Hard-work-days of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Freelance Developer

Update of Latitude/Longitude fields using BingMaps services through SSIS Integration Toolkit

2013-06-18T23:09:00Z

During current project I have got task to update Latitude/Longitude fields of all account records based on their address. I’ve done similar tasks several times but this time I decided to create SSIS package that could be reused in future projects. So in this article I will share with my results. There are 3 prerequisites for this article: 1. You need workstation where BIDS is installed. 2. You need SSIS Integration Toolkit installed. 3. You need valid BingMap key . Once this is done open BIDS and...(read more)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: Lookup address by ZIP Code

2013-05-07T19:36:00Z

This time I had task to write code that lookups address details (country, state and city) by entered postal code. I will share with my results in this post. In my code I used Google Geocoding Webservices . Why? Because I have already tried other geolocating webservices (like Bing) in previous projects and results were amazing for USA and Canada but for other countries results were not ideal. 1. Add jQuery to your solution. You can find it here - http://jquery.com/download/ 2. Create new webresource...(read more)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: Error after applying Update Rollup 12/13

2013-05-07T16:51:00Z

I haven’t updated my VM to latest updates for a long time and I decided to do that today. After Rollup was installed I saw message that Rollup was not applied to one or several organizations. I ignored that message and tried to log in to CRM. I have got following error: I went to deployment administrator and I saw following: So Update Rollup was applied to all organizations except one. I found that it is possible manually apply update as it shown on following screenshot (you need to click on organization...(read more)

DynamicsWorld 2013 Most Influential Microsoft Dynamics People List – Results

2013-05-06T21:07:00Z

Today I found results of subj voting and it was a good surprise for me that I was listed even with worth position (last year I was 74 comparing 98 this year). Congratulations to all participants of voting who was listed!...(read more)

The Top 100 Most Influential People in Microsoft Dynamics Voting for 2013

2013-04-11T05:59:00Z

Because of vacation to Philippines combined with work and weak Internet connection I totally forgot about subj online voting. I was surprised that someone nominated me to participate it (thank you unknown fellow). So if you think that me or other nominees have influence on Dynamics products don't hesitate to vote and leave your comments using following page - http://www.dynamicsworld.co.uk/the-top-100-most-influential-people-in-microsoft-dynamics-voting-for-2013/...(read more)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: How to send SMS from CRM

2013-04-01T16:21:00Z

I have completed this task for one of customers so I decided to share with results. SMS WebGateway I spent several hours searching most appropriate vendor and I stopped on https://www.clickatell.com/ To register account open mentioned url and go through following steps: You can choose other options of course in case it would be more useful for you. I checked my email box and I found an email from Clickatell with registration information: I returned back to clickatell portal and logged in using provided...(read more)

Activity Feeds and Exceptions or How to fix something that should work

2013-03-13T15:23:00Z

During work I found following logs in event viewer: Exception information: Exception type: CrmException Exception message: Could not find a web resource with name Images/refresh.png. at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Components.Handlers.WebResource.RetrieveWebResource(String webResourceName, String preview) at Microsoft.Crm.Application.Components.Handlers.WebResource.ProcessRequestInternal(HttpContext context) at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep...(read more)

Review of book - Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Application Design

2013-03-06T11:22:00Z

This book was written with my CRM MVP and forum fellow Mahender Pal . I read this book in a single breath and I can assure that this book would be helpful for both beginners and veterans of Microsoft Dynamics CRM world. Chapter 1 describes common information about CRM - what is it, different deployment options, clients that could be used to work with CRM, software and hardware requirements and out-of-box modules. Chapter 2 describes basic customization that is available in CRM. Chapter 3 describes...(read more)

Migrating contacts and accounts from Goldmine to Microsoft CRM 2011

2013-02-18T01:34:00Z

I just finished a project where I had to migrate data from Goldmine to Microsoft CRM 2011 so I decided to share with my results. I spent hours discovering what would be the best tool for the migration. I tried Scribe, Starfish and several other products listed in wiki but any of tools satisfied my needs in data extraction from GoldMine for 100%. So I decided to use SSIS Integration Toolkit . 1. First that you need is to write correct query that will give you appropriate data. Here is the query I...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: Rollup 11 and ‘CrmException: A non valid page number was received: 0’ error

2013-01-21T13:02:00Z

I installed Rollup 11 on our development servers and after server restart CRM instance was broken. Every page that has grid or grids shown following: I googled and found following solution: 1. Open regedit. 2. Open HKLM\SOFTWARE'\Microsoft\MSCRM. 3. Open TurnOffFetchThrottling key and change value to 1. 4. Make iisreset. Once steps were done CRM instance was fixed....(read more)

MS CRM 2011: Add new Deployment Administrator through SQL

2013-01-21T10:14:00Z

Here is just short script that has to be executed against MSCRM_Config db to add new deployment administrator: Declare @DomainName Varchar ( Max ) Set @DomainName = 'Put new deployment admin logi here' --i.e. 'Contoso\Administrator' Declare @Id uniqueidentifier Select @Id = Id From mscrm_config..SystemUser Where Name = @DomainName if (@Id is null ) Begin Set @Id = NEWID() INSERT INTO mscrm_config..SystemUser(Id, Name, DefaultOrganizationId) VALUES (@Id, @DomainName, '00000000...(read more)

Customer Portal – switching authentication from LiveId to Forms

2013-01-18T18:55:00Z

I have got a requirement from one of customers create customer portal. It was my first experience with portals so I decided not to build custom website but to install and configure Customer Portal . I would not write how to install and configure this solution – it is well described. Once it was configured I had a phone conference with customer and first requirement and main challenge for me was to remove LiveId authentication and replace it with other authentication. I googled and found following...(read more)

