If you are interested in this solution, you can download the following:

• Managed Solution (this is the only thing you need)
• Unmanaged Solution (in case you want to modify mine, like add grid support, it is on my to-do list)
• Source Code (this is in case you would prefer to use a WCF service or if you just want to play around with my code)

Once you’ve installed the managed solution, you’ll need to do the following to create / setup an InfoPath form:

1. For this particular InfoPath integration, you need to create InfoPath Forms that mirror a CRM Entity.
   Note: You can always create a new entity for the form data.

   

2. Rename the default form Group to the name of the entity (ex: Contact)

   

3. Inside CRM create the InfoPath form (it is an entity included in the solution), select the entity and save the form.

   

4. Once it has been saved, you can copy the ID using the “Copy ID” link in the header.
   
   Note: If you do not select the Allow Any CRM Field checkbox, you will need to add the individual Fields, which can be found in the left navigation.

5. In the InfoPath Form Designer, add a field named SubmissionCode with the Default Value as the ID you just copied.
   
   Note: Using the submission code allows us to check and see if the form is valid, active, and allowed.

   

6. Add a field for each of the fields in CRM that you want to be available, selecting the appropriate data type.
   
   Note: Unfortunately I have not had the time to test the fields and have been using the checkbox on the infopath form record to enable any/all CRM fields. However, I did not want to delay releasing the code and information as it currently is. If someone identifies a problem with this or any other section of the code, I’ll be happy to look into it and work on resolving the issue.

   

7. Layout the fields on the form, then click File > Submit Options > To Email

   

8. Enter the Queue email or where you want new forms to be submitted.

   

9. Click Next.

   

10. Click Finish.

    

11. Save and close the form designer.

12. Open the form and test submission.

    

Once the email comes into CRM, the process of reading the form is easy; you just open it up and click the Import InfoPath button on the ribbon.

Usually I would post the source-code and comment on how it works in great detail, but this time, it really depends on which component. There is a plugin and WCF service written in C# as well as two Jscript files, one for the buttons and one for the InfoPath form inside CRM that creates a drop-down of the entities in CRM. I would suggest downloading the unmanaged solution and source-code if you want to delve into those items.

Now, for complex situations or form conversions, binding the InfoPath schema is the way to go. Using that method (the one described in detail on Philo’s Weblog) you can import the InfoPath form schema into Visual Studio:

1. Create an InfoPath form and lay it out the way you want it.
2. Extract the form files (File | Extract Form Files) to a location you can find later.
3. Close the InfoPath form designer.
4. Open the Visual Studio command prompt.
5. Change to the directory where you extracted the files
   cd c:\myinfopathfiles
   
6. Run xsd against the myschema.xsd in that directory, and specify the namespace you would like to use.
   Note: My WCF namespace is CrmInfoPathService and my plugin namespace is InfoPathPlugin.
   xsd.exe myschema.xsd /classes /l:cs /n:InfoPathPlugin
   
7. Then you can deserialize the xml into the object and store it in CRM or any other system using the logic embedded in your code.

The key point to my solution was not to do something that everyone does on occasion, but to make something so that I can leverage it in the future and not have to create a new integration every time I wanted to leverage a new form. Now, on that note, here are the list of things that if you delve into, I’d like to know, a.k.a. my to-do list for this project:

• Add a button onto the grid for activities
• Create a way to handle child entities.
• Modify the plugin/WCF code to link the created entities to the form email using connections.
• Change the button on the form to monitor for the results (success/failure) and report back to the user.
• Any great ideas my readers think should be added!

This technet page shows the methods available for the different types of controls.

Here is an example of how to change the optionset based on a yes/no field:

function BuildOptionSet(picklist, valuelist)
{
	picklist.clearOptions();
	for(var i=0; i<valuelist.length; i++)
	{
		var listitem = valuelist[i];
		picklist.addOption(listitem[0], listitem[1]);
	}
}

var lista = new Array();
lista[0] = new Array('Alpha',0);
lista[1] = new Array('Beta',1);

var listb = new Array();
listb[0] = new Array('Charlie',2);
listb[1] = new Array('Delta',3);

var uselista = Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get("YesNo").getValue();
var optionset = Xrm.Page.ui.controls.get("OptionSet");

if (uselista==true) {
   BuildOptionSet(optionset, lista);
} else {
   BuildOptionSet(optionset, listb);
}

You just need to change the values of lista and listb and the YesNo and OptionSet lines to reflect the fields on your form, and add it to the onchange event of the dropdown Yes/No form field.

CRM’s Activity Feeds provide a quick and easy way to share information using short and quick updates. Users can follow diffrent entities and see what changes occur as well as post and receive quick comments to your peers. Once you have the solution installed you can find your feed in the What’s New section.

