In AX 2012, we had an option Personalize to view the form and form control layout; Form, DataSource and field details; Add and manage form design. In this blog article, we will see how we can find form and form control details in Dynamics 365 for Operations. In this blog we will view the Customer Name – form control details. 1. Go to Accounts Receivable -> All customers -> Right click on the ‘Name’ field. 2. Select Form Information -> Form Name 3. In Form Information go to Administration Fast Tab. You can find all details regarding form control – Customer name.

Problem Statement: In CRM, most organizations generally import products from other Source through Excel or other data import means. In general, we do not want to publish the product as soon as they are created because we need to set the price list and units before they are available anywhere in CRM. If there are many products, CRM does not allow to publish all the products at once. It becomes very painful to publish each and every product. This is unimaginable if the count is in thousands and more. See screenshot below which suggests I cannot see the Publish option if I select more than 2 products in the view: Solution: The best way to tackle this is: Create a Default Product Family (Dummy product family). Add all the products in the Dummy product Family. You can do this while importing products as well by setting the parent product as the Default Product Family. In case you already have a family and hierarchy, you can still follow this approach by setting the parent of root family as the Default Product Family. E.g. If you have products as the following defined hierarchy: Product Family A A1 A2  A3 A31 A32 Product Family B B1 B2 … In this case, you can set the parent of “Product Family A” as Default Product Family Once this is done, you can now import all the products, set up pricing and units as required. This is how your Hierarchy will look like in CRM: When all the products are ready, go to the Default Product Family A On the ribbon, Select Publish –> Publish Hierarchy This will publish all the products in the hierarchy. Since all your products are in the hierarchy of the “Default Product Family”, all the products will be published saving A LOT of Time. TAKE THAT CRM … You CANNOT SLOW US DOWN!!

Introduction: Best way to load data into CRM is excel/CSV.  But some time it happens that few records may not be imported into CRM. One of the error more frequently occurs is “a duplicate lookup reference was found”. Description: If you are importing data using CSV, you will find that this is simplest way of importing data into the CRM. But there are chances that while importing data you may receive error. One of them is “a duplicate lookup reference was found” looking at the error it says that you have more than 1 records with the same name while setting the look up. But if you will try to look for the duplicate record you would not be able to find record. As you can see in the below screen shot. It has two fields with the same display name, so if you will try to import the records in the CRM.  You will encounter the listed error. To resolve reported error, you need make sure that you have unique display name. Hope this blog helps you to import the records while importing the records.

Introduction: In this blog, we shall see how a user can install the ‘LinkedIn Sales Navigator’ on their MS D365 CRM online environment. Pre-Requisites: D365 CRM Online Environment MSDynamics 2016 and 365 Widget Rar File. Procedure: The following are the steps to Install the LinkedIn widget to Microsoft CRM D365 Step1: The user will have to download the zip folder from the following LinkedIn website link. Do not unzip the folder as we need to import the solution as it is to the D365 CRM Environment. For downloading the zip folder use the following link and save the zip folder to a particular folder. https://www.linkedin.com/help/sales-navigator/answer/78963 Click on the zip folder download link as shown in the above image. Step 2: Now the user will have to go D365 CRM and on the ribbon, go to Settings> Solutions as shown below On the solution page select ‘Import’ option Browse for the solution file that we had previously downloaded and click on ‘Open’ then ‘Next’ In the next window the user will get the information of the solution. The user can view the information by clicking on the ‘View solution package details’. Click on Next to proceed ahead. Note: User will have to check the ‘Enable any SDK message processing steps included in the solution’ if it is unchecked and click on the Import option A dialog box will pop up showing progress of the import. Once the importing has finished click ‘Next’. A summary window will display all the imported components, indicating the solution import. Step 3: The last step of the installation process is to assign all users a ‘LinkedIn Configuration’ security role to give them access to the integration. In the All Areas drop down, navigate to Settings > Security and click on Users. Select all the required users to whom you want to provide the LinkedIn widget access and click on ‘Manage Roles’ at the top. A dialog box will pop up as shown below and check ‘LinkedIn Configuration’ and click OK. The user has finished importing and configuring the LinkedIn for Microsoft Dynamics CRM online solution. Conclusion: Thus, we have seen how can a user successfully configure the ‘LinkedIn Sales Navigator’ widget for MS D365 CRM Online Environment.

