Use Shared Data Source for custom CRM report

Recently I have been asked to modify some reports. In my current project we have 4 environments (Development, Training, UAT, and Production) and we have custom reports for each environment. The reports for each environment are different because the data source is different. So the deploy administrator complain about numbers of report. They come and ask me if there is a way to have one report for all environments.

So this is how I managed to do it:

If you have a look the CRM reports in report manager, there is a Data Source call: MSCRM_DataSource
I have noticed that actually all CRM reports use this data source, so why can’t I use it for our custom reports? I think it shouldn’t be a problem.



In Visual Studio, open the report project, Add a Shared Data Sources call: MSCRM_DataSource, it is important to keep it as same as CRM’s.
The connection string just uses the development environment, e.g.: Data Source=crm;Initial Catalog=org_MSCRM



Once finish it, upload the report rdl file by Report Manager, e.g http://crm/reports
Notice that you shouldn't upload it from CRM directly because CRM doesn’t support this technique. (You may get an error if you do it from CRM: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.)

So do it from Report Manager. After I upload the report, it appears in CRM Report area. That's good, however I can't edit the report! The error message is: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.

Microsoft actually has a KB (920125) for this error: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920125. The KB says: "This problem occurs because the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report contains functionalities that are specific to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For example, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Pre-filtering functionality is specific to Microsoft Dynamics CRM."

Ok, I see. I remember the default CRM pre-filtering function is 'modified on' which is a datetime data type. If you upload the report from CRM, the report property may different with what you do from Report Manager.

So where is the pre-filtering values saved? If you open SQL Server Management Studio, expend ReportServer database, take a look the Catalog table. All reports information is saved in this table. I noticed there is a property element for all CRM reports: <ModifiedOnDateTime>2008-03-29T17:59:15</ModifiedOnDateTime>

It is a datetime data type and it doesn’t exist in the custom report! Also I noticed that the <OriginalName> element needs to be added as well to make the CRM Download Report function working properly.

So, this is how I add these elements into the custom report, the SQL query needs to run against the ReportServer database:

DECLARE @ReportName AS varchar(50)
SET @ReportName = 'My CRM Report' -- Change to the report name

DECLARE @ModifiedDate AS datetime
SET @ModifiedDate =(SELECT ModifiedDate FROM Catalog WHERE Name = @ReportName)

UPDATE Catalog
SET Property = REPLACE(CONVERT(varchar(MAX), Property), '</Properties>',
   '<ModifiedOnDateTime>'+ CONVERT(char(19), @ModifiedDate, 126) +'</ModifiedOnDateTime><OriginalName>'+ @ReportName +'.rdl</OriginalName></Properties>')
WHERE (Name = @ReportName)

It works like a dream after run a iisreset on the CRM server. Now I can edit the report without any problem!

By using this technique the advantage is: all environments will share the default CRM data source, developers don’t have to create different copies of report for each environment.

The mysterious CRM Lookup (III)

5. Let's have a look another common used filtered lookup example: I want the regarding field is set to open cases.

a. CRM 3.0

/* set the regarding to open case : Form.onLoad() */
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypes = "112";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypeIcons = "/_imgs/ico_16_112.gif";
 
/* only show the active cases : Form.onLoad() */
if (crmForm.ObjectId != null)
{
  crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookupbrowse = 1;
  crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.additionalparams = "fetchXml="
    + "<fetch mapping='logical'><entity name='incident'><all-attributes /><filter>"
    + "<condition attribute='statecode' operator='eq' value='0' />"
    + "</filter></entity></fetch>";
}

b. CRM 4.0

In 4.0, the above feature is not supported anymore which means not working any more, but we can still use the method which mentioned in my previous post. Set 'statecode' as a find column of the Case Lookup View, then add the following code to the entity's onLoad():

/* set the regarding to open case : Form.onLoad() */
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypes = "112";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypeIcons = "/_imgs/ico_16_112.gif";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.additionalparams = 'search=Active';

All good, now we are changing the requirement to: I want the regarding field is set to open cases which owned by the current user!

Ok, this simple and clean approach will not work for this a little complicated search. We need to build up a fetch query first. It's easy to use advanced find:

Look for: cases
-Status Equals Active
-Owner Equals Current User'

And then click Find, we get results.

Now, how can we get benefit from this Advanced Find and get the FetchXml statements from the query? Thanks Ronald Lemmen who first find a trick, in the result page, paste it in the IE Address Bar:

javascript:prompt("", resultRender.FetchXml.value);

Then you will get a prompt window, the value is the FetchXml statements which we need.

