notification (the icon) (1 – critical, 2 – info, 3 – warning, 4 – delete the notification)

notificationId – Any string that identifies specific notification. If a function is called later with existing notificationId, the notification will be updated. Otherwise a new notification is added at the bottom of the list. If you want to delete a specific notification, just set messageType = 4 and use correct notificationId.

Thanks again to Marco Amoedo.

Originally published by Dejan Dular

Reindex whole database

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:46:00 +0000

EXEC sp_MSforeachtable @command1="print '?' DBCC DBREINDEX ('?', ' ', 80)"
GO

Button that starts a workflow

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:02:00 +0000

My client wanted to have a button that starts a specific workflow on the form. So after analyzing some javascript I ended with this code:

var a = new Array(crmFormSubmit.crmFormSubmitId.value);
var sIds = crmFormSubmit.crmFormSubmitId.value+";";
var sEntityTypeCode = "10004"; //Replace this with your entity type code
var sWorkflowId = "{BE7E47C0-2452-4F44-8CCA-425B83A7A8FB}"; //Replace this with your actual workflow ID
var iWindowPosX = 500; //Modal dialog position X
var iWindowPosY = 200; //Modal dialog position Y

var oResult = openStdDlg(prependOrgName("/_grid/cmds/dlg_runworkflow.aspx")+"?iObjType=" + CrmEncodeDecode.CrmUrlEncode(sEntityTypeCode) + "&iTotal=" +
CrmEncodeDecode.CrmUrlEncode(a.length) + "&wfId=" + CrmEncodeDecode.CrmUrlEncode(sWorkflowId)+ "&sIds=" + CrmEncodeDecode.CrmUrlEncode(sIds) , a, iWindowPosX, iWindowPosY);

Of course this is not supported by Microsoft. You use it at your own risk.

Generic SQL error

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:50:00 +0000

WOW! I'm sooooo happy when I receive such deterministic errors.

After saving an account, this message popped up. And you guessed it - it appeared just SOMETIMES!

After a little of SQL profiling i found the reason:
I extended the account's address1_line1 field from 50 to 100 characters. After saving the account, CRM automatically creates/updates also the customeraddress entity.

Solution:
Extend the customeraddress entity, extend attribute line1, match the length to length of the account address line.

Cool SQL query that deletes the duplicates

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:17:00 +0000

Found this on Sql Server Central:

CREATE TABLE #new(ID INT NULL, KeyValue VARCHAR(2))
INSERT INTO #new(ID, KeyValue) VALUES (1,'aa')
INSERT INTO #new(ID, KeyValue) VALUES (2,'bb')
INSERT INTO #new(ID, KeyValue) VALUES (1,'aa')
INSERT INTO #new(ID, KeyValue) VALUES (1,'aa')

SELECT * FROM #new;

Now let's delete the duplicates. The semicolon at the beginning is recommended if you are not using it after every SQL sentence. This tells the parser to begin with new statement. Without it you will probably get a syntax error.

;WITH Numbered AS (SELECT RowNo=ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY ID ORDER BY ID), ID, KeyValue FROM #new) DELETE FROM Numbered where RowNo>1;

SELECT * FROM #new;

Cleanup...

DROP TABLE #new;

Snippet for CRM workflow activity parameter

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:12:00 +0000

If you are writing custom workflow activities for workflows in CRM 4.0 you will find this snippet handy.

