I am the techie

Visual C++ Runtime Failed while configuring Reporting Extensions for CRM 2011 with SQL 2012

2013-03-02T15:54:00Z

Hi Folks,

With the latest update of CRM 2011 we have compatibility with SQL 2012 server. I have got a chance to install CRM application on top of SQL 2012. If you are successful in installing CRM then trying to configure Reporting Extensions for CRM you might encounter the following error:

"Installation of Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime failed. Exit code: 5100"

After we get this error it is our usual understanding that Visual C++ Runtime is failed to install. If you can already see the Visual C++ runtime in the programs and features of your computer then that is the one which is installed by SQL server 2012. If your CRM setup which is running is an old one it doesn't support the latest version of C++ runtime.

To avoid this you can go download the latest CRM setup from the following location:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27822

After downloading the file and extracting everything you will be able to see a folder named: "SrsDataConnector". This will help you in installing and configuring Reporting Extensions for CRM 2011 with SQL 2012.

Hope this helps!!!

Enjoy reporting with Dynamics CRM with SQL 2012.

Simplified connection to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

2013-01-27T06:46:00Z

Hello Folks,

After a long time I am coming up with a new post. I have been researching a lot on pushing a new post into my blog. Finally I have decided to write about the simplified connection to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

If you have downloaded the latest CRM sdk the connection to CRM application is simplified. Now you just have to pass your Connection String parameters in your configuration file. In your code we can leverage the connection string and connect to CRM application. Following are the steps which you need to leverage the simplified connection string.

1) Add a config file in your custom application with the following values:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <configuration> <connectionStrings>           </connectionStrings> <startup> <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/> </startup> </configuration>

2) This connection string can be leveraged either for all types of CRM connections. If you are connecting to CRM online, you need to get the Device ID and Device Password. They can be generated using the Device Registration tool available in your CRM SDK. This tool is available in the tools folder of CRM sdk named "Device Registration". To register your device and generate the Device credentials following is the command Prompt:

deviceregistration.exe /operation:Register

3) After passing all the configuration details in your application. You need to leverage them in your code as shown in the below code:

 // Obtain connection configuration information for the Microsoft Dynamics
 // CRM organization web service.
 String connectionString = GetServiceConfiguration();

4) Now let us see the GetServiceConfiguration function definition:

/// <summary>
 /// Gets web service connection information from the app.config file.
 /// If there is more than one available, the user is prompted to select
 /// the desired connection configuration by name.
 /// </summary>
 /// <returns>A string containing web service connection configuration information.</returns>
 private static String GetServiceConfiguration()
 {
 // Get available connection strings from app.config.
 int count = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings.Count;
 
 // Create a filter list of connection strings so that we have a list of valid
 // connection strings for Microsoft Dynamics CRM only.
 List<KeyValuePair<String, String>> filteredConnectionStrings = 
 new List<KeyValuePair<String, String>>();
 
 for (int a = 0; a < count; a++)
 {
 if (isValidConnectionString(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[a].ConnectionString))
 filteredConnectionStrings.Add
 (new KeyValuePair<string, string>
 (ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[a].Name,
 ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[a].ConnectionString));
 }
 
 // No valid connections strings found. Write out and error message.
 if (filteredConnectionStrings.Count == 0)
 {
 Console.WriteLine("An app.config file containing at least one valid Microsoft Dynamics CRM " +
 "connection string configuration must exist in the run-time folder.");
 Console.WriteLine("\nThere are several commented out example connection strings in " +
 "the provided app.config file. Uncomment one of them and modify the string according " +
 "to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM installation. Then re-run the sample.");
 return null;
 }
 
 // If one valid connection string is found, use that.
 if (filteredConnectionStrings.Count == 1)
 {
 return filteredConnectionStrings[0].Value;
 }
 
 // If more than one valid connection string is found, let the user decide which to use.
 if (filteredConnectionStrings.Count > 1)
 {
 Console.WriteLine("The following connections are available:");
 Console.WriteLine("------------------------------------------------");
 
 for (int i = 0; i < filteredConnectionStrings.Count; i++)
 {
 Console.Write("\n({0}) {1}\t",
 i + 1, filteredConnectionStrings[i].Key);
 }
 