Introduction: There can be requirements to delete the components from the managed solution. Neither directly deleting the components from managed solution works nor deleting the field from unmanaged solution and migrating as managed solution to target environment works. We can make use of OOB feature of solution management. OOB feature used is Clone the solution. The version of the solution will be upgraded when we clone the solution. Steps: Steps to be followed are given below: Delete the components from your unmanaged solution that are not required or replaced. Make note of Version Number and click on Clone Solution. You can check the Version Number. It is increased by 1 count. Click on Save Version of the unmanaged solution will be changed Export the solution as managed and import on the target environment While importing this solution, make sure that you checked “Stage for Upgrade” When solution import completes, you can see “Apply Solution Upgrade” option. After applying solution upgrade, two difference can be seen in already installed managed solution on target environment. Version changed to 1.1.0.0 The component deleted in unmanaged solution will also be deleted in managed solution Conclusion: Thus, managed components can be deleted using OOB feature.

Introduction: With themes in D365, organizations have the ability to uniquely brand the D365 System with supported way to apply organization’s logo and colour choices to the application. Themes: Themes in D365 can be incorporated in several simple steps, Step 1: Under Settings, select Customizations and then Themes. Step 2: By default, D365 default theme is present in the system. Now If we want to create theme for our organization, select New Theme. D365 default theme can be used as a reference to understand how themes work in D365. Step 3: Once New theme is selected the page layout is as follows: Let’s see how individual field works and what it means. Theme Name: Here user can specify the Theme Name. After a name is specified and record is saved then default values are set. Logo: Sets selected Logo replacing default Dynamics 365 logo. Click “New” in search option of Logo field. Logo Image recommended size is 400px in width and 50px in height also supported image file formats are .gif, .jpg and .png Enter details as required ,upload logo image and publish web resource. Click button in Ribbon “Publish Theme” and below are changes as highlighted. Logo Tooltip: Set Tooltip on Logo as highlighted below: Navigation Bar Color: Set Navigation Bar Color replacing default black Color. Navigation Bar Shelf Color: This field sets Navigation Bar Shelf Color of Navigation Bar Header Color: This setting sets Font Color of Header of Sub Area. Global Link Color: This field sets Color of link record. Selected Link Effect: This field sets Color of Selected Records. Process Control Color: This field changes Business Process Flow Header Color. Default Entity Color: This field sets default Entity Color for all Entities except Custom Entities. Default Custom Entity Color: This field sets default Color for all Custom Entities. Control Shade & Control Border: Above field settings set control border and shade. Step 4: Once theme is completed and we need to publish it by click Ribbon button “Publish Theme”. Note: Publish theme gets applied to all D365 users. Conclusion : Hoping this blog explains how to design theme for client.  

In this blog article, we will see how we can override Form Data source method using Extensions in Dynamics 365 Operations. Now as recommended by Microsoft we must avoid Overlayering and instead use Extension. For extension, we have to use pre or post event handlers methods. In this blog we will create event handler of OnActivated() method of SalesLine DataSource of form SalesTable. Create a new Class: class CFSActivateButton {    } Copy and paste OnActivated() event handler of SalesTable DataSource in Class:   /// <summary> /// To activate or deactivate Create Service Order button based on CFSProjId field of SalesLine /// </summary> /// <param name=”sender”></param> /// <param name=”e”></param> [FormDataSourceEventHandler(formDataSourceStr(SalesTable, SalesLine), FormDataSourceEventType::Activated)] public static void SalesLine_OnActivated(FormDataSource sender, FormDataSourceEventArgs e) {              FormDataSource      fds = sender.formRun().dataSource(“SalesLine”);         SalesLine           salesline = fds.cursor();         FormRun             fr = sender.formRun();         FormControl         fc = fr.design(0).controlName(“CreateServiceOrder”);                if(salesLine.ProjID)         {             fc.enabled(true);         }         else         {             fc.enabled(false);         }     }  