Copy the code below into a new file and name it CRMParameter.snippet. Save the file into Visual Studio 2005\Code Snippets\Visual C#\My Code Snippets folder. It works in VS2008 too.
The shortcut for the snippet is cwp.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
   <Header>
     <Title>CRM workflow property snippet</Title>
     <Shortcut>cwp</Shortcut>
     <Description>Code snippet for crm property </Description>
     <Author>Dejan Dular</Author>
     <SnippetTypes>
       <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
     </SnippetTypes>
   </Header>
 <Snippet>
     <Declarations>
       <Literal>
         <ID>PropertyInputOutputType</ID>
         <ToolTip>Input/output property</ToolTip>
         <Default>CrmInput</Default>
       </Literal>
       <Literal>
         <ID>PropertyDisplayName</ID>
         <ToolTip>Property display name</ToolTip>
         <Default>Display Name</Default>
       </Literal>
       <Literal>
         <ID>PropertyName</ID>
         <ToolTip>Property Name</ToolTip>
         <Default>name</Default>
       </Literal>
       <Literal>
         <ID>Type</ID>
         <ToolTip>Property Type</ToolTip>
         <Default>string</Default>
       </Literal>
       <Literal>
         <ID>Class</ID>
         <ToolTip>Class</ToolTip>
         <Default>ClassName</Default>
       </Literal>
     </Declarations>
     <Code Language="csharp">
<![CDATA[#region $PropertyDisplayName$
[$PropertyInputOutputType$("$PropertyDisplayName$")]
public $Type$ $PropertyName$
{
   get { return ($Type$)base.GetValue($PropertyName$Property); }
   set { base.SetValue($PropertyName$Property, value); }
}
public static DependencyProperty $PropertyName$Property = DependencyProperty.Register("$PropertyName$", typeof($Type$), typeof($Class$));
#endregion
$end$]]>
     </Code>
   </Snippet>
 </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Error at decimal field display format (4.0)

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:51:00 +0000

When upgrading a German version of CRM 3.0 to version 4.0, a strange thing happened. All decimal, float or money fields behaved very strange.

Example: User enters a value 2. After clicking save button, the number changes to 200.00 and then immediately to 20.000.00.

Then I noticed that a decimal separator and a thousands separator were the same. Therefore I checked organization settings where everything looked fine.

The problem lied in user settings where both separators were set to dot (.)

SOLUTION:
Change must be made for each user. Set the decimal separator to comma (,).
Update the CRM database to affect all users: UPDATE UserSettingsBase SET DecimalSymbol = ','

.NET Compiler bug? (Update)

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:47:00 +0000

I have a typed DataTable (called FactTable) that gets data from a table in SQL server where a Date field can be null.

So I have created a System.Nullable variable in my code:
Datetime? emailDate;

And a typed DataRow from my DataTable:
MyDataSet.FactRow factRow = factTable.Rows[0];

Why does this NOT WORK:
emailDate = factRow.IsEmailDateNull() ? null : factRow.EmailDate;

But this works:
if (factRow.IsEmailDateNull())
emailDate = null;
else
emailDate = factRow.EmailDate;

Compiler error is: Type of conditional expression cannot be determined because there is no implicit conversion between '' and 'System.DateTime'

Remember: My variable is nullable!!!

Update:
David defined this problem as a feature. But aren't both examples the same? Isn't this just a compile thing to convert from the first example to the second one?
I think it has to do something with nullable types, because with string or byte[] it works like a charm:
string title = factRow.IsTitleNull() ? null : factRow.Title;
byte[] picture = factRow.IsPictureNull() ? null : factRow.Picutre;

Integration of Google maps / Live maps into CRM 3.0, 4.0

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:39:00 +0000

I usually don't write about third party solutions, but this one is getting its place in my blog.

A fellow CRM blogger Wolter Kreun from the Netherlands is developing a freeware plugin (Can it be true? A free and very useful plugin for CRM!!!) that fully integrates Google Maps into Microsoft CRM. Soon it will support MS Live maps.

Haven't tried it, but as far as I have seen on the videos it ROCKS!

EDIT (05. oct. 2009): I just have been informed that the link provided below does not work anymore. But you can use similar integration with virtual earth at: http://www.crmwatcher.com/2006/11/virtual-earth-3d-maps-integration-in.html

So chop chop guys and click on this link: http://mscrmgooglemaps.blogspot.com/

Computer playing random music

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:53:00 +0000

Another post that has absolutely nothing to do with CRM. I just gotta share this.

