Ten Useful Features of XrmToolBox for Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM
Introduction: XrmToolBox can be used to simplify many tasks. With so many tools now listed, a newcomer may wonder what others are using it for to maximum benefit. XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement and Dynamics CRM, providing tools to ease customization and configuration tasks. It is shipped with more than 30 plugins to make administration, customization, and configuration tasks easier and less time consuming. In this article we will explore ten of our favorite XRMToolBox tools, exploring what they do and why they are so useful. How is it used? Documentation is available through the wiki of XrmToolBox Github’s repository. All the information regarding the prerequisites, connection, tools description, how to use is mentioned in the documentation. Ten useful tools of XrmToolBox: 1) Web Resource Manager Web Resource Manager helps to manage your web resources easily. This tool has saved hours of time for creating, updating and managing the web resources of Dynamics 365/CRM. This is a must have for all developers. 2) Ribbon Workbench The Ribbon Workbench tool helps to edit the Dynamics CRM ribbon or command bar from inside the XrmToolbox. By installing the Ribbon Workbench you’ll quickly be performing customizations that were previously only possible by time consuming and error-prone manual editing of RibbonDiff Xml. 3) Fetch XML Builder The tool is helpful for three major areas: Constructing FetchXML in ways that advanced find cannot Querying CRM for information not (easily) found in the CRM UI lie system and internal entities, hidden attributes or join on other fields Developer assistance like generating C# query expression code, OData query strings or composing queries for reports 4) Plugin Registration The Plugin Registration tool is an important tool used for registering plugins and custom workflows. 5) Auto Number Manager The Auto Number Manager tool’s primary goal is to give D365 customizers a way of managing auto number attributes. This feature was introduced with the 9.0 release. However, this release only supports creating and managing these attributes through the SDK. A user interface for the features is expected to be available from the 9.1 release of the platform. With the Auto Number Manager for XrmToolBox you can create, alter and delete these attributes through an easy to use UI. 6) Site Map Editor The Site Map Editor tool helps to manage the sitemap with no XML needed. Editing sitemap XML is scary for any developer, as any mistake in XML can make the entire CRM unusable. This tool helps to edit your sitemap components. You can easily create areas and subareas, update the order and copy or paste components from one area to another. You can also update all the sub area details like icons or titles for multiple languages. 7) Solution Component Mover The Solution Component Mover tool helps to transfer components from one or multiple source solutions to one target solution. It avoids components getting missed when creating a new solution or adding components from other solutions. Using this tool ensures you add all components from the selected solutions. 8) Metadata Document Generator Metadata Document Generator makes it easier for Dynamics CRM 2011 integrators to generate documentation about entities and attributes metadata. You’ll no longer have to write “by hand” these awful tables full of metadata information. This tool can connect to all type of Dynamics CRM 2011 deployments, including OSDP! 9) Bulk Delete tool The Bulk Delete tool has the ability to delete records from CRM based on system views, personal views, or custom FetchXML Queries. It also has the ability to edit a FetchXML query in the FetchXML Builder tool within XrmToolBox and to select the batch size and interval (in seconds) between batches. It takes less time to delete records as compared to traditional bulk delete from CRM. 10) Metadata Browser The Metadata Browser tool has ability to browse metadata from D365 CRM environment. This tool can be used to view all the metadata.
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Move Attachments from Tracked Email to SharePoint using Microsoft Flow
Introduction: Microsoft flows can be used to automate many workflows across multiple applications and services. This is basically designed for non-developers. To create a flow, the user specifies what action should take place when a specific event occurs. In this blog, we will have a look on how we can add the attachments from the emails that are tracked in Dynamics 365 CRM to SharePoint Systems included in Document Integration D365 App for Outlook SharePoint Dynamics CRM Online V9 Note: We have taken Opportunity tracked Emails for this example, you can work on any entity. Let’s start with the steps that should be undertaken to achieve the above requirement. Step 1: Create a blank Flow template. Choose the Dynamics 365 Connector and trigger as, “When a record is created”. Select your Organization Name, and the entity, in our case it is Email Messages. Step 2: Add condition to check whether the email is related to Opportunity and whether it has Status Reason as Received. By default, the condition you can specify is basic. Change in to Advance mode and add the below formula Formula used: @and ( equals(triggerBody()?[‘_regardingobjectid_type’], ‘opportunities’), equals(triggerBody()?