DeDupe Rules Auto Publisher is available​ for previous​ Dynamics versions

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Some of the people asked if I can make this solution available for earlier versions of Dynamics. After some struggle when trying to create a v8.1 environment I finally managed to port the solution all the way down Dynamics CRM 2016 or to be more precise to version 8.0.

Download v1.1.0

Now you can install the solution on following versions:

  • Dynamics CRM 2016 (v8.0)
  • Dynamics CRM 2016 Update 1 (v.8.1)
  • Dynamics 365 (v8.2+)

Feel free to report the issues that you have related to this version or just post a suggestion for a new feature.

Error while trying to connect to D365 v9.x via console app

question_mark_png57Lately, I noticed that I started to get errors while trying to connect v9.x organizations via console applications that were using OrganizationServiceProxy. Everything was set up just as it was usually working, but with new SDK it seems that it’s not.

The code below was just not working with all the right parameters sent to the constructor

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Here is the error that was popping out:

'Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved: 'https://.crm.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc?wsdl&sdkversion=90'.'

After a research and downloading the Microsoft.CrmSdk.CoreAsseblies NuGget package nothing useful was found, but since new versions of D365 Online have a support for .NET v4.6 framework I have updated my project to that version of the framework.

Since then error mentioned above was not present anymore while using Visual Studio 2017. I hope that this info will save you some time you will face the issue above.

TLDR: Update your console app project to .NET Framework v4.6!

Some emails are not synced to D365

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Dynamics 365 and Exchange integration is plug & play with some minor configuration…I just don’t think so.

Lately, I had an issue that emails were not syncing to the Dynamics 365 using Exchange server via server-side synchronization. We spent like a month of intense monitoring and changing every single parameter in hope that emails will finally get synced without any issue.

Here are some of the tips that we used on our journey which finally made our integration work flawlessly.


Update to the latest Dynamics 365 version

The most basic thing to do is to update to the latest release of Dynamics 365, but of course, I know that it’s not always the best option and most people out there are considering it as the last option if everything else fails.

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Just trust me that more than few times I regret that I didn’t do an update first before I used too many hours of researching the issue.

Microsoft is adding tons of updated/hotfixes with every release that are not mentioned in the release notes. Last few versions had quite some updates related to the server-side sync mentioned in the notes.

The same email address on multiple entities

You should not use one email address on multiple OOB entities. It doesn’t matter if you are using it on 2 same records like contact entities for example or you just use it on 2 different records like on one user entity and one contact entity.

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You need to ensure that you just have one record on the instance that has a unique email address that is populated in the OOB email field (eg. emailaddress1,emailaddress2,..).

Syncing same email address on 2 instances

You can forget to disable email sync on the development instance when you finally move your email integration to the production instance.

The first step is to remove server profile from the mailbox on the development instance. Go to the mailbox that you want to sync on production, clear the server profile field and hit save button.

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The next step you need to do it test & enable the same mailbox on the production instance, but you need to be sure that you select the Sync items with Exchange from this CRM org only  checkbox on this step.

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After those steps, you are sure that emails will be synced only to the production instance.

Change mailbox ownership

The most strange tip is to change ownership of the mailbox form the TEAM to the USER.

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I know that this sounds ridiculous, but it actually helps in some situations. We came to this solution after talking to MS support that after a while suggested doing so and after that everything just started working like a charm.


I just hope that some of this tips will save you some time while investigating the syncing issue like this one.

CRM Google Maps are available​ for previous​ Dynamics versions

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Since I found out that it’s possible to revert Dynamics 365 to pre-9.0 releases I made a solution that is compatible with older releases of Dynamics 365.

Now you can install the solution on following versions:

  • Dynamics CRM 2016 (v8.0)
  • Dynamics CRM 2016 Update 1 (v.8.1)
  • Dynamics 365 (v8.2+)

You can find the solution on releases page on Github as usual.

Feel free to report the issues that you have related to this version or just post a suggestion for a new feature.

Downgrade v9.0 trial

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I recently discovered that you can downgrade D365 v9.0 to earlier versions like v8.2 or even v8.1. Also, I noticed that others around me didn’t know that it’s possible to do so and few of us had a need to test or develop something on earlier versions of D365.

Here are the basic steps how to accomplish that downgrade.