Feed status updates can be posted manually by users or automatically based on pre-defined system rules through workflow. Activity Feeds can also be posted to by external applications through the Microsoft Dynamics CRM web services API. Activity Feeds expose Microsoft Office Lync real-time presence functionality so that users can initiate communication activities such as IM, phone calls and emails.

Activity Feeds help increase awareness and that awareness can improve productivity. Now workers can stay informed about what is important to them (and comment on it).

So now that you have them, how do you administer them? Well there are two new sections in settings, Activity Feeds Configuration and Activity Feeds Rules. You can use the activity feed configuration to add additional entities to appear on the wall. You can read the MSDN documentation on activity feeds here.

What’s cooler is the fact that there is already a Windows Phone 7.5 mobile app that takes advantage of the activity feeds.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile is a Windows Phone 7.5 app which brings Activity Feeds to your mobile device. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Activity Feeds will work with all deployment models for Microsoft Dynamics CRM including on-premise, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and partner-hosted.

Check out the picture below. A beautiful client.

Below is an example of the slider control in action, and you can click here to download a solution to import the web-resources into your CRM deployment (it is a managed solution with no entities, just like the star rating control). If you want the unmanaged solution you can download it here.

Ok, once you have the web-resource loaded into your CRM deployment, you’ll need to create a new field to store the slider value and put it on the form, but uncheck the visible box.

Add the Web-Resource to the form, check the box to display the label on the form, and then enter your parameters. I like using a pipe separator. The available parameters are:

• min: minimum value
• max: maximum value
• field: the CRM field to store the value in
• step: the step increase
• stepoverride: don’t use the step when a value is manually entered

Make sure to click on the formatting tab and set the number of rows to 1, scrolling to Never, and uncheck the box to display the border.

Then move the hidden field down and out the way. If you have a lot of fields you are accessing through form scripts you could just drop them into a hidden section.

Here is the code for the slider control HTML web resource.

<html>
<head>
  <title>Slider Control</title>
  <script type="text/javascript">
var Settings = {};
Settings.Min = 0;
Settings.Max = 100;
Settings.Step = 5;
Settings.Value = 50;
Settings.Field = null;
Settings.AllowStepOverride = false;

var Slider = {};
Slider.Drag = false;

Slider.Initialize = function Slider(id,min,max,step,value,onchange) {
  Settings.Min = min;
  Settings.Max = max;
  Settings.Step = step;
  Slider.Value = value;

  var ihtml = "";
  ihtml += "<table width='100%' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0'><tr>";
  ihtml += "<td class='left-bracket'>&nbsp;</td><td class='value'>";
  ihtml += "<input class='value' id='value' type='text' onchange='Slider.SetValue();' />";
  ihtml += "</td><td class='right-bracket'>&nbsp;</td>";
  ihtml += "<td class='slider-left' /><td class='slider-area' id='"+id+"-area' >";
  ihtml += "<div id='"+id+"-selector' class='slider-selector' /></td>"
  ihtml += "<td class='slider-right' /></tr></td></table>";
  var p = document.getElementById(id);
  p.innerHTML = ihtml;

  Slider.Element = document.getElementById(id+"-area");
  Slider.Element.attachEvent("onmousedown",Slider.OnMouseClick);

  Slider.Id = id;
  Slider.Selector = document.getElementById(id+"-selector");
  Slider.Selector.attachEvent("onmousedown",Slider.OnMouseDown);
  Slider.Selector.attachEvent("onmousemove",Slider.OnMouseMove);
  Slider.Selector.attachEvent("onmouseup",Slider.OnMouseUp);
  Slider.Selector.attachEvent("onmouseleave",Slider.OnMouseUp);

  Slider.UpdatePosition();
}

Slider.SliderRatio = function() {
  var num =  Settings.Max - Settings.Min;
  var den = parseFloat(Slider.Element.offsetWidth)-parseFloat(Slider.Selector.offsetWidth);
  return den/num;
};

Slider.UpdatePosition = function () {
  Slider.Position = Math.round(Slider.Value*Slider.SliderRatio());
  Slider.SetPosition();
};

Slider.OnMouseClick = function(e) {
  Slider.Position = e.clientX - (8+Slider.Selector.offsetLeft-parseInt(Slider.Selector.style.left.replace("px","")));
  Slider.SetPosition();
  Slider.OnChange(Slider.Value);
}

Slider.SetPosition = function() {
  if (Slider.Position<0) Slider.Position = 0;
  var max = Slider.Element.offsetWidth-Slider.Selector.offsetWidth;
  if (Slider.Position>max) Slider.Position = max;

  Slider.Selector.style.left = Slider.Position + "px";

  var i = Math.round(Slider.Position/Slider.SliderRatio());
  i = (Math.floor(i/Settings.Step))*Settings.Step;

  Slider.Value = i;

  var val = document.getElementById('value');
  if (val===null) return;
  val.value = i;
}

