Microsoft Dynamics CRM browser support

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 supports the following web browsers:

• Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10, and 11
• Mozilla Firefox—latest publicly released version*
• Google Chrome—latest publicly released version*
• Apple Safari—latest publicly released version**

* Both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are supported only if they are running on Windows 8, Windows 7, or Vista (or Nexus 10
tablet for Google Chrome).
** Apple Safari is supported only if it is running on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or 10.8 (Mountain Lion).

Google Chrome is one of the fastest at initial page rendering.

Portable Business Logic (PBL)—Business Rules

Previously  to customize a form and display an error message or show and hide a field,  JavaScript t was used to make it work. With PBL, you can do it without any JavaScript!
The following actions are available with PBL:

• Show error message
• Set field value
• Set business required
• Set visibility
• Lock or unlock field

Business rules provide an easy declarative way to consistently evaluate the business logic on both client and server, without the need to write code.

To create or edit PBL, navigate to the customization of the form and select Business Rules on either

the UI or on the solution navigation.

Business Process Flows (BPFs)

A business process flow lets you create more efficient and streamlined sales, service, and other business processes. Having high performing processes in place will help you to increase your win rates, improve customer satisfaction, and grow your revenue.

Users are guided through various stages of the sales or customer service processes. At each stage, you complete specific steps and then move to the next stage. You can customize the process flow by adding or removing steps, changing the order of the stages, or adding new entities to the process flow.

The process flow will tell you where you are in the process, where you came from, and what to do next. You are able to continuously monitor your own progress.

BPFs can be used on the following entities:
Account
Appointment
Campaign
Campaign Activity
Campaign Response
Competitor
Contact
Email
Fax
Case
Invoice
Lead
Letter
Marketing List
Opportunity
Phone Call
Product
Price List Item
Quote
Recurring Appointment
Sales Literature
Order
User
Task

Team

In case of Custom entities, the Business Process Flows (Fields Will Be Created) option must be selected.

Key benefits of BPFs include the following

• BPFs allow organizations to define the specific steps that need to be taken for something to happen.
• BPFs allow organizations to track where in the process the record is.
• BPFs allow for “stage-gating,” which requires data to be entered before proceeding to the next step.
• BPFs are visually represented on the record.
• BPFs can be controlled through portable business logic (PBLs) and workflow. An example of this is when a field is hidden via a PBL or a value is populated via a workflow, the BPF incorporates this change as well.
• BPFs allow for multiple entities in the BPF (up to five).
• There can be 10 active BPFs per entity.
• Users with appropriate security permissions can edit the BPF in real time to incorporate new rules.
• Users can switch BPFs midstream to new BPFs if the situation changes. A common example of this is when an inbound call creates a case with a Case to RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) process, but it turns out the user just has a question; in this case, the user might change the BPF to Case to KB (Knowledge Base).

Limitations:

• An entity once selected during design of the BPF cannot be referenced again (except to close the record), and no more than five entities can be referenced.
• If a user’s security permission does not allow using a BPF, the BPF will be visible but disabled.
• A maximum of 10 BPFs per entity can be active. (You can have more, but only 10 can be active.)
• There is a maximum of 30 states per BPF.

System business process flows

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes the following business process flows. 

• Lead to Opportunity Sales Process
• Opportunity Sales Process
• Phone to Case Process

“Ready-to-Use” BPFs

Microsoft has included a package of 12 other BPFs in the system, but they need to be deployed. To deploy them, navigate to Settings, Data Management and select Add Ready-to-Use Business.

To make new BPF one must has the Manager, Vice President, CEO-Business Manager, System Administrator, or System Customizer security role or equivalent permissions.

All about Plugins

Q. What is Execution Order in Plug-in Registration tool?

Execution order in plugin specifies the order in which plug-ins are executed within a pipeline stage. Plug-ins registered with an order value of 1 are executed first, followed by plug-ins registered with an order of 2, and so on. However, if there is more than one plug-in in a stage with the same order value, then the plug-in with the earliest compilation date is called first

What is the difference between PreImage, PostImage, Target Entity?

In a plug-in there are potentially several ways to access entity data relevant to the plug-in action. For example, on the create message you can access the data on the new entity instance in one of the following ways:

1. Via the Target InputParameter
2. Via an Image Entity registered on the step

Via a Retrieve request in the plug-in code

Availability of the data by stage

The general rules are:

1.       InputParameter is available in all stages. It can be modified in the pre-stage, but changing it in the post-stage will have no effect

2.       A PostImage Entity is available in the post-stage, and a PreImage Entity in the pre-stage only

3.       If using a Retrieve in the plug-in, then the data returned depends on the stage. In the pre-stage, you will see the data before the modification, whereas in the post-stage you see the data after the modification

4.       Some Image Entities are not relevant for some messages - e.g. there is no PreImage for a Create message, and no PostImage for a Delete message

1. All the plug-in events are first stored in  variable called “Target”.

Target  entity available on all steps and contains entity passed in the request message. Target entity can update on Pre-stage and those changes will be post into the database. Changes on Post-stage don’t affect database.