  1. Create a new trial D365 instance and go to Administration center.
  2. Click on the Edit button on your trial instance.Image 228.png
  3. Change instance type to Sandbox and click on Next.Image 229
  4. Click Save on the next screen.Image 230.png
  5. Next step is to click Reset on your newly created sandbox instance.Image 231.png
  6. Finally, in this step, you can select the earlier D365 version from the dropdown menu.Image 232.png
  7. After a rather long wait, you can turn your instance back to production one like we did in steps 2 and 3 and you are ready to do whatever you want on your fresh pre-9.0 version of D365.

It’s great opportunity to assemble a pre-9.0 solution on a trial instance if you don’t want to mess your other instances. I can’t explain how happy I was when I found out that I can have a pre-9.0 trial instance which can serve me as a playground for creating managed solutions.

I just hope that I’m not the only one that didn’t know about this downgrade thing and that at least someone will be happy with this feature as much as I was when I found it out.

CRM Google Maps – New Release v1.2.0.0

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New release of CRM Google Maps is ready for download.

Global zoom setting

You can now set global zoom level that will be default zoom level on every map. This setting will work only if you have only one marker on the map. If there are few markers on the map optimal zoom will be calculated.

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Zoom parameter

This parameter can be set on each map individually and that value will override the global zoom value that is set in the configuration page. This parameter is also relevant only if there is only one marker set on the map.

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Refresh

The refresh button is added to the map, so from now on you can press it to refresh map with new data that is changed on the form.

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Feel free to post feature suggestions in the comments section below.

Fight your randomly unpublished duplication rules

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If you ever used duplicate rules in Dynamics CRM you probably experienced that your rules unpublish randomly. That’s not 100% random because it’s only triggered when you import and publish the unmanaged solution, but it’s not done every time.

The action that triggers this is Publish All Customization that you invoke every time you import unmanaged solution to the CRM.

I made an managed solution to make your life easier by automating the republishing unpublished duplication rules after those rules are unpublished by Publish All Customization action.

You can find solution on the link. Solution is easy to configure and you will be able to use it in just few minutes after initial configuration.

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Check it on GitHub

After initial configuration you just need to select which rules you want to be automatically republished.

CRM Google Maps – New features

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The new version of CRM Google Maps is released, which includes some new features.

Download here

New features

  • Added support for multiple addresses
  • Added option to show Google addresses on markers
  • Added option to change marker icon

Multiple Addresses

Now you can configure web resource to show more than one address on the same map.

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Google Addresses on markers

You can use the option to show address that Google fetched based on your address in the address field which will include full information about the address (street, zip code, country, region, city).

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Custom marker icons

You can define your custom marker icon that will be shown on the map.

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Advanced configuration

I have also added features Wiki page that will guide you how to set up those new features.

CRM and Google Maps integration

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I found that Bing maps are not that precise when it comes to finding exact address on the map. Every one who need something on Dynamics CRM with map uses them because it’s OOB functionality that doesn’t need much time to set up, but is it the best way to do it?

The idea behind this one is to make a solution that is easy to setup for non-developer persons that want to integrate Google Maps into their CRM system.

This integration allows users to easily change API key for the Google Maps that is a must prerequisite for maps to work and a first step that must be done. Users can define which address field will be displayed on the map by setting the custom web resource parameter in the web resource settings window.

The final result will be a marker on the map on the address location with a popup that will show the address details.

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Installation and configuration guide can be found on the GitHub page of the project, where you can also find new releases of the CRM solution that is ready for import on your CRM organization.

CRM Google Maps GitHub page

This is an initial version of Google Maps integration that will be updated in future with new features.

Feel free to send comments on the solution, report bugs that you find or even maybe post a feature suggestion.

 

CRM workflows report

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How do you manage to monitor workflows on all your CRM instances? Do you even check if some workflows have failed in past days?

I had the same problem for a long time and then I thought maybe it’s time to make some tool that will help me to monitor all those CRM instances. The idea behind this tool is that I wanted to make something that will send me a report at night about all instances that I need to monitor so I can start resolving the issues when I come at work in the morning.

Result of one report is shown on the image below

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The email contains a table with all the organizations that have some failed/waiting workflows where you can open those workflows with clicking on the workflow name and error log that is attached as TXT file where you can find all the errors in the execution of the console app.

More information and actual release of the app can be found on my Github profile. This is only an initial release that will be updated with more features and fixed bugs.

I hope that you will find this tool useful and if you have any questions regarding this tool you can send me an email or comment below.