Monday 22 August 2011

Toggle Navigation element's visibility programmatically, for all relationship types.

Hello "The Internet"

In day to day working with Dynamics CRM 2011, an issue you may come across when customizing an entity is controlling the navigation pane items programmatically.  With Dynamics CRM Version 2011, It’s much more straightforward to add and remove the navigation pane objects, by using the form customisation screen, a feature not available in version 4.0 where a sitemap edit was required to remove these elements.

This works great and fits most requirements, but I want my navigation pane to be "dynamic", to show only relevant links, which are based on the form context. In this example, I will assume I have loaded a Contact record, and my navigation bar will need to hide or reveal the related entities depending on the contact type (optionset).

For the purposes of this post, I wont be giving a walkthrough on how to register form events, I'll be focusing on functionality only.  If you want an end to end demo, feel free to leave a comment :).

A standard approach to this is to use the following syntax
  Xrm.Page.ui.navigation.items.get()
passing the Nav bar element ID,  and controlling it’s display style like so...

//Ensure navitem is "quoted" to represent string
// bool: true = Visible, false = removed
function showNavItem(navitem, bool) 
{
var objNavItem = Xrm.Page.ui.navigation.items.get(navitem);
objNavItem.setVisible(bool);
}

Using this approach, you can build up your business logic to hide or reveal the elements based on the contact type as follows.

function controlNavElements() 
{
    //this returns the numeric value of the optionset
    var contactType = Xrm.Page.getControl("customertypecode").getAttribute().getValue();

    if (contactType == 100000000)
    // Contact type A
    {
        //Display nav element 1 and Hide Nav element 2
        showNavElement(navelement1, true);
        showNavElement(navelement2, false);
    }
 else if (contactType == 100000001)
    // Contact type B
    {
        //Hide nav element 1 and display Nav element 2
        showNavElement(navelement1, false);
        showNavElement(navelement2, true);
    }
 else
    // Neither type A or B
    {
        //Hide both Nav elements
        showNavElement(navelement1, false);
        showNavElement(navelement2, false);
    }
}

Controlling Navigation Items, where the entity is related by (N:N) many-to-many.


The example above will work jsut fine when hiding Navigation pane elements, where the entity has a parental relationship. (eg, A contact’s relationship to it’s activites). In instances such as these, The Element ID of the Navigation pane object does not change, and your script will work with any contact you have open.

N:N relationships are different!


If you use the IE developer tools (F12), and use the “select element by click” tool, when selecting a Navigation element to an N:N related entity, you’ll see something like this as the ID value.


navnew_contact_otherentity{5e62a1bb-c3cd-497e-aea1-d23dc85dd623}


The ID, is suffixed with a guid, which is the ID of the open record. This is how Dynamics displays the related entities when you click the Navigation Item.

With that in mind, my previous display functions are useless for N:N, as the ID itself will be different for every contact record that is open. What you’ll need, is a function that ignores the GUID part of the N:N element, but unfortunately there no “out of box” function I’m aware of that does this.

So here it is…

My work-around is to loop through all Navigation pane elements, each time checking for the prefix of the element ID (which remains constant) if a match is found, it will update its display properties.  This allows you to use the following function, irrespective of the relationship type.

/***********************************************************************************
navElementDisplay

## Param 1:  navElementID ##
For standard N:1 relationships, pass the ID in it's entirety, for N:N relationships
pass the ID up to the opening brace containing the guid.

## Param 2: displayRule ##
"inline" = Displayed
"none" = Hidden

***********************************************************************************/
function navElementDisplay(navElementID, displayRule) 
{
    var navElement;
    var navElementArray = Xrm.Page.ui.navigation.elements.get();
    
    var i = 0;
    for (i = 0; i < navElementArray.length; i++) 
    {
        elementId = navElementArray[i].$K_0; //element ID Tag
        if (elementId.indexOf(navElementID) != -1) //indexOf fuction returns -1 if not found 
        {
            //If found, step in and get element, using current ID
            navElement = document.getElementById(elementId); 
        }
    }
    //exit loop, Update display rule
    navElement.style.display = displayRule;
}



And invoke it like so...

if(contactType == 100000000)
{
	navElementDisplay(navelement1, "inline");
    	navElementDisplay(navelement2, "none");
}

Hope this helps

Craig

Tuesday 14 June 2011

CRM 2011: Get parent window attribute data, when opening from grid view.


Good day, fine people of the Internet.

A request was handed to me in my day to day work, which required some custom JavaScript work. Essentially, the requirement was for an onLoad event attached to a custom entity, this event must query the parent entity it was opened from, and depending on the result returned, sets the values of various fields on the form.

My custom entity has a relationship of N:1 with contact, however depending on the contact type (customer, supplier etc.) my custom entity will behave differently.

