Rich Text Editor Control in MS CRM 365

While working with MS CRM 365 we all have used multiline text field as per the requirement, but it is plain text kind of field we can thers is no provision to format the text which we enteteres in this field. Microsoft has introduced Rich Text Editor Control in 2020 release wave 2 to incoporate the formating multi line text field.

Here are the details how we can use the Rich Text Editor Control in MS CRM 365-

1. Go to the Multiple Lines of Text field, in this case, Description field.
select the inner control and click on Properties

2. Now, look for Controls tab and click on Add Control as shown below

3. Look for Rich Text Editor Control

4. Make sure you select the new Control on all formats (or wherever you want to apply)

5. Once you apply changes and publish, the new Control will be available for you to use.

Add the default value of the datetime field in SQL server

It is very common requirement while development that in SQL Server we have to insert current date and time on particular column like Record Created Date.

To fullfill this kind of requirement, there is a provision in SQL Server i.e. Default Value or Binding property, if we use this property then we dont need to provide date time value explicitly while inserting the record.

This can also be done through the SSMS GUI.

1. Put your table in design view (Right click on table in object explorer->Design)
2. Add a column to the table (or click on the column you want to update if it already exists)
3. In Column Properties, enter (getdate()) in Default Value or Binding field as pictured below

Why only Sandbox mode in MS CRM 365 Online version

Recently I have been asked, Why we can register the plugin only in Sandbox mode in MS CRM 365 online version? Well I am sure most of you are also having same kind of question in your mind.

First of all lets understand what is Sandbox mode -

So basically Sandbox mode is introduced which can be use for Testing or Isolated environment where untested code will deployed to test. It can be used in Information Security as well.

When we use Sandbox mode for development it applies filters or we can say some restrictions like-

1. Only HTTP and HTTPS protocols are allowed

2. You should use named web address that means IP address not allowed.

3. No system/server registry access in Sandbox mode

4. Cant access local file system

5. Localhost access is not allowed.

6. External DLL access and also can't access the DLL which are registered in GAC.

This will be helpful in stopping the malicious code to execute in the local System of the Server. This enhances the system security levels.

Hope this will help

Sandbox Vs Production Instance in D365

While working with D365 we have to deal with different instances of the organizations or we can say we have different environments while development and testing and there is different type of instance when we put it on production-

Basically there are two type of instance available in D365-

1. Production Instance 

2. Sandbox Instance

Lets discuss about both the instances in brief here-

Production Instance :

An Instance of type ‘Production’ is considered as your LIVE environment which was made available to your end users.

You cannot perform some admin actions on your Production instances.

For example, you cannot reset the instance and you cannot copy an instance to another Production instance.

You cannot set ‘Admin Mode’ on your production instances.

If you subscribe CRM 30 days trail, you will get ‘Production’ instance by default. You can change the ‘Instance Type’ to ‘Sandbox’ by using ‘Edit’ option.

Sandbox Instance:

A Sandbox instance is the place to safely develop and test your application changes with low risk.

A Sandbox instance type can be your test instance or UAT.

As an example, you can Reset (i.e., Becomes Vanilla)/Copy/Delete your sandbox instance.

In ‘Sandbox’, its easy to replicate your Production instance by using ‘Copy’ feature.

You can set ‘Admin Mode’.

Managed Vs Unmanaged solutions Dynamics 365

First of all lets understand what is the Solution

In Dynamics 365 solutions are leveraged to transport apps and components from one organization to another or to apply a set of customizations to existing apps. 

A solution can contain one or more apps as well as other components such as site maps, entities, processes, web resources, option sets, and more. 

So basically a solution is a file that you can import in to an environment as an app or to apply a set of customizations to an existing app.

Now lets understand what is Managed and Unmanaged Solution-

Managed Solutions
Managed solutions can modify the system solution components and add new components. If multiple managed solutions are installed, the first one installed is below the managed solution installed later. This means that the second solution installed can customize the one installed before it. When two managed solutions have conflicting definitions, the general rule is “Last one wins." If you uninstall a managed solution, the managed solution below it takes effect. If you uninstall all managed solution, the default behavior defined within the system solution is applied.

Unmanaged Solutions

When you import an unmanaged solution, you add all the components of that solution into your default solution. You can’t delete the components by uninstalling the solution.

When you import an unmanaged solution that contains solution components that you have already customized, your customizations will be overwritten by the customizations in the unmanaged solution. You can’t undo this

Even if you don’t plan on distributing your solution, you might want to create and use an unmanaged solution to have a separate view that only includes those parts of the application that you have customized. Whenever you customize something, just add it to the unmanaged solution that you created.

Workflow not appearing in Workflow Profiler in Plugin Registration Tool

Recently I was trying to debug the Custom Workflow Activity to rectify the logical errors, but when I was trying to select my workflow in drop down list of profiler in which I have use my custom Activity, and is was not listed there. I thought may be my workflow is not active in this case but I found that activated when I checked it.

When I tried to search the cause for why the workflow is not appearing in profile of plugin registration tool and found that - 

Make sure the user with whom you have logged in to Plugin Registration Tool and the the owner of the workflow, should be the same person. Otherwise the workflow won’t simply appear in the ‘Profile Workflow’ list.

Portal for MS CRM 365 On-Premise

Currently we are working with MS CRM 365 On-Premise and there is a requirement came from the client to develop a portal for the Customer as well as Vendors. We have heard about the MS CRM 365 Portal option which we can enable and design portal as per the requirement.

As we are using On-Premise we knew that we can have option of Adx-Portal where we would require the valid license, although tried to search and found that Microsoft release the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Portals Source Code, the download contains the self-hosted Portals which are available for Dynamics 365 On-Premise. This will allow you to customize the portals per your requirements and deploy then to Dynamics 365 (On-Premise) as well as Dynamics 365 (Online).

The portals are compatible with the Online and On-Premise version 8.1 and later. The important thing to note is that this source code is provided to customers that are unable to deploy portals in an online environment, and are willing to maintain the portals code internally. Microsoft is not planning on supporting this code, which is also why it is provided under the open source license, and at the point of writing this, there are not acknowledgements of whether or not this will be supported in the future.

The download contains the solution files, the source code and the deployment instructions of the source code. The integration with the Portals web application can be implemented using an internal/organizational IIS server or using Microsoft Azure.

You can download the portals from the following link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55789.

You can configure the Portal for your organization with the help of deployment instructions document provided and use the open source portal. 

Hope this information will helpful.