 Console.WriteLine();
 
 Console.Write("\nType the number of the connection to use (1-{0}) [{0}] : ", 
 filteredConnectionStrings.Count);
 String input = Console.ReadLine();
 int configNumber;
 if (input == String.Empty) input = filteredConnectionStrings.Count.ToString();
 if (!Int32.TryParse(input, out configNumber) || configNumber > count || 
 configNumber == 0)
 {
 Console.WriteLine("Option not valid.");
 return null;
 }
 
 return filteredConnectionStrings[configNumber - 1].Value;
 
 }
 return null;
 
 }

5) This connection string can be leveraged to connect to CRM application. Following is the code to leverage the connection string and establish a connection to CRM.

 // Establish a connection to the organization web service using CrmConnection.
 Microsoft.Xrm.Client.CrmConnection connection = CrmConnection.Parse (connectionString);

6) Now as we have established the connection we can leverage it to create records into CRM application. Following is the code to achieve that:

private OrganizationService _orgService;
 
 
 // Obtain an organization service proxy.
 // The using statement assures that the service proxy will be properly disposed.
 using (_orgService = new OrganizationService(connection) )
 {
 Entity account = new Entity("account");
 account["name"] = "Contoso";
 _orgService.Create(account);
 }

That is it!!! Now connecting to CRM is quite easy. Enjoy!!!

Creating records on behalf of another user in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

2012-08-06T16:45:00Z

This post will help you guys to create records on behalf of another user in CRM 2011. Well are you thinking what is the advantage of doing this and how different is this from normal import?

Certainly there is an advantage if you want to create records on behalf of another user. The created by field will be updated by the name of the user whom you want to use instead of using your own name. This leads to the concept of impersonation in CRM 2011.

using (_serviceProxy = new OrganizationServiceProxy(serverConfig.OrganizationUri,
 serverConfig.HomeRealmUri,
 serverConfig.Credentials,
 serverConfig.DeviceCredentials))
 {
 // This statement is required to enable early-bound type support.
 _serviceProxy.ServiceConfiguration.CurrentServiceEndpoint.Behaviors.Add(new ProxyTypesBehavior());
 
 // Retrieve the system user ID of the user to impersonate.
 OrganizationServiceContext orgContext = new OrganizationServiceContext(_serviceProxy);
 _userId = (from user in orgContext.CreateQuery<SystemUser>()
 where user.FullName == "FirstName LastName"
 select user.SystemUserId.Value).FirstOrDefault();
 
 // To impersonate another user, set the OrganizationServiceProxy.CallerId
 // property to the ID of the other user.
 _serviceProxy.CallerId = _userId;
 Entity contact = new Entity("contact");
 contact["firstname"] = "Vishnu";
 contact["lastname"] = "Nandan";
 Guid contactId = _serviceProxy.Create(contact);
 }

In this code we will update the callerid in the serviceProxy with the userid that you want to impersonate.

This will help you to create records on behalf of another user.

Cheers!!!

Generating early bound class using crmsvcutil in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 online.

2012-07-02T16:50:00Z

Trying to generate an early bound class in CRM 2011 online?? If yes is the answer this post will definitely help you out in meeting the requirement.

1) Before generating an early bound class you will have to make sure that the device is registered to connect to online CRM.

2) To make your device registered to connect to online CRM. You can just navigate to the Device Registration folder which is present in the tools folder of the SDK. In the Device registration folder just navigate to the bin/debug folder where you can find the deviceregistration.exe. Make sure you copy the path of the device registration application.

3) Now open the command prompt and paste the path to navigate to the location where DeviceRegistration.exe is present.

4) To register the device write the following command in the command prompt.

deviceregistration.exe /operation:Register

5) This will display the Device ID and Device Password which will be helpful for you to generate an early bound class in CRM online.

Note: If the device is already registered the application will throw an error saying the device is already registered.

