Introduction Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 introduces new mobility features to enhance and increase the user experience for CRM apps for both Tablet and Mobile. In our today’s blog, we will go over the mobile controls in CRM 2016. Mobile Controls In Dynamics CRM 2016, Microsoft introduced 15 UI controls that can replace standard data entry field for Phone and Tablet. These controls provide more appealing, faster interaction and touch friendly experience for mobile devices. Controls are added on Fields under Form Customizations as show below.   Under Controls Tab, Control added for that particular field and can be enabled for phone, tablet or both. For the control added, user needs to configure the values i.e. specify the minimum, maximum and step value for that field. Calendar Control Instead of traditional list view, User can view their phone calls, appointments and meetings on a calendar. This control can be used on dashboard, entity list view or as sub-grid within another form. This control works with any entity that has date field. For e.g. by default, this control is enabled on Activities Area where activities can be viewed in Day, Week and Month format.   Star Rating Star Rating control can be used to replace numeric value. This control allows easy and effective way that allows to rate on the scale from 0-5.   Arc Knob This control binds the numeric value and allows user to visualize the value in arc format. This arc is configurable in minimum, maximum and step value.   Number Input Number Input control allows to quickly update number, decimal and currency fields. The value can be easily incremented and decremented with use of Plus (+) and Minus Sign (-).   Radial Knob Radial Knob allows to show numeric values with a circular presentation. So by clicking and dragging the control clockwise the value can be incremented and with anticlockwise value can be decremented based on the step configured.   Linear Gauge Linear Gauge is another control for displaying number and currency field in a linear manner. Here user can add value by simply sliding to right to increment and left to decrement the value. This control is again configurable with minimum, maximum and step value.   Linear Slider Linear slider is exactly similar to Linear Gauge control that was mentioned above but the only difference is in visual appearance. Similarly, even this control is configurable with minimum, maximum and step value.   Bullet Graph Bullet Graph is another control that works with number fields but in more attractive manner. This control is configurable with minimum, maximum value also in addition user can add up to good and bad values. This control adds shading to target value i.e. shading defines the range of good and bad area. So for e.g. if we have Probability field with min value as 1, max value as 100, good value as 90 and bad value as 50, user can see the value as represented below.   Option Set As the name suggests, this control is used with Option set fields. This control provides tabs in horizontal line with available options. So here user can simply tap on the tab and select the option set value. This control is best used for smaller number of options, where the length of the text in those values is short and easily fit in single line.   Flip Switch Flip Switch can be used on field with Two options as their datatype. So instead of check boxes and radio buttons this control adds a visual effect of ‘On-Off’ Switch manner.   Input Mask Input Mask control works with fields of data type Single Line of Text. This control helps users to fit in data with format that is specified well in before. So for e.g. For Phone number field, if user wants to have number with parenthesis and dashes then user can mask the value well in advance.   Auto Complete Auto Complete control is another control that works with fields of data type Single Line of Text. This control value bounds to option set or to entity’s view. So when user enters data it provides quick way of entering data from the source that is provided thereby enhancing the speed.   Pen Control Pen Control is way to use touch feature of mobiles or tablets. This control enables users to capture the value in form of free from drawings, signatures or text. This control is available on fields with data type as Multiple Line of Text.   Website Preview As the name suggests, website preview control provides the glimpse of web URL that is specified in the field. This control works on field with data type as single line of text URL. Note: This control is only available on CRM Online Organizations   Multimedia Control Lastly the final control i.e. the Multimedia Control, this allows users to play the multimedia files directly within the application. This control works with field of data type Single line of Text in URL format. Note: No controls can be added on fields with data type as Lookup or Date and Time. Conclusion Thus with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, these were the 15 new mobile UI controls that can be enabled for both Mobile and Tablet with seamless user interaction.  

