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March 31
Custom entity creation
by  Ksenia ChiginaNo presence information  on 3/31/2010 12:40 PM

Let’s  consider how to create new custom entity. It is a pretty simple operation.

Go to Setting -> Customization ->Customize entity. Click New button.


Fill the General page out to meet you requirements.


In my case I called new entity Custom entity and marked appropriate check boxes.

Custom entity creation

In the Primary Attribute tab you can set the primary attribute name and type. By default there is Name field.

After saving the form, go to Attributes section and create new attributes that you need.

I’ve created City, Phone, Country and Due date attributes.

The attributes types were explained in the previous post.

Also, for a change, I’ve created Contact Person lookup windows related with Contact entity. See the next post to learn how to create relationships between entities.

Then go to Forms and Views section, Click Form. Here you can add new attributes, section and tab as was explained in the previous post.Custom entity creation



So, almost everything is done. Do not forget to publish. Now I can see my new entity where I’ve marked-in the Workplace and the Marketing Area.Custom entity creation



Click New button and see new custom entity record the way you have created it.

Custom entity creation
  

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March 30
Entity relationships
by  Ksenia ChiginaNo presence information  on 3/30/2010 3:39 PM

Return to Entity Customizations. Within customized entity form you can see relationships options.

What are they?

These options determine the relationships between the selected entity you customize now and other entities which you want to set relations with.

There are 3 types of relationships:

1:N relationships (one to many)

N:1 relationships (many to one)

N:N relationships (many to many)

Let’s see the difference.


1:N relationships.

Using this type of relationship you select related entity. The related entity records are reflected in the selected display area in primary entity record.

Entity relationships
In this case you can select multiple related records. In my example I will create the 1:N between Contact and Custom entity, created before.

See how it will look in practice.

Entity relationships
N:1 relationships

Opposite to 1:N is N:1 relationship. Here you should set the primary entity. Also put Display Name you want to see within entity record and set other options.

Entity relationships 

This kind of relationship is presented in the lookup window form. After it was created go to Form and Views -> Form and set this lookup field within record form. Do not forget to publish changes.

See how it will look in practice.

Entity relationships

As you can understand these types of relationship are two sides of one coin.

For example I have created 1:N relationship in Contact considering that Contact is primary entity and Custom entity is related entity. When you open Custom entity N:1 relationships you see automatically created relationship between Contact  and Custom entity, where Contact is primary entity and Custom entity is related entity.


Relationship behavior.

Working with N:1 and 1:N relationships, you can set Cascading Rules in the Relationship Behavior section.

Use Type of Behavior drop-down list. There are 4 options.

The first three options are permanent, and the last option, Configurable Cascading, let you to configure the cascading manually for each operation (Assign, Share, Unshare, Reparent, Delete, and Merge)


Mapping.

Also using these types of relationships (N:1 and 1:N) you can set attribute mapping.

This function lets you to automatically populate certain fields of the related records. You can use Generate Mapping button or do it manually by creating new attribute mapping.

Entity relationships

  In my example I’ve created for City and Phone new mappings between Contact and Custom entity. Then if I populate City and Phone fields within Contact record and then create new Custom entity record from Contact record I will have City and Phone attributes already populated.

Entity relationships 

N:N relationships.

Using this type you create direct relationship between selected records. There are no primary or related entities. In this case you can select multiple records in both interconnected entities.

Just set other entity, display option and display area.

Entity relationships

Here is an example of N:N relationships between Account and Custom entity:

See Accounts in the Custom entity record.


Entity relationships

See Custom entities in the Account Record

Entity relationships

 

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March 12
CRM Entity Form Customization
by  Ksenia ChiginaNo presence information  on 3/12/2010 2:45 PM
One of the most valuable advantages of CRM is its flexibility. The system can be modified to meet any company requirements.

In this post let’s consider how you can modify entity form for your convenience.

Go to Setting -> Customization ->Customize entity. Choose the entity you want to modify.

If you what to create new or edit existing field navigate to Attributes section.

 CRM Entity Form Customization



To edit existing field just click it, and see what properties you can change, every attribute type has different allowed properties.

To create new attribute click New button on the top bar menu. Name new attribute, add description if necessary, and choose type.

 

CRM Entity Form Customization

Here is a short description of these types assignment:


nvarchar—Used for small texts or strings

pcklist—Used for drop-downs or combo boxes, with a limited set of fixed options   

bit—Used for Boolean values such as yes or no

int—Used for numbers

float—Used for numbers with decimals (similar to float but with larger precision [up to 10])

money—Used for amounts

ntext—Used for large texts or strings

datetime—Used for dates


After creating and saving required attributes navigate to Forms and Views section, click Form.

Choose certain tab and section where you want to add custom attributes.

Also you can create custom Section and Tab.

Let's consider this example.

Find Add a Tab button in the right-side toolbar and click it.

Name the Tab. Then click Add a Section button in the right-side toolbar. Name it and set required configuration.

To add the attributes click Add Fields and select the attributes you need.

In my example they are Test, Picklist, Boolean and Date custom attributes.