New badge – MCC

2013-01-17T20:55:00Z

Today I have got an email from Microsoft that notified me that I’ve got MCC award. It’s funny because I thought that in case you hold MVP award that you can’t get MCC. It seems that I was wrong. So now I’m listed here at the page number 4....(read more)

MS CRM 2011: Replacement of textbox with picklist with configurable values

2013-01-14T20:36:00Z

During the work with CRM 4.0 I used this trick to solve similar tasks. Today I had to implement similar functionality and I decided to go supported way – JavaScript + WebResources. Create a html webresource with following content (I called it xrm_picklist.htm): <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd" > <html xmlns= "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head> <title><...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: How to override standard dialogs

2013-01-13T01:29:00Z

My customer wanted to remove (or hide) “Total Time” and “Billable Time” fields in Case Close dialog window: Of course I knew that it is possible to open file CRM_Installation_Directory'\CRMWeb\CS\cases\dlg_closecase.aspx, add several lines of code and hide fields and labels but this obvious and easiest way out had 2 disadvantages: 1. This solution is unsupported and it could be broken with new Rollups. 2. This solution would not work for CRM Online. So I decided to solve this task using supported...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: Open new activity form with ‘Regarding’ field prefilled

2013-01-10T21:02:00Z

I had a task today to open new task form with Regarding field prefilled. Based on SDK description I tried to use following code to accomplish my task: var params = { regardingobjectid: referenced record id, regardingobjectidtype: referenced record type name, regardingobjectidname: referenced record display name }; Xrm.Utility.openEntityForm( "task" , null , params ); Unfortunately this code failed. I’ve started to look for some explanation and I found it in SDK at the same article I’ve...(read more)

MVP Renewed - 3

2013-01-03T20:12:00Z

Four year in a row I have got MVP award. Congratulations to all MVP's who has got award first time or was re-awarded....(read more)

MS CRM 2011: How to cancel Workfow Instance using C#

2012-12-20T11:22:00Z

Today I had a task to cancel about 25k instances of the same workflow. Of course it was possible to create Advanced Find View and go through 100 pages cancelling all workflows on the page. But I’m too lazy and I know C# to do that manually. First code that I wrote used SetState message to Cancel change state of workflow instance but during first lunch I’ve got an exception that SetState message is not applicable for AsyncOperation entity. I went to SDK and found following explanation : Updates an...(read more)

Integrating CRM 2011 using SQL Integration Services 2012

2012-11-13T11:57:00Z

I have already wrote similar article using SSIS 2008. Following article describes how to use the same functionality using new version of SSIS. Import of data to CRM Datasource As a data source I will use table of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (but it could be whatever you want – Excel, CSV, Oracle DB e.t.c.). Here is the script to create source table: CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Contact]( [FirstName] [ varchar ](100) NOT NULL , [LastName] [ varchar ](100) NOT NULL , [Phone] [ varchar ](100) NOT NULL , [Email...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: T-SQL Union operation and FetchXml based reports

2012-11-09T17:42:00Z

I believe every person who developed complex reports for CRM used T-SQL Union operation to display different types of records at the same table. In T-SQL I used following T-SQL Query to get results: Select AccountId RecordId ,Name RecordName , 'account' RecordTypeName From FilteredAccount Union Select ContactId RecordId ,FullName RecordName , 'contact' RecordTypeName From FilteredContact And results were: When CRM 2011 was released we got possibility to create report for CRM Online...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: General approaches to generation of reports

2012-11-05T14:55:00Z

Following article describes general steps to use web services of Reporting Services. Preparation of report The easiest way is to develop and test report for CRM and then make it available for external usage (or use in-build report of CRM). In following samples I will use standard Quote report. To publish report for external use Open CRM, navigate to report, choose Report and click Edit: Once report is opened click Actions – ‘Publish report for External Use’: To recheck that reports were published...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: ‘Publish report for external use’ functionality brakes subreports

2012-11-05T11:32:00Z

Today I faced with this issue. I published standard ‘Quote’ report for external use tried it and it didn’t worked. I got following message once I tried to run a report: I understood that Parent report was not able to find proper Subreport. Following steps shows how to fix this issue: Once I’ve done mentioned changes and tried report it worked without any issues:...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: How to refresh Associated or SubGrid from Ribbon button

2012-11-01T14:49:00Z

Today I have got requirement – create custom ribbon button placed to Associated View of entity, execute some logic and invoke refresh of grid. Last point was the trickiest one and that’s why I decided to share with approach how to do it. First step is to create library that will contain JavaScript that will be executed when button is clicked: OnRibbonButtonClicked = function (grid){ //put your logic here //code that refreshes grid grid.refresh(); } Second step is to customize ribbon (I use for it...(read more)

Tool that increases limit of record during export to Excel for Dynamics CRM 2011

2012-10-05T10:29:00Z

One of my customers wanted to increase this limit. I made small investigation and discovered that setting that controls limit of records is stored at Organization entity in MaxRecordsforExportToExcel column. The easiest way to change this setting for On Premise of course was to Update directly OrganizationBase table but customer’s CRM is OnLine. So I developed small tool that allows to connect and update this setting using CRM Sdk. I’m very appreciated to MVP fellow Tanguy Touzard who created Connection...(read more)

MS CRM 2011: How to check user rights on client side

2012-09-07T08:01:00Z

Today I have got requirement to write function which will validate rights of user. In our specific case we had to show/hide buttons on custom web form. I decided to post results of my work here. CheckUserPrivilege = function (privilegeName) { var context = (typeof GetGlobalContext != "undefined") ? GetGlobalContext() : Xrm.Page.context; var requestXml = "" + " " + " " + " " + " " + " false" + " " + " " + "...(read more)