Wednesday, May 16, 2007

CRM Customization

This post is about a short term work done on MSCRM. Customizing the reports for CRM.

let me walkthrough various terms I am going to discuss in this post

MSCRM:
set up CRM server with organization name as the name of the server.
it can be accessed by http://organizationname/loader.aspx
The referances to various view can be obtained by chceking the mappings and attributes in CRM->Settings
The drilldown reports to be placed under Hidden reports section of CRM. To acieve this, the selection for the type of reports to be empty.Otherwise the respective classification under which the report appears can be placed like Marketing, Sales, Services reports.
Also the respectives views include needs to be referred during importing the report onto CRM. Example:Account, Campaign Response, Campaigns, service appointment, activities, Meter, Oppurtunities etc.
MSCRM customization:
import customizatons pertaining to the organization. this can be done by settings->import customization->import the referred file. The new changes made is refelected by new_() in database tables and respective fields in tables.
To design the default filter, one need to specify its Aliasing Filter for a particular View (Example:FilteredAccount) while writing the query for the report.
SSRS Reports:
The reports can be activated for drill down by selecting the properties->data tab->Edit (in values section) ->Action->Jump to report.
Reports exported to CRM:
The reports were produced using SSRS. The parameters in the "where" condition of query in SSRS will themself become select clauses at runtime.
Global Variables for CRM:
CRM global level variables are to be declared using "CRM_". Typical examples include
CRM_URL == for drilldown.
CRM_FilterText == for getting the filtered values on to the reports.
CRM_SortField == for sorting
CRM_SortDirection == sort direction (Ascending/Descending)
Defining the sort direction for tabular reports:
The following is code for getting the arrow in the table header and implementing the same for sorting. Report -> Report Properties -> Code

Function GetArrow(SortField As String, SortColumn As String, SortDirection As String)As String
If
SortField = SortColumn
then if
SortDirection ="Ascending"
then
Return "D"
Else
Return "Ñ"
End If
Else
Return ""
End If
End Function
The following is code for table details for get refreshed while sorting
=IIF(IsNothing(Parameters!CRM_URL.Value),Nothing,Parameters!CRM_URL.Value & "?ID={"&Fields!myTabledetailName.Value.ToString()&"}&OTC=4400")

Navigation between Excel Workbook/Worksheet


The other day sekhar was referring to similar issue of organizing his activities during his trip. Then comes the issue of managing his various Excel workbooks and worksheets.

Below is the procedure for Navigation – Excel 2007.

1. In sourcebk1, select cell you want to link to destbk1.
2. Find the "Hyperlink" button in "Insert" ribbon, select the same.
a. Case 1: Navigation between workbooks (sourcebk1, destbk1)
1. Select Existing File or Page in the opened window
2. Select the required destination file.
3. Press Ok button
b. Case 2: Navigation between worksheets in same workbook.
1. Select Place in this referance with the cell to be referred.
2. Select required destination worksheet
3. Click Ok button.
Its as simple as playing with a page and work is done ......

Monday, May 14, 2007

workflow development in sharepoint 2007 using Visual Studio

I happened to attend to Suneetha's issue on workflow. I discovered it as a potential source of information to know more about what I am missing to know about integrating what i learnt differently. Though her issue was related to debugging workflow.. Its truly worth knowing everything about it.

When I was in ERS (Evangelism Rhythmic Services), I used to work on Windows Workflow Foundation with Visual Studio(default) and Sharepoint with integration with Visual Studio for custom webparts.

I feel the following links gives an immense information about the topic.
Workflow Development in Visual Studio 2005: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms461324.aspx
Debug Your Windows SharePoint Services Workflow: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms455354.aspx

Thanks to Eilene Hao, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation for such an wonderfull presentation. One can also find the same in link below.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032301596&CountryCode=US