Slider.SetValue = function() {
  var val = document.getElementById('value');
  if (Settings.AllowStepOverride) {
    Slider.Value = val.value;
  } else {
    Slider.Value = Math.round(val.value/Settings.Step)*Settings.Step;
  }
  if (Slider.Value<Settings.Min) Slider.Value = Settings.Min;
  if (Slider.Value>Settings.Max) Slider.Value = Settings.Max;
  Slider.UpdatePosition();
}

Slider.OnMouseDown = function(e)  {
  Slider.Drag = true;
}

Slider.OnMouseMove = function(e) {
  if (Slider.Drag) {
    Slider.Position = e.clientX - (8+Slider.Selector.offsetLeft-parseInt(Slider.Selector.style.left.replace("px","")));
    Slider.SetPosition();
  }
};

Slider.OnMouseUp = function(e) {
  if (Slider.Drag) {
    Slider.Drag = false;
    Slider.OnChange(Slider.Value);
  }
};

Slider.OnChange = function(val) {
  parent.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(Settings.Field).setValue(val);
};

var InitializeSlider = function() {
  var data = WebResource.GetDataParams();
  var sliderBox = document.getElementById("sliderBox");

  for (var i in data)
  {
    switch (data[i][0].toLowerCase())
	{
	  case 'min': Settings.Min = parseInt(data[i][1],10); break;
	  case 'max': Settings.Max = parseInt(data[i][1],10); break;
	  case 'step': Settings.Step = parseInt(data[i][1],10); break;
	  case 'value': Settings.Value = parseInt(data[i][1],10); break;
	  case 'field': Settings.Field = data[i][1]; break;
	  case 'stepoverride': Settings.AllowStepOverride = (data[i][1]=='true'); break;
	  default:break;
	}
  }

  Slider.Initialize("slider",Settings.Min,Settings.Max,Settings.Step,Settings.Value,null)

  if (Settings.Field!=null) {
    var val = parent.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(Settings.Field).getValue();
	if (val!==null) {
	  var num = parseInt(val);
	  Slider.Value = num;
	  Slider.UpdatePosition();
	}
  }
};

var WebResource = {};

WebResource.GetDataParams = function()
{ //modified version of: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg327945.aspx
  //Get the any query string parameters and load them
  //into the vals array

  var vals = new Array();
  if (location.search !== "")
  {
    vals = location.search.substr(1).split("&");
    for (var i in vals)
    {
      vals[i] = vals[i].replace(/\+/g, " ").split("=");
    }

    //look for the parameter named 'data'
    var found = false;
        var datavals;
    for (var j in vals)
    {
      if (vals[j][0].toLowerCase() == "data")
      {
        found = true;
        datavals = decodeURIComponent(vals[j][1]).split("|");
        for (var k in datavals)
        {
          datavals[k] = datavals[k].replace(/\+/g, " ").split("=");
        }
        break;
      }
    }
    if (found) { return datavals; }
  }
  return null;
};
  </script>
  <style type="text/css">
html, body {
  padding: 0px;
  margin: 0px;
  border: 0px;
  background-color: rgb(246, 248, 250);
  overflow:hidden;
}
.slider-left, .slider-area, .slider-right {
  background-image:url(img/bar.png);
  background-repeat:repeat-x;
  height:17px;
  padding:0px;
  margin:0px;
  cursor:hand;
}
.slider-left, .slider-right {
  width: 7px;
}
div.slider-selector {
  background-image:url(img/selector.png);
  background-repeat:no-repeat;
  width:15px;
  height:17px;
  position: relative;
  cursor:hand;
}
td.left-bracket, td.right-bracket {
  background-repeat:no-repeat;
  height:17px;
  width:6px;
  display:inline;
}
td.left-bracket {
  background-image:url(img/left_bracket.png);

}
td.right-bracket {
  background-image:url(img/right_bracket.png);
}
td.value {
  background-image:url(img/val_bk.png);
  background-repeat:repeat-x;
  height:17px;
  width:30px;
}
input.value {
  border: none;
  font:11px segoe ui,tahoma,arial;
  height:17px;
  width:30px;
  background-color:transparent;
  vertical-align:top;
  padding-top:1px;
  text-align:center;
}
  </style>
</head>
<body onload="InitializeSlider();">
<div id="slider"></div>
</body>
</html>

Thanks to Manish Mistry comment on my star control for refreshing the iframe when you change the value, you could do the same on this control. However, you could also just set the value and update the position. The only reason I get the control’s object and it’s id is because I’m not 100% sure the id will always match, even though all my tests indicate it does.

var control = Xrm.Page.ui.controls.get('WebResource_Score');
var id      = control.getObject().id;
var frame   = document.frames[id];
frame.Slider.Value = 50;
frame.Slider.UpdatePosition();

One of my TODO’s is to join my web resources HTML form controls into a single library once I have enough of them so that people can leverage them in an easier manner. If anyone has any ideas for custom controls for Dynamics CRM, let me know and I’ll see if I can build it.

