East Ocean - Technical Tips

My CRM book review [Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 New Features]

2012-02-10T01:15:00.000+08:00

I was contacted by an online book shop “Packt Publishing” to review one of the CRM book by Jim Wang and Darren Liu. Both of them are well known CRM MVP in the field. I hope that in future will have chance to meet them up.

Back to the book review, I would say this book is more suitable for those technical people who deal with MSCRM customization as well as extending CRM. I like the way how they used simple English and the “Note” section that display extra tips for readers’ reference. In term of the book contents, I was a bit surprise because it actually included the environment setup chapter which is missing on many CRM book. :) Reading the experience by experts is the fastest way to pick up.

The chapter - Extending CRM 2011 in the Cloud di provide summary information for readers to have a quick start on the Cloud requirement. The chapter arrangement is OK and rich, but I prefer it can include a chapter for CRM2011 troubleshooting technique. Another hot topic that missing is the claim base configuration. Overall for me, USD35.99 for almost 300 pages print book is definitely worth it.

Book Contents preview:

1. Setting Up the Development Workspace
This chapter provides the information about the development tools, system requirement as well as step by step guide on how to setup a CRM2011 VM.

2. System Design and Configuration

Interesting topic arrangement where they use a project to explain the CRM2011 customization part (Entity,Form,View,Relationship)

3. Data Import

Provides the information and option for data import with real life business example.

4. Client site programming

Information regarding the XRM.Page namespace, SOAP and REST endpoints programming.

5. Server side programming

Provides information on the CRM assemblies, plugin development and Process.

6. SharePoint Integration

Show case on SharePoint integration with CRM2011.

7. Charts and Dashboard

Information on CRM charts dashboard and filters.

8. Extending CRM2011 in the Cloud

Information on the Azure,Email router and the CRM2011 Portal solutions.

9. Sitemap and ribbon customization

Guide on working with sitemap, ribbon etc.

10. Packing it up

Explain on the new concept of CRM2011, Solution. Managed and Unmanaged solution tips.

Book review: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 New Features

2012-01-27T11:53:00.000+08:00

Received this book "Microsoft Dynamics CRM2011 New Features" last 2 weeks. Wrote by 2 CRM MVPs Jim Wang & Darren Liu to provide readers all in one type of resource to pickup CRM2011...
Stay tuned for my upcoming review of this book, half way through already~ :-)

[updated]
Book review post

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-25T10:26:00.000+08:00

Took one week leave for Chinese New Year celebration...
Wishing everyone a happy dragon year...Gong Xi Fa Cai !
龙年行大运！

CRM 2011 SDK 5.0.9

2012-01-17T19:33:00.000+08:00

We can download the latest CRM 2011 sdk v5.0.9 now!
Release on 17/Jan, cheers

Update Rollup 6 for CRM 2011

2012-01-16T23:01:00.000+08:00

Official available on 12 January 2012 for download now.

KB : 2600640

Download HERE

You must have Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 build 5.0.9688.583 installed to apply this update rollup.
You cannot remove Update Rollup 6. Specific database updates are applied in Update Rollup 6 that will not let you uninstall Update Rollup 6. You should back up your databases before you install this update.
contains the Dynamics CRM Q4 Service Update features
is a cumulative update rollup that includes all the fixes

The full install packages (slipstreams) for version 5.0.9689.1985, were re-released. This was the install packages that included Update Rollup 6. Due to this re-release the old install packages are no longer valid for future Update Rollups. [updated 21/Jan]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2668504

cheers

MSCRM2011 integration with Windows Azure (AppFabric) - Part 1

2012-01-01T01:59:00.000+08:00

As Microsoft steps into the Cloud service with CRM 2011, Windows Azure platform AppFabric Service Bus provides an end-to-end solution option for us to integrate with CRM 2011 Online. It enable the data that has been processed as part of the current MSCRM operation to posted to the bus. Futher more, it provides a secure channel for communicating CRM run time data to external cloud applications. This is useful in keeping CRM systems and others data source synchronized.

Diagram below shows the how the AppFabric serve as a middle man:

Service bus messages are received at an endpoint using: (Detail explanation can be found on the SDK)

Queued
One-way
Two-way
REST

After a long summary on what AppFabric can do, lets see how to configure it. In this part 1 section, I will used CRM 2011 Online + Azure AppFabric as an example with step by step screen explanation:

Note: Microsoft Windows Azure upgraded ACS to version 2 on April 2011, for compatible checking, read the detail in this article.

First of all, we need to have CRM2011 account, Windows Azure account and CMR2011 Plugin registration tool... (You can also signup for free trial 30 days for CRM2011 & 3 months Windows Azure platform free trial, refer my previous post)

Step 1: Open the CRM 2011 Online in browser,navigate to the Developer resources screen from setting tab. Download the Certificate file and remember your Issuer Name. [We need to use this value in later stage!]

Step 2: Login to your Windows Azure Platform portal. change to Service bus, access control and caching page. Click the new ribbon button on top to create a new subscription service bus. [CRM will connect to this bus later]

Step 3: System will prompt you for namespace value, region and service you want to create. [Namespace must be unique, you can use the check button to verify. In my case, I used "EastOceanDevelopmentBox"]

Step 4: Wait few minutes for the Azure platform to create your service, you will see the status turn to Active. On the right hand site of the portal, from the properties section, notice that the ACS version is version 2, and there is a default key you will need to refer during the plugin registration stage for service endpoint.

Click on the view button you will see the similar screen as below: [Default key required on plugin registration stage!]

Step 5: Open a precompiled CRM2011 Plugin Registration Tool. Select the "Register New Service Endpoint" option.

Step 6: In the service end point details screen.
Fill name for this service.[It will display in CRM system job screen]
Fill in the solution namespace with the one we created in step 3. [EastOceanDevelopmentBox]

Fill in the Path. [Your service bus URI, example: https://eastoceandevelopmentbox.servicebus.windows.net/RemoteService]
Choose the contract you want and click the save and configure ACS button.

Step 7: In the ACS configuration screen, Paste the default key in step 4 as the Management Key
Browse the certificate we downloaded earlier. Paste the issuer name, all can get from CRM developer resource. Click Configure ACS.

You will see something similar as screen below.

Step 8: On the service endpoint detail page, click save and verify. Then close.

If everything configure nicely without error, a new system event record should appear in the CRM system job view with the name I key in earlier "CRM 2011 Online" status succeeded. Refer screen below.

Hooray! Now the CRM is connected to Azure and we can run our listener program to capture the context values.

I will try to post the part 2 ASAP, for part 2, I will demo how to register step with service endpoint and the different type of contract interaction that can use.

Cheers...

Important security update for ASP.NET (MS11-100)

2011-12-31T01:54:00.000+08:00

Microsoft published an important security update to improve protection on vulnerability in ASP.NET Could Allow Denial of Service.

Detail of the information about the update is Here

For Window Azure cloud platform and CRM online, Microsoft already patched the system for you.

Take note for the update action if you are using on premises system.

Working with ServiceConfiguration file in Azure Cloud

2011-12-28T16:35:00.002+08:00

Recently I have been working heavily on CRM2011 + Azure platform, just want to share some of the quick tips for those plan to move their application into Cloud!

You will notice some extra file in your VS2010 solution when you added the Azure web role project, 2 configuration files included which differentiate by the "Cloud" & "Local". It give us the flexibility to deploy our solution base on different environment. For example my case I'm using different DB.

In order to configure the values, right click properties brings us into the setting page that allows developer to add the key into different configuration files.