2. Pre-image, you get the image of the record as is stored in the SQL database before the CRM Platform action has been performed.

Post Image, returns the image of the record after the CRM Platform action has been performed. 

PreEntityImages and PostEntityImages contain snapshots of the primary entity's attributes before and after the core platform operation. Following tables describes PreImage, PostImage availability:

	Pre-Image		Post-Image
	Pre	Post	Pre	Post
Create	No	Yes	No	Yes
Update	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Delete	Yes	Yes	No	No

Note. Target entity only contains attributes platform needs to update.

JavaScript in MS CRM 2013/2015

Get current entity name

var entity = Xrm.Page.data.entity.getEntityName();

Disable the field

Xrm.Page.getControl("telephone1").setDisabled(true);

Hide field

Xrm.Page.getControl("telephone1").setVisible(false);

Get value from one field and set to other field

var phone = Xrm.Page.getAttribute("telephone1").getValue();

    

        Xrm.Page.getAttribute("fax").setValue(phone);

Get Current User Role

Xrm.Page.context.getUserRoles();

Hiding tab
Xrm.Page.ui.tabs.get(tabindex).setVisible(false);
or
Xrm.Page.ui.tabs.get("tabname").setVisible(false);

Showing tab
Xrm.Page.ui.tabs.get(tabindex).setVisible(true);
or

Xrm.Page.ui.tabs.get("tabname").setVisible(true);

Create Custom entities in MS Dynamics CRM 2015 online

1. On the  navigation pane of CRM, click on the Settings --> Customizations --> Customize the system(Also can proceed from custom solution)
2. Click the Entities node in the solution explorer and then click New in the menu bar.

3. Complete all required fields Display Name, Plural Name and Name.

    

4. Select whether the entity will be owned by a user or team/organization

5. Select Areas that display this entity section, select Sales and Marketing.

6. Click Save and Close to close the new entity form.

7. Publish the customization. Entity will be seen under Sales and Marketing.

Show MS CRM Account details in grid view of Asp.net

Hi,

Here is a code to show account details from Dynamics CRM online 2015 to gridview of ASP.Net through late binding.

Add new web form and add one gridview to design form.

 Now add code to code view.

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            IOrganizationService service = GetCRMService();
            QueryExpression query = new QueryExpression("account");
            query.ColumnSet.AllColumns = true;
            EntityCollection ecollection = service.RetrieveMultiple(query);

            DataTable dt = new DataTable();
            dt.Columns.Add("name");
            dt.Columns.Add("accountid");

            foreach (Entity entity in ecollection.Entities)
            {
                DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
                dr["Name"] = entity.Attributes["name"].ToString();
                dr["accountid"] = entity.Attributes["accountid"].ToString();
                dt.Rows.Add(dr);
            }
       
            gridViewAccountName.DataSource = dt;
            gridViewAccountName.DataBind();
        }


        public IOrganizationService GetCRMService()
        {
            string orgUrl = "https://XXXX.api.crm5.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc";
            Uri OrganizationUri = new Uri(orgUrl);
            IOrganizationService service;
            ClientCredentials credentials = new ClientCredentials();

            credentials.UserName.UserName = "XXX@XXXXXXXX.onmicrosoft.com";
            credentials.UserName.Password = "XXXXXXXXX";
            try
            {
                using (OrganizationServiceProxy serviceProxy = new OrganizationServiceProxy(OrganizationUri, null, credentials, null))
                {
                    serviceProxy.EnableProxyTypes();
                    service = (IOrganizationService)serviceProxy;
                                   }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw ex;
            }
            return service;
        }

The result is like below:

name	accountid
vdvzsdf	ae87e930-d691-e511-80fa-3863bb345bf8
Fourth Coffee (sample)	1af02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Litware, Inc. (sample)	1cf02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Adventure Works (sample)	1ef02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Fabrikam, Inc. (sample)	20f02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Blue Yonder Airlines (sample)	22f02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
City Power & Light (sample)	24f02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Contoso Pharmaceuticals (sample)	26f02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Alpine Ski House (sample)	28f02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
A. Datum Corporation (sample)	2af02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Coho Winery (sample)	2cf02229-5582-e511-80fe-3863bb347758
Adventure test cycle	7668e02f-238d-e511-80f4-3863bb36ef98