Below is an example of the star rating control in action, and you can click here to download a solution to import the web-resources into your CRM deployment (it is a managed solution with no entities).

Ok, once you have the web-resource loaded into your CRM deployment, you’ll need to create a new field to store the rating and put it on the form, but uncheck the visible box.

Add the Web-Resource to the form, and check the box to display the label on the form.

Then enter your parameters (I like using a pipe as a separator). The available parameters are:

• min: minimum star rating – really should always be 1
• max: maximum star rating – maybe 5 or 10
• field: the CRM field to store the value in
• showvalue: whether or not to display the numerical value

Make sure to click on the formatting tab and set the number of rows to 1, scrolling to Never, and check the box to display the border.

Then move the hidden field down and out the way. If you have a lot of fields you are accessing through form scripts you could just drop them into a hidden section.

Now that you know how to set it up, let’s go ahead and look at the code.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <title>Rating Control</title>
  <link href="/_common/styles/fonts.css.aspx?lcid=1033" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
  <link href="/_common/styles/global.css.aspx?lcid=1033" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
  <link href="/_common/styles/select.css.aspx?lcid=1033" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
  <script type="text/javascript">
var Rating = {};

// Default Values
Rating.ShowValue = false;
Rating.Max = 5;
Rating.Min = 1;
Rating.Field = '';
Rating.Value = null;

Rating.Highlight = function(index)
{
  var val = document.getElementById('rating_value');
  if (index===null) {
    index = -1;
    val.innerHTML = '[Not Set]';
  } else {
    val.innerHTML = '['+index+'/'+Rating.Max+']';
  }
  for(var i=Rating.Min; i<=Rating.Max;i++)
  {
    if (i<=index) {
      document.getElementById("rating_"+i).className = "staron";
    } else {
      document.getElementById("rating_"+i).className = "staroff";
    }
  }
};

Rating.HolderRollover = function() {
  if (Rating.Value !== null) {
    var r = document.getElementById('rating_remove');
    r.className = 'stardel';
  }
};

Rating.HolderRollout = function() {
  var r = document.getElementById('rating_remove');
  r.className = 'stardel2';
};

Rating.Rollover = function(index) {
  Rating.Highlight(index);
};

Rating.Rollout = function()
  {
  Rating.Highlight(Rating.Value);
};

Rating.Set = function(index) {
  Rating.Value = index;
  if (index<0) {
    parent.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(Rating.Field).setValue(null);
  } else {
    parent.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(Rating.Field).setValue(Rating.Value);
  }
  Rating.Highlight(index);
};

Rating.Initialize = function() {
  var data = WebResource.GetDataParams();
  for (var i in data)
  {
    switch (data[i][0].toLowerCase())
        {
          case 'min': Rating.Min = parseInt(data[i][1],10); break;
          case 'max': Rating.Max = parseInt(data[i][1],10); break;
          case 'field': Rating.Field = data[i][1]; break;
          case 'showvalue': Rating.ShowValue = (data[i][1] == 'true'); break;
          default:break;
        }
  }
  var d = document.getElementById('starholder');
  for (var j=Rating.Min;j<=Rating.Max;j++)
  {
    var el = "<span id='rating_"+j+"' " +
             "onmouseover='Rating.Rollover("+j+");' " +
             "onmouseout='Rating.Rollout();' " +
             "onclick='Rating.Set("+j+");' />";
    d.innerHTML += el;
  }

  var rel = "<span id='rating_remove' class='stardel2' " +
            "onclick='Rating.Set(null);' onmouseover='Rating.Rollover(null);' />";
  d.innerHTML += rel;

  var val = "<span id='rating_value' class='value' " +
            (Rating.ShowValue ? "" : "style='display:none' ") +
            "/>";
  d.innerHTML += val; 

  Rating.Value = parent.Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(Rating.Field).getValue();
  Rating.Highlight(Rating.Value);
};

var WebResource = {};

WebResource.GetDataParams = function()
{ //modified version of: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg327945.aspx
  //Get the any query string parameters and load them
  //into the vals array

  var vals = new Array();
  if (location.search !== "")
  {
    vals = location.search.substr(1).split("&");
    for (var i in vals)
    {
      vals[i] = vals[i].replace(/\+/g, " ").split("=");
    }

