5 syntax changes in Dynamics CRM 2011 plugins

There are number of changes between Dynamics CRM 2011 SDK and CRM 4 SDK. Let’s take a look at what has changed between plugins.

1. The IPlugin now resides in Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk namespace instead of Microsoft.Crm.Sdk
public class ClassName : Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.IPluginpublic class ClassName : Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPlugin
2. The Execute method signature of the IPlugin interface has changed, it now expects an IServiceProvider instead of the IPluginExecutionContext.
public void Execute(IPluginExecutionContext context) public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
3. To get a reference to the IPluginExecutionContext you now need to call the GetService method of the IServiceProvider interface.
public void Execute(IPluginExecutionContext context) Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext context =(Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext)     serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.IPluginExecutionContext));
4. ICrmService has been changed to IOrganizationService.
ICrmService sdk = context.CreateCrmService(true); IOrganizationServiceFactory factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory)); IOrganizationService sdk = factory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);
5. DynamicEntity has been changed to Entity.    ·         Properties property of DynamicEntity no longer exists    ·         Getting and Setting values no longer use *Property classes,       eg: no more KeyProperty, StringProperty…etc, simply do int value = (int)entity[“schema_name”];
if (context.InputParameters.Properties.Contains("Target") &&     context.InputParameters.Properties["Target"] is DynamicEntity) if (context.InputParameters.Contains("Target") &&     context.InputParameters["Target"] is Entity)

 

Source: http://weblogs.asp.net/gayanperera/archive/2010/09/13/5-syntax-changes-in-dynamics-crm-2011-plugins.aspx

List of changes : Type mapping between CRM 4.0 and CRM 2011

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, the programming model has been changed to use native .NET types whenever possible. A beautiful post from Resultondemand explains it all, with all credit to their great job the excerpts of the post is :

Type Mapping Between Versions
The following table shows the mapping between the defined type for an entity attribute, the type that is used in a record, and the type that was used in Microsoft DynamicsCRM4.0.

Attribute Type	Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Type	Microsoft DynamicsCRM4.0 Type
AttributeTypeCode.Boolean	bool or System.Boolean	CrmBoolean
AttributeType.CalendarRules	EntityCollection	DynamicEntity[] or calendarrule[]
AttributeType.Customer	EntityReference	Customer
AttributeType.DateTime	System.DateTime	CrmDateTime
AttributeType.Decimal	decimal or System.Decimal	CrmDecimal
AttributeType.Double	double or System.Double	CrmFloat
AttributeType.Integer	int or System.Integer	CrmNumber
AttributeType. Internal	System.Object Not used in records.	Not used in records.
AttributeType.Lookup	EntityReference	Lookup
AttributeType.Memo	string or System.String	System.String
AttributeType.Money	Money	CrmMoney
AttributeType.Owner	EntityReference	Owner
AttributeType.PartyList	EntityCollection or ActivityParty[]	activityparty[] or DynamicEntity []
AttributeType.Picklist	OptionSetValue	Picklist
AttributeType.PrimaryKey	System.Guid	Key
AttributeType.String	System.String	System.String
AttributeType.State	OptionSetValue or enumeration generated for the entity state	EntityNameStateInfo
AttributeType.Status	OptionSetValue orint	Status
AttributeType.Uniqueidentifier	System.Guid	UniqueIdentifier
AttributeType.Virtual	System.Object Not used in records.	Not used in records.

Other Type Changes

Old Type	New Type
CrmAttributeType Class (MetadataService)	Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Metadata.AttributeTypeCode
Moniker Class (CrmService)	Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference
SecurityPrincipal Class (CrmService)	Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.EntityReference

Happy Coding

Using CRM 2011 Service to Create Record from Code C# - IOrganizationService

// sample to test the method   

private void CreateAccount(string AccountName)

    {

        IOrganizationService _service = GetCRMService("http://<ServerName>:<PortNumber>", "<UserName>", "<Password>", "<Domain>");

        try

        {

            Entity account = new Entity("account");

            account["name"] = AccountName;

            _service.Create(account);

        }

        catch (Exception ex)

        {

            throw;

        }

    }

// GetCRMService   

    public static IOrganizationService GetCRMService(string ServerURL, string UserName, string Password, string DomainName)

    {

        ClientCredentials credentials = new ClientCredentials();

        credentials.Windows.ClientCredential = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(UserName, Password, DomainName);

        Uri organizationUri = new Uri(ServerURL + "/<OrgName>/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc");

        Uri homeRealmUri = null;

        OrganizationServiceProxy orgService = new OrganizationServiceProxy(organizationUri, homeRealmUri, credentials, null);

        IOrganizationService _service = (IOrganizationService)orgService;

        return _service;

    }