Always remember to select the service configuration that you want to use base on your deployment. To retrieve the value dynamically on run time after deployment, refer below:

Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("SQLConnection")

Interesting Tips: Guid without dash

2011-12-27T15:57:00.001+08:00

Easy way to return a GUID without dash:-

Guid.ToString("N")
Guid id = new Guid(string here); //back to guid

Guid test=Guid.NewGuid();
Console.WriteLine(test.ToString("N"));

Console.WriteLine(test.ToString());

3 months free trial for Azure platform

2011-12-12T12:49:00.001+08:00

You can now sign up for the free trial Windows Azure, 750 small compute hours/month is more than enough for developer to run "Hello world" service 24*7 for 3 months :)

Of course, there is no obligation to purchase at the end of the free trial, but you need to provide your Live Id and credit card for verification purpose. According to Microsoft, spending limit will applied on trial account for your peace of mind.

Azure free trial

Compute: 750 hours of a Small Compute Instance* (can run one small instance full-time or other sizes at their equivalent ratios)
Storage: 20GB with 50k Storage transactions
Data Transfers: 20GB outbound / Unlimited inbound data transfer
Relational Database: 1GB Web Edition SQL Azure database
Access Control: 100k transactions
Service Bus: Free through March 31, 2012
Caching: 128MB cache

CRM2011 SDK5.0.8

2011-12-09T11:46:00.000+08:00

New SDK for CRM 2011 published on Microsoft site. It was updated to include client and portal assemblies with matching version numbers.

Download the SDK 5.0.8

CRM 4.0 update rollup 20

2011-11-11T10:25:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 20 released on 10/Nov/2011.
Rollup 20 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 20 is cumulative.

KB: KB2550098
Download HERE

CRM 2011 Version Number

2011-11-09T11:19:00.001+08:00

Version	Build Number	Release on
RC	5.0.9688.583	22/Feb/2011
RTM	5.0.9688.590	22/Mar/2011
Update Rollup 1	5.0.9688.1045	4/Apr/2011
Update Rollup 2	5.0.9688.1155	2/Jun/2011
Update Rollup 3	5.0.9688.1244	28/Jul/2011
Update Rollup 4	5.0.9688.1450	22/Sep/2011
Update Rollup 5	5.0.9688.1533	8/Nov/2011

CRM 2011 Diagnostics Tool

2011-11-09T03:28:00.004+08:00

Remember the simple tool that helps a lots on debugging the CRM4 server?

Enhance version for CRM2011 has been release in CodePlex few days ago.

More user friendly for administrator this time, download it HERE to save the day...

credit goes to tanguy :)

Invalid object name 'sys.configurations' while connecting to SQL Azure

2011-10-31T03:40:00.000+08:00

If you connect the SQL Azure from SQL Management Studio (Database Engine) by using the Full qualified server name given by Azure, you will hit some invalid object name type of error alert.

Workaround/ solution:

Close the connection dialog
Click on the "New query"
It will prompt similar connection dialog, this will be working fine.

*Remember to set your database name by clicking the option button in connection dialog
screen. :)

Whitepaper: Optimizing and Maintaining the Performance of CRM 2011 Server Infrastructure

2011-10-26T02:14:00.000+08:00

This white paper provides information that designed to help readers with achieving and maintaining optimal performance of the server infrastructure supporting a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011-based business solution deployed in an on-premises or hosted environment.
Download it HERE

CRM2011: Roadmap Summary for Q2 & Q4

2011-09-16T16:40:00.000+08:00

Q2- Roadmap

Earlierhalf of this year (May), Microsoft CRM team published a roadmap document thatgave partners an insight on what will be the next trend and directions to focuson CRM business. With the slogan of “driving transformation and enablingdynamic businesses”, Microsoft announced some of the key points:-

1. SocialCollaboration

Continuingextend those capabilities across a numbers of products (SharePoint, Lync, Office)with new experiences facilitate CRM.

· Micro-blogging – notification & status update

· Business activity feeds – configurable real timenotification

· Social intelligence – identification of data patternsto enhance marketing decision making.

2. OptimizingBusiness decision making

· Extend self-service BI – enhance tools that build businessreports

· Enhanced data visualization – enriched real time analyticsdashboards

3. Consumeristof Business Application

· Multi-browser – utilizing HTML5 for structuringand presenting content.

4. ExtendingSolution Opportunities

· Enterprise cloud – enable larger organization toutilize online services.

5. ReleaseModel Alignment & Improved Agility

Traditionalmajor CRM product version delivered with 2-3 years cycles, new CRM Online/ onpremises added parallel track of shorter cycles deliver updates and new featureenhancements twice yearly. (Targeted for Spring (Q2) and Fall (Q4))

Q4- New Capabilities for CRM2011

For second half year 2011, the following partdiagram summarizes service update for Q4 2011.

1. UnifiedOffice 365 Experience

CRM onlinewill begin the process transitioning customers to a common administration, billingand provisioning platform which Office customers use today.

2. EnterpriseCloud

· Identity Federation – provide more options on howorganizations streamline user access CRM Online. (Support AD)

· Enhanced Disaster Recovery – Microsoft data center sits in the US, Europe Middle EastAfrica (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC). They will begin to offer system failoveracross data centers within a region.

3. FeatureEnhancements

· Dialogs – support lookups and dates,flexibility in generating dynamic hyperlinks

· BI capabilities – New chart type, configure multiseries chart.

· Extended De-duplication ruleprocessing – can ignorenull values, potential duplicates can be flagged

4. SocialInvestments

· Wave 1 – able to participate in rich online communitiesbased on their mutual interests or professional commitments

o Internal – Email, Micro blogs, intranet apps

o Managed – Corporate forum, Facebook pages,customer portal

o Independent – Twitter, Facebook

· Activity Feeds – Follow records, post status manuallyor automatically. “Mention” feature. Mobile activity feeds.

Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

2011-09-05T17:33:00.000+08:00

Training course published on the training site with code 80295A, but no news for the exam papers yet, will update on this if the exam available. Detail of the course please refer below:

Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

CRM 4.0 update rollup 19

2011-08-26T18:22:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 19 released on 25/Aug/2011.
Rollup 19 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 19 is cumulative.

KB: KB2550097
Download HERE

CRM 2011 Admin Guide & User Guide

2011-08-21T14:16:00.000+08:00

Finally Microsoft release these guide, it is in MS Doc word format. Get it from the link below:

CRM 4.0 update rollup 18

2011-06-30T18:19:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 18 released on 30/Jun/2011.
Rollup 18 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 18 is cumulative.

KB: KB2477777
Download HERE

CRM 2011 Plugin Registration Tool error during connection

2011-06-26T16:01:00.000+08:00

An error occurred while I trying to connect CRM using the Plugin registration tool.
It throw me "Inner Exception: System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException: The parameter is incorrect."

Solution to wipe off the issue is to delete the livedevice.xml file in your computer.
Navigate to folder "C:\users\<your user name>\livedeviceid", you will find the the file located inside the folder.

Cheers :)

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 17

2011-05-04T10:25:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 17 released on 2/May/2011.
Rollup 17 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 17 is cumulative.

KB: KB2477746
Download HERE

Exam: CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration [MB2-866]

2011-04-21T23:36:00.000+08:00

Microsoft just release the latest CRM2011 exams, going to take this one soon ;-)

Others paper like Application, installation will be release following each other.

You can find out the detail on MB2-866

Some of the content still haven't publish, I can see that the MCITP for CRM2011 page still missing some entries.

happy CRM'ing

Duplicate UUID issue with vhd images [VirtualBox]

2011-04-13T03:55:00.000+08:00

The latest CRM2011 required 64bits environment, with my Window 7 laptop, the alternate method is the use the Virtual Box.

Face a common issue after I tried to copy an image to from hard disk and boot with another machine. Keep on prompting me "Duplicate UUID issue with vhd images". If you guys face the same problem as me, try to look for your VBoxManage.exe file location.

then type in command prompt:

VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid J:\VPC\yourvhdname.vhd

It will generate a new id for that vhd, thus problem solved!

