Here are a few notes I’ve collected while working with a Dynamics CRM project involving dialog processes:
Required Fields
There is not a feature to allow a dialog field to be required, Dynamics CRM Tip of the Day, Tip #391: Mandatory fields in dialogs discusses a possible work around.
Float Data Field
One of the possible data entry types is a floating point number, which has five decimal places to the right of the period. Unfortunately, there is no way to change the number of decimal places, so we’re stuck with showing the users all five.
Option Set Field
OptionSets have a few things going for them that make them fairly cool to use, but also have some restrictions.
- An OptionSet can be displayed as a normal drop-down or a series of radio buttons.
- There seems to be no way to extract the contents of an existing OptionSet field for inclusion in a dialog so you must manually replicate the contents of the existing OptionSet field. This makes for a secondary maintenance point should you need to change or alter the values of an OptionSet.
- There is no default value for an OptionSet. Instead, just put the default value at the top of the list.
- The final thing that is rather cool about OptionSets is the ability to define, and later use, a CRM Data Query to extract a list using a FetchXml query.
Two Option Field
There is no Two Option field, so you will need to create your own using a OptionSet, formatted as either a drop-down or two radio buttons.
Lookup Field
Configuring a lookup field can be a little bit different than you expect. Read Leon Tribe’s article: Dialog Lookup Values For Common Entities for more information and some pointers.
Field Tips
Each field has a Tip property associated with it which will allow you to display additional information or instructions to the user. I can see this coming in handy.
Page Names
Even though we have the ability to break our dialog into pages, and give each page a name, that name doesn’t seem to display anywhere. But it would be nice if it did.
Conclusion
I have honestly avoided dialogs because they seemed so rudimentary and also do not seem to have been shown much love since they were released in Dynamics CRM 2011, but they do have their uses and if the CRM team could carve out a little time to correct some of the shortcomings, then they would prove quite useful. Until then there are always third-parties like TK Dialogs.