Through various research methods (Google) it seems the standard way to query an attribute on a parent window is to use..

window.parent.opener.Xrm.Page.getAttribute("Attribute_Name")
And to get the attribute’s value / data
window.parent.opener.Xrm.Page.getAttribute("Attribute_Name").getValue();

Great, Job done!!… errr…Not quite.

This scenario is ONLY suitable, when creating my new entity record from the navigation bar link, and hitting new.

For my scenario, I have a grid view on the contact entity, which lists the custom entity records. From here, I can click the grid, and add new record via the ribbon.
lo and behold, my page threw a tantrum along with an error.

After some debugging and a few moments rocking in the corner, I discovered the problem/solution

The problem:
window.parent.opener.Xrm.Page.getAttribute("Attribute_Name") Will not work when launching the entity from a grid view, because you cannot call the getAttribute method! ... WHY?
Because this a "short-cut" to the method used in standard form control, which does not exist when you open a record from a grid.

The solution:
Use this…

window.parent.opener.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get("Attribute_Name");
And to get the attribute’s value / data
window.parent.opener.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get("Attribute_Name").getValue();   

NOTE:
If you have a scenario where your record can be opened from both a grid AND the navigation area, this new method will not work for both, It’s only for grid launches.

My overall solution is to use both methods in my events, with a try/catch surrounding them.
Then, my remaining logic begins on whichever is successful.

Hope this helps you..
Craig Hamer

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Dynamics CRM 2011 SDK

Hello Internet..

Microsoft have released their latest SDK for Dynamics CRM 2011.
Its brand new, so haven't had a good play yet..


I'm looking forward to using a new visual studio extension which supports JScript IntelliSense. This will help speed up the writing of  my cheeky form controlling codes

Download here

Monday 21 March 2011

So what happened was....

Hello Internet.

I've not posted in quite some time, but I promise not to be another failed Blogger, so here's a quick update.  I've been out of action for the last few weeks due to injury/Epic fail. 



Inspired by a short-cut provided by phone's GPS software, I managed chose a walking route which led me to a bit of a fall that resulted in having both ankles broken. I'll use this as opportunity to sate the obvious and let you know it hurt quite a lot.


The result of the injury had taken me away from lots of my day to day duties, In particular Dynamics CRM work.  So I'm afraid I've not had much to blog about in recent weeks. 


I'm sure to back into the swing of things very soon, and have plenty to share. I'll shortly begin working on a xRM solution with Dynamics CRM 2011 so any fun interesting finds, tricks or tips will be shared.

All the Best

Craig Hamer


Tuesday 25 January 2011

Dynamics CRM 4 - Basic HTML Source code editor

Good day!

Here's a quick and easy fix for anyone who's struggled with using HTML with Dynamics CRM emails. 


This was born of my need to update the source code of the email body via JavaScript in order to achieve my "Insert email signature" Button.  I was digging around with the Email entity in IE8 Dev tools, and uncovered a potential holy grail of mouthwatering CRM deliciousness..........The  "InnerHTML".



How lovely this was.


Upon completion of the Button, I then realised that if you could write to this InnerHTML via JavaScript, you could surely pass in an existing email's 'source code' into a text area, tweak as required and put it back where it belongs.
And better still, Create a tasty Web based mail with full images, styles and tables using any web content tool and replace the existing mails "InnerHTML" with your source code.

And you know what? It works! - So here's my quick step by step instruction on how to get yourself a new Section of the CRM email entity to edit the source code of your CRM emails.



1) Navigate through  Settings-->Customize Entities-->Email.


2) Under Attributes, click NEW.


3) Create an attribute of type: nText, Display name =  HTML, maximum length =  50000




(the Name should auto-resolve to new_html, if your organisation used an alternate prefix, please note it down for coding later)


4) Save and close.

5) Under Forms and Views, select the main application form.


6) Under common tasks, click add a tab, name it "HTML" or "Source Code" etc.

7) Add a section, and add your  recently created attribute new_html.



8) Change the properties of the attribute, and expand the area to fill the page. (see right)








Now for the 10000 pages of code...


9) Under form properties, paster the following into the OnLoad event and Enable the event, save and close

//Copy existing Inner HTML and replicates as editable test in New HTML Tab


crmForm.all.new_html.DataValue = document.all['descriptionIFrame'].contentWindow.document.body.innerHTML


10) Double click the description attribute, Select the event tab and paste the same code above into the OnChange - enable the event.
11) Navigate to your new tab on the main form, and double click you nText attribute to open it's properties

12) Paste the following code under the OnChange of the new_html attribute, enable the event.