Update Rollup 1 for CRM 2011

2011-04-08T16:52:00.002+08:00

Official available for download now.

KB : 2466084

Download HERE

It can be uninstall, and again it separate by component.

Must be installed on computer running CRM 2011

Required .NET Framework 4.0

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 16

2011-03-14T17:51:00.001+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 16 released on 9/Mar/2011.
Rollup 16 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 16 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 are not prerequisites for server portion.

64-bit versions of Office 2010 will not be supported in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
With Update Rollup 8 installed, Microsoft CRM E-mail Router Service supports Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
With Update Rollup 12 installed, the Rule Deployment Wizard supports Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

KB: KB2477743
Download HERE

CRM outlook client - popup blocker issue

2011-01-28T14:21:00.019+08:00

"CRM window was unable to open, and may have been blocked by a pop-up blocker"

Face an issue where the outlook client prompt me popup blocker when I try to open a records via outlook.

If you confirm that all trusted site setting and windows credential set correctly but still can't solve the issue.

Here is how I solve the issue, (already confirm that IE browser can open the record correct!)

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \.html
Verify if the value of the String (Default) is "htmlfile". If it's not "htmlfile", right-click (Default), click Modify, input htmlfile in the Value data box, and then click OK.

More detail on this KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310049

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 15

2011-01-11T23:50:00.004+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 14 released on 10/Jan/2011.
Rollup 15 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 15 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.

KB: KB2449283
Download HERE

Dynamics CRM 2011 Release Candidate

2010-12-15T14:23:00.022+08:00

You can download the RC version here:

Component	URL
Server RC:	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c3f82c6f-c123-4e80-b9b2-ee422a16b91d
Client:	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22dc423a-7194-491e-a169-6ace16bfdd36
Language Pack:	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=db44c564-2338-407e-980a-c9c83ad37729
Email Router:	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a995f6ad-0099-42fd-9b22-cf7b3d40a2bf
BIDS:	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=64a09b75-8376-4b9d-aea3-8a83a1837c4d
SharePoint:	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=23c0f351-8694-4d92-9ddf-34a949aec6a7

My Summary of "What's interesting" for CRM 2011

2010-12-10T01:30:00.001+08:00

Just want to share it out ;)

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 14

2010-11-23T13:13:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 14 released on 19/Nov/2010.
Rollup 14 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 14 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.

KB: KB2389019
Download HERE

Error installing outlook client: Cannot delete a subkey tree because the subkey does not exist

2010-11-09T01:49:00.000+08:00

"Could not remove registry subkey HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRMClient\AllowList. Cannot delete a subkey tree because the subkey does not exist."

I come across this error during the installation of Outlook client MSCRM 4.0

If you faced the same problem as me, most probably is you have install outlook client beta 2010 before.

Solution:

Make sure the Beta 2010 outlook client was uninstalled,

uninstall version 4 outlook client; if any

Manually delete the folder Program Files\MSCRM

Reinstall the CRM 4 outlook client again.

This time it should work like charm :)

The RSA key container could not be opened

2010-11-02T18:03:00.001+08:00

Failed to decrypt using provider 'RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider'. Error message from the provider: The RSA key container could not be opened.

You hit the error when using encrypted web configuration section such as the connection string.

You can fix this with one of the following method:

I'm using Windows Server 2008
Open IIS
Navigate to the web site that is causing the problem
Under Security within the Home section of the web site, click Authentication
Disable ASP.NET impersonation

aspnet_regiis -pa "NetFrameworkConfigurationKey" "ASPNET"
aspnet_regiis -pa "NetFrameworkConfigurationKey" "NETWORK SERVICE"
aspnet_regiis -pa "NetFrameworkConfigurationKey" "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
aspnet_regiis -pa "NetFrameworkConfigurationKey" "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM"

No organization was specified in the configuration file

2010-10-18T14:01:00.000+08:00

Recently, one of the client reported that the outlook client configuration wizard prompt them this error message during the CRM 4 outlook client setup.

It seems like too general for system admin to figure out the issue behind.
Besically it is caused by the particular user was not add to CRM system, thats why setup wizard can't populate the related organization and its data.
Just add the user to CRM system and grant him related privilege, case close :)
I was thinking of showing access denied is more easy for us to find out the root cause, what do you think...?

Always focus on solutions, not on problems.

2010-10-13T00:45:00.001+08:00

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty.

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Lesson learned: Always look for simple solutions,devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems. Agree?

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 13

2010-09-26T02:32:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 13 released on 23/Sep/2010.
Rollup 13 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 13 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.

KB: KB2267499
Download HERE

Configuration registry key is invalid

2010-09-23T01:03:00.000+08:00

I get error message from one of the server "The Configuration Registry key is invalid"
Google around looks like the server's performance counter in the registry, which has been corrupted and needs to be restored.

To resolve this, rebuild the performance counter library by using the follow command:

C:\WINDOWS\system32> lodctr /R

CRM 2011 Beta Released!

2010-09-10T11:44:00.002+08:00

You can get download from HERE install and try it. Product Key can be found under Read Me file.

Support 64bits only
Support Window server 2008 & SQL 2008 only. (detail inside implementation guide)
No more "CRM Professional version"

Error during installation of CRM Outlook Client for Office 2010

2010-09-01T18:35:00.004+08:00

Just to share out, if you tried to install CRM4 outlook client for MS Outlook2010, the setup will failed because of office version validation.

To solve this, we need to modify something in regedit.

HKEY Current User\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRMClient

Create DWord (32 bit) value

Title: IgnoreChecks

Value: 1

Taking the Covers Off of Microsoft Dynamics CRM2011

2010-08-13T16:20:00.001+08:00

You need Silverlight to play this :)

The path is not of a legal form - Data Migration Manager

2010-08-11T14:38:00.002+08:00

I received the error message '"The path is not of a legal form" during installation of Data MigrationManager for CRM 4.0

Reason for this error is one of the key's value is empty, to solve this;

Start>run>regedit
Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products]
You will see many folder under it named with GUID. If you can see {59DD8CB00184F24E99A62CF4D6109FA}, then click it and goto InstallProperties
Right click InstallLocation and select Modify
Type in "C:\Program Files\Microosft Dynamics CRM"
If you can't find the above mention GUID, you need to browse those GUID one by one and look DisplayName with value "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server", then just change the InstallLocation value.

Hope this help :)

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 12

2010-07-31T01:57:00.001+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 12 released on 30/July/2010.
Rollup 12 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 12 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.
Special Considerations:
Update Rollup 12 will install the Microsoft Report Viewer 2008 Redistributable Package.
Update Rollup 12 will install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package

KB: KB2028381
Download HERE

Modify the recurring system jobs' interval in CRM 4

2010-07-30T19:32:00.003+08:00

Default CRM4.0 come with 3 system jobs, "Update Contract States","Organization Full text Catalog index", and "SQM Data Collection". If you have duplicate detection rules published, then you will have more than 3 jobs.[Matchcode Update]

Default jobs run every 5 minutes, each time it run will create a record under the AsyncOperationBase table. This definately will make the tbale grow very fast if you have many duplicate detection rules. Simple math will be 12 records per minutes; 720 records per hour; 17280 records per day.

Of course there is service to help you remove old records, but for me the Matchcode Update seems no need to run so frequently if most of the time is use for browsing. For me update hourly or every 30 minutes is fair enough.

Example: run this query in MSCRM DB

name is the duplicate detection job related entity.

You will see something like "FREQ=MINUTELY;INTERVAL=5;"
In this case i change to 7 minutes by using SQL update statement,
then restart service.

Reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc189846.aspx for all valid values.

*Information I post below is an unsupported customization, this might void your CRM warranty. Personnaly I have tried this in both my CRM development environment and is working like charm!

CRM 2011 beta

2010-07-15T18:54:00.001+08:00

Dynamics CRM 2011, the next version of Microsoft's customer relationship management software, will be released to beta in September and officially released by the end of this year, Microsoft announced today.

Microsoft is demoing the upcoming product at the annual Worldwide Partner Conference, which began Sunday and runs through Thursday in Washington, D.C. Along with Dynamics CRM comes its cloud-based counterpart, Dynamics CRM Online.

New to Dynamics CRM 2011 will be the Microsoft CRM Marketplace, where businesses can sell and buy CRM solutions, download them and then deploy them across their Dynamics CRM systems. Such solutions can include sets of configurations and document templates that help companies work with their customers...

Original Source : http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/214088.asp

SQL divide by zero "isZero" function

2010-06-16T12:24:00.000+08:00

Recently come across a requirement on SQL to divide 2 columns and populate in a custom fields. Infact is just something simple like "SELECT column1/column2 AS result"

Issue raised because the "column2" might contains zero or null value, what we need to do is if column 2 is zero replace it with another fix non zero varible.

Null issue can be easily solve by using isNull finction, but we don't have 'isZero' function

The solution is to use the nullif function with isnull function;
set column2 to null value if it is zero, outer level if is null replace with variable X.
ISNULL(NULLIF(column2, 0),variableX)

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 11

2010-06-16T12:01:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 10 released on 3/June/2010.
Rollup 11 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 11 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.
Special Considerations:

KB: KB981328
Download HERE

CRM 4 Build Number - Version

2010-06-15T18:03:00.003+08:00

Version	Build Number	Release on	Link ID(en)	Patch ID(en)
RTM	4.0.7333.3	12/19/2007
Rollup 1	4.0.7333.1113	11/24/2008
Rollup 2	4.0.7333.1312, 4.0.7333.1316	1/15/2009, 2/8/2009
Rollup 3	4.0.7333.1408	3/12/2009
Rollup 4	4.0.7333.1551	5/7/2009	150735&clcid=0x409	{004A7E60-5DB7-4F05-B7C1-1D2DD653A1A6}
Rollup 5	4.0.7333.1644, 4.0.7333.1645	7/2/2009	157191&clcid=0x409	{592DDF5E-D0D7-46FE-81C3-A3BCAC5E8F22}
Rollup 6	4.0.7333.1750	9/27/2009	162439&clcid=0x40	{7E83D1E5-7B7A-45D1-8930-4FEFB4123B57}
Rollup 7	4.0.7333.2138	10/22/2009	167830&clcid=0x409	{657DF4CA-4167-48C2-937E-1B4940C0F3C9}
Rollup 8	4.0.7333.2542	12/17/2009	179669&clcid=0x409	{7D1C2874-9093-4563-83C6-C2F82C8D82B8}
Rollup 9	4.0.7333.2644	02/11/2010	181054&clcid=0x409	{45859F4D-AC35-4FB3-A474-40492079C74A}
Rollup 10	4.00.7333.2741	4/8/2010	184388&clcid=0x409	{C853A15A-5546-4F07-BF41-FC1C64570AB3}
Rollup 11	4.0.7333.2861	6/3/2010	192046&clcid=0x409	{77F3EBA0-20E8-403E-B43B-E5AC633E139E}
Rollup 12	4.0.7333.2935	7/30/2010	194246&clcid=0x409	{99DA550E-457E-4339-A520-414AC14AE82C}
Rollup 13	4.0.7333.3018	9/23/2010	199444&clcid=0x409	{414017EA-201F-401D-BD4D-FDB8C2FD5AC8}
Rollup 14	4.00.7333.3135	11/18/2010	202910&clcid=0x409	{3A11783F-F1EF-431C-AB61-0B165502DBF0}
Rollup 15	4.00.7333.3231	1/10/2010	206903&clcid=0x409	{89833E9D-C22F-4EB9-A76F-A84623D67613}
Rollup 16	4.00.7333.3335	3/10/2011	209024&clcid=0x409	{6EA3A2FA-08DF-40B5-842B-1C6B6EC6B028}
Rollup 17	4.00.7333.3414	5/5/2011	214427&clcid=0x409 8	{87297B34-767B-4E3B-A51B-C89DB849AE82}
Rollup 18	4.00.7333.3531	6/30/2011	218855&clcid=0x409	{E054D596-F999-4BB2-9130-662E11CC26FF}
Rollup 19	4.00.7333.3628	8/25/2011	224158&clcid=0x409	{2DEE4EFD-B1CF-49CA-A37E-DD9BE6C8E2B7}
Rollup 20	4.00.7333.3732	11/10/2011	227975&clcid=0x409	{A4CEC8ED-18B4-4682-9D4D-1BD0C4FC85AC}

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 10

2010-04-11T22:45:00.001+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 10 released on 8/April/2010.
Rollup 10 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 10 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.

Special Considerations:

64-bit versions of Office 2010 will not be supported in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
With Update Rollup 8 installed, Microsoft CRM E-mail Router Service supports Microsoft Exchange 2010. However, because of an issue with MAPI, the Rule Deployment Wizard does not support Microsoft Exchange 2010. This issue will be addressed in a future update of Microsoft Exchange 2010.

KB: KB979347
Download HERE

Stop previous workflow instance.

2010-04-09T11:09:00.005+08:00

Recently come across a business scenario where a workflow needs to be run after record being assign to others. The problem is workflow configured as wait after 1 hour, then update a field.

It is possible that during the 1 hour waiting time, user might reassign again~~again, result of that is multiple same workflow actually is running and waiting at the same time...what we want is just the running the latest workflow instance only.

To solve this problem, create a CRM 4 plugin to query related workflow with specific workflow name, check its status then update it to cancelled.

Register as pre-stage; synchronous, so that it won't cancelled the latest workflow instance .

string error = string.Empty;

   ColumnSet colsWf = new ColumnSet(new string[] { "name", "statuscode", "asyncoperationid", "regardingobjectid" });

   ConditionExpression conditionName = new ConditionExpression("name", ConditionOperator.Equal, workflowName);
   ConditionExpression conditionRegardingObjectId = new ConditionExpression("regardingobjectid", ConditionOperator.Equal, recordId);

   FilterExpression filter = new FilterExpression();
   filter.FilterOperator = LogicalOperator.And;
   filter.AddCondition(conditionName);
   filter.AddCondition(conditionRegardingObjectId);

   QueryExpression query = new QueryExpression(EntityName.asyncoperation.ToString());
   query.Criteria = filter;
   query.ColumnSet = colsWf;

   BusinessEntityCollection results = service.RetrieveMultiple(query);
   if (results.BusinessEntities.Count > 0)
   {
    for (int i = 0; i < results.BusinessEntities.Count; i++)
    {
     asyncoperation singleWorkflowInstance = (asyncoperation)results.BusinessEntities[i];
     if (singleWorkflowInstance.statuscode.Value == AsyncOperationStatus.WaitingForResources || singleWorkflowInstance.statuscode.Value == AsyncOperationStatus.Waiting || singleWorkflowInstance.statuscode.Value == AsyncOperationStatus.InProgress || singleWorkflowInstance.statuscode.Value == AsyncOperationStatus.Pausing)
     {
      try
      {
       Status statusCanceled = new Status();
       statusCanceled.Value = AsyncOperationStatus.Canceled;

       AsyncOperationStateInfo state = new AsyncOperationStateInfo();
       state.Value = AsyncOperationState.Completed;

       SetStateWorkflowRequest request = new SetStateWorkflowRequest();
       singleWorkflowInstance.statuscode = statusCanceled;
       singleWorkflowInstance.statecode = state;

       TargetUpdateAsyncOperation operation = new TargetUpdateAsyncOperation();
       operation.AsyncOperation = singleWorkflowInstance;

       UpdateRequest update = new UpdateRequest();
       update.Target = operation;
       UpdateResponse updated = (UpdateResponse)service.Execute(update);
      }
      catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException ex)
      {
       error = "KillWorkflow Error " + ex.Message + "" + ex.StackTrace;
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
       error = "KillWorkflow Error " + ex.Message + "" + ex.StackTrace;
      }
     }
    }
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(error))
    {
     throw new Exception(error);
    }
   }

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 9

2010-04-08T16:34:00.000+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup 9 released on 11/2/2010.
Rollup 9 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 9 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.