Introduction In CRM, an account or a contact can have more than 1 address out of which primary address is shown on Account/Contact form in address fields. This blog explains how can we set any other address as a primary address and show on the form. Requirement: An account can have more than 1 address which are shown under more addresses tab of an account record. The Primary Address is always shown on Account form and it is not shown under More Addresses section. User has customized address entity and added a checkbox field on Address form to decide whether the address is primary address or not. Now when user sets this field as True, the address should become primary address on account/contact form and existing primary address should be shown under more addresses section. How addresses are stored in CRM? Addresses in CRM are stored in Address entity. Address entity has unique identifier field as Address Number for each of the parent record i.e. either Account or contact. Whenever an account or contact is created in CRM, by default 2 address records are created in Address entity for the respective account or contact record. Address Number of the primary address is always set as 1. For one account or contact, address number field cannot contain duplicate values. Solution to the requirement As primary address is identified with the help of Address Number field, i.e. when Address Number is set as 1, it becomes primary address. Hence, when user sets the checkbox to YES, we just have to change the address number field to 1 to make that address as a primary address. On main form of account or contact, details of address will be shown where account number is 1. Catch in the solution: As already said above, for one account or contact, address number field cannot contain duplicate values, hence if we directly try to set address number field to 1, it will throw an error saying duplicate record found. Below is the solution to this problem. Deploy a plugin on update of ‘Is Primary’ field on Address entity We will see the solution with the help of below example:   Assume we have A. Datum account with 5 addresses. Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 1 YES   2     3     4     5   Now, User updates ‘Is Primary’ Field of Address 5 as YES. Below is the data update done by User. Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 1 YES   2     3     4     5 YES Below data operations should be performed in Plugin. Step 1: Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 1 YES   2     3     4     0 YES Step 2: Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 5 NO   2     3     4     0 YES Step 3: Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 5 NO   2     3     4     1 YES  

Prerequisite: Power BI Online report and a sample HTML webpage Purpose of the Setup: Purpose of this setup is to embed interactive Power BI visualizations in your blog or website and share the stunning visuals through your emails or social media communications and reach millions of users on any device, any place, for an engaging experience. Find the steps given below for publishing Power BI reports into your webpage or blog. Step 1: Create a dummy webpage with some content, as shown below so that we can go to iframe page.   Step 2: Now, let’s move on to the Power BI Online Service account part. Firstly, open your Power BI Online Account and select the report to be published. Once you select the report, you click on File menu there you will find a new option as Publish to Web. Select the option to proceed further.   Step 3: Now, it will show option to Create embed code, click on that and then it will display a warning with Publish option. Click on Publish.     Step 4: Then you will get a Success message! The message window will show 2 options i.e. Link you can send in email and Html you can paste into your blog or website.   Thus, Power BI has automatically created the link and embed code which can be used to get the dashboard in our webpage. We get different pixel size option also. You can use the link to share with others or you can paste the html code generated here into your blog or website. Step 5: Now, we can paste the embed code into the webpage html code. We have given sample code below: <! DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> </head> <body> <iframe width=”800″ height=”600″ src=”https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZjAzYTNjYzQtNjI1ZC00NTA2LWEyYjQtZjM3YWQ2OGNlYzBiIiwidCI6IjI2YzRiMmU0LWVjMDctNGM3Yi05MmU1LTk3ZjUyODY1ZTk4YiIsImMiOjEwfQ%3D%3D” frameborder=”0″></iframe> </body> </html> Step 6: Now, with this code, when we click on the Power BI Demo button “Demo Registration” on the webpage created initially we will get the report directly on the our webpage.   This is the final output that we get. Thus, we have published Power BI report to our webpage. Now, we can view the code and link again through setting icon and clicking on Manage embed codes. We can also delete the report published. To view the code: Setting -> Manage embed codes -> Right click on ellipses against the report -> Get Code   </>Get Code will again display the link and embed code.   And Delete option will confirm the deleting action and the delete the embed code for the particular report.  

Prerequisite: Microsoft Excel, Power BI Online Service, Power BI Publisher for Excel Power BI Publisher for Excel: With the help of introduction to Power BI publisher for Excel, we can now easily share key Excel insights directly to Power BI online. Using this feature PivotTables, charts, cell range from Excel sheet can be easily shared across different location to a single location in Power BI Dashboard. Note: Power BI publisher for Excel is still in preview mode. To download the Power BI publisher for Excel, click here. Once downloaded and installed, following screen will be shown when you open Excel:   You can then click on Sign up and start using the publisher as shown in screenshot below:   Login to Power BI using your account   You can find the publisher installed on top ribbon under Power BI tab as shown below:   Steps for sharing Excel data to Power BI online dashboards: Step 1: Select desired data from the Excel spreadsheet and click the Pin button on the Power BI ribbon above.   Step 2: When you clicked on Pin, you will be prompted whether to pin to an existing dashboard or create a new dashboard and then pin. You can also view the preview at the right side to see how this will look.   Step 3: Once you log in to your Power BI Online account, you will be able to see the pinned Excel data in Power BI Dashboard.   Step 4: You can also manage tiles that have been already pinned using Pin Manager on top of the ribbon as shown below.   Using Pin Manager, you can update tile data for which you have already pinned to dashboard or also you can remove the tile pinned on Power BI dashboard.  