[‘_statuscode_label’], ‘Received’) ) Step 3: For the true part of the condition, retrieve the Opportunity record to which the Email is tracked. The reason behind retrieving Opportunity Name is to create SharePoint Folders. Folders will be created on the format Topic_OPPORTUNITYGUID. Step 4: Now let us retrieve all the Activity Mime Attachments associated with the Email Message that is created. There are two Attachments entities available for the selection. The first one is the Attachment entity The second one is the Activity Mime Attachment entity. Step 5: Retrieve Attachment related to the Activity Mime Attachment for the Body and File Name of the attachments. Now steps to check the presence of Document Location starts Step 6: Retrieve the Document Locations for the current opportunity record to see if there is an already defined path or not. Select “List Records” action and enter below fields Step 7: After retrieving the Document Location records, verify the length of the records in the collection. Formula used : length(body(‘Retrieve_Document_Locations’)?[‘value’]) Step 8: For the true part of the condition, follow the below steps: Step 8.1: Select connector as SharePoint and select Create file Action. Enter all the details listed below: 1) Site Address: The SharePoint Site Address 2) Folder Path: The path where the file need to be stored. i.e. /opportunity/Topic_ toUpper(replace(body(‘Get_record’)?[‘opportunityid’],’-‘,”)) For Example the folder Name will be : Topic_E608E808F4A1E811A977000D3A37051A 3) File Name: Name of the file 4) File Content: The attachment body Step 8.2: Delete the Attachment record from the Dynamics CRM Email message. Here you need to select the first option of Attachments from the list. Step 9: For the false part of the condition below are the steps you should follow: Step 9.1: Create a file in SharePoint. Refer Step 8.1 Step 9.2: Retrieve the Parent Document Location. This is needed as we are creating the document location by ourselves. Step 9.3: Create the Document Location record for the record that was just processed. Parent Site or Location: This is the GUID of the parent Doucument Location retrieved in Step 9.2 Relative URL formula: replace(replace(body(‘Create_file_3’)?[‘Path’],’/opportunity/’,”),concat(‘/’,body(‘Create_file_3’)?[‘Name’]),”) Step 10: Delete the Attachment record from the Dynamics CRM Email message. Here you need to select the first option of Attachments from the list. Now you can test by sending email and tracking to Opportunity in D365 App for Outlook in Dynamics CRM. Document will be uploaded to SharePoint with specified location.
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Identify who imported the solution – Dynamics 365 CRM
Introduction: Sometime there is a need to know when and who imported the solution in to CRM. This will be done by XrmToolBox plugin called “Solution History”. Purpose of Solution History: The purpose of the tool is to view a historical list of solutions that have been imported. This provides sort of audit functionality for solutions, as the OOB solution view doesn’t really display how many times a solution has been imported, version number that was updated, error/warning messages that were encountered during solution import. Steps: Install Solution History plugin from Plugin Store in XrmToolBox. Open the plugin and connect to the environment. Select the time frame for the solution. The solutions will be displayed as below. Select the solution for which you want to check the details. Click on Load Solution History. The details will be shown as highlighted below. Other methods of knowing this are listed below: 1) Looking in to the database 2) Checking XML Hope this helps!!
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Import Solution XML error
Introduction: In this blog we will discuss how we can solve XML issue while importing solution from one environment to other. Scenario and Steps: 1. Deploying a solution from one environment to other causing issues below issue. This error occurs when there are some integrations enabled for your entity. 2. Click on “Help me resolve this issue” and a Dialog will be opened which shows the specific error. As you can see element “IsMSTeamsIntegrationEnabled” is present in the solution which is not present in target solution. Thus we will remove this element from XML and import the solution. 3. To remove the element from XML follow the below steps: Extract the solution you want to import. Open customizations.xml file. Remove “isMSTeamsIntegartionEnabled” element from XML and save the XML. Zip all the files and import the solution to your environment. Your solution will be imported to the targeted environment.
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Custom Document Structure in Dynamics CRM and SharePoint
Introduction: In this blog we will discuss some extended custom functionality of uploading documents to SharePoint and CRM. Purpose: By default, document location is enabled for some OOB entities like Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities and by default document location gets created for records on first time load of Document Location associated view. This is the OOB functionality but sometimes we might need some different structures for document storage according to the organization need. In this blog, we will discuss one scenario where we can have a need to customize this Document Locations and automatically create a predefined folder structure in CRM and SharePoint which will help us to store our documents according to needed structure. This functionality is described using the below screenshots. Open Documents view for any record. As you can see by default, document location gets created and documents get stored in highlighted location. We have created a custom button which takes parameters and create or update the folder structure. On click of Custom button, window opens where you can enter values and click Ok. Type: Create or Update Structure: Tree or Acyclic (Depends on Organization) URL: This is the SharePoint URL Site where you want to create folder structure. You can see the predefined folders getting created. You select the folder you want to upload the file. Chose file and click Ok. In below screenshot you can see the file gets uploaded in the selected folder. Similarly, you can see in SharePoint how the folders get created and file automatically gets uploaded.