On channel 9 I found this link to the Microsoft's KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;261186

I'm really thinking of installing Windows 95 and crashing the CUP fan. :)

BigInteger

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 06:51:00 +0000

I just have to share this. There is a new type of number in .NET Framework 3.5 called BigInteger [System.Numeric.BigInteger]. What is so cool here? Now you don't have to write special code to work with really really really big numbers. This type is infinite, as big as you want (until you run out of memory).

Workflow Changes in CRM 4.0

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:17:00 +0000

Today I'm going to compare CRM 3.0 and CRM 4.0 workflows:

The web interface is much better designed than the previous one. As I wrote in my previous post, you have more space for description and you can add notes and attach files to the workflows. Moreover you can add a comment to every step of the workflow.

I will say it again. Major improvement was on the workflows in this version. Good job CRM team.

Major change has been made is at the basic workflow properties. No more sales process. Now workflow equals sales process. You can select multiple triggering events for a single workflow. These events are:

Create
Status change
Assign
Attribute change (update)
Delete

Also you can set if this workflow can be run on demand (manually) and / or as a child workflow. For the update, you must choose which attributes trigger the workflow.

Actions are now called steps. So let's take a look at the actions ... uh err ... steps.

~~Create Activity~~ => Create Record - Not only activities. You can create any entity you want. Set their properties in a form.

Send E-mail - This action stays. Again more flexible, again a form for new email opens. Templates stay - of course.
~~Create Note~~ => Create Record - Note is actually an entity.
Update ~~entity~~ record - Of course, this action stays. In version 3.0 you could update only one attribute, in version 4.0 a form opens and you update any attribute you want.
Change status - Not only you can change status to a fixed value, now you can set it to a status of a related entity and even to a status of a previously created task.
Assign ~~entity~~ record - Again a major improvement here. Not just to the Manager, User or Queue. You can use any dynamic value of related entities. And there's more: You can assign related records as well. This means that you can reassign previously created task to a different user or a queue.
~~Post URL~~ - This action was deprecated in version 3.0. There are several reasons I won't talk about them here. No more Post URL for you guys.
~~Run Subprocess~~ => Start Child Workflow - Still here of course, but with improvements. You can start a workflow on any related entities.
Stop Workflow - Previously you could define what to do with sub-workflows, but in this version you can just stop it and set the status of the workflow to Completed or Canceled. This is kinda logical, since you are starting subworkflows asynchronously and for other entities.
~~Call assembly~~ - What happened to this guy? It is not in the list anymore... Can anyone help me with this? Can you call an external assembly from the workflow?

Some changes have been made on conditions as well:

Check condition - This has been divided into three sub-elements: Check condition (if), Conditional branch (else if) and Default action (else). You can add as many else-ifs as you want. And of course you can check the values from related entities as well.
Wait for timer - This has been mover to general wait conditions group.
Wait condition - As before you can wait for changes in an entity or created activities. Now you can also check related entities. What is more. You can create more wait conditions, that are similar to the if - else if conditions. This is condition is called Parallel Wait Branch. Now you can wait for different conditions to appear and then execute the first one that is met. The others are ignored.
Timers - Create a wait condition and select Workflow - Timeout. You can use dynamic values as well.

Stages - There is no more difference between Sales process and Workflow rules. You can insert stages into normal workflows as well, although they are not displayed in the entity's status bar.

In Sales processes you can actually look at the workflows that are running on a specific entity and see where they are or what they are waiting for. Notice the green circle.

The same workflow status is available of you open a workflow from the list of workflows in the Settings area and open the workflow list. Every workflow has a list of all instances that were started. Just open an instance and see the status.

This post has been written solely on my own discovery of CRM 4.0 CTP3. I'm just writing what I discovered. Maybe I missed something. Maybe it is important. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Super duper CRM 4.0 workflows

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:25:00 +0000

I must say I'm pleased. A lot has been done on the workflows since version 3.

First of all workflows are now administered in a web client. This had to be done because of CRM Live. But I must say that workflow management is much easier and better.