6) After registering your device you can go ahead and generate an early bound class. To generate an early bound class you just have to navigate to the bin folder in the sdk. In the bin folder you have the crmsvcutil.exe file which will help you in generating the early bound class.

7) Now navigate to the crmsvcutil.exe folder location in the command prompt. In this location you can write the following code to generate the early bound class.

CrmSvcUtil.exe /url:https://dev.crm.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc /out: C:\GeneratedCode.cs /username:USERNAME /password: "********" / deviceid:”11mqqaku9s6usrnh52gn4fm75o” /devicepasswordXZo!O35,JF^/`n#tKO^iwj/B”)

8) In the above command url will be the url of the Organization.svc available in your developer resources in CRM. out will be the name of the output file name which is going to be generated. username and password will be the credentials which you will connect with CRM. DeviceId and DevicePassword will be the one which you have generated in our earlier step.

9) After running this command you will be able to see the code being generated.

Cheers!!!!

Windows Identity Foundation in Windows 8

2012-06-12T16:13:00Z

Are you not able to find the Windows Identity Foundation in your Windows 8 Operating System?? If yes is the answer this post will help you in locating the Windows Identity Foundation in your machine.

Following are the steps to get the Windows Identity Foundation

1) Navigate to Control Panel you will be able to find the window as shown in the below screen.


2) Now click on Programs and Features to Turn Windows Features on or off.

3) In the programs and features screen you will be able to Turn Windows Features on or off as shown in the below screenshot.

4) After clicking on the Windows Features on or off in the left navigation pane. You can see one new window being opened as shown in the below screenshot which will help you in adding the Windows Identity Foundation to your machine.

5) After clicking on OK you can see the status of the installation and after that you are done.

6) You are now done with adding Windows Identity Foundation in your machine.

Cheers!!!

Creating custom screensaver in Windows

2012-06-02T19:52:00Z

Tired of the normal screensavers running in your machine?? Want to create your own screensaver?? If you are still thinking of how to do it. This post will help you in meeting the requirement.

Requirements:

Visual Studio 2010

Windows Operating System.

1) Open your visual studio and create a new project. In your installed templates look for Windows Form Application and click on OK.

2) Rename the form as per your need let us say screensaver

3) In the form designer you can go ahead and add the controls as per your requirement. In this sample we will just add one label, timer control.

4) In the main method you should ensure that we get parameters for the main function as shown in the below code.

static void Main(string[] args) 
 {
 if (args.Length > 0)
 {
 if (args[0].ToLower().Trim().Substring(0,2) == "/c")
 {
 MessageBox.Show("No parameters are passed");
 }
 else if (args[0].ToLower() == "/s")
 {
 for (int i = Screen.AllScreens.GetLowerBound(0); i <= Screen.AllScreens.GetUpperBound(0); i++) 
 System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(new ScreenSaverForm(i)); 
 }
 }
 else
 {
 for (int i = Screen.AllScreens.GetLowerBound(0); i <= Screen.AllScreens.GetUpperBound(0); i++) 
 System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(new ScreenSaverForm(i)); 
 }
 }

5) After making modification in the main method. We should copy the initialize component in the designer.cs file.

6) Now delete the designer.cs file and paste the initialize component method form1.cs/screensaver.cs file which you have used.

7) In the screensaver.cs/form1.cs file you can paste the following code.

using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.ComponentModel;
 using System.Data;
 using System.Drawing;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Text;
 using System.Windows.Forms;
 
 namespace NewScreenSaver
 {
 public partial class ScreenSaver : Form
 {
 
 private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components;
 private Label label1;
 private Timer timer2;
 
 private Point MouseXY; 
 private int ScreenNumber;
 private int xPos = 0, YPos = 0;
 private ImageList imageList1;
 private Button button1;
 public string mode = "LR";
 
 
 public ScreenSaver(int i)
 {
 InitializeComponent();
 ScreenNumber = i;
 
 }
 
 protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
 {
 if (disposing)
 {
 if (components != null)
 {
 components.Dispose();
 }
 }
 base.Dispose(disposing);
 }
 