KB: KB977650
Download HERE

Dataset Designer not working (Visual Studio 2008)

2010-01-29T00:29:00.000+08:00

Recently, my development machine's VS 2008 suddenly can't open the designer view for dataset file [xsd].
If you guys facing the same problem with me, you can try to run the command below:-

Open Visual Studio Tools-> Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt.

devenv/resetskippkgs
devenv /resetsettings
devenv /setup

For my case, 3rd option solved my problem without uninstall/reinstall.

CRM 5.0 & Azure

2010-01-10T23:39:00.000+08:00

The demo video on the latest CRM 5.0 + Azure

CRM 5 + Windows Azure

Windows Azure

2010-01-10T23:35:00.000+08:00

The Azure Services Platform uses a specialized operating system, called Windows Azure, to run its "fabric layer" — a cluster hosted at Microsoft's datacenters that manages computing and storage resources of the computers and provisions the resources (or a subset of them) to applications running on top of Windows Azure. Windows Azure has been described as a "cloud layer" on top of a number of Windows Server systems, which use Windows Server 2008 and a customized version of Hyper-V, known as the Windows Azure Hypervisor to provide virtualization of services.

The platform includes five services Live Services, SQL Services (which is now Microsoft SQL Azure), .NET Services, SharePoint Services and Dynamics CRM Services which the developers can use to build the applications that will run in the cloud. A client library, in managed code, and associated tools are also provided for developing cloud applications in Visual Studio. Scaling and reliability are controlled by the Windows Azure Fabric Controller so the services and environment don't crash if one of the servers crash within the Microsoft datacenter and provides the management of the user's web application like memory resources and load balancing.

The Azure Services Platform can currently run .NET Framework applications compiled for the CLR, while supporting the ASP.NET application framework and associated deployment methods to deploy the applications onto the cloud platform. Two SDKs have been made available for interoperability with the Azure Services Platform: The Java SDK for .NET Services and the Ruby SDK for .NET Services. These enable Java and Ruby developers to integrate with .NET Services.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_azure

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 8

2009-12-21T14:01:00.001+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup released on 17/12/2009.
Rollup 8 can be uninstall on server
Rollup 7 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 are not prerequisites for server portion.
Update Rollup 7 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.

KB: KB975995
Download HERE

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 7

2009-10-26T19:24:00.002+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup released on 22/10/2009.
Rollup 7 can be uninstall on server but not the MS outlook
Rollup 7 is cumulative.
Rollup 1,2,3,4,5,6 are not prerequisites.

KB: KB971782
Download HERE

Missing Immediate Window in VS2008

2009-10-20T19:30:00.002+08:00

Sometimes when we using VS2008 and plan to use immediate window to debug, we found that it is missing! weird...I didnt change the layout setting...

To put it back; is very simple.

Goto tool>customize
Tab to commands; select Debug categories
Drag the 'Immediate' back to the area you want it to display.

Worldwide CRM market grew 12.5% last year

2009-09-18T01:00:00.001+08:00

Stamford, Conn.—The need to retain customers combined with the increasing availability of on-demand applications helped drive customer relationship management expenditures to $9.15 billion in 2008, up 12.5% from the previous year, according to a new report by Gartner Inc.

Web-based (software as a service) CRM solutions accounted for nearly 20% of total CRM software market spending last year, up from just over 15% in 2007, according to Gartner's report, "Dataquest Insight: CRM Software Market Share Analysis, Worldwide 2008."

Also spurring adoption of CRM applications is the growing importance of tracking consumer participation in online forums and social sites, Gartner said.

Market leader SAP accounted for 22.5% of worldwide CRM software sales, down from 25.5% in 2007. Microsoft's Dynamics CRM product experienced the strongest growth rate among top vendors, boosting sales by 75% last year.

Original posted by Christopher Hosford from btobonline

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 6

2009-09-01T04:56:00.002+08:00

Latest CRM 4.0 rollup released on 27/8/2009.

Rollup 6 can be uninstall.

Rollup 6 is cumulative.

The Update Rollup 6 client can be deployed before the server is upgraded to Update Rollup 6

Rollup 1,2,3,4,5 are not prerequisites.

KB: 970148

Download HERE

CRM 4: Right align number fields in CRM views

2009-08-08T16:04:00.008+08:00

My friend ask is it possible to right align those CRM integer,float and money field to right, because user complaint it is hard to read it correctly in the CRM view, especially for money fields with different value. Well the answer is YES and the solution is very easy (after doing some Google+research, credit goes to Sam Jones)

Ideal is very straight foward, modify the CRM CSS file to make it right align for number field.

From the _grid folder or search from wwwroot for "AppGrid.css.aspx"
Find the class started with nobr.num
Add an element in it: text-align : right;
Refresh your CRM page.

FYI: CRM fields such as money,integer and float type all render as nobr.num, so change one place will do.

happy CRM'ing

CRM 4 - Small changes:big effect

2009-07-21T17:35:00.011+08:00

1) Multi-Columns sorting

All CRM view actually support multi-columns sorting, the key point is user must press [shift] and click the second column, seems not much users notice this usefull feature.

2) Manipulate CRM Privileges

If you found that your entity privileges in security role page just consist of "None Selected" (empty red circle) or "Organization" (filled green circle). Please double check your entity information ownership is it set correctly.

-for organization owned entities - only Organization and none security levels allowed
-for user owned entities - none, user, business unit, parent child business unit and organization level allowed.

Sql query for better understanding...

SELECT OwnershipTypeMask as mask,*
FROM MetadataSchema.Entity
WHERE OwnershipTypeMask=8
ORDER BY OwnershipTypeMask

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 5

2009-07-03T12:11:00.001+08:00

RollUp 5 for MSCRM 4.0, this time including the rollup for SRS data connector, as usual it was packed into 64/32 bits version. You can get it from the link below Download Here

Rollup 5 can be uninstall.
Again, backup your unsupported customization before install the rollup.
For export/import customization from different version:

Rollup 5 is compatible with rollup 2,3,4
Not compatible with rollup 1 or original version without rollup.

Detail on rollup 5 can found in this KB970141

Maximum attributes supported by CRM 4!

2009-06-30T01:06:00.004+08:00

During enterprise CRM implementation, we always deal with largr data volumn and massive configuration file. We might come to a point to ask: what is the CRM 4 attribute limit per entity?

If we study the CRM database scheme, noticed that custom attribute are store in separate table which is the extensionbase. So 1 attribute==1 column in the table. Limitation goes back to your SQL database. Different version/platform of the SQL can have different result.

To be confirm, always refer back to the Maximum Capacity Specifications for SQL server.In that microsoft paper, find the limit of column per base table, that is your limit. Eg: SQL 2005 & 2008 is 1024. Which means you can have 1024 attibute per entity creation.

I do some small testing, try to create the 1025 attibute and it prompt me "exceeds the maximum of 1024 columns". Try to reduce the attibutes if can, less columns means it run more faster!

