Many to Many Relationship IFrame

you can display the N-N Relationship view or any other view in CRM entity in IFrame like this:

to do this, I am creating two test entities new_testentity1 and new_testentity2 and many to many relationship between the two entities, and IFrame in new_testentity1  named IFRAME_TestEntity2
and form onload script:

function OnCrmPageLoad() {
            /* Create a N2NViewer and give it the IFRAME (container) id */
            var n2nViewer = new N2NViewer('IFRAME_TestEntity2');
            /* Set the role order - use iedevtoolber for exact parameters */
            n2nViewer.RoleOrder = 1;
            /* assing the relationship name (without the "area" word) */
            n2nViewer.TabsetId = "new_new_testentity1_new_testentity2";
            /* Do the trick... */
            n2nViewer.Load();
        }

        function N2NViewer(iframeId) {
            if (!document.all[iframeId]) {
                alert(iframeId + " is missing!");
                return;
            }

            var viewer = this;
            var _locAssocObj = null;

            viewer.IFRAME = document.all[iframeId];
            viewer.RoleOrder;
            viewer.TabsetId;

            viewer.Load = function() {
                /* Construct a valid N2N IFRAME url */
                viewer.IFRAME.src = "areas.aspx?oId=" + crmForm.ObjectId + "&oType=" + crmForm.ObjectTypeCode + "&security=" + crmFormSubmit.crmFormSubmitSecurity.value + "&roleOrd=" + viewer.RoleOrder + "&tabSet=area" + viewer.TabsetId;
                viewer.IFRAME.onreadystatechange = viewer.StateChanged;
            }

            viewer.StateChanged = function() {
                if (viewer.IFRAME.readyState != 'complete') {
                    return;
                }

                var iframeDoc = viewer.IFRAME.contentWindow.document;

                /* Reomve scrolling space */
                iframeDoc.body.scroll = "no";
                /* Remove crmGrid Default padding */
                iframeDoc.body.childNodes[0].rows[0].cells[0].style.padding = 0;

                /* Save MS locAssocObj */
                _locAssocObj = locAssocObj;
                /* Override MS locAssocObj */
                locAssocObj = viewer.locAssocObj;
            }

            viewer.locAssocObj = function(iType, sSubType, sAssociationName, iRoleOrdinal) {
                /* Open the Dialog */
                _locAssocObj(iType, sSubType, sAssociationName, iRoleOrdinal);
                /* Refresh only if our iframe contains the correnct tabset name */
                if (sAssociationName == viewer.TabsetId) {
                    viewer.IFRAME.contentWindow.document.all.crmGrid.Refresh();
                }
            }
        }

        //Entry Point
        OnCrmPageLoad();

Creating Custom Buttons in CRM Toolbars

To Create Custom Button in the CRM 4.0 Toolbar, you need to export the ISV.config file and under Entities node you need to add the following XML for your targeted entity i.e. new_project

<Entity name="new_project">
<ToolBar ValidForCreate="0" ValidForUpdate="1">
<Button Icon="/_imgs/ico_18_debug.gif" JavaScript="ConvertToProject();">
<Titles>
<Title LCID="1033" Text="Convert To Project" />
</Titles>
<ToolTips>
<ToolTip LCID="1033" Text="Convert To Project" />
</ToolTips>
</Button>
<ToolBarSpacer />
</ToolBar>
</Entity>


where ConvertToProject(); is the javascript function you want to execute on the button click and it should be defined in your form onload

One more thing, you need to add the clients in system setting > Customization tab  to see the samples from ISV.

enjoy :)

Change the Attributes, Sections and Tabs Colors in CRM 4.0

To change the color, bac for the CRM control (Attribute, Section or Tab), you just need to get the control and set the property you want:

document.getElementById('new_name').style.background= 'red';

or visibility:
document.getElementById('new_name').style.display= 'none';

or width
document.getElementById('new_name').style.width= '100';

Error: Invalid User Authorization. The user authentication passed to the platform is not valid

If you receive this error in CRM 4.0, defintely it's a Rollup update and Active Directory Issue.

I've seen this with CRM 4.0 and Windows Server 2008 R2

I had this error and googled it and found a lot of posts, some of them comparing the users in the config db with the organization db, others asking for restarting the Microsoft CRM Asynchronous Processing Service

Nothing of the posted solutions worked with me, so I uninstalled the rollup update 7 and it's working fine.

so I tried it with Rollup updates 8,7,6,5,4,3

Only Rollup update 3 solved all my problems and worked like a charm.

Update: Make sure to give the network service user crm read role on the organization and configuration databases.

Installing Project Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008

If you try to install Project Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2, the Setup program will give you an error message such as this one:

“The program is blocked due to compatibility issues.”

The solution for this error is the same as the solution for a similar error with SharePoint Server 2007 – you need to slipstream the latest service pack files into your Project Server installation (the SharePoint solution was described by Martin Kearn here.)

To successfully load Project Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 SP2, follow these steps:

1. Copy Project Server 2007 installation files from the CD to a local directory on your hard drive, such as C:\Project2007.

2. Download Project Server 2007 SP2 files from this location:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b7816d90-5fc6-4347-89b0-a80deb27a082&displaylang=en.

Choose the appropriate download for your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit).

3. From the command prompt, extract the update files to a local folder using /extract switch. Example: c:\ProjectServer2007sp2-kb953334-x86-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:c:\Project2007SP2\

4. Copy the extracted SP2 files to /Updates directory in the Project Server 2007 installation folder on your hard drive.

5. You can now install Project Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 SP2.



Source: http://sharepointnomad.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/installing-microsoft-office-project-server-2007-on-windows-server-2008-sp2/

Update:  the link above now contains SharePoint 2007 SP2 and it applies for Project Server 2007 as SP2 too, and the command will be: officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:c:\Project2007SP2\

Microsoft and SAP Again Team Up Against Oracle

By Ben Worthen
As tech companies expand into one another’s turf, rivalries are often created or intensify. So it should come as no surprise to see some deals that can be summed up as the enemy of my enemy is my friend.


SAP and Microsoft, which dominate different segments of the software industry, are set to announce the latest such partnership on Wednesday. Under the agreement, Microsoft will name the German software maker the “preferred provider” to its customers of software for budgeting, planning and forecasting.

The deal extends a longstanding relationship between the two companies, whose past collaborations include software to help their programs work better together. Microsoft even considered making a bid to buy SAP early in the decade.

SAP and Microsoft also have some overlap. For instance, both make software that businesses use to do things like balance the general ledger and manage customer relationships. The other thing that they have in common: an intense dislike of Oracle.

Oracle is SAP’s biggest rival for business application software and Microsoft’s biggest rival for database software. Oracle also makes a budgeting and planning program that competes with the SAP software at the heart of the new partnership.

The Oracle competition seems to trump concerns that working together might give SAP a foot into Microsoft’s accounts. By working together Microsoft and SAP hope that they will better be able to win sales against Oracle—and replace it in some cases, says Sanjay Poonen, an executive at SAP.

Under the arrangement SAP and Microsoft will make joint sales calls and appear at events together, says Poonen. They’ll also take steps to ensure that products from the two companies work well together.

An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/11/17/microsoft-and-sap-again-team-up-against-oracle/?mod=msn_money_ticker

CRM 4.0 Export Report to Word (.Doc) Format

I was trying to export CRM 4.0 Reports to word files using SSRS 2005 and after googling it I found a post From Ronald here but didn't go through it as I found it is supported out of the box in SSRS 2008,



So, it's time to upgrade to SQL 2008 :).