What is XRM toolbox? XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, providing tools to ease customization and configuration tasks. It is shipped with more than 30 plugins to make administration, customization or configuration tasks easier and less time consuming. XRMToolBox is free of cost, but you can donate to support development. In this blog, I will list down the top 5 tools from XRM toolbox for both developers and CRM Administrators. How to Use it? Documentation is available through the wiki of XrmToolBox Github’s repository. You will find information about prerequisites, a list of known existing plugins, help on how to connect to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment, and much much more.. Top Tools of XRM toolbox for Developers. 1.  WebResources Manager Author- MscrmTools Description – Manage your webresources easily. This tool has saved me hours of time for creating, updating and managing the web resources for Dynamics CRM. This is a must have for all the Developers 2.  SiteMap Editor Author – MscrmTools Description – Manage the SiteMap with no XML edition. 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/ paste components from one area to another. You can also update all the sub area details like icon, titles for multiple languages etc. 3.   Ribbon Workbench 2016 Author – Scott Durow Description – Edit the Dynamics CRM Ribbon or Command Bar from inside the XrmToolbox. By installing the Ribbon Workbench you’ll quickly be performing customisations that were previously only possible by time consuming and error-prone manual editing of RibbonDiff Xml. Learn More – https://www.develop1.net/public/rwb/ribbonworkbench.aspx 4.  FetchXML Builder Author – Jonas Rapp Description – The tool will assist in three major areas: Constructing FetchXML in ways that Advanced Find cannot – aggregates – outer joins – “has no”-queries – attributes from multi-level linked entities Querying CRM for information not (easily) found in the CRM UI – system / internal entities – attributes hidden in CRM UI – join on other fields than relationships Developer assistance – Generate C# QueryExpression code from fetch xml – Generate OData query string from fetch xml – Easy to use UI to compose queries for reports in CRM The tool reads metadata from CRM to assist with selecting entities, attributes, relations and to perform validation of condition values. To make it more appealing, there is also the possibility to have it show “Friendly names”, which will replace the technical names of entities and attributes with their display names in the users’ currently selected language, much like Advanced Find does. 5.  Metadata Document Generator Author – MscrmTools Description – A tool to generate excel and word document with entities and attributes information. You’ll no longer have to write “by hand” these awful tables full of metadata information. Top Tools of XRM toolbox for Developers: 1.  Your User Security – Magnified Author – NORRIQ Belgium Description – Provides a detailed overview of a specified System User’s security. Very helpful to identify the exact permission a user has on entity based on all the roles assigned to him 2.  Form related tools Author – MscrmTools Description – Set of tools for XrmToolBox regarding form management4 3.  Solution Components Mover Author – MscrmTools Description – Transfer solution components across solutions. Again a big time saver for moving components from one solution to another. 4.  User Settings and Utility Author – MscrmTools Description – Manage and update All user’s personal settings in Bulk 5.  Attribute Usage Inspector Author – MscrmTools Description – Inspects the usage of attributes per entity. Admins can review which attributes are not used across all entities and which are used most.