 
 
 private void ScreenSaver_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
 { 
 xPos = label1.Location.X;
 YPos = label1.Location.Y;
 mode = "LR";
 timer2.Start();
 
 this.Bounds = Screen.AllScreens[ScreenNumber].Bounds;
 Cursor.Hide();
 TopMost = true;
 }
 
 private void OnMouseEvent(object sender, System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
 {
 if (!MouseXY.IsEmpty)
 {
 if (MouseXY != new Point(e.X, e.Y))
 Close();
 if (e.Clicks > 0)
 Close();
 }
 MouseXY = new Point(e.X, e.Y);
 }
 
 private void ScreenSaver_KeyDown(object sender, System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs e)
 {
 Close();
 }
 
 #region Windows Form Designer generated code
 /// <summary>
 /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
 /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
 /// </summary>
 private void InitializeComponent()
 {
 this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
 this.label1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
 this.timer2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer(this.components);
 this.imageList1 = new System.Windows.Forms.ImageList(this.components);
 this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
 this.SuspendLayout();
 // 
 // label1
 // 
 this.label1.AutoSize = true;
 this.label1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Silver;
 this.label1.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Vivaldi", 100F, ((System.Drawing.FontStyle)((System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold | System.Drawing.FontStyle.Italic))), System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)));
 this.label1.ForeColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.MenuHighlight;
 this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(31, 9);
 this.label1.Name = "label1";
 this.label1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(894, 159);
 this.label1.TabIndex = 0;
 this.label1.Text = "My Screensaver.";
 // 
 // timer2
 // 
 this.timer2.Tick += new System.EventHandler(this.timer2_Tick);
 // 
 // imageList1
 // 
 this.imageList1.ColorDepth = System.Windows.Forms.ColorDepth.Depth8Bit;
 this.imageList1.ImageSize = new System.Drawing.Size(16, 16);
 this.imageList1.TransparentColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
 // 
 // button1
 // 
 this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(39, 17);
 this.button1.Name = "button1";
 this.button1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(75, 23);
 this.button1.TabIndex = 1;
 this.button1.Text = "button1";
 this.button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true;
 // 
 // ScreenSaver
 // 
 this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5, 13);
 this.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.HotPink;
 this.BackgroundImageLayout = System.Windows.Forms.ImageLayout.Stretch;
 this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(995, 551);
 this.Controls.Add(this.button1);
 this.Controls.Add(this.label1);
 this.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None;
 this.Name = "ScreenSaver";
 this.Text = "ScreenSaver";
 this.TransparencyKey = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
 this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.ScreenSaver_Load);
 this.KeyDown += new System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventHandler(this.ScreenSaver_KeyDown);
 this.MouseDown += new System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventHandler(this.OnMouseEvent);
 this.MouseMove += new System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventHandler(this.OnMouseEvent);
 this.ResumeLayout(false);
 this.PerformLayout();
 
 }
 #endregion
 
 
 private void timer2_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
 {
 if (this.Width == xPos)
 {
 //repeat marquee
 this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, YPos);
 xPos = 0;
 }
 else
 {
 this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(xPos, YPos);
 xPos += 2;
 } 
 } 
 }
 }

8) In the above code the initialize component will be the same as the one which you have copied from your designer.cs file.

9) After making all the modifications build your application. After building your application you can go to the exe file located in the debug/release folder.

10) Rename the exe file to scr.

11) After renaming the file you can go ahead and right click the file and click on install.

Cheers!! now you will be able to see your screensaver file.

Note: This code is just for testing purpose and should be not be used in your normal working environment.

Dynamic Option Sets in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

2012-04-07T06:39:00Z

Ever tried selecting a value in an option set depending on the option selected in other option set? If you are still thinking you missed this in your experience with CRM 2011 this blog post helps you in meeting the requirement.

Requirement:

Imagine you have got two option set values and based on one option set value you should selected other option set value. Many people might know how to write a simple javascript to achieve the requirement but the challenge lies is to select dynamic value based on a condition.

What will you learn from this article?

1) Learn how to write javascript web resource.

