How to pass field values to Form

Sometimes you have requirement to open the particular type of new record with some default values already filled. This can be achieved by passing the field values to the query string.

To open the new record form

https://<ServerUrl>/main.aspx?etn=<entity type code>&pagetype=entityrecord

Pass field values as query string parameters

http://<ServerUrl>/main.aspx?etn=<entity type code>&pagetype=entityrecord&extraqs=<fieldschemaname>=<value>

If you need to pass the multiple field values then just append those field-value combination string at the end with the “&” as a separator.

Note while generating the URL you need to take care of some characters. Instead of directly placing the character you need to use the ASCII code for that character. Below table will provide you with the list of mostly used characters while creating URL. You should prefix the “%” character before the ASCII code.


Now below example will give you an idea on how to generate URL for different type of fields, the name of the field (i.e. schema name) must be specified in lower case only.

(Blue is the actual field name and its related attribute name like for lookup there are 2 names and brown is the actual value)

Below is the total URL with all above field values passed to the new contact form,
"http://<ServerName>/main.aspx?etn=contact&pagetype=entityrecord&extraqs=birthdate%3D01%2F14%2F1984%26salutation%3DMr%26gendercode%3d1%26creditonhold%3d1%26defaultpricelevelid%3dD0B854EC-1E1A-E011-8D2B-D8D3855B354B%26defaultpricelevelidname%3dComputer%20Stationary%26parentcustomerid%3D%7b0D98B15F-0565-E011-8D90-1CC1DEE8CEB7%7d%26parentcustomeridname%3DInogic%26parentcustomeridtype%3Daccount"

Hope this helps!

Filtering in Crm 2011

In Crm 2011 new functionality provided that allows us to filter our views same as Microsoft Excel filtering functionality.

We can filter the columns from within the Grid as shown in below screen shot.


Click on Filter button that enables filtering for each column as shown in below screen shot.


The drop down shows the following options for filtering.


Click on Custom filter option and specify the conditions based on which records will be filtered.


Now records will be shown only for those potential customer whose name begins with “b” as shown in below screen shot.


We can save our views as shown in below screen shot.


Specify the name of your view and it will be shown to your views list as shown in below screen shot.



Hope this helps!!!

Group by using FetchXML

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 FetchXML includes grouping and aggregation features which let us to use aggregate functions like sum, count etc.

Using Group by we can calculate sum, avg, min, max, count. But, Group by clause is not supported through LINQ in CRM.

You can only specify one aggregate attribute in a query and you cannot use the distinct keyword. To create an aggregate attribute, set the keyword aggregate to true, then specify valid entity name, attribute name and alias(variable name). You must also specify the type of aggregation you want to perform.

<fetch distinct='false' mapping='logical' aggregate='true'>
<entity name='entity name'>
<attribute name='attribute name' aggregate='count' alias='alias name'/>
</entity>
</fetch>"

Below is the example to get sum of total amount of all won quotes:
string quotes = @"
<fetch distinct='false' mapping='logical' aggregate='true'>
<entity name='quote'>
<attribute name='totalamount' alias='totalamount_sum' aggregate='sum'/>
<attribute name='statecode' groupby='true' alias='state' />
<filter type='and'>
<condition attribute=' statecode ' operator='eq' value='won' />"+
"</filter> "+
"</entity> "+
"</fetch>";

EntityCollection quotes_result = _service.RetrieveMultiple(new FetchExpression(quotes));
foreach (var q in quotes_result.Entities)
{
Decimal wonQuoteAmount = ((Money)((AliasedValue)q["totalamount_sum"]).Value).Value;
}

MessageSecurityException when connecting to the Web Services

When trying to establish connection with the organization service or discovery service in CRM 2011 you may receive the following exception

Unhandled Exception: System.ServiceModel.Security.MessageSecurityException: An unsecured or incorrectly secured fault was received from the other party. See the inner FaultException for the fault code and detail.

Solution: You need to Delete the device registration folder named LiveDeviceID in your profile folder C:\Users\<username>.

Alternatively you can navigate to “C:\Users\<username>\LiveDeviceID\” and rename the LiveDevice.xml file to LiveDeviceOld.xml.

Differences in Custom Workflow Assembly in CRM 4.0 and CRM 2011

We have listed the list of changes noticed for designing a custom workflow assembly in CRM 2011 and in CRM 4.0.

1. References

CRM 4.0
using System.Workflow.Activities;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler;
using Microsoft.Crm.Sdk;
using Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Query;
using Microsoft.Crm.SdkTypeProxy;
using Microsoft.Crm.Workflow;

CRM 2011
using System.Activities;
using Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Messages;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Workflow;

2. Base Class

Base class definition has been changed from SequenceActivity to CodeActivity.

CRM 4.0: In CRM 4.0 we have to specify both Workflow name and Workflowactivitygroupname in the code as written in the following code.

[CrmWorkflowActivity("My Custom Workflow", "CRM Workflow")]
public class MyCustomWF: SequenceActivity

CRM 2011: In CRM 2011 that is done in different way.

public class MyCustomWF: CodeActivity

Both Workflow name and Workflowactivitygroupname can be specified at the time of registering the assembly as shown in below screen shot.




3. Execute Method

The overridden Execute method remains the same except parameter and return type.

CRM 4.0
protected override ActivityExecutionStatus Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)

CRM 2011
protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext executionContext)

4. Create service

CRM 4.0
IContextService contextService = (IContextService)executionContext.GetService(typeof(IContextService));
IWorkflowContext context = contextService.Context;
ICrmService crmService = context.CreateCrmService();

CRM 2011
IWorkflowContext context = executionContext.GetExtension();
IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = executionContext.GetExtension();
IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

5. INPUT Parameters

CRM 4.0
Declaration: how to initialize the input parameter

// specified dependency property
public static DependencyProperty CaseIDProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("CaseID", typeof(Lookup), typeof(TotalTaskRetrieval));

// Specified Input property
[CrmInput("Enter Case ")]

// Set the reference Target for Property created
[CrmReferenceTarget("incident")]

// Property Defined for caseId
public Lookup CaseID
{
get
{
return (Lookup)base.GetValue(CaseIDProperty);
}
set
{
base.SetValue(CaseIDProperty, value);
}
}

Use: Access the input parameter declared above as,
Guid caseid=CaseID.Value

CRM 2011

Declaration: how to initialize the input parameter

[Input("Enter Case ")]
[ReferenceTarget("incident ")]
[Default("3B036E3E-94F9-DE11-B508-00155DBA2902", " incident ")]
public InArgument CaseID { get; set; }
Use: Access the input parameter declared above as,
Guid caseid = CaseID.Get(executionContext).Id

6. OUTPUT Parameters

CRM 4.0
[CrmOutput("outputSum")]
public CrmMoney Sum
{
get
{
return (CrmMoney)base.GetValue(SumProperty);
}
set
{
base.SetValue(SumProperty , value);
}
}

CRM 2011

[Output("outputSum")]
[Default("23.3")]
public OutArgument Sum { get; set; }

Hope this helps!!!