    //look for the parameter named 'data'
    var found = false;
        var datavals;
    for (var j in vals)
    {
      if (vals[j][0].toLowerCase() == "data")
      {
        found = true;
        datavals = decodeURIComponent(vals[j][1]).split("|");
        for (var k in datavals)
        {
          datavals[k] = datavals[k].replace(/\+/g, " ").split("=");
        }
        break;
      }
    }
    if (found) { return datavals; }
  }
  return null;
};
  </script>
  <style type="text/css">
.staroff,.staron,.stardel,.stardel2 {
	height:15px;
	margin:1px 1px 1px 2px;
	width:15px
}

staroff,.staron,.stardel {
	background:no-repeat
}

.starholder {
	background:#FFF;
	padding:1px
}

.stardel {
	background:url(remove.png)
}

.staron {
	background:url(staron.png)
}

.staron,.staroff {
	margin-right:5px
}

.staroff {
	background:url(staroff.png)
}

.value {
	font:11px segoe ui,tahoma,arial;
	color:#000;
	height:17px;
	vertical-align:middle
}
  </style>
</head>

<body onload="Rating.Initialize();">
  <table cellspacing="0"
         cellpadding="0"
         width="100%"
         summary="star table">
    <tr>
      <td id="cell_dd">
        <div id="starholder"
             style="width:100%;"
             onmouseover="Rating.HolderRollover();"
             onmouseout="Rating.HolderRollout();"></div>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</body>
</html>

These are the image files used:

(they are hidden in the managed solution)

It stored the images in the notes (still does – and currently does not have an option for storing elsewhere…). I still have not figured out how to put buttons on the ribbon that can fire the upload control, etc. Although, I recently found out that Marco Amoedo (blog: marcoamoedo.com, twitter: marcoamoedo) had leveraged the ImageTools for Silverlight to add WebCam support and I was already starting to play with it to add Gif support. I was able to work with him to get his modifications and add gif support. Now you have even more useful features that you can enable with a simple configuration change and a new silverlight web-resource.

Now, if you look in the bottom right, there is a webcam button next to the upload button that allows you to take a picture instead of uploading one. When you try and take the picture you will receive the following request for access.

So you may be asking: what is ImageTools for Silverlight? where did it come from?, and why are you using it? The answers are simple. According to the codeplex page for the ImageTools for Silverlight, it is "a library, which provides additional functionality for loading, saving and [manipulating] images from different sources and with different formats.&quot The reason to use it is simple, it is open-source, and it’s license allows me to use it (it is realeased under Ms-PL – the same license as my control on codeplex).

If you already use the CRM Attachment Image, you can just overwrite your xap file with the one from codeplex, but you will still need to edit the properties of the web-resource on your form to include |webcam=true. The new example syntax is:

field=new_imageattachmentid|subject='Contact''s Image'|prefix='img-'|webcam=true

So a special thanks to Marco for his help, this is a great change that I think a lot of people will be able to use.

If you need assistance in setting up the image control, I have it documented on codeplex, but here is a simple set of directions that work at the time of this article bieng posted:

1. Create a solution
2. Upload the xap as a web-resource
3. Add your entity to the solution, and create a new text field on the entity that is 50 characters long, not searchable, preferably called something like attachmentid or savedattachmentid – it will be used to store the annotationid or the note that stores the attached image.
4. Add the field to the form and make it not visible.
5. Add the Web-Resource to the form
   • Check the checkbox to pass the id and type, etc.
   • In the parameters add the fields and their values seperated by a pipe |
6. Save and publish the form.
7. Test it!

The example config for the web-resource is before the instructions, and are very useful because you can just copy them and change the field new_imageattachmentid to your field name and it should work. There are a number of fields available to you if you want to change how the control functions, they are documented on codeplex, and they are:

• field – The name of the field you are using to store the annotationid of the attachment. It is required, and the field MUST BE ON THE FORM (it does not need to be visible).
• subject – The subject for attachments – the following substitutions are available (%s will be replaced with the name of the file )
• prefix – The prefix for all attachment images (this is used to filter the results, etc)
• hidebuttons – Used to hide the buttons that are in the silverlight control so that you can use the ribbon to control the application
• savefirst – Used to set the message that is displayed on a form that is in Create Mode
• webcam – Set to true if you want to enable the webcam it is not currently tide to hidebuttons

I added the following parameters at Bill’s request (Thanks Bill):

• max-width: maximum width for all images
• max-height: maximum height for all images
• max-webcam-width: maximum webcam image width, overrides max-width for web-cam images
• max-webcam-height: maximum webcam image height, overrides max-height for web-cam images

Here is what my bing translator integration looks like.

You can download an unmanaged solution to implement the bing translator for cases, letters, tasks, and emails, you can download it here: Translate_1_0.zip. It will not modify your forms, but if you have unmanaged ribbon buttons on those entities, it will remove them. So to avoid that problem you can install the unmanaged solution with the JScript (that you need to edit to set your bing api key) and the images, and then follow the RibbonDiff guide in the SDK to add the buttons, or install the managed solution to add the button to the ribbons for cases, letters, tasks, and emails.

To start, I created a JScript file to include as a web-resource that I could leverage when a button is clicked on the ribbon. This JScript file utilizes the Bing Translation WebServices to translate text.