 

CRM Entity Form Customization

Using the arrows you can swap the attributes, section and tabs.

 

CRM Entity Form Customization

To see how all these changes will appear, use Preview function on the top bar menu.

Then Save and Close this form. Don’t forget to Publish the changes.

To see how it will work les’s go to certain entity area and open any existing record or try to create a new one.

 

CRM Entity Form Customization

New tab, section and attributes are within the entity form.

This was an example of simple entity form customization.

Make your CRM process more quick and convenient with this customization function!


 

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March 11
CRM Custom View Creation
by  Ksenia ChiginaNo presence information  on 3/11/2010 11:15 AM
The next step of our CRM customization is the simple customization through CRM settings. With it you can easily set forms, views and attributes of the entities for them to meet your company requirements. To begin with, let's watch the creation of an entity view. Entity view is the quickest way to get a list of certain entities records in 1 click. Pretty often CRM user needs to use some special entity records view.

To get this done go to Setting -> Customization ->Customize entity. Choose the entity you want to create custom view for. Go to forms and views section, click new.

In the new window put name and description of the new view, click OK

The next step is filter creation.

Find Edit Filter Criteria button in the right-side toolbar and click it.

Here you can choose the criteria required for your view, also you can use “AND” and “OR” operators for the filter. 

After completing the filter, choose the records columns you what to watch within your view.

Click Add Columns button at the right-side tool bar.

Check the columns that are planned to be in your view and click OK.

Using the arrows you can swap the columns.

 

After the work is done click Save and Close. Don’t forget to Publish this view.

If you want to have this view as a default view, highlight it and click More Actions, then select Set default

Now we can check it in action. Go to entity area, select the view that you have created and see the records list that should correspond to your specified requirements.

 

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February 21
The personal workplace customization
by  Ksenia ChiginaNo presence information  on 2/21/2010 3:40 PM
Let's start our meeting with CRM customization from personalization of your workplace.

To make your workplace more convenient and agreeable you should direct Options from the Tools drop-down menu or select the Personalize Workplace link found on the near navigation.

Note that all settings changes on this page are applicable for your profile only and doesn't reflect to work of others users.

On the General Tab you can set the general layout, view and options.

pic.png

Use Default Pane to choose default area, which you will see first when CRM opens, after it you can choose Default Tab.

Amount of Records Per Page is ranged between 25 and 250. Choose the number of records that will display on any records list.

The next option on the General tab is Advanced Find Mode . You can select between Simple and Detailed modes.  Simple mode doesn't display the filter, on the contrary Detailed mode shows and lets you modify the filter options.

Using the Time Zone you can select and set the time zone for your area or region. It may be different than where the server is located.

Default Currency enables you to select which Currency should be set as the default Currency when new records are created.

 

In Workplace tab you can select what work area you want to have in your near navigation.

 

 

 

With Activity options you can set the default view for the calendar to day, week, or month, and you also can set the default work hours.

 

 

 

In formats area you can select the formats of numeric data. Also you have an opportunity to specify your region and make more detailed changes.

 

 

 In the E-mail Templates section you can manage your personal E-mail Templates, you can create, edit and  promote them to the Organizational level.

 

 

 

E-mail setting the configuration allows the E-mail Router to Send and Receive E-mail on Your Behalf enables Microsoft Dynamics CRM to send E-mails directly from CRM with your credentials. You also can determine how E-mail messages are tracked in Microsoft Dynamics CRM here.

 

With Privacy you can set how to send error information to Microsoft related to problems with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

 

 Using the Languages setting, you can set the User Interface and Help language.

The available languages for that target are only your admin had installed and made active.

 

Hope this makes your CRM work more fast and efficient.

 

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January 26
New version of Global Search for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
by  Alexander ProninNo presence information  on 1/26/2010 1:15 PM

​We are pleased to announce the availability of Global Search version 2.0 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
Akvelon Global Search v.2.0 takes a new approach for searching data in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It gives rise to improve search performance (up to 10 times faster). New version of Global Search supports full integration with CRM  including multiple organizations and eliminating the need to create any separate virtual directories. That integration permits Global Search v.2.0 to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM authentication, therefore users don’t need to use any additional authentication.

Our developers not only fixed many bugs in new version of Global Search, but also  improved usability and functionality, such as:
- Full support of custom entities search
- Support of hosted CRM scenarios
- Ability to assign user groups that have access to Global Search
- Settings to configure maximum number of found records

“Akvelon is pleased to unveil the latest version of Global Search,” stated Akvelon CEO Sergei Dreizin. “We have worked hard to make Global Search a real value to Dynamics users, and v2.0 reflects that dedication. We appreciate our customers who have embraced Global Search and look forward to continuing to meet their CRM needs.”

With new Global Search for Microsoft Dynamics CRM you can search custom entities much faster, use app for multiple organizations, configure maximum number of found records and some more. We hope you enjoy our latest release.

Download trial version of Global Search v. 2.0  for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
You also can try Global Search v.2.0 online.

P.S. Our team already works on new version of Global Search (V.3.0). We are going to improve performance, usability and functionality in new release. To be continued...

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