Sam Jones CRM Corner

Count Activities / History

This script (again by Jim Wang) will 'count' the number of activities and history records there are for a record and show the results Hotmail style as a bracketed number in the link.

var buXml = GetRegardingActivity();

if(buXml != null)

{

    var buNodes = buXml.selectNodes("//BusinessEntity/statecode"); // CRM 3.0

    //var buNodes = buXml.selectNodes("//BusinessEntity/q1:statecode"); // CRM 4.0

    var iActivity = 0;

    var iHistory = 0;

    if(buNodes != null )

    {

        /*get values*/

        for( i = 0; i < buNodes.length; i++)

        {

            switch(buNodes[i].text)

            {

                case "Open" : iActivity++; break;

                case "Scheduled" : iActivity++; break;

                case "Completed" : iHistory++; break;

                case "Canceled" : iHistory++; break;

            }

        }

        if(document.getElementById('navActivities') != null)

        {

            document.getElementById('navActivities').getElementsByTagName('NOBR')[0].innerText = document.getElementById('navActivities').getElementsByTagName('NOBR')[0].innerText + " (" + iActivity + ")";

        }

        if(document.getElementById('navActivityHistory') != null)

        {

            document.getElementById('navActivityHistory').getElementsByTagName('NOBR')[0].innerText = document.getElementById('navActivityHistory').getElementsByTagName('NOBR')[0].innerText + " (" + iHistory + ")";

        }

    }

}

function GetRegardingActivity()

{

    var xml = "" +

    "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>" +

    "<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\">" +

    " <soap:Body>" +

    " <query xmlns:q1=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2006/Query\" xsi:type=\"q1:QueryExpression\" xmlns=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2006/WebServices\">" +

    " <q1:EntityName>activitypointer</q1:EntityName>" +

    " <q1:ColumnSet xsi:type=\"q1:ColumnSet\">" +

    " <q1:Attributes>" +

    " <q1:Attribute>statecode</q1:Attribute>" +

    " </q1:Attributes>" +

    " </q1:ColumnSet>" +

    " <q1:Distinct>false</q1:Distinct>" +

    " <q1:Criteria>" +

    " <q1:FilterOperator>And</q1:FilterOperator>" +

    " <q1:Conditions>" +

    " <q1:Condition>" +

    " <q1:AttributeName>regardingobjectid</q1:AttributeName>" +

    " <q1:Operator>Equal</q1:Operator>" +

    " <q1:Values>" +

    " <q1:Value xsi:type=\"xsd:string\">" + crmForm.ObjectId + "</q1:Value>" +

    " </q1:Values>" +

    " </q1:Condition>" +

    " </q1:Conditions>" +

    " </q1:Criteria>" +

    " </query>" +

    " </soap:Body>" +

    "</soap:Envelope>" +

    "";

    var xmlHttpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

    xmlHttpRequest.Open("POST", "/mscrmservices/2006/CrmService.asmx", false);

    xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("SOAPAction","http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2006/WebServices/RetrieveMultiple");

    xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml; charset=utf-8");

    xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Length", xml.length);

    xmlHttpRequest.send(xml);

    var resultXml = xmlHttpRequest.responseXML;

    return resultXml;

}

I have tested this myself and it causes the same problems as described here. You should note that this script should be modified with a switcher to take account of the differences in XMLHttpRequest handling between the browser versions.

Use Javascript to execute a CRM Workflow

I love this method. Thanks to Jim Wang for this very useful script.

/* the function */

ExecuteWorkflow = function(entityId, workflowId)

{

    var xml = "" + 

    "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>" + 

    "<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\">" + 

    GenerateAuthenticationHeader() +

    "  <soap:Body>" + 

    "    <Execute xmlns=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices\">" + 

    "      <Request xsi:type=\"ExecuteWorkflowRequest\">" + 

    "        <EntityId>" + entityId + "</EntityId>" + 

    "        <WorkflowId>" + workflowId + "</WorkflowId>" + 

    "      </Request>" + 

    "    </Execute>" + 

    "  </soap:Body>" + 

    "</soap:Envelope>" + 

    "";

    var xmlHttpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

    xmlHttpRequest.Open("POST", "/mscrmservices/2007/CrmService.asmx", false);

    xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("SOAPAction","http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices/Execute");

    xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml; charset=utf-8");

    xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Length", xml.length);

    xmlHttpRequest.send(xml);

    var resultXml = xmlHttpRequest.responseXML;

    return(resultXml.xml);

}

/* call */

var theWorkflowId = "3FD2DD58-4708-43D7-A21B-F0F90A0AA9F2"; //change to your workflow Id

ExecuteWorkflow(crmForm.ObjectId, theWorkflowId);

However, further to my previous post about XMLHttp request, it should be noted that you will require a 'switcher' to differentiate between browser versions that use this function.