YOU WILL NEED TO EDIT THE JSCRIPT FILE AND CHANGE ‘YOUR API KEY GOES HERE’ TO CONTAIN YOUR API KEY.

var bing = {};
bing.popup = {};
bing.language = {};

bing.appId = 'YOUR API KEY GOES HERE';
bing.language.text = '';
bing.language.from = '';
bing.language.to = 'en';

bing.language.detect = function (text,oncomplete)
{
  var src = "https://api.microsofttranslator.com/V2/Ajax.svc/Detect?oncomplete=" +
      oncomplete + "&appId="+ bing.appId + "&text=" + text;
  var s = document.createElement("script");
  s.src = src;
  s.id = "bingdetect";
  document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(s);
}

bing.language.translate = function(from,to,text,oncomplete)
{
  var src = "https://api.microsofttranslator.com/V2/Ajax.svc/Translate?oncomplete=" +
      oncomplete + "&appId=" + bing.appId + "&from=" + from +
      "&to=" + to + "&text=" + text;

  var s = document.createElement("script");
  s.src = src;
  s.id = "bingtranslate";
  document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(s);
}

bing.popup.show = function(text)
{
  var idiv = document.createElement('div');
  idiv.id = "bingtext";
  idiv.style.height = "265px";
  idiv.style.width = "306px";
  idiv.style.align = "left";
  idiv.style.textAlign = "left";
  idiv.style.backgroundColor = "white";
  idiv.style.overflow = "auto";
  idiv.style.padding = "2px";
  idiv.style.margin = "2px";
  idiv.style.border = "1px solid black";
  idiv.innerHTML =  "<p>"+text+"</p>";

  var iurl = Xrm.Page.context.getServerUrl();
  iurl += "WebResources/tran_img/translatelogo.gif";

  var img = document.createElement('img');
  img.src = iurl;

  var div = document.createElement('div');
  div.id = "bingpopup";
  div.appendChild(img);
  div.appendChild(idiv);
  div.innerHTML += "<button style='text-align:center;width:60px;' onclick='bing.popup.copy();'>Copy</button>&nbsp;&nbsp;";
  div.innerHTML += "<button style='text-align:center;width:60px;' onclick='bing.popup.hide();'>Close</button>";
  div.style.position = "absolute";
  div.style.backgroundColor = "#20415F";
  div.style.border="1px solid black";
  div.style.left = "50%";
  div.style.top = "50%";
  div.style.color = "black";
  div.style.padding = "5px";
  div.style.width = "320px";
  div.style.height = "340px";
  div.style.marginLeft = "-160px";
  div.style.marginTop = "-170px";
  div.setAttribute("align","center");
  document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].appendChild(div);
}

bing.popup.hide = function()
{
  var deleteElement = function(id) {
    var el = document.getElementById(id);
    el.parentNode.removeChild(el);
  }

  deleteElement("bingpopup");
  deleteElement("bingdetect");
  deleteElement("bingtranslate");
}

bing.popup.copy = function()
{
  var el = document.getElementById('bingtext');

  if (window.clipboardData && window.clipboardData.setData)
  {
    window.clipboardData.setData("Text", el.innerText);
  }
}

bing.getSelectedText = function (p)
{
  if (p.getSelection)
  {
    text = p.getSelection();
  }
  else if (p.selection)
  {
    text = p.selection.createRange().text;
  }
  return text;
}

// get current control
bing.language.toolbarClick = function (ctrl)
{
  var text = '';
  if (window.getSelection)
  {
    text = window.getSelection();
  }
  else {
    text = bing.getSelectedText(document);
  }

  if (text==null || text=='') {
    if (ctrl==null) {
      ctrl = Xrm.Page.ui.getCurrentControl();
    }

    var entityName = Xrm.Page.data.entity.getEntityName();
    if (ctrl==null && entityName.match(/letter|email|task/)) {
      ctrl = Xrm.Page.ui.controls.get('description');
    }

    if (ctrl==null) {
      alert('Please highlight the text to translate.');
      return;
    }

    if (ctrl.getControlType()!="standard") {
      return; // only standard
    }

    if (ctrl.getName()=="notescontrol") {
      text = bing.getSelectedText(document.frames['notescontrol'].document);
      if (text==null || text == "") {
        alert('Please highlight the text to translate.');
      }
    }

    if (text == null || text == "") {
      var attr = ctrl.getAttribute();
      if (attr!=null) {
        var t = attr.getAttributeType();
        if (t.match(/string|memo/))
        {
          text = attr.getValue();
        }
      }
    }
  }

  if (text == null || text == "") {
    // Nothing to translate
    return;
  }  

  text = encodeURIComponent(text);
  bing.language.text = text;

  bing.language.from = '';
  bing.language.detect(text,"translate");
}

window.translate = function (response)
{
  bing.language.from = response;
  bing.language.translate(bing.language.from,bing.language.to,bing.language.text,"translated");
}

window.translated = function (response)
{
  bing.popup.show(response);
}

The JScript uses the Bing Translate logo image (WebResources/tran_img/translatelogo.gif – you may need to change the path in the JScript):

I added some images for Microsoft Translate button images:

16×16 image tran_icontranslate_16x16.png

32×32 image tran_icontranslate_32x32.png

Then I added the buttons to the ribbons on the entities I wanted to have bing translation capabilities by following the SDK guidelines to add a button. Here is the RibbonDiffXml for a case. You can follow the guide to change it to be on different entities.

