When designing or re-designing JavaScript Web Resources, there are a few practices that I like to follow: One web resource per entity Create one resource for each entity. This resource will contain JavaScript functionality related specifically to that entity. One web resource per entity ribbon If you have JavaScript called from Ribbon configuration […]
Continue readingHere is a fairly typical view of the function tree of a Dynamics CRM 4.0 organization for the Account entity: As you can see, we have our OnLoad function with various functions embedded within it. This was done so that those functions would be available later, to other functions, such as the OnChange […]
Continue readingOne of the best practices a Dynamics CRM developer can follow is to use Visual Studio to edit your JavaScript. Combine the basic functionality with an add-in like Resharper, and you have a very productive development environment. Here’s why: Intellisense Visual Studio provides both intellisense and the ability to visually identify coding errors. This alone […]
Continue readingAfter you get your development up and running, one of the first things you need to do is to convert your JavaScript code-base from the Dynamics CRM 4.0 object model to the CRM 2011 object model. Let us review that process: Tools If you are not in the mood to convert all of your […]
Continue readingUpgrading your Dynamics CRM organization from version 4.0 to anything newer can be a lot of work. The amount of work will depend on how much custom code (JavaScript and Plugins) that you have installed. This is where having a test environment pays for the time and money it takes to create it. When the […]
Continue readingThe .title property in JavaScript is used by Dynamics CRM 4.0 to display a tool tip when you hover a mouse over the field. Here is an example: crmForm.all.new_name_c.title = "Please validate their legal name."; Unfortunately, there is no equivalent within Dynamics CRM 2011 so an alternative will need to be investigated. […]
Continue readingThere are certain cases where it is necessary to customize the CRM user interface to perform a specific action or to inform the user of a specific condition or alert, or whatever. This was mainly accomplished by changing the .style property of a field. Such actions were totally unsupported in CRM 4.0 and remain so […]
Continue readingThe use of the JavaScript method eval is considered to be bad coding practice by most of the JavaScript Technorati. That doesn’t stop people from using it, and it makes automatic conversion verify difficult. Consider this code: this.FieldName1 = "name"; eval(‘this.Field1 = crmForm.all.’ + this.FieldName1); While I will not debate the merits of […]
Continue readingConsider this code segment: var oField = executionObj.getEventSource(); if (oField.id == “new_field1” || oField.id == “new_field2”) { // do something } This uses the JavaScript .id property to retrieve the field name. Since this type of code can represent both form controls as well as data items (from SOAP or REST calls), it would be […]
Continue readingThe recording today’s webinar is now up: http://www.xrmvirtual.com/events/javascript_upgrade_crm2011_Mitch_Milam Here are the main talking points from today’s meeting: Strategies: Here are the strategies I follow when performing an upgrade from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011: #1: Create a test environment #2: Upgrade your object model #3: Use Visual Studio (with add-ins) #4: Reorganize your functions #5: […]
Continue readingIn Dynamics CRM 4.0, you could use an unsupported internal function to create the value to be inserted into a Lookup control. The code would look something like this: var lookupItem = new Array(); lookupItem[0] = new LookupControlItem(“{3A6C1B06-C62F-DC11-AFC2-0019B9B20373}”, 1, “A Sales Store 3”); crmForm.all.pricelevelid.DataValue = lookupItem; This function still exists in Dynamics CRM 2011 […]
Continue readingOccasionally I will run into JavaScript that was added to a form to provide functionality desirable by the business. I have seen several instances where code such as this: if (crmForm.all.emailaddress1 != null) { crmForm.all.emailaddress1.ondblclick = function () { var email = crmForm.all.emailaddress1.DataValue; if ((email != null) && (email.length > 0)) { window.navigate(“mailto:” + […]
Continue readingOne of the most difficult parts of converting JavaScript from CRM 4.0 to 2011 is handling situations where the developer did not use a terminating semicolon. Actually, this is a problem with JavaScript in general, as I was reminded this week when I listened to the Drama episode of the This Developer’s Life podcast. That […]
Continue readingDuring my recent JavaScript Conversion discussions webinar I showed a list of Supported and Unsupported keywords. I’ve created a page so that you can view them without having to download the webinar support materials. If you run into something that is not on either of these lists, I would really appreciate it if you could […]
Continue readingJavaScript Conversion Discussions Webinar (September, 2012) We’ll discussed the technical aspects of converting your JavaScript from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011, as well as the processes that will aid in the overall upgrade process. Tools to Help Your Conversion: JavaScript Converter http://dynamicsxrmtools.codeplex.com CRM JavaScript Conversion Assistant http://www.crmaccelerators.net/products/crm-migration-assistant-2 CRM Code Validation Tool http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2012/06/21/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-custom-code-validation-tool-released.aspx […]
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