<fetch version="1.0" output-format="xml-platform" mapping="logical" distinct="false"><entity name="incident"><attribute name="title"/><attribute name="ticketnumber"/><attribute name="createdon"/><attribute name="incidentid"/><order attribute="title" descending="false"/><filter type="and"><condition attribute="statecode" operator="eq" value="0"/><condition attribute="ownerid" operator="eq-userid"/></filter></entity></fetch>

Thanks Adi Katz who found a brilliant way to do it, and George modified it slightly. Basicly it overwrites the code-behind function, which I think it could be a risk. However so far so good after three months since it has been first released, I will post updates if it occurs any issue.(There is a supported filtered lookup product from Michael Höhne which is not free but great product.)

You need to modify lookupsingle.aspx file in the path \CRMWeb\_controls\lookup\lookupsingle.aspx
Add the following codes:

 
<script runat="server">
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
    base.OnLoad(e);
    crmGrid.PreRender += new EventHandler(crmGrid_PreRender);
}
void crmGrid_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (crmGrid.Parameters["search"] != null && crmGrid.Parameters["search"].StartsWith("<fetch")) 
    { 
        crmGrid.Parameters.Add("fetchxml", crmGrid.Parameters["search"]);  
        crmGrid.Parameters.Remove("searchvalue");  
        this._showNewButton = false; 
    } 
}
</script>

And then you can filter it from entity's onLoad() just like what we did in CRM 3.0. Notice that we have pasted the FetchXml statements below(fetchStr).

/* set the regarding to open case which owned by current user : Form.onLoad() */
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypes = "112";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypeIcons = "/_imgs/ico_16_112.gif";
 
var fetchStr = "<fetch version="1.0" output-format="xml-platform" mapping="logical" distinct="false"><entity name="incident"><attribute name="title"/><attribute name="ticketnumber"/><attribute name="createdon"/><attribute name="incidentid"/><order attribute="title" descending="false"/><filter type="and"><condition attribute="statecode" operator="eq" value="0"/><condition attribute="ownerid" operator="eq-userid"/></filter></entity></fetch>";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookupbrowse = 1;
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.additionalparams = "search=" + fetchStr;
 

That's it, now we reach the end. :)

The mysterious CRM Lookup (II)

4. Now, how can we set/filter the lookup content? Because CRM3 and CRM4 are so different in lookup, so the solution is different. Let’s see a common example: In the Account record, only show the account owned contacts in the Primary Contact (primarycontactid) lookup.

a. CRM 3.0

/* CRM 3.0: only show account owned contacts in the primarycontactid lookup : Form.onLoad() */
if (crmForm.FormType == 2 && crmForm.ObjectId != null)
{
    crmForm.all.primarycontactid.lookupbrowse = 1;
    crmForm.all.primarycontactid.additionalparams = "fetchXml="
    + "<fetch mapping='logical'><entity name='contact'><all-attributes /><filter>"
    + "<condition attribute='accountid' operator='eq' value='" + crmForm.ObjectId     + "' />"
    + "</filter></entity></fetch>";
}

b. CRM 4.0

As far as I know, there are two unsupported ways to do that. Because we don't need a complicated fetchxml in this case, we so could use the first approach:

1. Customize Contact entity, open Contacts Lookup View, click 'Add Find Column', add the Parent Customer (parentcustomerid), save and publish it.
2. Customize Account entity, put the following code into Form.onLoad() :

/* CRM 4.0: only show account owned contacts in the primarycontactid lookup : Form.onLoad() */
if (crmForm.FormType == 2 && crmForm.ObjectId != null)
{
    var name = crmForm.all.name.DataValue;
    crmForm.all.primarycontactid.additionalparams =  'search=' + name;
}

It's a nice approach which used the 'search' feature of the CRM lookup. When this parameter is specified it defaults the search string in the lookup dialog and applies the search when the dialog is opened.


It's great, now let's change the requirement:
How about: Only show the Parent Account (parentaccountid) owned contacts in the Primary Contact (primarycontactid) lookup.

We still need to repeat step (1), and then in the step (2):

/* CRM 4.0: only show parent account owned contacts in the primarycontactid lookup: Form.onLoad() */
FilterLookup = function(source, target)
{
    if (IsNull(source)  IsNull(target)) { return; }
    var name = IsNull(source.DataValue) ? '' : source.DataValue[0].name;
    target.additionalparams = 'search=' + name;
}

Also, we need to put the following code into parentaccountid.onChange():

/* CRM 4.0: only show parent account owned contacts in the primarycontactid lookup : parentaccountid.onChange() */
FilterLookup(crmForm.all.parentaccountid, crmForm.all.primarycontactid);

It's great too, now how about we add another requirement on the above example:
The Primary Contact (primarycontactid) should be automatically selected when this contact is the primary contact of the selected Parent Account (parentaccountid).