<RibbonDiffXml>
  <CustomActions>
    <CustomAction Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.CustomAction"
                  Location="Mscrm.Form.incident.MainTab.Groups._children"
                  Sequence="110">
    <CommandUIDefinition>
      <Group Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.Group"
             Command="bing.incident.form.Bing.Command"
             Title="$LocLabels:bing.incident.Bing.Title"
             Sequence="39"
             Template="Mscrm.Templates.Flexible2"
             Image32by32Popup="$webresource:tran_icon/translate_32x32.png">
      <Controls Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.Controls">
        <Button Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.Button.BingTranslator"
                Command="bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.Command"
                Sequence="10"
                LabelText="$LocLabels:bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.LabelText"
                ToolTipTitle="$LocLabels:bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.LabelText"
                ToolTipDescription="$LocLabels:bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.Description"
                TemplateAlias="isv"
                Image16by16="$webresource:tran_icon/translate_16x16.png"
                Image32by32="$webresource:tran_icon/translate_32x32.png" />
      </Controls>
      </Group>
    </CommandUIDefinition>
    </CustomAction>
    <CustomAction Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.Popup.CustomAction"
                  Location="Mscrm.Form.incident.MainTab.Scaling._children"
                  Sequence="140">
    <CommandUIDefinition>
      <Scale Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.Popup.1"
             GroupId="bing.incident.form.Bing.Group"
             Sequence="85"
             Size="Popup" />
    </CommandUIDefinition>
    </CustomAction>
    <CustomAction Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.MaxSize.CustomAction"
                  Location="Mscrm.Form.incident.MainTab.Scaling._children"
                  Sequence="120">
    <CommandUIDefinition>
      <MaxSize Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.MaxSize"
               GroupId="bing.incident.form.Bing.Group"
               Sequence="21"
               Size="LargeLarge" />
    </CommandUIDefinition>
    </CustomAction>
  </CustomActions>
  <Templates>
    <RibbonTemplates Id="Mscrm.Templates"></RibbonTemplates>
  </Templates>
  <CommandDefinitions>
    <CommandDefinition Id="bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.Command">
    <EnableRules />
    <DisplayRules />
    <Actions>
      <JavaScriptFunction Library="$webresource:tran_js/bing.translate.js"
                          FunctionName="bing.language.toolbarClick">
      <CrmParameter Value="SelectedControl" />
      </JavaScriptFunction>
    </Actions>
    </CommandDefinition>
    <CommandDefinition Id="bing.incident.form.Bing.Command">
    <EnableRules></EnableRules>
    <DisplayRules />
    <Actions />
    </CommandDefinition>
  </CommandDefinitions>
  <RuleDefinitions>
    <TabDisplayRules />
    <DisplayRules />
    <EnableRules />
  </RuleDefinitions>
  <LocLabels>
    <LocLabel Id="bing.incident.Bing.Title">
    <Titles>
      <Title languagecode="1033"
             description="Bing" />
    </Titles>
    </LocLabel>
    <LocLabel Id="bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.LabelText">
    <Titles>
      <Title languagecode="1033"
             description="Translate" />
    </Titles>
    </LocLabel>
    <LocLabel Id="bing.incident.Bing.Button.BingTranslator.Description">
    <Titles>
      <Title languagecode="1033"
             description="Translate text area with bing!" />
    </Titles>
    </LocLabel>
  </LocLabels>
</RibbonDiffXml>

Here are the files to download if you want to use it:

• Option A
  • Complete unmanaged solution: Translate_1_0.zip
• Option B
  • Unmanaged Image and JScript solution: Translate_1_0-ImageJS.zip
    • You will need to edit the JScript to set your Bing API key.
  • Managed Solution for the Ribbons on cases, letters, tasks, and emails: Translate_1_0-Ribbon-Managed.zip

Neil Hao says:

June 24, 2011 at 4:57 am

Hi, Carlton, I want to know if there is any way to filter dashboards?
Our requirement is to show different dashboard views for different business unit users.

Thanks for your time and patience.

Neil, thank you for your question. Instead of creating a system dashboard, I suggest creating a user dashboard and sharing it.
Here is a couple of screenshots to help:

Click on the Share Dashboard to share the Dashboard

Add a team for your Dashboard Administrators and the teams you want to access the dashboard.

