Dynamics 365

Global Notification in Dynamics 365 Unified Interface App [Preview]

priyeshwagh777 D365 WebAPI / JavaScript, Dynamics 365 CE, Dynamics 365 Unified Interface , , , , , ,

Here’s a great feature to add a warning/error notification which is scoped globally unlike setFormNotification() which is commonly used and remains within a form itself.

Xrm.App.addGlobalNotification(notificationObject).then(success, error); serves this purpose. Let’s see how –

Disclaimer: Please be aware this is a preview feature yet and I’ll update on this post once this is out of preview.

This is only available for the Unified Interface.

Scenario

Let’s say you have opened an Account form and you want to warn the user in case they are working remotely with someone and might have their screen shared. You want to show a message like this –
globalNotif

And even if they navigate away from the form, it will remain on the screen since it’s scope is global.
navigatedOtherPlaces

Or, user can chose to close it manually which appears at the end of the strip on top-right corner.
canCloseIt

You can also optionally add a button and make it navigate to another URL in case you want to share more info with the users (In my example, I redirected to https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/) –
learnMoreButton

Example

Xrm.App has 2 methods to do the needful –

Xrm.App.addGlobalNotification(notificationObject).then(success, error) & Xrm.App.clearGlobalNotification(notificationObject).then(success, error)

In my scenario, I want to trigger the warning message as soon as the user wanders into one of the Account records. So, in my case, I’ve registered the method onLoad of the Account form itself.
Here’s the code in my JS file for the same –

Some notes before we proceed with the code –

  1. type in the notification object is supported as 2 at the moment and no other types are supported.
  2. The levels are as below
    1. Success
    2. Error
    3. Warning
    4. Information

account = {
globalNotification: function () {

var learnMoreAction =
{
actionLabel: “Learn more”,
eventHandler: function () {
Xrm.Navigation.openUrl(“https://microsoft.com”);
}
}
var notificationObj =
{
type: 2,
level: 3, //warning
message: “Please make sure you are not sharing your screen!”,
showCloseButton: true,
action: learnMoreAction
}

Xrm.App.addGlobalNotification(notificationObj).then(
function success(result) {
console.log(“Notification created with ID: ” + result);

// More code here
},
function (error) {
console.log(error.message);
// handle error here
}
);
}

};

I’ve registered the Function as account.globalNotification. You can directly use globalNotification is you are writing function directly as function globalNotification() {}

fnAdded

This notification remains App-wide unless closed by closed by a user of closed using clearGlobalNotification method as mentioned by Microsoft.

Source documentation by Microsoft is here – Xrm.App

Since we are transitioning into Unified Interface, here are some other related posts that you may like looking at –

  1. D365 Quick Tip: Why BPF wouldn’t appear in D365 Unified Interface?
  2. Fix Ribbon icons on the Unified Interface in D365 CE
  3. Change the Unified Interface App Icons
  4. Unified Interface App URLs – 3 different ways

Hope this helps!!

Advertisement

Easier template selection & Manage Activities with ease in Dynamics 365 | 2020 Wave 1 Feature

priyeshwagh777 Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 CE, Dynamics 365 Unified Interface , ,

Easier template selection and a improved Activities management view are pretty important features that got added in this 2020 Wave 1 Early Access. Here’s what they are!

Disclaimer: Before we proceed, please note that this is a part of the Wave 1 2020 Early Access. We can’t be sure if this will make it to the final release. Also, you can enable Early Access into your Sandbox instance only and test since it’s not recommended for Production at this point.

Easier Template Selection

Now, you can preview how the Email will look like before you select the template in the Activities
First, you need to click on Insert Template once you select the recipient of the Email
insertTemplate

And you can preview what each applicable template will look like before making the selection
previewInNewUI

And when you select Apply Template, it was applied to the actual email.
oldPostSelection

Please note that this is only in Dynamics 365 and doesn’t translate the same to Dynamics 365 App For Outlook’s Add Template feature. By the way, if you’re looking to set up D365 App For Outlook, please check these related posts –

Summarizing D365 App For Outlook Setup in 3 steps with Exchange Online mailbox

Using Templates from D365 CE in D365 App For Outlook

Old Template Selection

Old Template selection was just selecting the Template itself and you had to rely on your knowledge of what template to use from your system
oldSelection

Manage Activities with Ease

Now, with the 2020 Wave 1 Updates, you can now manage your Activities with ease. Simply by going into Activities, you can directly choose how you want to filter what Activities should be seen instead of going into several branches of Views and then making the selection.

newActivitySelection

Now, you can filter by the Due Date of the Activity, by default is set to All so that All Activities show
dueAll

 

And you can also select what type of Activities you want to see by selecting from Activity Type
activityType

These very simple yet powerful features are sure to make your work around Activities area a lot better. Hope this helps!

Approval Process using Power Automate

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Approvals have been around for quite some time now in Power Automate. Let’s look at the simplest example of how we can make use of Approvals in Flow / Power Automate and then you let your imagination and creativity take over!

Scenario

For the sake of simplicity, I have a custom entity called Request where users submit a Request and the Approval simply has to Approve/Reject.
simpleRequestRecord.png

The Approved/Reject status should be set in Dynamics 365 accordingly. Simple!