Although we could do it through AJAX, we can also do it through CRM 4.0 lookup field automatic resolutions technique. Thanks for Adi Katz, let's start from begin:

(1) Turn off the Parent Account (parentaccountid) "automatic resolutions in field" feature by double click the field on the Form.
(2) Put the following codes in Account.onLoad():

function OnAfterAccountSelect()
{
    var contactLookup  = crmForm.all.primarycontactid;
    if( contactLookup.DataValue != null ) {return;}
  
    contactLookup.AutoResolve = 1;
    var accountLookup = crmForm.all.parentaccountid;
    primaryContact = accountLookup.items[0].keyValues.primarycontactid;

    contactLookup.SetFocus();
    contactDiv = document.all.primarycontactid_d.getElementsByTagName("DIV")[0];
    contactDiv.innerText = primaryContact.value;
    contactLookup.Lookup( true , true , primaryContact.value , true );
}

function OnCrmPageLoad()
{
    crmForm.all.parentaccountid.attachEvent( "onafterselect" , OnAfterAccountSelect );
}

OnCrmPageLoad();

The second approach which can deal with some complicated conditions will be introduced in the next post. :)

The mysterious CRM Lookup (I)

1. As many of you already know that the CRM lookup field saves the GUID of the related entity. Let's have a deep view of the lookup field. When you create a relationship between two entities, one entity can reference the other entity through a lookup field. However it's not just create one attribute in the database, it means although you can only see one relationship created in CRM interface, there are some invisible attributes for internal/customizer use. Let's see an example, we know that we can reference some values from a lookup fields:

crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.DataValue[0].id;  // The GUID of the lookup.
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.DataValue[0].name;  // The text value of the lookup.
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.DataValue[0].typename;  // The entity type name.

But how CRM get those values? Actually when user open a CRM record, those attributes are downloaded from CRM database to the 'containers' which can be seen from entity's customization.xml, it's a complex structure which I don't want to explain in this post. So when you create a relationship between two entities, the CRM system will create more than 2 'containers'(attributes) in the database to keep other information about the lookup field(e.g. id, typename etc).

2. Set the default value for a lookup field, let's take a look at the special lookup field again: regardingobjectid
In many cases, the regardingobjectid is default to Account, but how can we change the default value to Contact?

In the onLoad() event, you can set the default attributes by using setAttribute method which is unsupported by Microsoft, however it's a standard XML DOM method.

Let's see some examples:

crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.setAttribute("lookuptypes", "1,2");  //only show account and contact
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.setAttribute("lookuptypeIcons", "/_imgs/ico_16_1.gif :/_imgs/ico_16_2.gif");  //set the icons
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.setAttribute("defaulttype", "2");  //default to contact

Instead of using setAttribute method, you can also use CRM method directly:

crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypes = "1,2";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.lookuptypeIcons = "/_imgs/ico_16_1.gif:/_imgs/ico_16_2.gif";
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.defaulttype = "2"; 

3. If you have a look of the URL when you open a lookup window, you may see how CRM calls a lookup:

/lookupsingle.aspx?class=ActivityRegarding&objecttypes=1,2,3,4&browse=0&ShowNewButton=1&ShowPropButton=1&DefaultType=0

lookupsingle.aspx has some parameters which can be referenced by our developers, those parameters are:

Objecttypes : Entity code, e.g. Objecttypes = "1, 2" //show account and contact
DefaultType : the default lookup entity, e.g. DefaultType = "2" //default to contact
Browse : bool, 0 = show the "Look for" bar; 1 = browse model, hide the "Look for " bar.
ShowNewButton : bool, 0 = hide the "New" button; 1 = show the "New" button.
ShowPropButton : bool, 0 = hide the "Properties" button; 1 = show the "Properties" button.

In an IFRAME or a ISV solution, if you don't want users to see the 'New' Button, you can just set the URL to:
/lookupsingle.aspx?class=ActivityRegarding&objecttypes=1,2,3,4&browse=0&ShowNewButton=0&ShowPropButton=1&DefaultType=0

It's cool so far! But how about if want to hide the 'New' button in CRM?
You can't just say: crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.ShowNewButton = 0; it doesn't work. But what you can do is in the onLoad() event, use attachEvent method to attach a setadditionalparams event for the regardingobjectid. Again, those methods are all unsupported customisations, however, those are widely used in the Web development.

/*
    Function: show/hide the 'New' button of lookup
    bShow = 0 : hide the New Button
    bShow = 1 : show the New Buton
*/
function NewButton(bShow)
{
    return function()
    {
        crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.AddParam("ShowNewButton", bShow);
    }
}
crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.attachEvent("setadditionalparams",NewButton(0));