MSCRM 4.0 Upgrade Successful

Well, we did it. We upgraded to MSCRM 4.0 internally and it is fantastic! There were a few things we had to clean up but it wasn't too bad. We are really excited to be able to use all of the enhancements in our internal system.

Hopefully your upgrade is going just as well or is already completed.

Happy Holiday's!

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.

MSCRM 4.0 is now available for download!

Well, it's finally here. Nope, not Christmas, close (at least for all of you MSCRM fanatics out there). MSCRM 4.0 is now available for download. Go to this link to see all of the new available downloads for MSCRM:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?DisplayLang=en&nr=20&freetext=CRM&sortCriteria=date

The server bits are up along with a 90 day trail key (both 32 bit and 64 bit), the client bits, email router, documentation, and lots more.

Check it out if you're interested and get lined up for you upgrade to the latest version of MSCRM 4.0!

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.

MSCRM 4.0 has SHIPPED

According to Michael Lu, MSCRM 4.0 has shipped. Apparently there may be a couple of days of lag for it to become available for download and for the mass production of the CD's that go out to the masses, but according to the developers, they are done. Now we're just waiting for the bits to become available and then 4.0 will be in our hands.

I hope you're as excited as I am!

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.

Unsupported Scripts that appear to upgrade

I avoid unsupported customizations as much as possible (mostly because I know I'm the one who has to come back and upgrade the system later and I don't want to have to deal with the headaches) but there are some cases where some "unsupported" customizations end up in being necessary.

Now, let me clarify one thing about unsupported customizations. To me there are 3 types of Customizations:

1. Supported
2. Unsupported "okay" - this is where scripts may not work upon upgrade but no files are changed but nothing from Microsoft is modified or broken. Microsoft support will just turn off your scripts if they give you support and they think that your scripts could be part of the problem reported.
3. Unsupported "bad" - this is where files from Microsoft get modified (ASPX, JS, etc) and everything you do will be overwritten on the next upgrade or repair. Microsoft will not support your implementation if you ever require their support.

The customizations that I am talking about in this post all fall under the #2 category. I refuse to enter into the realm of #3 because I don't want to have to deal with the headaches.

Here is a list of some scripts that I have written or found posted in groups that still work from MSCRM 3.0 to 4.0:

1. Hide a tab
2. Embed a grid in an IFRAME
3. Change the color/font of a text field
4. Hide NavBar Items
5. Hide a field or label
6. Set Field Requirement Level
7. Copy the name of a lookup (the Text version)
8. Change the value of a lookup field
9. Force the type of customer (this is for when people click on the lookup glass so that it only shows the entity type you want it to show, unfortunately it only works if you click on the lookup glass).

Some scripts that need some modification in order to work in MSCRM 4.0:

1. Changing the background color of the entire form
2. Getting the logged in user's name
3. Field Level Security

Hope this brings hope to someone else out there, and prep's anyone who has some "unsupported" scripts out there for the upgrade. It sure made me feel a lot better about upgrading my clients, seeing as the majority of the scripts were upgradeable.

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.

Hide Tabs Script compatible in MSCRM 4.0

One of the things that has been on my mind has been the scripting that has been floating around that modifies DHTML on a CRM form.


One of the more frequent requests that I get and end up in implementing is that of hiding a tab on a form. Below is some code that I have used in MSCRM 3.0 on the Account form to hide the Notes tab from a default set up, but technically, the 4th tab on the form.

Here's the code that I have tested in the beta system I have and my code still worked:

var oType = crmForm.all.address1_addresstypecode;
switch (oType.SelectedText)
{
case "Other":
crmForm.all.tab3Tab.style.visibility = "hidden";
crmForm.all.tab3Tab.style.position = "absolute";
break

default:
crmForm.all.tab3Tab.style.visibility = "visible";
crmForm.all.tab3Tab.style.position = "relative";
break;
}

Now, whenever the option of "Other" is selected from the Address Type field, the Notes tab will disappear.


I'll be testing more scripts to see how much scripting changes I'll be having to make when I upgrade clients to MSCRM 4.0.

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.

Enabling the Form Assistant from the GUI

In MSCRM 3.0 you do have the ability to remove Form Assistant from a form or set it to being opened or closed when you open a specific form. However, to do that you had to modify the Site Map, not always the easiest thing to modify.

However, in MSCRM 4.0 this is now included in the GUI within the Customizations section. From Customizations, open an entity, open the Form and then click on Form Properities. The first tab you will see will be:

Now changing the Form Assistant is as simple as changing a checkbox and publishing your changes.

Things are just getting easier and easier for Administrators.

David Fronk

Dynamic Methods Inc.

Phone Calls and Outlook in CRM 4.0

One of the biggest complaints I hear around activities is that only Appointments, Tasks and Service Activities sync with Outlook Appointment or Tasks. We were always told that since there was no equivilent activity in Outlook, CRM couldn't push the other activities into Outlook.

Well, that's all changed now. The CRM developers finally decided to forget about waiting for Outlook to comply with CRM and decided to just push things into Outlook activities.

Let me state this in big bold letters so that no one misses it:
PHONE CALLS WILL SYNC TO OUTLOOK TASKS IN CRM 4.0.

Everybody got that? I know that I have a number of clients who I talked into using a highly customized Task to accomodate Tasks and Phone Calls so that users would get reminder pop-ups from Outlook about when they needed to make a phone call. This new feature now removes that need and just makes so much more sense. Simple and yet it will make a huge difference to end users (who use activities).

Great things coming in the new version!

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.