See here

How To : Pop Up Notes

I recently came across a new requirement and that was to view the related notes of a record without having to actually enter the record. Dynamics offers this functionality by allowing us to add buttons within the ISV, so there are in fact two ways of doing this.

Option 1 : From the Grid View

1) Add a new button to the ISV and change the 'winmode' parameter to 2

2) Note that for some reason (still to be investigated) buttons from the Grid view do not pass the parameters of the selected record properly. No, I have no idea why and would welcome any feedback on this.

3) Add the following code to a blank page and call it from the ISV button

         function listselecteditems()

         {

            var placeholder = document.getElementById("test");

            var sGUIDValues = "";

            var selectedValues;

            //Make sure window.dialogArguments is available.

            if (window.dialogArguments)

            {

               selectedValues = new Array(window.dialogArguments.length -1);

            }

            else

            {

               placeholder.innerText = "window.dialogArguments is not available.";

               return

            }

            selectedValues = window.dialogArguments;

            if (selectedValues != null)

            {

               for (i=0; i < selectedValues.length; i++)

               {

                  sGUIDValues += selectedValues[i] +"\n";

               }

               var notesUrl = "/_controls/notes/notesdata.aspx?id="+ selectedValues + "&ParentEntity=112&EnableInlineEdit=false&EnableInsert=false"

                            document.write('<Iframe id="PopUpNotes" name="PopUpNotes" src="'+notesUrl+'" width="100%" height="90%" scrolling="yes" frameborder="0"></iframe>')

            }

            else

            {

               placeholder.innerText = "No records were selected.";

            }

                 }

 

Explanation of Option 1

As you can see, this is a modification of the code using in the SDK to return the GUID's of selected records. It uses the window.dialogArguments method and all we have done is add an appropriate IFrame to the popup page. The GUID is matched from the dialogArguments to the related notes within the entity and the Iframe shows the results. It should be noted that this method does not allow notes to be edited or appended. I suspect this is because the Iframe is not passing the information back to the CRM in order to perform this action.

Option 2 : From the Form View

Although you are probably asking yourself why you would want to do this since each form has a native 'notes' tab, you would be right. This example demonstrates how to take the information from the querystring and use that information with Javascript to achieve the same goal. Now, if I understood why the button on the Grid view does not pass the parameters properly, I could use this method from Option 1 and have truly popup notes without having to use dialogArgumets.

1) Add yourself a new button within ISV but this time, you can use any winmode you like including 0 or 1

2) Paste this code into a clean js file and call it from the button

function parseSearchString()

{

var pairs=unescape(location.search.substring(1).replace(/\+/g," ")).split('&');

for (var i=0;i<pairs.length;i++){

var pair = pairs[i].split('=');

this[pair[0]]=pair[1];

}

}

var search = new parseSearchString();

function listselecteditems()

{

var notesUrl = "/_controls/notes/notesdata.aspx?id="+ search["id"] + "&ParentEntity=112&EnableInlineEdit=false&EnableInsert=false"

//output passed variables

document.write('<div id="test">');

document.write('<Iframe id="PopUpNotes" name="PopUpNotes" src="'+notesUrl+'" width="100%" height="90%" scrolling="yes" frameborder="0"></iframe>')

document.write('</div>');

}     

Explanation of Option 2

As you can see, this code takes the URL, breaks it into little pieces and then using the piece that we need (the GUID) to return the correct records within the Iframe. This approach can be extended to accommodate any 'related' information for the record and not just notes.

XMLHttp Request and IFrames

In my post here I talked about displaying related records within an Iframe. Recently, a situation has arisen that I hadn't really envisioned.