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Reconfigure Voice of the Customer
Introduction: If the Voice of Customer solution is accidentally deleted or misconfigured, it might not be able to receive survey response. You can repair or restore the Voice of the Customer configuration. Steps for restoring configurations are listed below for Web client and Voice of Customer app. Web client: Sign in to Dynamics 365. Go to Settings > Voice of the Customer Configurations. Select Configure from the toolbar at the top of the screen. Voice of the Customer app Open Voice of Customer app. Go to Settings > Configurations. Select Configure from the toolbar at the top of the screen. Hope you find this helpful!
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Voice of the Customer failed to install
Introduction: Many people face issues in installing Voice of Customer solution on v9 environment and trying repeatedly to install the solution but failed. Below is the error that usually people get. How to install? Installing Voice of Customer is an easy process. If you are facing some error, you might be doing something wrong. The steps on how you can install Voice of Customer solution are listed below. The Voice of the Customer for Dynamics 365 solution can be installed from Dynamics 365 Administration Center. It is compatible with Dynamics 365 version 8.2 and later. Sign in to your Dynamics 365 solution as administrator. Go to the Dynamics 365 Administration Center, and then select the Applications Select the application row titled Voice Of The Customer, and then select Manage. From the Dynamics 365 Instancedrop-down list, select the instance where you want to install the solution. Accept the license terms. Select Install. By following the above steps you can see the solution gets configured properly. Note: You must be a tenant administrator to install the solution. The list of instances only displays the organizations with Dynamics 365 version 8.2.
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Voice of the Customer – Resolved Issues
Introduction: Voice of the Customer features creating and sending out surveys to gain valuable feedback from your customers about your products or services. Respondents can take your surveys on a phone, tablet, or computer. You can see your customer’s feedback history as you work a sale or resolve a service case. In this blog we will have look on the solved issues by Microsoft till now. Resolved issues in Voice of Customer version 9.0.1162: The survey minimum and maximum values revert to their default values on saving the question. Invitation Link Text field gives HTML Validation Error when you provide input like <<<Hello>>>. The mandatory date question response validation fails for locales with dd/mm/yy date format in Google Chrome. Multiple survey responses are created when you open a survey link in different tabs or browsers and submit. Rotation of headers in Single rating in columns and Multiple ratings in columns questions do not work. In French locale, a few emoticons are not displayed while previewing the Smilies rating question. You were unable to preview or publish a survey if “>>>” or “<<<” characters are in the Invitation Link Text field. Resolved issues in Voice of Customer version 9.0.1113.10: Footer URLs are opened in the same tab as survey. Unable to enter negative value as the answer to the numerical response question. All answer options of a mandatory question are highlighted if an option is not selected by the respondent. The Response column under the Question Responses section in a survey response allows only 100 characters. Resolved issues in Voice of Customer version 9.0.959.8: Feedback entity does not work properly on all locales specified in Dynamics 365. Unable to clone surveys on a French organization. The default count resets to five in a start-rating question even after modification. The unsubscribe link is not visible on the survey. Respondent can skip Single Rating question even though it is marked as mandatory. Translation corrections for few strings in the Japanese language. The error messages are not appropriate in case of a survey exception. The social sharing dialog box is not displayed completely on the survey. You can refer our previous blogs on Voice of Customer for proper understanding of Voice of Customer solution.
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Enable IIS to deploy Web Service
Introduction: In this blog, we will have a look on how IIS can be enabled for Web Service Deployment Steps to be followed: 1) Search for Windows features in your PC. 2) Check the box for Internet Information Services and click OK. A confirmation screen appears. Sometimes there are cases after the above procedure that it does not works. At such times, check all the options in windows features under IIS.
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Identify Users having specific privileges
Introduction: This blog consists of information on how you can find the users having specific privileges and in which role they have the privileges. Solution: Make use of the below Fetch XML to identify who has access to prvReadAccount related to his Role. The fetch can be performed on System User level or for teams. <fetch version=”1.0″ output-format=”xml-platform” mapping=”logical” distinct=”false” > <entity name=”privilege” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”roleprivileges” from=”privilegeid” to=”privilegeid” alias=”pu” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”role” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”rpu” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”systemuserroles” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”sr” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”systemuser” from=”systemuserid” to=”systemuserid” alias=”srr” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”systemuserid” /> <attribute name=”fullname” /> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> <filter type=”and” > <condition attribute=”name” operator=”eq” value=”prvReadAccount” /> </filter> </entity> </fetch> Response: <fetch version=”1.0″ output-format=”xml-platform” mapping=”logical” distinct=”false” > <entity name=”privilege” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”roleprivileges” from=”privilegeid” to=”privilegeid” alias=”pt” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”role” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”rpt” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”teamroles” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”tr” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”team” from=”teamid” to=”teamid” alias=”trr” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”teamid” /> <attribute name=”name” /> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> <filter type=”and” > <condition attribute=”name” operator=”eq” value=”prvReadAccount” /> </filter> </entity> </fetch>