verifying an empty field with Post-Image on plugin.

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afternoon,

I have a plugin that needs to verify the contents of 4 fields before sending a SOAP request (for formatting purposes). these are "a_gis_sitename", "a_gis_street", "a_gis_town", "a_gis_postcode". While I appreciate that i can format these client-side, I would prefer to save myself an extra field in my form (it is already a substantial form.)

I have created a post-image with the alias "postImage" of the fields in question and written the following:

string[] siteFields = { "sitename", "street", "town", "postcode" };
string siteDetails = "";
int i = 0;
int isEmpty = 0; // if isEmpty hits 3, the GIS fields haven't been populated.
// now the image of the case needs to be checked to see if fields were empty.
if (context.PostEntityImages.Contains("postImage") && context.PostEntityImages["postImage"] is Entity) {
var postImage = (Entity)context.PostEntityImages["postImage"];
foreach (string f in siteFields) {
// add each field to comma separated list making sure first item in list isn't preceded by comma.
if (postImage.Attributes["a_gis_" + f] != null)
siteDetails += ((i++ > 1) ? ", " : "") + (string)postImage.Attributes["a_gis_" + f];
else isEmpty++;
}
if (isEmpty < 3) siteDetails = "Location of problem: " + siteDetails + ". ";
}

stack trace persistently returns a

The given key was not present in the dictionary. at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key)
at myService.Plugins.dogFouling.Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)

Why is this happening. CRM can be such a headache to debug.

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Community Member on at

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a viable solution is to replace -- if (postImage.Attributes["a_gis_" + f] != null) -- with -- if (postImage.Attributes.Contains("a_gis_" + f)) --

However!!

why use a post image at all in that case? couldn't you make a similar call against the data the plugin would hold already?

myEntity = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];

myEntity.Contains("a_gis_fieldName")...

So here's a further question:

I can see where Pre-image is useful but why use a post image at all if these kind of checks can easily be made without it?!

(as an aside, the i++ above resolves incorrectly and should be ++i)

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Aileen Gusni 44,524 on at

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Hi Jonni,

Pre image is useful to get the previous value data before the changes, and you need the post image to get the updated value data.

For example,

You want to prevent user change the email address if the email address already contains correct data, with @mycompany.com with the @yahoo.com, so you need to compare the previous value, so that you can prevent the user to update the valid email address with the public email address.

Post image will be useful and valid only for post update.

Anyway, for your case:

// now the image of the case needs to be checked to see if fields were empty.

You should use PostImage if you want to check under Post event.

You can use preimage, if you combine preimage with target entity.

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Community Member on at

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Thanks for your reply, please see my second post. I needed to do a compare rather than a blind reference to an early bound field that hadn't been recorded by the plugin.

I understand pre-image and I can see why post-image is useful for post-update. I'm just mystified as to why the latter would be available for create tasks. It muddies the water. In the create context, it seems to perform the same task as context.InputParameters["Target"];

Maybe I'm missing the point. Unfortunately, I find MSDN opaque in its explanation. I learn more from stack overflow than MS material.

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Mohammed Fakhri 402 on at

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Hi Aileen,

How do i know in plugin if user has changed lookup value to null. ?

Do i use targetEntity or a Pre Post Image?

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Community Member on at

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Hi Jonniosaurus,

The error you have specified "The given key was not present in the dictionary" occurred when an entity does not contains value for given field name.

Instead of using entity.Attributes["attributeName"];

You can use entity.GetAttributeValue<TypeOfField>("attributeName");

Example,

entity.GetAttributeValue<string>("a_gis_street");

It will return null if entity doesn't have value for "a_gis_street", instead of throwing an Exception.

Hope this helps,

Please mark as Answered if you got it.

Thanks & Regards,

Himanshu Prajapati

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