As developer, we work on different legal entities to customize data. Generally, DAT is the default entity in AX 7 but we wonder how to use data of other legal entity. In this article, we will tell you how to open Table in Table browser in Visual Studio with different legal entity (USMF) by modifying settings from Dynamics AX Online. Go to System Administration > Users > Users in Dynamics AX Online.   Select the user for which you want to change the Company Id and click Edit.   In the Company column change the Company Id to USMF.   In Visual Studio open the table browser. Table will open with data of selected company that is USMF.   So, this is how we can open Table in Table Browser in Visual Studio with different legal entity. Let us know your reviews. We will soon come with more articles, as we further explore AX 7.

Introduction This blog would help to understand how to create a case from an email in the queue in Interactive Service Hub, CRM 2016. Here the User need not need to create a case Manually for the issue reported in the Email coming in Queue.   Ever since using the Interactive Service Hub from the beginning there was a question whether an email can be converted to Case or not? If you open the email in the Service queue, there appears to be no option for converting it to case. Finally, we have found a way wherein you can convert an email to case. Let’s have a look how to do so.   Description Steps that we need to follow are shown below. Below snapshot shows all items (emails) in Support Queue.   Open the email item.   Click on Reply or Reply all.   Once we click on Reply, Click on More-> Convert TO -> Case.   Enter the Customer Name and Subject to create a new case.   Finally the case is created. Enter the mandatory details and save it.   Conclusion Finally, we can conclude that the conversion of an email to case in the Interactive Service Hub, CRM 2016 is possible.  

Introduction This Blog post tells users about one of the Mobile features in CRM 2016. Task Based Experience enables users to focus on tasks and not on records. So data from multiple entities are brought together as a single user experience. Here user do not have to navigate on multiple entities for performing a single task. Pre-Requisites Under System Settings first user will have to enable this feature. Functionality So, by default users can perform three basic tasks: After Meeting Make Contact on Opportunity Update Contact Whereas if user wants some customized Business Process Flow to be enabled as Task on Mobiles, that can be done by using Task Based Experience feature in CRM 2016. On Mobiles this feature can be used by icon which is present on bottom left hand side as shown below. Let’s see how the default tasks can be used on mobile. 1. After Meeting After Meeting enables users to edit the list of existing appointments or to create a new appointment. For an example the below screenshots shows how to update the existing appointment. 2. Make Contact on Opportunity As the name suggests, this task enable users to update the contact details on existing opportunity list or to create a new opportunity and then add contact details on the newly created opportunity. So, in the screenshot given below, user can update the contact details on the opportunity that was selected. 3. Update Contact Update Contact enable users to edit the contact details that are listed or to simply create a new contact record. Example: Here user can select a contact record and simply update the record. Whereas if a user wants to have a separate Task to be enabled for mobile that can be done by creating a Business Process Flow in CRM 2016. So let’s say if we want to create a Task for ‘Service Case’ on Case Entity.   Step 1: Under Processes, create Business Process Flow.   Step 2: Add Label, Source and Field Values. Once the Process is ready, save and activate the process.   Step 3: User when clicks on icon, here they can see one new task ‘Service Case’ apart from the default tasks that were mentioned earlier.   Step 4: Now user can create a case from the enabled process on Case Entity.   Note: Task based experiences will be available on phones and tablets as a preview feature for Dynamics CRM Online 2016 customers Conclusion So with task based experience feature in CRM 2016, user can perform tasks from one single point instead of navigating to multiple entities.