At the moment, all of my code is held within custom pages and I use the following function to call that code as I need form the OnLoad event of a form.

var oXML = new XMLHttpRequest();

oXML.open('GET', "/Custom_Javascript/Custom_Code.js", false);

oXML.send('');

eval(oXML.responseText); 

CallTestThis();

The problem is that the way the request is structured, takes advantage of IE7's native support for the XMLHttp Request.  Unfortunately IE6 doesn't have this capability. The answer of course, is to detect the version of the browser being used and change the first line of the request string to accommodate this issue.

var xmlhttp=false;

/*@cc_on @*/

/*@if (@_jscript_version >= 5)

// JScript gives us Conditional compilation, we can cope with old IE versions.

// and security blocked creation of the objects.

 try {

  xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

 } catch (e) {

  try {

   xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

  } catch (E) {

   xmlhttp = false;

  }

 }

@end @*/

if (!xmlhttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest!='undefined') {

    try {

        xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();

    } catch (e) {

        xmlhttp=false;

    }

}

if (!xmlhttp && window.createRequest) {

    try {

        xmlhttp = window.createRequest();

    } catch (e) {

        xmlhttp=false;

    }

}

xmlhttp.open("GET", "/Custom_Javascript/Entity-Account/Custom_Code.js", false);

xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() {

if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4) {

eval(xmlhttp.responseText);

TestThis();

}

}

xmlhttp.send(null)

Now, regardless of the browser being IE6 or 7, the xmlhttp request will work. You may have to tweak the security settings a little to get rid of the annoying popup nags telling you that this script may be harmful, but if you add your CRM URL to the trusted sites list and change the security settings for that, it should be fine.

How To : Change Grid Paging Limits

Warning : Totally unsupported customization. Proceed at your own risk

 

Something that has annoyed me from the very start is the 250 record paging limit within the CRM grid view.

No problem. Here's how to change it.

1) Open up SQL Studio and find your SQL CRM database.

2) Find the UserSettingsBase table

3) View the table and change the PagingLimit to the desired number other than 250. I have mine set to 1000.

There may be some load issues as the Grid is pulling large numbers of records at a time but the benefit outweighs the risk.

Hide / Unhide a Field or Section in CRM 4.0

Intro

When customizing forms in CRM, one of the most commonly used and simplest things to do is a hide a field on the form. This may be hiding one or numerous fields on the form. Often times, developers may need to use several “hidden” fields for other purposes. In this case, he/she could place all those fields in a section on the form, and then hide the section.

Hiding A Field

To hide a field use the following code snippet:

crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_c.style.visibility = ‘hidden’;crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_d.style.visibility = ‘hidden’;

OR

crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_c.style.display = ‘none’;crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_d.style.display = ‘none’;

You will have to hide both the “_c” and “_d” parts of the field. The “_c” appended to the field is the label of the field, and “_d” is the data contained in the field.

e.g - Some sample HTML from a form. Note the _c and _d extensions

<col>

<tr valign="top">

<td id="name_c" class="ms-crm-Field-Required">

<label  for="name">

Account Name<img  alt="Required" src="/_imgs/frm_required.gif"/>

</label>

</td>

<td id="name_d">

<input  type="text" id="name" tabindex="1000" maxlength="160" class="ms-crm-Text" value="Some Company Name Here" req="2" Style="ime-mode&#58;active">

</td>

 

Un-hiding A Field

To un-hide a field, use the following code snippet:

crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_c.style.visibility = ‘visible’;

crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_d.style.visibility = ‘visible’;

OR

crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_c.style.display = ‘block’;crmForm.all.<insert schema name of field>_d.style.display = ‘block’;

Hiding A Section

To hide a section (which will in turn, hide all fields in that section), use the code snippet below:

crmForm.all.<insert schema name here>. parentElement.parentElement.parentElement.style.display = 'none';

Un-hiding A Section

To un-hide a section, use the code snippet below:

crmForm.all.<insert schema name here>. parentElement.parentElement.parentElement.style.display = 'block';

Original Post by Bill Owens here

Validating CRM 4.0 Customizations Files

Do you get this screen whenever you change the ISV file?

Annoying isnt it, especially if you don't know where you've gone wrong.

Well, there is an easy way to validate your XML before you attempt to import it into the CRM.

1) Open XMLNotepad

2) View --> Schemas

3) Add the following three files which you can find in your CRM installation folder.

a) wwroot\_Resources\customizations.xsd

b) wwwroot\_Resources\isv.config.xsd

c) wwwroot\_root\sitemaptype.xsd

 

Once you have these three files installed, any invalid XML will give a warning in the error listing on the main screen.