2) Learn how to select dynamic value based on the selection in picklist.

Steps to be followed:

1) Click on Customization - Customize the system - Expand the entities and click on the case entity as shown in the below figure.

2) Open the main form which will open the following screen.

3) Now our target is to select value in the priority based on the case type value selected.

4) To achieve this you can go ahead and hard code values as needed but the challenge comes when a new field is added in the option sets and the new values have to again be hard coded in the script.

5) To have a workaround for this we will create a mappings XML file which will check the value present in the first option set and map the value accordingly in the new option set. Following is the mappings file for the same.

<caseStageReository> <caseStage StageValue="1" StatusValue="1"/> <caseStage StageValue="2" StatusValue="1"/> <caseStage StageValue="3" StatusValue="1"/> <caseStage StageValue="4" StatusValue="2"/> </caseStageRepository>

6) In this XML file StageValue is the optionset value of the case type and StatusValue is the optionset value of the priority. Now whenever a new option set value is added you can go ahead and add one more line in the mappings file.

7) Now that we have created a xml file we will place this xml file as a webresource. To do this you can go ahead and create a new web resources by opening the default solution as shown in the following figure.

8) After clicking on the web resources you can go ahead and click on new web resource and select the type of the web resource as Data(XML). In the text editor just copy and paste the mappings file which you have created. Make sure you note the web resource url to use that in our code.

9) After creating the web resource our target is to make the requirement alive. To achieve this we have to add javascript on the onchange event of the case type field as shown in the figure.

10) Double click on the case type field and enter the following code in the onchange event.

// JScript source code 
 function onchange() 
 { 
 debugger; 
 var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("MSXML.DOMDocument"); 
 
 xmlDoc.async = "false"; 
 
 //Loading the mappings XML web resource file. 
 
 xmlDoc.load("https://orgname.crm.dynamics.com//WebResources/new_Mappings"); 
 
 //Getting the initial case stage repository. 
 var caseStageRepository = 
 xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName('caseStage'); 
 
 //var stages = 
 caseStageRepository.childNodes(); 
 
 //Get the case 
 stage repository count. 
 var stageCount = 
 caseStageRepository.length; 
 
 //Get the case type value. 
 var stageValue = Xrm.Page.getAttribute('casetypecode').getSelectedOption().value; 
 
 //Loop through each value in the mappings file to ensure 
 for (var i = 0; i < stageCount; i++) 
 { 
 if (caseStageRepository[i].getAttribute('StageValue') == 
 stageValue) 
 { 
 var statevalue = caseStageRepository[i].getAttribute('StatusValue'); 
 
 Xrm.Page.getAttribute('prioritycode').setValue(statevalue); 
 
 Xrm.Page.ui.controls.get('prioritycode').setDisabled(true); 
 
 break; 
 } 
 } 
 }

11) This will meet the given requirement. Cheers!!!

Adding checkbox in MS CRM ribbon

2012-02-22T16:27:00Z

Ever tried adding a checkbox in the CRM ribbon form? This post will be helpful for that requirement.

Requirement:

a) Adding a checkbox in the contact entity in CRM form ribbon.

b) An action will be triggered when the checkbox is checked in the ribbon form.

Prerequisites:

a) Solution needs to have the a javascript web resource

i) The name of the javascript web resource is sample_Trigger which will trigger when the checkbox is checked. Following is the function which you can write in the javascript file.

Function trigger()

{

alert("Check box is checked");

}

Steps to achieve the requirement:

1) Navigate to Settings- Solutions and click on new solution which will open a new window as shown in the below figure

2) Click on the save button and add the existing contact entity which will add the contact entity. If you want to import the solution back into the same organization then you can include missing required components. Other component which you should add for this solution is a javascript file of name ‘sample_Trigger’ as shown in the below figure.

3) After adding the required entities into the solution export the solution to make modifications as per the requirement. This will open a compressed file which includes three xml files Content_Types.xml, customizations.xml, solution.xml and a webresources folder.