In this article, we will review the new and improved out-of-the-box capabilities to generate documents that contain data from CRM records. Users can now create Word and Excel templates for letters, agreements, quotes, invoices and other, in just a single click! Out of the box Templates Out of the box, here are the templates Microsoft includes with the CRM 2016 release Figure 1.0 1   To run the Template you’ll first need to select the appropriate record. For the Account Summary Template, select an Account record and select it from the Action menu. As shown in Figure 2.0 1. Figure 2.0 1   Account (Cloudfronts Technologies LLP) Summary template is generated. Figure 3.0 1   Open the Account Summary.docx file. Figure 4.0 1   Create a new Excel Template Go to Settings – Templates – Document Templates. Click on +New to launch the wizard. Here you can select either Excel or Word templates, the entity and the View. The Edit Columns link provides users a quick way to add columns to the template similar to that of an Advance Find. CRM knows where to display the template file based on the entity selection. If you already have a template, choose Upload, otherwise choose Download to see what CRM created as the Template based on your field selections. Figure 5.0 1   To upload a file we need to just drag & drop in the box and click the upload button Figure 6.0 1   Once the upload is complete, the template record is displayed. Figure 7.0 1   Once you have selected the Template, you also have the ability to set the security roles and control. Figure 8.0 1   Create a Word Template Go to Settings – Templates – Document Templates and click +New. Choose the Word Template, select the entity and press Select Entity button. Figure 9.0 1   A wizard form opens to provide options in navigating across various entities depending on the relationship types. Figure 10.0 1   The relationships you select on this screen determine what entities and fields are available later when you define the Word template. Only select relationships you need to add CRM data to the Word template. Click Download Template on the Select Entity page to create a Word file on your local computer with the exported entity included as XML data.   Enable the Developer Tab Open the Word template file. At this point, the document appears to be blank. Figure 11.0 1   For To see and add CRM XML data, you need to enable the Word Developer tab. Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon, and then enable Developer. Figure 12.0 1   Developer now appears in the Word ribbon. Figure 13.0 1   You use the XML Mapping Pane to add CRM entity fields to your Word template. Be sure to only add fields as Plain Text or Picture. Figure 14.0 1   Define the Word template Use the XML Mapping Pane to define the Word template with CRM entity fields. In your Word template, click Developer > XML Mapping Pane Figure 15.0 1   The default XML schema is selected. Select the CRM XML schema. It will begin with “urn:microsoft-crm/document-template/”. Figure 16.0 1   Expand the CRM entity, right-click the entity field, and then clickInsert Content Control > Plain Text. Figure 17.0 1   The CRM entity field is added to the Word template. Add additional entity fields, add descriptive labels and text, and format the document. A completed template might look like this: Figure 18.0 1   Some content control fields you entered likely have multiple lines of data. For example, accounts have more than one contact. To include all the data in your Word template, set the content control field to repeat. Set content control fields to repeat Put fields with repeating data in a table row. Select the entire table row in the template. In the XML Mapping Pane, right-click the relationship containing the content control fields, and then click. Figure 19.0 1   When you use the Word template in CRM to create a document, the table will populate with multiple rows of data. When the template has the fields and formatting you want, save it and upload it into CRM.   Upload the Word template back into CRM When you have your Word template built the way you want, save it so you can upload it into CRM. To use the Word template you’ve created, do the following: Open a record with information you want to create a document. For example, open a customer account record in Sales. ClickMore (…) > Word Templates, and then under Word Templates select the template you created.   Once generated, documents can be downloaded and then printed, shared, emailed or collaborated on with Microsoft Office 365  

Prerequisite: Power BI Desktop Tool and knowledge on DAX functions Purpose of the Setup: To learn how we can leverage DAX functions to create complex Power BI reports. Here we will be looking at different DAX functions for the below mentioned reports in Power BI; Calculate and compare Sales Figure by Day Calculate and compare Sales Figure by Date Calculate and compare Sales Running Total Source File Details: To demonstrate this concept, we have created an excel file with dummy data and connected it to Power BI Desktop Tool. In the Excel source file, we have created few sheets along with sample data as shown below: Fig: Modified Sales

Introduction With the release of Web API, Dynamics CRM now allows developers to build robust solutions and integrations using modern REST APIs consumed through OData. While working on a CRM customization by leveraging the Web API, we found an issue that causes the API to stop working when we use the Alternate Key with the same name as the schema name of a field. This only applies to custom entities. In the section below we have defined the issue and a workaround. Description Recently we were working on a requirement using the CRM web API but we were not able to access the web API using the entity endpoint. When calling the endpoint from the browser, instead of displaying the metadata result in the browser, it generates an error. It simply says that the ‘Object reference not set to an instance of an object’ (we love this error!). This typically happens when during coding we forget to initialize the object. So getting this particular error when calling our endpoint, we were confused. Microsoft has now confirmed that this is a known issue and they will resolve it soon. But for now, the only fix is to delete the key and publish the customization. So we removed the alternate key and generated a new one. This got the endpoint working again! We were not able to understand how an alternate key will stop the web API from working. They ask use to delete the alternate key from the system which we had created recently. As soon as we deleted the key and published the customization we found that the WEB API working. Example: The below screen shots confirm the issue. Step 1: Browse to the Web API endpoint. You can see that it works.   Step 2: Define Alternate Key – to replicate the issue we created a field and an alternate key with the same name-   Step 3: Browse to the same endpoint – Now when trying to browse to the same endpoint we get the below error- Conclusion So there is a known issue when using Web API and Alternate Key for custom entities. Currently there is no resolution to this issue but to delete the alternate key and have a unique name which does not match with name field ‘s schema name.   Hope you found this useful!