Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 : Examples

8/15/2011 11:36:42 AM

The following examples represent some possibilities for customization or extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM when you don’t need to worry about security outside of your domain.

Example One: Formatting the Phone Number

When entering a phone number into the system, no formatting logic/mask is applied to the entered number. Not having a formatting mask is helpful if you need to enter a phone number and an extension (such as 916-712-5451, ext: 001), but a properly formatted phone number adds to both human and integrated system readability.

Figure 1 shows a standard CRM Account form with a freely entered telephone in the Main Phone field.

Figure 1. Microsoft Dynamics CRM with regular phone entry.

To add formatting to this field, place the following code in the Account form onLoad event. (Be sure the event is enabled.)

phoneFieldValidationFun = function (source)
{
   var oField = source;
    if (!IsNull(oField))
    {
        if(IsNull(oField.DataValue))
        {
            return;
        }

        var sUSPhone = oField.DataValue.replace(/[^0-9]/g, "");

        // Check the length and format as necessary
        switch (sUSPhone.length)
        {
            case "19167125451".length:
               oField.DataValue = "+1 ("+ sUSPhone.substr(1, 3) + ") " + sUSPhone.substr(4, 3) + "-" + sUSPhone.substr(7, 4);
               break;


             case "9167125451".length:
                oField.DataValue = "("+ sUSPhone.substr(0, 3) + ") " + sUSPhone.substr(3, 3) + "-" + sUSPhone.substr(6, 4);
                break;

             case "167125451".length:
                oField.DataValue = "(0"+sUSPhone.substr(0, 2)+") " + sUSPhone.substr(2, 3) + "-" + sUSPhone.substr(5, 4);
                break;

             case "7125451".length:
                oField.DataValue = sUSPhone.substr(0, 3) + "-" + sUSPhone.substr(3,4);
                break;
        }
    }
}

Now place the following code for each phone field (using the onChange event):

phoneFieldValidationFun(event.srcElement);

Applying the preceding code to the onChange event of the fields that need to be formatted with phone numbering will properly format the phone number entry, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Microsoft Dynamics CRM with formatted phone entry.

This example clearly shows how to format data simply and easily on data entry. It would be a trivial matter to apply error handling and formatting for other fields by modifying the example shown.

Example Two: Validating Data Across the CRM Application

It is common to be working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and need to query/validate entered data against another entity’s data. A common example is when a Parent Customer or Primary Contact is selected for the Contact or Account records, but it could be used in a number of situations. Other common scenarios include the following:

Populating data on the account for invoice quantities and/or amounts (if you wanted to use CRM to show total orders/amounts)
Updating subordinate records such as Opportunities, Quote, Orders, or Invoices with information entered on the Account level
Modifying Account data based on case status

This example shows how to check the related Account record of the Contact and validate phone numbers. If they differ, the system prompts the user as to whether the user wants to update the Contact record with the main phone number from the Account.

Place the following code on the Parent Customer field of the Contact entity using the JavaScript onChange event to call an asynchronous event to query the CRM database and update/validate a value based on a user selection:

//Check to see if the parentcustomer is populated
if(crmForm.all.parentcustomerid.DataValue != null)
{
    if(crmForm.all.parentcustomerid.DataValue[0].type == '1')
    {
        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>" +
        "    <RetrieveMultiple
xmlns=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices\">" +
        "      <query xmlns:q1=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2006/Query\"
xsi:type=\"q1:QueryExpression\">" +
                //Query against the account entity
        "        <q1:EntityName>account</q1:EntityName>" +
        "        <q1:ColumnSet xsi:type=\"q1:ColumnSet\">" +
        "          <q1:Attributes>" +
                //Check the telephone1 attribute – this can be modified to
                //check any of the telephone fields that exist
        "            <q1:Attribute>telephone1</q1:Attribute>" +
        "          </q1:Attributes>" +
        "        </q1:ColumnSet>" +
        "        <q1:Distinct>false</q1:Distinct>" +
        "        <q1:Criteria>" +
        "          <q1:FilterOperator>And</q1:FilterOperator>" +
        "          <q1:Conditions>" +
        "            <q1:Condition>" +
        "              <q1:AttributeName>accountid</q1:AttributeName>" +
        "              <q1:Operator>Equal</q1:Operator>" +
        "              <q1:Values>" +
        "                <q1:Value xsi:type=\"xsd:string\">"+
                            crmForm.all.parentcustomerid.DataValue[0].id +
        "               </q1:Value>" +
        "              </q1:Values>" +
        "            </q1:Condition>" +
        "          </q1:Conditions>" +
        "        </q1:Criteria>" +
        "      </query>" +
        "    </RetrieveMultiple>" +
        "  </soap:Body>" +
        "</soap:Envelope>" +
        "";


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


        xmlHttpRequest.Open("POST", "/mscrmservices/2007/CrmService.asmx", false);
        xmlHttpRe-
quest.setRequestHeader("SOAPAction","http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices/RetrieveMultiple");
        xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml; charset=utf-8");
        xmlHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Length", xml.length);
        xmlHttpRequest.send(xml);


        var resultXml = xmlHttpRequest.responseXML;
        //alert(resultXml.xml);


        var accountMainPhone = re
sultXml.selectSingleNode("//BusinessEntity/q1:telephone1");
        if(accountMainPhone != null)
        {
            var contactBusinessPhone = crmForm.all.telephone1;
                //Validate the contact business phone against the account phone
            if(contactBusinessPhone.DataValue != accountMainPhone.text)
            {
               //If not equal then prompt to change it
                if(confirm("Account Main Phone is not equal to Contact Business
Phone. Would you like to change it?"))
                {
                         //User responded affirmatively, so let's update the contact
                         //phone with the account phone information
                    contactBusinessPhone.DataValue = accountMainPhone.text;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Figure 3 shows what happens when you try to set the Parent Customer of a Contact record. The code checks the Business Phone of the Contact against the Main Phone of the Account and prompts for updating of the Contact record.

Figure 3. Microsoft Dynamics CRM with validation across multiple entities.

This example can easily be applied across other entities within the CRM system and is a common request to extend functionality internally.

Example Three: Extending a Form for IFrame Integration

As mentioned previously, there are several considerations when working with IFrames, including the fact that IFrames load asynchronously and are shared across all clients. This example checks whether the user is working offline, and if not, sets the target of the IFrame dynamically.

Note

It is important to note that when working with dynamically created IFrames, parameters are not passed to the new URL automatically and the query string parameters need to be appended before setting the src property.

To follow this example, create a new IFrame on the Contact entity, and set the URL on the IFrame URL equal to about:blank. This will open the IFrame to a blank page by default.

Modify the onLoad event for the form and add the following code:

Var sURLString = "";
        //Validate if the user is offline or not
        if(IsOnline())
        {
        //Check to see if the form is saved or just being created
        switch (crmForm.FormType)
                {
                //Form is being created – we can't pass anything yet
                case 1:
                //Set to our generic intranet site
                sURLString = "http://intranet";
                break;


                //Form is saved and we have data we can grab
                case 2:
                //Set to the intranet site with content specific to the contact
                sURLString = "http://intranet?contact=";
                //encode and add contact information
                sURLString += encodeURIComponent(crmFORM.all.name.DataValue);
                break;
                }
        }
        //User is not online
        else
        {
        //We can leave the URL as about:blank or change it to an
        //internal URL if we want
        }


//Finally set the IFrame URL (be sure to replace <<name>> with the name of
 //your IFrame:
crmForm.all.IFRAME_<<name>>.src = sURLString;