Power Automate for Approval

And then, my Power Automate looks like this –

  1. I will trigger this off the CDS connector on create of the Request record and then select Approvals in the next step.
    approvalConnector
  2. The Type of Approval selection is asked.
    typeOfApprova
  3. And my Approval body is simple, just providing the basic details and whom the Approval request should go to. In this case, Kuldeep Gupta
    approvalBody.png
  4. In the next Condition step, based on whether the Outcome is Approve or not, I’ll simply update the record’s status to either Accepted or Rejected.
    condition.png
  5. If Yes, the following will execute
    Yes
  6. And if No, then the below
    No

That’s it. Let’s see it in action!

Approval Process

  1. Let’s say Priyesh has created a Request record in Dynamics
    simpleRequestRecord
  2. As I submit this request, an Email from Power Automate goes out to Kuldeep asking for approval. And right on the email itself, he can chose to Accept/Reject
    approvalReceived
  3. Let’s say the request was Accepted
    responseSubmitted.png
  4. The request will be Approved.
    approvedMessage.png
  5. And in Dynamics, the status of the record will be changed to Accepted as defined in the conditions.
    acceptedRecord.png

Hope this quick tutorial helps!

Create your own Insight Cards with Power Automate in Sales Insights

priyeshwagh777 d365 for sales, Microsoft Flows, Microsoft PowerApps, Power Automate , , , , ,

Sales Insight’s cards are not just restricted by what is provided by Sales Insights for your Org, you can make your own using Power Automate too. Here’s how –

Requirements

These features aren’t free under Free Features of Sales Insights. Sales Insights license is for $50/user/month. More info on licensing here – Sales Insights Licensing

For free features, only pre-defined Insight Cards show up. You don’t get to create your Cards. To try this feature, you can create a 30-day Sales Insight trial.

Scenario

Let’s say you have a custom field on the Account called as Renewal Date which holds a Date of renewal for an account. And you want to create an Insights card to show up whenever this date is within 5 days –
fieldOnForm

Create a new Insights Card using Power Automate

Let’s say you have Sales Insights already setup in your Org and you have moderate knowledge of Power Automate (formerly known as Flows)

  1. Navigate to Sales Insights settings in Sales Hub > Global Settings > under Assistant Studio, look for Home and you’ll see a button to Create a new Insight card.
    navigateToCards.png
  2. Since our requirement is a pretty common one and Power Automate has a template for it already, you can select one or even start from scratch.
    template
  3. Make sure all the permissions are correct and you’re set to modify a Power Automate Template (or create from scratch)
    permissions.png
  4. Let’s say you are making this run on a daily business during your non-business hours.

Little Tweak to store a Reminder Date in D365

I wanted to have a custom reference of the Reminder Date in my own way in D365 instead of making the Power Automate query more complex.
I’ve created a Calculated Date field for RenewalReminder to store date of 5 days before the Renewal Date and this will be maintained for all records.
renewalDateField
So that the field stores 5 days prior to the Renewal Date
fieldValue.png
(I’ve hidden it away in actual implementation later on)

In the past, I’ve implemented a similar scenario to store current date used for views in D365, reference Blog: Store ‘Today’s Date’ in a field to use in workflow conditions in D365 CE

Design Power Automate

Since we’ve chosen a template to get a reference from, feel free to remove/modify whatever you need to –

  1. Now, I want to Flow to be triggered every day at UTC midnight
    flowPart1
    Details: Every midnight, fetch me Accounts where I RenewalDate has passed so that selective Accounts will be queried, and then I want to create cards for those accounts in the next step.
    And I’m only comparing the RenewalReminder field value to the current date since it will run everyday
    dateConfig.png
  2. In the final step, for Each account, I’ll create a Card with the Account’s details which the user needs to see.
    createCard.png
    I’ve set some properties which are quite self-explanatory. I’ve made the Open button on the card to open the record itself.
    And I’ve also made the card to show up only until the Renewal Date. (Maybe setup a separate process for Accounts past renewal date)

    And that’s that! Your Power Automate is ready to create Insight Cards which remind you of an upcoming renewal

Seeing it Run

Now, every day when the Power Automate runs, it will create Insight cards for you and they’ll appear as you’ve configured them. In this case, For Alpine Ski House account, the Renewal Date is 20th Nov, so the card has started showing up since 5 days before the Renewal Date (Date stored in RenewalReminder for referencing, you can choose your own way to do so in Flows)
cardShowUp

Even in your Dashboards, since you’re the owner of the record and it’s set to show only to the owner, you’ll see it and clicking on the Open button will open the Account record itself
clickOpen.png

Hope this helps!!

Enable Flow button on D365 Ribbon

priyeshwagh777 Dynamics 365, dynamics 365 administration, Dynamics 365 CE , ,

This is a pretty simple tweak to either show or hide the Flow button on the entity Forms’ Ribbon.

flowButtonVisible

Flow Button Not Visible

nowFlow

System Settings

Navigate to Settings > Administration. Go to System Settings
systemSettings

In System Settings, under Customization tab, look for Enable Microsoft Flow option.
customizationTab

You’ll be asked for permission
permission.png

Now, this is turned on
turnedOn.png

Flow Button Visible

Now, once you have enabled this setting, you’ll be able to see the Flow button on the View and Form ribbons across Dynamics 365 CE
flowButtonVisible

That was quick!!