File attachments - now you can attach a file to the workflow. I like it! Now I can attach a Visio diagram to the workflow, maybe some other documentation. There is a lot more space for description. And yes. There are notes too.
Availability - You can set the workflow to be run on demand, as well as a sub-workflow.
Triggering events - Now workflows support also Delete and Update events. On the Update event you can choose the actual fields that trigger the workflow.
Wait for ... otherwise wait for - Did you ever want to branch the workflow based on a condition. Now you can use so called "Paralel Wait Branch" and choose different wait conditions and run the first rule that matches.
List of workflows - Open one workflow and see status of all workflows (of this type) that were started.

More on workflows later. Now I have to go home.

CRM 4.0 - 4 hours after first 5 minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:31:00 +0000

To be clear first: I still think that version 4 is a good improvement and it really is what version 3 ought to be.

This is a list of impressions after 4 hours of playing with new features:

Many-to-many relationships: Yeah! Finally! Yeah! No more "custom connecting relationships". Relationship editor now divides the relationships in 3 groups: 1-to-many, many-to-1 and many-to-many. Great for entities with a lot of relationships. What is missing are attributes on relations. And I couldn't find a way to start a workflow after assigning a many-to-many relationships. Is it really not possible or did I just miss it? I heard that version 5 will dealt with it.

System-to-system relationships: Yeah again! And not only that! You can have more relationships with the same entity.

Self-referential relationship: Yeah again! You can relate entity to itself.

Multi tenant support: From developers point view I thought it was different. I thought that you could manage two sites at once, but as it seems that multi tenant is almost no different than installing another version of CRM. Sites have different metadata, data, ... I admit that it is practical if you want to host CRM for others, but in my case it is almost the same as before. Oh. Another thing that is better: You can have only one login for multiple organizations. Good post about this if from Mr Dave.

Reporting architecture: Because CRM went from intranet to Internet, there is no direct access to the SQL Report server. This eases up the configuration of the servers because of the impersonation things. Now the CRM server requests the report from the SRS directly with CRMAppPool credentials (e.g. NetworkService) The SQL Report server has add-in called CRM data connector which supports use of filtered views. Then the intermediate report is sent to the CRM server, that displays the report to the user. Now it is a CRM server, who actually allows viewing the report to the user. In version 3 this was a SRS thing. A good post about this is here.

Advanced find: You can actually display columns from related entities! Now you can, let's say, see a phone number of the primary contact in the account list. Way to go!

Mail merge: Finally you don't need outlook to perform a mail merge.

Duplicate checking: I'll say better than nothing, but it could be better :) You can define fields that are checked if there is a duplicate. You can say how many first or last letters define a duplicate and that's it. MS could actually implement some additional methods. Soundex is actually implemented in SQL server (but it is not very good). In my applications I use the following methods: Double metaphone (sounds-like algorithm better that Soundex) and Levenstein distance (detects typos). Yes. I know that you could implement it by yourself, but hey! Why not get it out of the box? First you could run a double metaphone check and then do a Levenstein difference on the results.

Import data wizard: Now supports most record types. Good thing is that it automatically maps picklist values with display values. No need to know the actual values of the picklist options. You can reuse mappings - a good thing if you have a constant import process in your company. Duplicate detection works when you are importing things. And you get an email when the job ends.

Typing in lookup field: Now this is a neat feature. Now you can type in a value in a lookup field. After losing focus, the value is checked and if the value is OK, it becomes underlined, otherwise it turns to RED. Great functionality.

CRM 4.0 - first 5 minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:26:00 +0000

I finally had time to take a look at it. The CTP version. Virtual PC image is almost 8GB big and needs slightly more than 1GB of RAM.

Just a quick look for 5 minutes - I'm satisfied.

Workflows are now designed in web client, they support update (you can choose columns) and delete actions.

Duplicate detection - not perfect, but still better than nothing.

User interface - better looking, but still some icons missing

Multiple languages - Cool feature for exporting and importing the published field names, attribute values, ... for translation purposes

Web services - Now you can download WSDL from web client. I'm not sure if this is really useful feature. Or is it?

Will write more later.