4) Our aim is to do some custom action in the form ribbon. In order to achieve that requirement we need to modify the customizations.xml file. Modify the ribbondiffxml tab by replacing it with the following code.

</CommandUIDefinition>

</CustomAction>

</CommandUIDefinition>

</CustomAction>

</CustomActions>

</Templates>

</EnableRules>

</DisplayRules>

</Actions>

</CommandDefinition>

</EnableRules>

</DisplayRules>

</Actions>

</CommandDefinition>

</CommandDefinitions>

</DisplayRule>

</DisplayRule>

</DisplayRules>

</EnableRule>

</EnableRule>

</EnableRule>

</EnableRules>

</RuleDefinitions>

</Titles>

</LocLabel>

</Titles>

</LocLabel>

</LocLabels>

</RibbonDiffXml>

5) After making modifications in the customizations.xml file compress the "Customizations.xml", "Solutions.xml", "Content-Types.xml" and the Webresources folder which includes the javascript file sample_trigger. Import the compressed zip file back into the CRM organization and publish all the customizations.

6) This will create a checkbox in the form ribbon and trigger an action when the checkbox is checked.

Hiding the secured key symbol for a secured field.

2012-02-20T02:15:00Z

CRM 2011 has introduced a new concept called field level security. Whenever you create a secured field you will automatically get the secured key being shown just next to it. Can this be avoided?? Imagine a case where you do not want to show your employees that the field is a secured field. In that case this post will help to meet the requirement...

Requirement:

This post will help you to hide the secured key symbol for a secured field in the contact entity.

Following are the steps to be followed

1) Navigate to Settings - Customization - Customize the system. It will open a form as shown in the below figure.

2) Now expand the entities and click on the forms section as shown in the below figure.

3) Open the main form which will open the main form of the contact entity as shown in the below figure.

4) Now create a new field by clicking the on the New Field button at the bottom right as shown in the below figure.While creating the new field Enable the Field Security as shown in the below figure.

5) After creating the field place the field in the form as shown in the below figure.

6) Now our target is to hide the key symbol next to the Secured Field. This can be achieved by writing a code snippet in the form load. To achieve the same open the form and click on the form properties as shown in the below figure.

7) Now edit the library and place the following script in the form load function.

crmForm.all.sample_securedfield_c.innerText=”Custom Field”;

8) This will remove the key symbol and show the "Custom Field" label when the contact form loads.

Sending HTML formatted emails in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

2012-02-06T08:54:00Z

Step 1: Create a Campaign record in CRM
 
Step 2: Associate the target marketing list for the campaign that is 
created. This can be done by clicking the target marketing lists in the left navigation pane and click on the Add Existing Marketing List.
 
Step 3: Now click on the campaign activities in the left navigation pane. 
Here you have the option of creating a new campaign activity.
 
Step 4: In the new campaign activity window you can select the channel as email, enter the 
required fields as per the requirement and save the 
record.

Step 5: After saving the record you can see the Distribute Campaign Activity button 
enabled.

Step 6: When you hit the Distribute Campaign Activity button you can see the email activity 
window.

Step 7: Now take the html file which is to be sent in the body of the email and open the 
file in Internet Explorer. Now right click on the browser and say select all. 
After selecting the entire text copy the text and paste the same in the CRM 
email window.

Step 8: Now you can hit the distribute button in the email activity window and select the different options 
given by CRM to distribute email messages to target marketing 
lists.

Step 9:Now when we hit OK button in the window you can see the email messages created 
for the Campaign Activity .

Activity Feeds in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

2012-02-06T08:49:00Z

Activity Feeds:

Activity Feeds can be downloaded from the Dynamics Market Place. Click Settings - Dynamics Market
Place - Click on More Solutions tab. As soon as you click the more solutions tab
a new page will be opened where you can search for the Microsoft Dynamics
Activity Feeds. Click on Microsoft Dynamics Activity Feeds and hit the Try It
button on the left side of the page. When you hit the try it button you can
download the Cab file which can be imported into your
organization.

