Reading Entity Customization xml through C#

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Posted on by Saroj Das

3,355

Hello Experts,

I would like to read a customization xml which contains Entity and attribute (picklist). Could you please help me to retrieve the values properly. Here is a part of Attributes XML.

      <attribute PhysicalName="featurearea">
        <Type>picklist</Type>
        <ValidForCreateApi>1</ValidForCreateApi>
        <ValidForUpdateApi>1</ValidForUpdateApi>
        <ValidForReadApi>1</ValidForReadApi>
        <IsCustomField>1</IsCustomField>
        <AttributeTypeId>00000000-0000-0000-00cc-220000000090</AttributeTypeId>
        <DisplayMask>ValidForAdvancedFind|ValidForForm|ValidForGrid</DisplayMask>
        <Descriptions>
          <Description description="Feature area of the case" languagecode="1033" />
        </Descriptions>
        <ImeMode>auto</ImeMode>
        <RequiredLevel>required</RequiredLevel>
        <AppDefaultValue>-1</AppDefaultValue>
        <options>
          <option value="3">
            <labels>
              <label description="Aaaa" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="4">
            <labels>
              <label description="Audio" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="17">
            <labels>
              <label description="Certification" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="10">
            <labels>
              <label description="Compiler/Linker" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="5">
            <labels>
              <label description="Config" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="11">
            <labels>
              <label description="CPU" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="1">
            <labels>
              <label description="Graphics" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="15">
            <labels>
              <label description="Kinect" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="16">
            <labels>
              <label description="Networking" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="12">
            <labels>
              <label description="System" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="19">
            <labels>
              <label description="Tools" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="7">
            <labels>
              <label description="fdfgdg" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="6">
            <labels>
              <label description="Video" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="13">
            <labels>
              <label description="Other" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="14">
            <labels>
              <label description="Deprecated – Value" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="20">
            <labels>
              <label description="Deprecated – Comp" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="2">
            <labels>
              <label description="Deprecated – hhhh" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="18">
            <labels>
              <label description="Deprecated – Pppp" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="9">
            <labels>
              <label description="Deprecated – Web Services" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
          <option value="8">
            <labels>
              <label description="Deprecated – llll" languagecode="1033" />
            </labels>
          </option>
        </options>
        <displaynames>
          <displayname description="Feature Area" languagecode="1033" />
        </displaynames>
      </attribute>

I would like to read option values and labels.

Best Regards,

Saroj

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Mahadeo Matre 17,021 on at

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Hi Saroj,

This is same as you are reading any xml file in C# code..

You can use XMLReader to read xml and get required values from XML.

Here are some examples of how to read xml file in C#.

support.microsoft.com/.../307548

msdn.microsoft.com/.../cc189056(v=vs.95).aspx

msdn.microsoft.com/.../aa287537(v=vs.71).aspx

csharp.net-informations.com/.../how-to-read-xml.htm

www.dotnetperls.com/xmlreader

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Mahadeo Matre 17,021 on at

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I am just curious why you need to read customization xml in C#.net .. if you want to retrieve picklist text, then you can use entity metadata.

CRM has RetrieveAllEntitiesRequest, you can use this to retrieve all entities and attributes

metadata.. This will give you all details which you have in customization xml file.

Here is a example of how to retrieve Picklist metadata.

msdn.microsoft.com/.../jj602916.aspx

Attributes meta data..

msdn.microsoft.com/.../gg309435.aspx

All about metadata

msdn.microsoft.com/.../gg309539.aspx

Also in CRM SDK, Microsoft gave some sample code on how to retrieve metadata..

It's under sdk\samplecode\cs\metadata

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Royal King 27,686 on at

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Here is the code that can retrieve name and value of the optionset value fromt he xml you posted

var attributeXml = " <attribute PhysicalName=\"featurearea\">" +

" <Type>picklist</Type>" +

" <ValidForCreateApi>1</ValidForCreateApi>" +

" <ValidForUpdateApi>1</ValidForUpdateApi>" +

" <ValidForReadApi>1</ValidForReadApi>" +

" <IsCustomField>1</IsCustomField>" +

" <AttributeTypeId>00000000-0000-0000-00cc-220000000090</AttributeTypeId>" +

" <DisplayMask>ValidForAdvancedFind|ValidForForm|ValidForGrid</DisplayMask>" +

" <Descriptions>" +

" <Description description=\"Feature area of the case\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </Descriptions>" +

" <ImeMode>auto</ImeMode>" +

" <RequiredLevel>required</RequiredLevel>" +

" <AppDefaultValue>-1</AppDefaultValue>" +

" <options>" +

" <option value=\"3\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Aaaa\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"4\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Audio\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"17\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Certification\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"10\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Compiler/Linker\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"5\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Config\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"11\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"CPU\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"1\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Graphics\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"15\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Kinect\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"16\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Networking\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"12\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"System\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"19\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Tools\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"7\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"fdfgdg\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"6\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Video\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"13\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Other\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"14\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Deprecated – Value\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"20\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Deprecated – Comp\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"2\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Deprecated – hhhh\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"18\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Deprecated – Pppp\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"9\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Deprecated – Web Services\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" <option value=\"8\">" +

" <labels>" +

" <label description=\"Deprecated – llll\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </labels>" +

" </option>" +

" </options>" +

" <displaynames>" +

" <displayname description=\"Feature Area\" languagecode=\"1033\" />" +

" </displaynames>" +

" </attribute>";

var element = XElement.Parse(attributeXml).Descendants("option");

var options = from option in element

select new { Vale = option.Attribute("value").Value, Name = option.Element("labels").Elements("label").First<XElement>().Attribute("description").Value };

foreach (var option in options)

{

Console.WriteLine(option.Name + " : " + option.Vale);

}

Console.Read();

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Saroj Das 3,355 on at

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Hi Chitrarasan and Mahadeo, Thank you very much for your valuable response and time. Apologize for not clearing the question. Actually i want to do a data import to crm 2015. I have only entities xml file. where i have to read the attributes and create entity with these attributes. I am able to create other attributes except the picklist and lookup. I don't want to use OOB data import. As the options are nested, so getting some difficulties to read the values and labels. Please suggest.

Best regards,

Saroj

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Royal King 27,686 on at

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check the CRM sdk which has sample code to create meta data for all kind of attributes.

under folder SDK\SampleCode\CS\Metadata\Attributes

Lookup attribute is handled differently so you have to check sample code under

SDK\SampleCode\CS\Metadata\Relationships

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Mahadeo Matre 17,021 on at

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Saroj,

In this case either you can use XMLreader in C# or Chitra's code to get option set text and values and use those to create attributes in CRM.

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