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 4

2009-05-16T17:04:00.005+08:00

Microsoft released the RoolUp 4 for MSCRM 4.0, this time including the rollup for SRS data connector, as usual it was packed into 64/32 bits version. You can get it from the link below
Download Here

Rollup 4 can be uninstall.
Again, backup first before you make any major changes

You can export customizations from a server that has Update Rollup 2 or Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 installed and import those customizations to a server that has Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 installed. You can also export customizations from a server that has Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 installed and import those customizations to a server that has Update Rollup 2 or Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 installed.

Details of the Rollup 4 documented in KB968176

Report Manager Blank Page

2009-05-08T18:12:00.004+08:00

By right, we should be able to see the 2 tabs in report manager homepage, Contents and Properties. BUT now its missing.
Confirm that site already added into trusted site.

Double check on:

Browse to the report manager virtual directory, open the web.config. (Make sure it has the <identity impersonate="true"/>)
Uncheck the enable anonymous access in the directory security in IIS.
Log in locally on your report server computer as a member of the Local Administrators group

My situation is missing the impersonate in web.config
Hope this can help. :)

Latest CRM 4 SDK version 4.0.8

2009-04-08T23:54:00.002+08:00

Microsft just release the latest CRM 4 sdk on this month.
Version 4.0.8

You can download it from here

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 3

2009-03-13T16:46:00.003+08:00

Microsoft released the RollUp 3 for MSCRM 4.0, this time including the rollup for SRS data connector, as usual it was packed into 64/32 bits version. You can get it from the link below
Download Here

Details of the Rollup 3 documented in KB961768

Failed to upload report on CRM 4

2009-03-02T19:20:00.002+08:00

If you hit weird error on CRM while you try to upload a report, you might need to read this.
It seems some of the DLL in CRM application server failed to read/write.
I get this in the SQL error logs

ERROR: Throwing Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportProcessing.ReportProcessingException: An unexpected error occurred in Report Processing., ; Info: Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportProcessing.ReportProcessingException: An unexpected error occurred in Report Processing. ---> System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.ReportingServices.ProcessingObjectModel, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91' or one of its dependencies. Access is denied.File name: 'Microsoft.ReportingServices.ProcessingObjectModel, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91'

You also can see this in CRM FE event viewer:
Web service request CreateReport to Report Server http://servername/ReportServer/ReportService2005.asmx failed with SoapException. Error: An unexpected error occurred in Report Processing.

Solution:
Make sure the user have the modify permission in the directory "C:\WINDOWS\microsoft.net\Framework64\v2.0.50727". (If you use 32bits, it will be "Framework" instead of Framework64)
Required by the folder [Temporary ASP.NET Files]

Publish workflow failed on CRM 4 after installed Rollup 2

2009-02-27T18:52:00.003+08:00

You may received this error, "The selected workflow has errors and cannot be published. Please open the workflow, remove the errors and try again."

Solution:
Open the web.config file in the CRM installation directory.
Find "authorizedTypes ", then add another tag inside it.

rsExecutionNotFound on CRM4's Reporting Server

2009-02-26T00:46:00.002+08:00

Large CRM implentation normally design the SQL reporting services to run in an individual separate server to avoid the server overload. I faced an issue that wasted me 2 man-days to solved it.

Solution is very easy; I posted it out my experience, hope that can help you guys on similar issues.

I migrate my reporting services to new server, all seems to be very easy in CRM 4, just need to use the deployment management tools in CRM apllication server there, disable organization, change SRS URL only.

But the problem is after doing so, I cant render my reports at all. Spend almost 1 day to troubleshoot. I got the errors:

Crm Exception: Message: Execution '154xnnr3o5vqef55cimag0jc' cannot be found (rsExecutionNotFound), ErrorCode: -2147220332, InnerException: Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ReportServerException: Execution '154xnnr3o5vqef55cimag0jc' cannot be found (rsExecutionNotFound)at Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ServerReport.SetParameters(IEnumerable`1 parameters)at Microsoft.Crm.Web.Reporting.SrsReportViewer.ConfigurePage()

Additional, from the SQL log, I can see this:

w3wp!session!b!02/25/2009-00:48:45:: i INFO: LoadSnapshot: Item with session: znix5areosn3gmvnwkwr2x45, reportPath: , userName: domain\machine-name$ not found in the databasew3wp!library!b!02/25/2009-00:48:45:: e ERROR: Throwing Microsoft.ReportingServices.Diagnostics.Utilities.ExecutionNotFoundException: Execution 'znix5areosn3gmvnwkwr2x45' cannot be found, ; Info: Microsoft.ReportingServices.Diagnostics.Utilities.ExecutionNotFoundException: Execution 'znix5areosn3gmvnwkwr2x45' cannot be found

Problem is the error showing seems not much useful and describe the root cause after you know the root cause.
To solve this issue, for my case, just make sure all your FE server, reporting server.. configure to use the same datetime region.
What I can think off after this was the LoadSnapshot with session always deal with the session expired issue, because of the time region different, when you execute the report from front end, it found different time and your session expired!

Timeout during heavy loaded tasks on CRM 4

2009-02-19T20:54:00.005+08:00

I beleived most of us faced the problem where you can not change business unit of a user in CRM 4 or MSCRMSynchronous seems unabled to delete huge data. If you use CRM diagnostic tool to debug the request step by step, you will found it is cause by the timeout issue.

Default CRM4 application configure OLEDB timout as 30 seconds. We can modify the register in application server to extend the time. Refer the screen capture below:-

We just need to extend the OLEDBTimeout value and add a new DWORD key "ExtendedTimeout" . You can create the 2 keys if does not exist. By right OLEDBTimeout is already inserted during installation.

Run >regedit
expand the tree to >HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM
Change the default value 30 on OLEDBTimeout to the seconds you prefer. (Modify by Decimal)
Next, right click MSCRM, NEW DWORD rename to "ExtendedTimeout". (Modify the Decimal value to 1000000)
Important: in Decimal value do not type value larger than 2,147,483,647
After you successful run those 'resources hungry' tasks, set back to original value. Delte those key that previously does not exist.

Below is the exception I get in the event logs before I extend the timeout value.
Happy CRM'ing :D

Event Source: MSCRMAsyncService
Event ID : 17415

Exception: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

Refer the Microsoft KB article also: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918609

Prompt Backdated Disallowed on CRM datetime field

2009-02-11T21:10:00.008+08:00

CRM 4 date time control manage to minimize the error on user input by allow them to select a date from drop down calendar. Now, real word business scenario might required more advance of date time validation on date time field input.

Given scenario: Follow Up Date must be greater or equal to today.
The most easiest way to achieve the requirement is by Javascript; let see how it works
every time user change the field, onchange event on CRM fire the javascript to verify the input.

Hope this simple javascript can help :)

CRM 4: Delete default system view

2009-01-23T19:13:00.006+08:00

Custom create view in CRM allowed us to delete and take control of all setting in the view; eg.: remove display colum, searching fields...

While CRM default view limited the customization of the view, you will see those view showing "You cannot delete this view". I will show some simple trick in order to Enable it back (You can delete system view then :D )

The CRM view setting actually store inside the database table [savedquerybaseset ]
Column [IsCustomizable]: * default is 0, just update it to 1.
Column [IsPrivate] to value 1 to hide.

update savedquerybaseset IsCustomizable=1
where name like 'test delete%'

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 2

2009-01-18T13:40:00.004+08:00

Microsoft released the RoolUp 2 for MSCRM 4.0, this time including the rollup for SRS data connector, as usual it was packed into 64/32 bits version. You can get it from the link below
Download Here

Rollup 2 can be uninstall.
Update Rollup 1 is not a prerequisite.
Again, backup first before you make any major changes

Update rollup 2 also contains some of the update that you have to configure manually, refer the details on Microsoft KB article below

Details of the Rollup 2 documented in KB959419

MS08-67: WORM_DOWNAD

2009-01-14T10:26:00.004+08:00

Recently, there have been many cases reported of a worm attack known as WORM_DOWNAD which exploits Microsoft Windows Operating System (MS08-67) vulnerability. The worm would cause your computer to experience exceptionally slow response and poor system performance. In addition, you may also have problems accessing websites. This worm will randomly pick those users in AD and try login, if your setting enable 3 times logout; then you will be headache!!!