Update: David stressed a good point about downloading WSDL in comments: CRM Live

Black Google saves energy?

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:10:00 +0000

Are web pages with black backgrounds really better for the environment?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/black_google_sa.php

Adding a reference to external .js file in your form

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:44:00 +0000

This code creates a new script element and inserts it into the head of the HTML document that defines the form:

st = document.createElement("<script src='http://<server>/<site>/<filename>.js' language='JavaScript'>");
h = document.getElementsByTagName('head');
h[0].insertAdjacentElement('beforeEnd',st);

Using this method to reference an external script in a production environment is unsupported because it introduces several areas for concern:

Transportability
External Site
Doesn't work offline
Future Upgrade issues
Possible Timing issues
Poor programming practice

How to set user's home page?

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:33:00 +0000

I got a request that all users of CRM must have their first page set to announcements.

Of course I could write a mail to all users requesting them to change their page in settings page to announcements, but this is a no no way.

So I searched the SQL database and found a user settings table in _MSCRM database. Just set the HomepageSubarea of the table UserSettingsBase to the value 'nav_news'.

So if you want to set announcements as a home page for all users just run the query:

UPDATE [UserSettingsBase] SET [HomepageSubarea] = 'nav_news', [HomepageArea] = 'Home'

Although it works in my installation, this is not a supported change, so you are doing it at your own risk. Do backup the database before messing with it. Just in case.

Renaming a (Customizable) Entity

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:08:00 +0000

Just changing the entity display name is not enough. There are more places where the name must be changed to fulfill customer's experience.

Areas that Need to be Changed:

Entity Name
Entity Form Labels
Entity View Names
Entity Attribute Display Names
System Messages
On-line Help Content
Reports

Some Areas Cannot be Changed

Platform error messages and messages that are displayed in Trace or the Event Log. These messages cannot be edited.
Strings added to the ISV configuration file.
User Manager component of the Microsoft CRM Deployment
Manager tool. These strings cannot be edited.
Environment Diagnostics Wizard. These strings cannot be edited.

Basically changing the entity's name is a seven step process:

Step 1: Change Entity Name.
In the Entity Definition section, change the Name and Plural Name
to the new name.

Step 2: Edit Entity Forms and Views to Display the New Entity
Names.
Change Form Labels and View Names.

Step 3: Change Attribute Display Names for the Entity that is
Renamed.
Use Customize Entities tool to change attribute display names associated with renamed entity. This will update any other parts of the application that uses these attributes, such as View headings.

Step 4: Customize Messages and Strings Associated with
Entity that is Renamed.
Use the Customize Entities tool to customize messages and strings associated with the renamed entity.

Step 5: Publish Changes.
The Name of the entity in the Navigation Pane may not respond to the changes. The information in the SiteMap is cached on the browser. Users may need to press F5 to see the changes.

Step 6: Edit affected help Content to Display the New Entity
Name.
Manually edit entity names in help content and re-deploy the help content.

Step 7: Modify Affected Reports to Display the New Entity
Name.
Manually modify entity names in reports and re-deploy the modified reports.

Yay! I passed the exam!

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:15:00 +0000

Today I sucessfully passed the Microsoft exam called CRM 3.0 Applications.

The exam number is: CRM-30-423

How to debug callouts?

noreply@blogger.com (Dejan Dular) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:06:00 +0000

First, here are two points, that I would like to express:

I want to debug callouts directly and not with log files.
.NET 2.0 rulez

What now? Callouts use .NET 1.1 and just forget about remote debugging or something like that.

Why not create callouts that use some web service? If you have it installed on the same machine, then you can easily use impersonation etc.

So here's how I do it: I develop a web service that uses CRM web services, test it with normal win32 application and then just insert those 2 lines of code in callouts that call my web service. Use of dynamic entities is very very strongly recommended. You can serialize and deserialize them easily and if the structure of CRM entity model changes, you don't have to worry. Even callouts can have config files.

Web service is running in .NET 2.0 environment and I can debug it freely!

This is how I do it. What about you?