In this blog, we shall see how can a user can write a JavaScript Code and where exactly should the user place the code in order to customize the D365 CRM Portal for version 8.0+. Pre-Requisites: D365 CRM Portals D365 CRM Environment Scenario: The user is often confused as to where exactly should he write the Java Script Code to make the following customizations to the CRM Portals Web Page. We will write a simple JavaScript function to disable the fields in this case the user will disable the email and phone number input fields on the on the Contact Us Web Page of D365 CRM Portals as shown below. Fig 1: Image showing disabled email and phone number fields using custom JavaScript Process: Step 1: The user will have to go the CRM Main Menu to Portals> Web Pages and select the respective web page to which the user wants to implement the required changes as shown below. Fig2: Selecting the Web Page Step 2: On opening the Web Page the user will get a section called the Localized content. The user should select the option as shown below. Fig 3: Select the Localized Content Step 3: On selecting the option in the localized Content as shown in the previous step, the user will have to scroll down and expand the Advance tab where the user get two input sections which are ‘Custom JavaScript’ and ‘Custom CSS’ as shown below. The user has to put the custom JavaScript into the ‘Custom JavaScript’ input section. Fig 4: Writing the JavaScript into the ‘Custom JavaScript’ input section of the localized content Step 4: The user can also add the custom JavaScript Code to the front side editor of the Portal using the administrative tool as shown below. Fig 5: Writing the JavaScript Code on the Front End using administrative tool. Conclusion: Thus in this way we can implement a simple custom JavaScript Code to customize the D365 CRM Portal.

In today’s world of more informed and aware customers, the most effective way of meeting the ever-increasing demands of the customers is to go for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sales Process. The process not only gives you a crystal clear understanding of the customer needs but also gives you insights to engage more effectively with them to meet up their expectations.  CloudFront has recently built up a Sales Methodology App for Dynamics 365 Sales for our Partner, Technical Sales Development (TSD). The App bolsters a perceived Sales Methodology which can assist you with expanding income and win-rate by appropriately qualifying and overseeing bargains, creating serious and partner techniques, making a monetarily stable offer, and arranging activities to settle the negotiation.  Introduction: In this blog, we will have a look on how a web service can be call from Plugin in Dynamics CRM. Steps to be followed: 1)     Create an entity “Product Configuration” which consists of 2 fields Key – Name of the Web Service Value – Web Service URL The basic purpose of this entity is to store the Web Service URL so that we don’t hard code the values in the code. Web Service URL- Where WorkOrder -> Controller Name and CreateWorkOrder -> Function Name 2)     Call the below function to call the Web Service. Retrieve Product Configuration function basically retrieves the record from CRM. private void CallWebService(IPluginExecutionContext context, ITracingService tracer, IOrganizationService service) { string licenseResposeJSON = string.Empty; ////// Retrieve Product Configuration details: URL tracer.Trace(“Retrieve Product Configuration details: URL”); string value = string.Empty; value = this.RetrieveProductConfiguration(service); tracer.Trace(“Downloading the target URI from Product Configuration: ” + value); if (value != string.Empty) { try { using (WebClientEx client = new WebClientEx()) { tracer.Trace(“Call Web Service”); client.Timeout = 60000; client.Headers.Add(HttpRequestHeader.ContentType, “application/json”); licenseResposeJSON = client.UploadString(value.ToString(), “1”); } tracer.Trace(licenseResposeJSON); context.OutputParameters[“WebServieCall”] = licenseResposeJSON; tracer.Trace(“Output Parameter is set: ” + licenseResposeJSON); } catch (WebException exception) { string str = string.Empty; if (exception.Response != null) { using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(exception.Response.GetResponseStream())) { str = reader.ReadToEnd(); } exception.Response.Close(); } if (exception.Status == WebExceptionStatus.Timeout) { throw new InvalidPluginExecutionException( “The timeout elapsed while attempting to issue the request.”, exception); } throw new InvalidPluginExecutionException(string.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, “A Web exception occurred while attempting to issue the request. {0}: {1}”, exception.Message, str), exception); } } } public class WebClientEx : WebClient { public int Timeout { get; set; } protected override WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri address) { var request = base.GetWebRequest(address); request.Timeout = Timeout; return request; } } 3)  Web Service which calls Create WorkOrder function is given below: [HttpPost] public async Task CreateWorkOrder([FromBody]string value) { CRM_DataOperations operations = new CRM_DataOperations(); OperationResult result = await Task.Run(() => operations.CreateWorkOrder_Daily()); return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.Created, “Message: ” + Enum.GetName(result.GetType(), result)); } Hope you find this helpful! Thank you.