Update latest patch for MS08-67 from Microsoft ASAP.
Almost all of the Microsoft opearting system open to this worm; etc:. MS server 03, XP...

The Workstation service has not been started

2009-01-07T19:38:00.002+08:00

If you hit this error when open webpage in browser, dont panic.
It just the "Workstation" service was stopped.
Simply go to RUN>type "net start workstation"; solve the problem.

*FYI: We can browse it in services component there. (RUN>services.msc)

Workstation purpose:
Creates and maintains client network connections to remote servers. If this service is stopped, these connections will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

CRM4: Adding CRM style's button in template page

2009-01-05T18:06:00.011+08:00

I added my custom link Bulk SMS Template to a custom aspx page.

First of all, browse to the CRMWeb, then Tools>>Templates>>map_xml.aspx

If you study the carefully, you will see the pattern. Just copy another set and then change to your custom page URL. You also can apply back the CRM default privilege setting on new added button.

*page id put others number that does not exist on existing page.
* Get privilege function means that it will visible to user who has the privilege!

CRM 4: Insufficient Permissions

2008-12-27T16:35:00.005+08:00

I faced a weird issue where some of the users with same role privilege in CRM Titan can not log on to CRM web. After doing some research and study the CRM trace log text file, the workaround is to grant at least an user level on Write User Setting in the specific role.
(at least a value 1 in PrivilegeDepthMask column in RolePrivileges Table)

You can find on the security setting page>roles>Business Management Tab.

ASP.NET: Access Denied on Event Log

2008-12-26T19:14:00.000+08:00

When we use windows event log to handle our web app's exception, normally we will hit access denied when the application try to write a log into the specific machine.

Common cause of issue will be the security access rights to their event logs.

*SDDL=security descriptor definition language
*ACE String
*SID String
*Microsoft Support
In order to check the event log machine's access rights, Run>regedit then

browse;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Application\CustomSD

from the Data, we can see the SDDL configuration of event log. Example from my machine:
O:BAG:SYD:(D;;0xf0007;;;AN)(D;;0xf0007;;;BG)(A;;0xf0007;;;SY)(A;;0x7;;;BA)(A;;0x7;;;SO)(A;;0x3;;;IU)(A;;0x3;;;SU)(A;;0x3;;;S-1-5-3)(A;;0x7;;;NS)

To construct an SDDL string, note that there are three distinct rights that pertain to event logs: Read, Write, and Clear. These rights correspond to the following bits in the access rights field of the ACE string:
1= Read
2 = Write
4 = Clear

(0x3 means read&write, depend on what you want, such as 0x7) Reference the value above. Just copy another set and paste behind, eg.:I bold with blue color..

The word I highlight with red color above "IU" is refer to Interactively logged-on user;now, you may ask how I know which SID string I need to put if I want to allow NETWORK SERVICE user to have write access to event log.

I listed down some of the most common use of SID string and its value, detail please refer to the link i posted above.

(AU)AuthenticatedUser; (NU)Network logon user; (NS)Network service account; (SU)Service logon user

When hit this kind of error, first must find out which account do not have the access rights to event log and then grant the correct rights solved the problem.

Hope this post can help you!

Service Unavailable when browsing CRM

2008-12-22T16:58:00.003+08:00

After doing some configuration on CRM 4 server, i hit the "Service Unavailable" error when browsing CRM default homepage.

I am using CRM 64 bits version in windows 2003 with IIS6.
Problem cause by the IIS is not pointing to .NET framework v2.0 64bits anymore, since it is 32bits/64bits compatible. I suspect it default back to 32bits version.

Solution: What I did was open Command Prompt browse to [C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727>] then do an "aspnet_regiis.exe -i" to register it back.

Work like charm for me.
Hope this help others who facing the same problem.

How to enable custom query string passing in CRM 4

2008-12-13T20:18:00.003+08:00

Scenario: Auto fill in lookup fill on prospect create mode.

By default, MSCRM do not allow us to change the url of the CRM form,it will prompt CRM error page, for example the new prospect form. Url ended with this" /sfa/leads/edit.aspx"

How can I add custom parameter behind? " /sfa/leads/edit.aspx?user=Yang"
So that I can use javascript grab the parameter and perform additional tasks.

Solution:What
we need to do is change/add a DWORD registry key
named [DisableParameterFilter] under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM], set the value to 1.

Run iisreset, now you can append your custom parameters like normal ASP.NET web form.

My two cents for SQL Reporting Services

2008-12-06T05:09:00.003+08:00

Working with SRS200 this few weeks, some of the trouble wasted me few hours to solve it.

So share some of the issues you might be looking for it.

Index was outside the bounds of the array

This error pop when I hit view report after I had changed the fields included in report. Click refresh button in preview mode remove the error.

It is cause by the report cahce previous columns in preview mode.

The report parameter is read-only and cannot be modified.

The Report parameter is set to read only, for SRS2005, this can be happen when you checked the Internal checkbox in report parameter screen

How to use RowNumber in grouping matrix table

put this expression in the row grouping 1st column.

=RunningValue(Fields!NAME_S.Value,CountDistinct,Nothing)

CRM Plugin: 32bits / 64 bits environment

2008-12-03T21:02:00.002+08:00

Recently I found a post on CRM blog, most of the CRM developers develop plugin using 32 bits environment and then need to deploy to 64 bits production server. Latest SDK also included DLL for Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.dll and Microsoft.Crm.SdkTypeProxy.dll

If you build using platform neutral, then it should works for both 32 & 64 bits environment CRM
If you build using 32bits extension, then it should work on 32bits CRM only.
If you build using 64bits extension, then it should work on 64bits CRM only.

Reference from ascentium CRM blog

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 1

2008-11-29T17:44:00.004+08:00

Finally the rollup for CRM 4.0 is availabled. Just like usual, it accumulate all the hotfix packages into one installer.

This rollup 1 can be uninstalled.
List of changes can be view on Microsoft KB952858
Make sure you backup your database before apply this rollup!
For those who use development /production server, importing the customizations to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server is not recommended if the CRM version is different.

Updated component:

Email router
Server
Client

Download here

Useful shortcut that you may have forgotten!

2008-10-09T00:54:00.003+08:00

Type this in Start> Run.

Calc - Calculator

Cfgwiz32 - ISDN Configuration Wizard

Charmap - Character Map

Chkdisk - Repair damaged files

Cleanmgr - Cleans up hard drives

Clipbrd - Windows Clipboard viewer

Cmd - Opens a new Command Window (cmd.exe)

Control - Displays Control Panel

Dcomcnfg - DCOM user security

Debug - Assembly language programming tool

Defrag - Defragmentation tool

Drwatson - Records programs crash & snapshots

Dxdiag - DirectX Diagnostic Utility

Explorer - Windows Explorer

Fontview - Graphical font viewer

Ftp - ftp.exe program

Hostname - Returns Computer’s name

Ipconfig - Displays IP configuration for all network adapters

Jview - Microsoft Command-line Loader for Java classes

MMC - Microsoft Management Console

Msconfig - Configuration to edit startup files

Msinfo32 - Microsoft System Information Utility

Nbtstat - Displays stats and current connections using NetBios over TCP/IP

Netstat - Displays all active network connections

Nslookup- Returns your local DNS server

Ping - Sends data to a specified host/IP

Regedit - egistry Editor

Regsvr32 - egister/de-register DLL/OCX/ActiveX

Regwiz - Reistration wizard

Sfc /scannow - Sytem File Checker

Sndrec32 - Sound Recorder

Sndvol32 - Volume control for soundcard

Sysedit - Edit system startup files (config.sys, autoexec.bat, win.ini, etc.)

