Full disclosure, I received a free license from the authors of the tool.  However, I do believe it’s definitely worth the license fee . I’ve been using the CRM Solution Manager add in for Visual Studio quite a bit lately.  I’ve grown fond of using it over the Developer Toolkit for web resource...

Here’s a little tip that, as I speak with customers/partners, I’m discovering isn’t well known.  I will show you how to leverage features of the import process to the fact that import process allows you to build your entities much faster in Dynamic CRM 2011.  It is one approach, but I would...

With Dynamics CRM 2011, there are many ways to get the same task done when you are customizing your solution.  However, what prefix is used depends on where you came from.  Let’s take the scenario of creating an entity.  If you are working in the Default Solution , then you probably have...

As many of you know, the CRM 2011 UI leverages more “in browser” processing.  Because of this, CRM 2011 will perform better when using the latest version of Internet Explorer (currently IE9) because of IE’s advances in performance through hardware acceleration.  Simply put, CRM 2011 runs best...

I am a big fan of each the One Organization per Developer approach to team development with Dynamics CRM 2011.  Additionally, I think every CRM developer should have their own isolated development environment (just like most traditional development environments).  Some of the benefits: … read...

I’ve updated the sample I started here by implementing Create Update and Delete methods.  The library is still not complete or well tested, but it is at least a head start to building a CRUD capable Windows 8 Metro style application using the CRM 2011 OData (aka Organization Data) service. ...

What people often call the CRM 2011 REST Service or Organization Data Service is an OData service. … read more …

If you are connecting to CRM Online with a Live ID, you need to register a Device ID and Device Password when using the organization service from an outside caller.  I walk through this in my Connecting to CRM Online from an outside caller post.  Thanks to some internal discussions with folks...

There are a few blog posts out there, but the ones I’ve found don’t take you it step by step.  I will, however, make assumptions like you know how to create an entity, etc.  Here goes… … read more …

Scenario: “I want to make calls to CRM from an ASP.NET page, .NET middle tier code, etc.  How do I do it with CRM Online?” Simple answer right?  Maybe for the persistent developer who is happy to reverse engineer the steps from the SDK documentation.  However, I have to say the SDK doesn...

Now and then, I hear from users that don’t like the fact that CRM loads screens in distinct windows in certain scenarios.  I can understand how these windows can get a little daunting if you have too many open and are switching context between multiple windows on your desktop.  However, this...

Scenario: “I have an entity with a field of type ‘Two Options’ that I would like to populate within a ‘Create Record’ activity in a CRM 2011 dialog.   The ‘Two Options’ type in CRM 2011 is a boolean.  The ‘Prompt and Response’ activity in a CRM 2011 dialog only gives me options for Text...

I’ve been going through a bunch of CRM integration scenarios to refresh my “hands on” abilities.  You have to do that in a job like mine, otherwise you’re just a talking head that doesn’t know what you’re talking about .  Anyway, the topic of integrating CRM with SharePoint beyond what’s available...

It’s been a while since I had to do it.  However, as I’ve started to need to tweak FetchXML after I’ve gotten it using my little trick , I was doing things the hard way.  I was looking at the FetchXML reference on MSDN.  Then I had that “DUH” moment.  Just point to the FetchXML schema...

Scenario: “I want to move to CRM Online, but I wrote all my SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) using the SQL Data Source.  How do I convert them to use FetchXML?” … read more …

It’s exciting times for web developers.  Many of the hoops we used to have to jump through are being eliminated as more browsers support more of the HTML5 spec and more people are using modern browsers.  One of the things that has me excited is Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) .  ...

DISCLAIMER: This post is not official guidance from Microsoft.  It’s the thoughts and opinion of one guy who has been spending a fair amount of time talking to customers and partners about what I’ve been calling the “Design for Online” principles.  These are just my “brain dump” notes of what...

I’ve created a presentation version of my CRM Online myth busters post.  The goal of the deck is the same as the post, which is to share common misconceptions I run into about CRM Online when speaking with folks.  The presentation is geared towards those who aren’t interested in the technical...

Example scenarios: “I have a a field in an entity.  After deploying a managed solution to production, we decided we don’t need that field any longer.  I removed it from my development environment.  When I deploy an updated version of managed solution in production, the old field is still...

GOAL: Simplify referencing JavaScript libraries from CRM forms for code-centric developer types like me. I have always been a fan of “code beside” JavaScript files that contain all my main code for a corresponding HTML page.  For example, if I have a page called hello.htm , then I will have a file...

“I am building a solution using CRM 2011, but I need to migrate a significant amount of data from an existing system.  The Import Data wizard in the CRM 211 UI doesn’t meet my needs due to the amount of data and the logic necessary to transform the data from the source system into the destination...

“Can I get the the integration the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 List Component for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides to work with SharePoint Online when my CRM 2011 deployment is OnPrem (i.e. installed inside my organizations private network or somewhere else that’s not CRM Online)?” The answer...

NOTE: This is a copy/paste/minor tweak of an email invite I got from someone on my team. The Microsoft Dynamics® CRM User Group (CRMUG) has monthly open forum discussions of Dynamics CRM issues facing Public Sector organizations today. The next web meeting will take place Thursday, May 3 rd 2012 at 1pm...

I have a had a number of people about how to effectively use the Solutions capability of CRM 2011.  It has reminded me of great recorded webcast I found out about through conversation I had in an internal email discussion … read more …

Scenario: “We, conceptually, have two ‘apps’ within a single Dynamics CRM organization.  The ‘apps’ share a common set of entities such as Contacts.  We want to control which ‘apps’ show up in the Dynamics CRM navigation Area for a given user based on Security Roles.  The user has rights...