Welcome in Dynamics World: Part-2

In this blog, I will start with technical role. To begin you can start from previous blog Part 1.

Development in Dynamics CRM have two parts: -

1.     Client-side development

·         JavaScript, J-query

·         HTML

·         CSS

2.     Server-side development

·         C# .net

·         Sql server reporting services(SSRS)

For client-side development you need to use Web resources in CRM. I will explain about web resource in this blog.

For server-side development you need to use plugin, custom workflow. I will explain these two component also in upcoming blogs.

Webresource: -

                      Web resources represent files that can be used to extend the Microsoft Dynamics 365 web application such as html files, JavaScript etc. 

Below are three major area where we use web resource.

·        Form customization

·        SiteMap

·        Ribbon customization.

The maximum size of files that can be uploaded is determined by the Organization.MaxUploadFileSize property. This property is set in the Email tab of the System Settings in the Dynamics 365 application. This setting limits the size of files that can be attached to email messages, notes, and web resources. The default setting is 5 MB.

Below are the type of webresources supported by Dynamics CRM.

File	File extensions	Type
Webpage (HTML)	.htm, .html	1
Style Sheet (CSS)	.css	2
Script (JScript)	.js	3
Data (XML)	.xml	4
Image (PNG)	.png	5
Image (JPG)	.jpg	6
Image (GIF)	.gif	7
Silverlight (XAP)	.xap	8
StyleSheet (XSL)	.xsl, .xslt	9
Image (ICO)	.ico	10

There is no type of web resource that supports the capabilities of an ASP.NET(.aspx) page to execute code on the server. Silverlight is outdated now. So use HTML instead of Silverlight.

Solution: -

It is always better to create any web resource in solution. So first know little about solution. In dynamics CRM, in simpler way you can remember Solution as container with contains different kind to components like webresource, process, entity etc which use to migrate form one organization/environment to another. Solution support version control and contains information about company who develop this in “Publisher” attribute of solution.

 Solution are of below types: -

·         Managed Solution

·         Unmanaged Solution

·         Default Solution

Managed Solution: -

                                    Managed solution is a sealed package which cannot directly customized by anyone. So, all the companies or solution partner use manage solution to distribute their packages. You can understand managed solution as an exe file that provided to user to install software in system but the source code remains to developing companies. Dynamics CRM provide a property known as “Customizable” to restrict or unrestricted components of solution. This is an Boolean field which contain only true or false value.

Developers are not allowed to change this property of system defined entity, view, fields etc.

Unmanaged Solution: -

                                    Every time you create a new solution in dynamics CRM it is created as unmanaged solution. You can add, edit, update, remove, delete, and test any of the components of the solution. You also can create restrictions on the components within the solution. You can export an unmanaged solution either as managed or unmanaged solution. In development organization, we always use unmanaged solution than export it as managed solution for testing and production environment.

Default/System Solution: -

                                    The system solution represents the solution components defined within Microsoft Dynamics 365. Without any managed solutions or customizations, the system solution defines the default application behavior. Many of the components in the system solution are customizable and can be used in managed solutions or unmanaged customizations. We can access a default solution by navigating to Settings->Customizations->Customize the System.

Solution Components: -

Schema:
· Entities
· Attributes
· Relationships
· Global Option Sets

Analytics:
· Dashboards
· Reports
· Visualizations

User Interface:
· Application Ribbon
· SiteMap
· Forms
· Entity Ribbons
· Web Resources

Process/Code:
· Processes – Dialogs and Workflows
· Plug-ins – Assemblies and Processing Steps

Templates:
· Mail-merge
· E-mail
· Contract
· Article

Security:
· Security Roles
· Field Level Security Profiles


You can find all solution navigating Setting->Solution

Before creating any new solution better to create new Publisher or use existing publisher or you can use default publisher but use of default solution is not recommended.

To create new Publisher navigate to Settings->Publishers

Click on new and create new publisher. You can provide your company details also in publisher. Publisher also use to provide solution in marketplace in marketplace for other organization and generate revenue.

To create new solution, navigate to solution and click on new button. Select your publisher and provide solution name and version.

Create Webresource: -
To create new weresource click on webresource icon on left side in solution.

Click on new button and select webresource type like Jscript, HTML etc.

You need to provide name and Display name to your webresource. It is better to utilize file structure while creating any webresource.

You can use below name convention.

Jscript:- /script/<fileName>.js

HTML, Style sheet and Images: - /ws/<filename>.html

Data (XML): -  /Data/<filename>.xml

Do not use “Text Editor” option while creating or updating any web resource always use “Choose File” option and select your file from your system.

It’s just a beginning in Dynamics CRM world. I will try to include all aspects in coming blogs. Part 3