Importing Activity Feeds:
After downloading the
Cab file you can import the solution back into CRM by navigating to Settings -
Solutions - click on the import button and select the cab file which is
downloaded. Import the customizations back into CRM. After importing all the
customizations publish all customizations.

Changing the profile picture in activity feeds:
Click on the What's new button in the workplace

As soon as you click on What's new button you can edit hyperlink which will allow the user to add a new
picture.

Activity Feeds Configuration:
To enable activity feeds in Microsoft Dynamics crm you have to configure set of entities to use
them in activity feeds. Following are the steps to configure entities in
activity feeds:

1) Click on settings work area and you can see Activity
Feeds Configuration in the left navigation pane as shown in the below
figure.

2) Click on new button in the activity feeds configuration screen. As soon you hit the new
button you can see a new form where you have the text box to enter the entity
name. In the entity name the user has to give the schema name of the entity. Ex:
For case entity the schema name is going to be incident.

3) After writing the schema name in the entity name text box you can save the record to create the
post configuration rules. In the left side of the form you can see a checkbox
called "Enable walls for this type of record form". This checkbox is used to
make the wall enabled for the entity you have selected as shown in the below
figure.

4) After making all the modifications publish all customizations by clicking on the All
Customizations button in the customize tab in the ribbon.

Follow Records in activity feeds:

1) To follow records or users using activity feeds you have first configure the activity feeds. Take for example you have configured the activity feeds for the entity systemuser.
Now any user can follow or unfollow records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. To follow users in Microsoft Dynamics following are the steps to be followed

a) Post Configuration records should be created with entity systemuser

b) After creating post configuration record click on the advanced find button in CRM.

c) Look for System Users and click on results button as shown in the below figure.

d) Now after hitting the results button you can see the list of records that are available in your
organization. Select the user who is to be followed and click on the follow button at the top of the ribbon as shown in the below figure.

Note: Follow button
will be enabled only when the post configuration record is created for the
systemuser entity.

e) If you want to unfollow a user you have to click on the unfollow button.

f) When you follow a user all the posts that are posted by the user are going to be visible
in your personal wall and the user's wall.

Placing dynamic contact image in CRM form

2012-02-06T08:45:00Z

Placing Dynamic Contact Image in CRM
Form:

This post explains you how to keep image for every contact.
When you just use web resource to add contact image you have the problem of
having the same image for each and every contact. To make a workaround for this
we can have dynamic images for each contact. Let us say you have different
contacts available for your organization and for each of them you have to add an
image, this concept will be perfect to resolve the issue.

Prerequisites:
To achieve this requirement
you should have a unique field in the contact entity. When you are creating a
new contact, you should also create a new web resource of type image with name
same as the unique field of the contact. This will help to dynamically generate
images for each and every contact available in your organization.

Step 1:
Add an image web resource with the
unique name of the contact record that is created as shown in the below figure.
Web resources can be found when you click on Customizations - Customize the
system as shown in the below figure.

Now click on the new button to add the web
resource and select the type of the web resource as JPG as shown in the below
figure. Also the remember the name of the web resource should be prefixed with
the unique name of the contact record as shown in the below image.

For ex:
You
have a unique name of the contact field as "ContactId". The value of Contactid
is "1234". The name of the web resource which should be created is new_1234
where "new" is the attribute prefix.

Step 2:
After entering
all the values in the web resource save the record. As soon as you save the
record the url of the web resource can be found as shown in the below
image.

Step 3:
Now add
an iframe to contact form as shown in the below image and place the url of the
iframe as "about:blank". This url will dynamically be changed to the web
resource url in the next steps. In the iframe properties uncheck the checkbox
"Restrict Cross Frame Scripting".

Step 4:
Now navigate to the form properties of the contact entity and add the
following script.

var contactLogo =
"https://orgname.crm.dynamics.com//WebResources/new_" +
Xrm.Page.getAttribute("new_uniquefield").getValue();

Xrm.Page.getControl("IFRAME_contactimage").setSrc(contactLogo);

In this new_uniquefield will be the contact unique field which is created and
IFRAME_contactimage will be the name of the iframe which you give while creating
the iframe.