Solving ‘The record could not be deleted because of an association’ error in D365 CE

priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, dynamics 365 administration, Dynamics 365 CE, dynamics 365 customization ,

Restricting Delete for child records is something customizers should start paying special attention towards defining 1:N relationships for entity records.

System Customizers often design this on purpose so that you are aware that the record you are deleting has child records associated with it and cannot be deleted.

Let’s consider this scenario  – Account is a parent of Subscription (which is a custom entity)

relationship

 

Error

Assume, Subscription 1 record has Account lookup to record A. Datum Corporation. When you attempt to Delete the Account, you get this error message.

actualError

And when you download the Log File from the button on the error message, you can see at the very bottom on the Log that Cascade Delete failed due to the restriction.

It also mentions what child entity is causing it
highlightError

Reason

The reason being 1:N relationship on the Account entity to Subscription entity.

deleteRestrictionInRelationship

Workaround

Now, since this is a Restriction on Delete, you can either change it if you are allowed to modify the behavior and it should be fine
changeableBehavior
However, some system relationships can’t be changed. Example – Opportunity to Quote relationships
systemRestricted.png

To overcome this, you can remove the Opportunity Lookup value on the Quote entity and save the record.

Then, the parent Opportunity can be deleted.

Hope this helps!

D365 Quick Tip: Getting layoutXml from DevTools

priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 CE, dynamics 365 customization , ,

Most times when you want to use AddCustomView() method to a Dynamics 365 control, you need to pass layoutXml to the method that will show the view you define.
fromCOde

There’s an easier trick than writing this up.

Select your View

Assuming, you have an Advanced Find view open in the window which you want as a layoutXml of, on the same, press F12 to open Dev Tools. Select the selector.
selector

And on the Advanced Find window, select Body section
andSelectBody
Click on it, and the par will be selected in the Console of the Dev Tools.

Once this is available, search for layoutXml and cycle through the results to go to the last result.
selectFromConsole

select the “value” part. That is your layoutXml. Hope this helps.

Making common developer/customizer tasks simpler by using “Level up for Dynamics CRM/365”

priyeshwagh777 CRM with .NET Web Applications, Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 CE , , ,

I know how it’s like to be a developer/customizer for D365 and having to fumble between windows to reach ‘name’ of fields, look behind the scenes trying to get a schema name, etc.

But all of that is simplified with this Chrome extension called as Level up for Dynamics CRM/365 offered by Natraj Yegnaraman

Link: Level up for Dynamics CRM/365

Using the Chrome Extension

Add the extension to Chrome as below –
addToChrome

Once you see Level up icon on Chrome like below, you can use it so do common tasks and much ease –

extensionAdded

And when you click it while in D365, you’ll get tools that you could use to work your way in Dynamics 365

controlCenter

One of my favorite among these, as a customizer/developer is – “Logical names”. I shows the logical names of the fields/Tabs and saves me time from going in to Solutions or opening the Form Editor
logicalNames

Loved this and the way it works!

 

Use Read-Only grid among Editable Grid enabled entities in D365

priyeshwagh777 Customizations, Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 CE, dynamics 365 customization , ,

When you enable Editable Grid for an entity, all the public views become Editable Grids, correct?

And if you wonder if you can keep certain grids as Read-Only and the rest as Editable, your assumption is correct. Here’s what this blog is about.

You can still go back and select a particular grid which you want to keep as a classic Read-Only grid

  1. Let’s say you have added the Editable Grid under Controls. This will apply Editable Grids for all the Views on that entity.
    enabledEditable
  2. And you want Vendors view, for example, to show the classic Read-Only grid, open it up.
    vendorView
  3. Select Custom Controls.
    customControls
  4. And force-add another Read only grid even if it says the Default one is already selected.
    forceAddRead-Only
  5. Save and Publish you changed and check
    classicGrid
  6. And the rest of the grids will continue to be Editable Grids
    editableOthers

Note: I tried this on the Unified Interface and this works. Somehow, it didn’t work on the Classic Web UI.

 

Hope this helps!

D365 Quick Tip: Simple & Detailed Mode in Advanced Find

priyeshwagh777 dynamics 365 administration, Dynamics 365 CE , ,

If you ever wanted to refine your Personal Settings and ever came across this setting that asks your to set the default mode in Advanced Find
setting

But didn’t observe the Advanced Find well? Here’s what it does

Simple Mode

As per Advanced Find behavior, the view which you are on is pre-selected in the Advanced Find.

And observe that the query is locked and you actually need to click on Details to expand it or make it editable
simpleMode

And then it expands like this
expanded

Detailed Mode

In Detailed mode, if you click on Advanced Find button, the query will already be in detailed view ready for you to be edited directly without you needed to click on Details as in Simple mode
advancedMode

 

Hope this quick tip saves you that extra bit of second. 🙂