 //Takes the changes made to the new HTLM tab and applies to the CRM Email Body


document.all['descriptionIFrame'].contentWindow.document.body.innerHTML = crmForm.all.new_html.DataValue

13)  PUBLISH YOUR CHANGES


Now when you open a new email, you will have an an additional tab to control the HTLM content of your emails, this of course opens many doors to some bespoke formatting that cannot be done with the out of box features.







Ps! - If you're playing with images, make sure you use absolute references to hosted files. otherwise, the email that appears in your preview may trick you to thinking that the recipient will also see the images, and they wont.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Javascript Button Making, with Style!

First Blog ever, HIGH FIVE!


Working with Dynamics CRM, you’ll inevitably need to add bespoke controls to custom or system entities in order to manipulate the data contained on a form. Here’s a example of one custom button I use which has a function of Inserting a generic signature once clicked.



Being fairly new to JavaScript, my initial attempts to add functionality like this to CRM 4 was somewhat ... "sickening" 
but after numerous attempts using what I've found on the CRM community forums, I've think I’ve now got the most efficient combination of the code so far, but more importantly, they now look like REAL buttons. 

Here’s my most recent method and coding for this.

First the basics



* Create a new attribute of type nvarchar (named Button1 to use in the code below)
* Add the field to your form wherever you want the button to be located.


The Code below can paste directly into the Form’s OnLoad event (making sure to tick “Event is enabled”) This converts the attribute to a functioning button. Rather than use a standard "light blue" background this variation ensures that it is styled in such a way that fits the rest of Dynamics CRM 4's UI.


I'm still new to Javascript, so forgive me if some of my habits aren't common place


The first section of script is the "ButtonScript" function will transform the nvarchar attribute to a Stylish CRM button with pretty gradients. Of course, you can update fields such as FontSize, FontFamily etc. however I find this combination gives best results.


The final few lines of "buttonScript" attach the preceeding events required for the nvarchar attribute to perform as a button (otherwise you'll get a pretty, yet useless, rectangle)



function buttonstyle(fieldname, buttontext, buttonwidth,clickevent)
            {
            functiontocall=clickevent;
            crmForm.all[fieldname].DataValue = buttontext;
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.borderRight="#3366cc 1px solid";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.paddingRight="5px";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.borderTop="#3366cc 1px solid";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.paddingLeft="5px";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.fontSize="11px";
 //This is the important line below - it gives you the smooth gradient (rather than a blue button with no class)
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.backgroundImage="url(/_imgs/btn_rest.gif)";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.borderLeft="#3366cc 1px solid";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.width=buttonwidth;
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.cursor="pointer";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.lineHeight="18px";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.borderBottom="#3366cc 1px solid";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.backgroundRepeat="repeat-x";      
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.fontFamily="Tahoma";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.height="20px";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.backgroundColor="#cee7ff";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.textAlign="center";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].style.overflow="hidden";
            crmForm.all[fieldname].attachEvent("onmousedown",push_button);
            crmForm.all[fieldname].attachEvent("onmouseup",release_button);
            crmForm.all[fieldname].attachEvent("onclick",functiontocall);
            crmForm.all[fieldname].attachEvent("onmouseover",over_button);
            crmForm.all[fieldname].attachEvent("onmouseleave",off_button);
            }
           
//Allignment Shift on Click, gives 3D effect        
//ON
function push_button()
            {
            window.event.srcElement.style.marginLeft="1px";
            window.event.srcElement.style.marginTop="1px";
            }
//OFF
function release_button()
            {
            window.event.srcElement.style.marginLeft="0px";
            window.event.srcElement.style.marginTop="0px";
            }
//Mouse over effect, changes image.
//ON
function over_button()
            {
            window.event.srcElement.style.backgroundImage="url(/_imgs/btn_on_lookup.gif')";
            }
//OFF
function off_button()
            {
            window.event.srcElement.style.backgroundImage="url(/_imgs/btn_rest.gif)";
            }

           
//Give the button something to do - e.g Alert something
function button1press() 
            {
            alert('You have Pushed my button');
            }

// Apply to Attribute
buttonstyle('button1','My buttons text','120px',Button1press);



In addition, If you're adding more buttons in the future, it's a simple matter of creating and publishing the new field like before, but now all you need to do is add your extra functions ie, 


function button2press() {'Do something'}
function butto3press() {'Do something else'}
...


and call the same "ButtonStyle"  function to each, ie


buttonstyle('button2','My Second button text','120px',Button2press);
buttonstyle('button3','My Third button text','120px',Button3press);


your buttons will maintain consistency, which makes the UI easier to work with once you start adding more and more. Also, Any updates to the main styling will apply to all buttons on the form (Very handy when it comes to tweaking your work!)


All Comments welcome, but be nice! I'm new to this.
Craig Hamer