The end result is a dashboard for a given team that is administered by another team. Sharing the user based dashboard with a set dashboard administration team, prevents the user from leaving and you having to do additional work to get access to the dashboard, etc.

Here is the code from the sample that creates the AppointmentRequest:

AppointmentRequest appointmentReq = new AppointmentRequest
                    {
                        RequiredResources = new RequiredResource[] { vanReq },
                        Direction = SearchDirection.Backward,
                        Duration = 60,
                        NumberOfResults = 10,
                        ServiceId = _plumberServiceId,
                        // The search window describes the time when the resouce can be scheduled.
                        // It must be set.
                        SearchWindowStart = DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime(),
                        SearchWindowEnd = DateTime.Now.AddDays(7).ToUniversalTime(),
                        UserTimeZoneCode = 1
                    };

Now, there are a lot of fields that they didn’t set, but since they are using the DLL files, they don’t need to. The reason this same request would fail using Silverlight is because the web-service expects the arrays to not be null. Using the DLL files, they end up as just empty arrays, but since we are using the ObservableCollection in Silverlight, we have to initialize the collections by creating empty fields. Then our request will be accepted.

AppointmentRequest appointmentReq = new AppointmentRequest
                    {
                        Objectives = ObservableCollection(),
                        RequiredResources = new ObservableCollection(),
                        AppointmentsToIgnore = new ObservableCollection(),
                        Constraints = new ObservableCollection(),
                        Sites = new ObservableCollection(),
                        // Required Fields:
                        Duration=duration,
                        Direction=SearchDirection.Forward,
                        NumberOfResults = 20
                    };

You’ll still have to set the TimeZoneCode and adjust the dates accordingly just like they do in the SDK example. My personal preference here is to retrieve the usersettings and use the timezonecode from it.

Now, for all the people out there that use my SilverCRMSoap Library I have on codeplex, I did update the source code to include a BeginExecuteSearchRequest and modified the AppointmentRequest to have the default values specified.

With that, I think my bing maps scheduler will turn out great. Once it is done, I might update this post with a screenshot.

Happy Scheduling!

– mscrmblogger

Create a Solution

1. Create a Solution
2. Add the Account as an existing entity
3. Add two new fields, new_SoundexName and new_MetaphoneName and put them on the Account form as read-only
4. Save and Publish all changes

Register the plugin assembly

The first step is to register the plugin assembly, to do that you will need to use the Plugin Registration Tool, which is included in the sdk (uncompiled).

Compiling the Plugin Registration Tool

1. Open the solution, pluginregistration.sln in tools\pluginregistration folder inside the SDK with Visual Studio 2010
2. Compile (Build) the solution
3. Navigate to the tools\pluginregistration\bin\Debug folder in the SDK.
4. Launch the Plugin Registration Tool by double-clicking the PluginRegistration.exe

Connecting to CRM Online or OnPremise

1. Enter the Label, “CRM Online” for CRM Online for example
2. Enter the discovery url. For CRM Online the discovery url is https://dev.crm.dynamics.com
   • If you have any problems authenticating, try deleting the %userprofile%\LiveDeviceID\LiveDevice.xml

   

3. Select the Organization in the Connections in the left window pane

Registering the Assembly

1. Click the Register button, then click Register New Assembly

   

2. Click the … button in Step #1 and select the SoundsLikePlugin.dll file.

   

3. Click Register Selected Plugins, then click Ok on the window that says they were successfully registered.

Register the Steps

1. Select the Assembly, then click Register, then Register New Step

   

2. Enter Create for the Message
3. Enter account for the Primary Entity
4. Enter your configuration xml
5. Select Pre-Validation
6. (Optional) Check the box for Offline Deployment
7. Register the Step

   

8. Select the Assembly again, then click Register, then Register New Step
9. Enter Update for the Message
10. Enter account for the Primary Entity
11. Enter your configuration xml
12. Click the three dots (…) for the filtering attributes field, make sure to check the checkbox for all of the source and target fields you specify in your configuration
13. Select Pre-validation
14. (Optional) Check the box for Offline Deployment
15. Register the Step

    

Setup the Duplicate Detection Rule

1. Click Settings, then Data Management, then Duplicate Detection Rules

   

2. Click New to create a new duplicate detection rule
3. Enter the Name: Account Name sounds like another account name
4. Select the Base Record Type: Account
5. Select the Field: Metaphone Name and the Criteria: Exact Match

   

6. Save and Publish the rule

Create a Duplicate Detection Job

1. Click Settings, then Data Management, then Duplicate Detection Jobs

   

2. Click New to create a new Duplicate Detection Job
3. Set it up according to your requirements
4. Click Next
5. Click Submit

Run the Duplicate Detection Job and View Duplicates

When the job runs, you can view the duplicates by going back to the Job and clicking View Duplicates