CRM fields

     Dynamics crm 2016 gave us a revolutionary option to work with solutions more granularly, option for true inheritance from managed solutions, build-in holding solution option etc.       In the same time some old “diseases” are still there. Managing dev and QA instances, I’ve found an issue that appears as a generic error in log file and cannot be tracked with tracer or event viewer. By my experience, the issue may happen if: 1.        You deleted a relationship and then created a field with same name in the same entity. 2.        You deleted a local option set field and created a  field based on global option set in the same entity with the same name.         The symptom of those two issues will appear in the target crm instance in the import log file: “ The content of the import file is not valid. You must select a text...

Plugin strategy. Managed Steps Concept.           Most of modern products (managed solutions) for Dynamics crm, those we import into our environments, have some ways to be configured. By creating “setting” entity, Azure configuration for marketing solutions, changing templates or workflows. If we deal with off-line then workflow is not an option any more, but plugins are. In case of plugin we deal with hardly configurable component and have not many options to work around. Disable step, use unsecure/secure configuration (if vendor gives us such option), ask vendor for patch. This sort of workarounds.           Managed Steps Concept is an approach for dynamics crm plugins architecting and coding. Vendors can utilize it to improve products maintenance and make it more client friendly.           The proposed design is useful for any organi...

      I had a need to refresh crm 2016 form right after initial save. Surprisingly all good old solution from my archive were not effective in crm 2016. Neither window.location.reload(), nor sdk’s refresh, nor trivial setTimeout. "setTimeout" would work if not bunch of heavy plugins and JavaScrippt validation on save event.     I found that Google knows about it as many as I do. Okay, no copy past this time J     After half an hour I found a nice solution with really minimal risk of browser leaking. The idea based on fact that OnLoad event occurs without form refresh right after change of form type. We need an independent flag to catch that. The code below does the trick. function refreshFormAfterInitialSave() { if (Xrm.Page.ui.getFormType() == 1) { top.callN = 1; } if (Xrm.Page.ui.getFormType() == 2 && top.callN == 1) { setTimeout(function () { top.callN = n...

     While using "Custom Javascript" area in Web pages, Web Form Steps etc. I found it a little bit uncomfortable in use.      The max length of 10 000 characters not always enough and if I add a compiled content then debugging is blocked.      I ended up creating dynamic script loader. It picks up a url (like "~/Areas/FolderName/scriptName.min.js") from “Custom Javascript" area. Then script checks if such a namespace exists and object is loaded. If necessary, it loads the script. The idea is very simple. Have an object loaded with master page to load JavaScript and CSS files: if (typeof (gHelper) == "undefined") { gHelper = { __namespace: true }; } gHelper.data = { addedFiles: "", } gHelper.fn = (function (window, document) { function loadfile(filepath, filetype) { var fileref; // JavaScript file from solution ...

   In this post I’m not going to compare modern MS Dynamics Crm portals but two main models which vendors use to create their products. First one we’re going to call “crm data driven” model and let’s name another one “crm loosely coupling”. Data Driven model (DDM)         Data Driven model (DDM) means that frontend pages, views and controls replicate the crm forms and respect most of crm filters and validations. DDM dictates vendor develop a platform to reflect crm architecture and rules on the front end.       Vendor’s platform can provide additional enhancement inside portal and crm. It can be frontend content management system CMS, pre-installed solutions for better web engagement experience, deployment tools, ALM kits, portal plugins, service workflow etc.       The main benefit of the DDM is ability to manage portal design and create simple business flows without writing code. ...