Taskmgr - Task manager

Telnet - Telnet program

Tracert - Traces and displays all paths required to reach an internet host

Winipcfg - Displays IP configuration

certmgr.msc - Certificate Manager

ciadv.msc - Indexing Service

compmgmt.msc - Computer management

devmgmt.msc - Device Manager

dfrg.msc - Defragment

diskmgmt.msc - Disk Management

fsmgmt.msc - Folder Sharing Management

eventvwr.msc - Event Viewer

gpedit.msc - Group Policy -XP Pro only

iis.msc - Internet Information Services

lusrmgr.msc - Local Users and Groups

mscorcfg.msc - Net configurations

ntmsmgr.msc - Removable Storage

perfmon.msc - Performance Manager

secpol.msc - Local Security Policy

services.msc - System Services

wmimgmt.msc - Windows Management

CRM Titan for vision impaired users

2008-09-29T19:37:00.002+08:00

CRM Titan provided special feature that support High Contrast Mode in Windows.
We use Left Alt + Left Shift + Print Screen to enable the High Contrast in Windows.
If we didnt turn on the High Contrst mode in CRM, we cant experience the optimized output view.

Under personalize workplace>General Tab> there is a checkbox to enable the CRM running on High Contrast mode. Check it to optimized the support for vision impaired users.

Maximum Upload File Size in CRM Titan

2008-09-26T20:05:00.002+08:00

Previously in CRM 3, the maximum file size for attachment can be configure/found in the registry. In CRM Titan, Microsoft decided to store in Database because of Multitenancy Installation.

For some reason, I need to build a custom template page which can allow user to upload attachment, for the ease of configuration, i decided to share the attribute use by CRM to handle Max file size upload.

After some research, finally found that it is store under organizationbase table. It store as bytes data type. Remmember to multiply 1024 for actual bytes value.

select MaxUploadFileSize from organizationbase

Money Data Type Attribute Issue

2008-09-23T18:20:00.002+08:00

If you faced [Object reference not set to an instance of an object.] error on creating new record; and you confirm is not javascript problem...
then it might be the CRM4 Money Data Type issue.

Scenario: Let say you created a money data type field in custom entity, then you realise you select the wrong data type and remove it. (should be number instead of money).

If you add a Money data type and then delete, you probably will hit this error unless you still have others money attribute in that Entity.

Create at least one attribute with Money data type to solve the problem.
Just don't display the field if you don't wan it, but it must exist in entity.

URL Encode/Decode

2008-09-21T03:19:00.006+08:00

Found this usefull encode/decode reference table from google.
This table help me a lots when working with encode/decode query string.

How to enable more than 8 Tabs in CRM form?

2008-09-18T16:18:00.007+08:00

CRM default limit the tabs in form to 8 tabs only. We can easily [unlock]

it by changing the CRM default ASPX page.

*Bear in mind that this is an unsupported customization, it might be replace by any Patch/RoleUp

browse to CRM installation directory, then go

Tools\FormEditor\formeditor.aspx

and change the variable to the numbers of tabs you wish.
var _iMaxTabs = 8;

Here is the result I changed the limit to 10 tabs

Using intellisense in ISV & sitemap XML

2008-09-13T13:18:00.024+08:00

In order to reduce typing mistake in customizing CRM Titan's ISV and sitemap XML, we can configure it to use with intellisense in Visual Studio.

Download the latest CRM4 SDk, extract out. we need to make use of sdk\server\schemas
ISV:
Open ISV.xml with VS2008, click browse under schema in properties window goto importexport. Add the file "isv.config.xsd" (for ISV) "customizations.xsd" (for Sitemap)

Use comment function in VS to comment out the tag highlighted (Remember uncomment it before import to CRM)

Now, intellisense is ready to use...

Sitemap:

Configure for sitemap is more easy compare to ISV. (You don't need to comment the default tags)

After open the sitemap.xml in VS, make sure the 2 xsd is added as mentioned above.

Is ready to use now...

Latest CRM4 SDK 4.0.6

2008-09-12T19:34:00.004+08:00

Microsoft Dynamic CRM has released the latest SDK v 4.0.6. Some of the changes:

Get it from HERE

1) The Plug-in walk through in the SDK has been updated to match the readme that is included in the SDK\Walkthroughs folder.

2) The Readme file in the SDK\tools\deployworkflowtool folder has been corrected.

3) Additional sample code has been added in the Scripting Sample Code topic.

4) New content has been added to the URL Addressable Forms topic.

* Credit goes to Amy Langlois

Extend HyperLink Control Usage in ASP.Net

2008-09-09T02:07:00.007+08:00

Code implementation like below [wrapping controls within control] enabled user to control the image size because it is an individual tag. If we need to hide the link base on certain condition,simply set the visibility of "linkNewEmail" to false. Whole hyperlink+image+label will be invisible because it treat as one component.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 issue (Terminate Unexpected)

2008-09-03T20:50:00.017+08:00

Recently I installed the VS2008 SP1 on my development machine, after that I face a strange issue; where I can't add custom web control (right click>choose items), after a while, VS2008 terminate directly.

Problem is cause by the conflict between SP1 and the "Power Commands" tools.
Thanks for the MSDN forum.

Solution: Uninstall the Power Commands tools.

MSCRM4: SoapHeaderAuthenticationProvider showing in custom page

2008-08-30T12:41:00.004+08:00

Recently i try to deploy my custom page into a fresh new installed CRM Titan server.
I hit the SoapHeaderAuthenticationProvider error,message:-

'Microsoft.Crm.WebServices.Crm2007.MultipleOrganizationSoapHeaderAuthenticationProvider,
Microsoft.Crm.WebServices, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' doesn't exist.
Parameter name:
Microsoft.Crm.WebServices.Crm2007.MultipleOrganizationSoapHeaderAuthenticationProvider,
Microsoft.Crm.WebServices, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35

Solution:
Error is cause by one of the MSCRM DLL "Microsoft.Crm.WebServices.dll" does not register under GAC.
Just Drag the DLL to GAC folder solved the problem.

Show Scrollbar on MSCRM Titan for custom page

2008-08-24T04:35:00.020+08:00

Fo those who wish to load custom page clicking the navigation panel. You will found that the custom page loaded in content panel wont show the scrollbar if you make explorer window smaller/page information overload.

Solution :
Use IFRAME to load your custom page. That means your navigation link is link to your IFRAME html page.

Create a html page using the code above. Then change the “src” to your custom page url.

Reload/Refresh parent window from pop up window (dialog window)

2008-08-24T04:00:00.008+08:00

Let say you have a parent window with some information loaded from database, and then you have a link that will prompt a new dialog window base on the selection item on parent window. After you finished editing the data in dialog window, you click save then close. BUT… at the same time you also want parent window to auto refresh in order to show the realtime information/changes you have made. You can achieve this by many methods; AJAX..javascript..codebehind.. In my opinion, I think javascript is the easiest way to achive this. Just fire this javascript function on your dialog window’s close button. Thats all you need to do Just give me a thumb if really help you.

function ReloadParentWindow()
{
if (window.opener && !window.opener.closed)
{
window.opener.location.reload();
self.close();
}
}