Check the other articles of this series

In the previous posts, we saw how to configure Mobile Offline Profile and how it works for the end-users in the device.

The number of records that can be downloaded for Mobile Offline for a particular entity (and its related entity) can be specified using the Data Download Filter of Mobile Offline Profile Item record.

The total data available offline to the user will depend on Entity (enabled for offline) + Organization Data Filter applied to it + Mobile Offline Profile + Security roles of that user

Navigate to Settings à Mobile Offline à Mobile Offline Profiles

Let us open the Contact Mobile Offline Profile Item that we had specified earlier.

The different options for Data download filter are

1. All records
   

Here All records will apply no filtering and all the contact records will be downloaded offline for the configured user.

The one important point to remember is that à

The total entity records (contact in this case) downloaded will be governed by the Organization Data download filter for that entity, what we specify in the mobile offline profile (i.e. data download filter) will be applying further filtering to it.

For contact, the criteria specified is Status equal
to Active.

Organization Data Filter criteria would be modified on less than 10 days for most of the entities by default

So, for All Records, we will have all the active contact records downloaded offline.

On publishing the above mobile offline profile, for users in offline mode, all the active contacts will be available.

And no inactive contacts will be available as shown below.

1. Other data filter
   

Through Other data filter, we can specify what records to be downloaded based on ownership.

Here we have just selected Download my records, which should result in only the active (coming from organization download data filter) contacts owned by the user to be downloaded.

Let us publish it.

After successful Publish, let us check the same in the Phone App.

The app shows only the active contact records owned by the user.

Active Contacts view for the same user in Web Application.

1. Custom data filter
   

The custom data filter will allow us to define the filter using the Define Profile Item Entity Filter dialog box.

Clicking on Define Filter Rule opens the dialog box for us, wherein we can select the fields of the entity for defining the filter criteria and can group it. We cannot choose related entity fields there.

Here for testing, we have kept the criteria as role equals as the Decision-maker.

Now let us publish the change, and check the data for the user in the mobile app offline.

We just have just one record having a role as the Decision-maker.

Back in the mobile app, the user can see only that one record inside the app.

1. Download related data only
   

This option allows us to download related entity data. E.g. with the above contact records, we want to download the related lead records only, for this we will create a new profile item for the lead entity.

Now back in the Contact profile, add an associated offline profile item and specify the Entity-relationship between contact and lead.

Let us publish this new profile.

The user can now select the contact record and can see the related lead record

What happens if we delete the Lead Mobile Offline Profile and only keep the Contact offline profile having the lead association to it?

We’d get the below error

What happens if we keep the contact and lead profile and delete the lead association in the contact offline profile?

This will allows us to publish the profile.

So, for contact we have

• Org filter as active contacts.
• Data download filter as – Custom Data filter as Role equals Decision maker.

And for lead we have

• Org filter as active leads.
• Data download filter as – Download related data only.

The result – only one contact record with a role as the decision maker will be available for the user.

No associated lead

And no leads

Let us add back the mobile offline profile item association record of the lead in the contact offline profile.

The result à only one active contact record having the role as a decision-maker, and only one associated lead record will be available for the user.

Thus we saw, how we can use Data Download Filter to define filtering, which would specify the total records that would be available to users offline, in the mobile app.

Hope it helps..

Check the other articles of this series

In the previous post we covered the captureImagemethod of Xrm.Device for taking picture and attaching it to notes.

In this post, we’d look into the pickFile method of Xrm.Device

pickFile works for both Web Client and Mobile Client unlike captureImage which is only works for Mobile Client (Dynamics 365 for Phone and Tablet app)

pickFile method of Xrm.Device allows us to select files from the computer (web client) (through FileDialog box) and images (gallery) in the case of mobile clients. (the exception being Windows Tablet App), which then can be attached to notes.

Here we have added a custom ribbon button named “Pick file and attach” on the Lead entity form.

In the case of Web Client, the File dialog box opens

In the case of Windows Tablet App also, the file dialog box opens.

For Phone App for Android (and iOS), users can select the existing image from the gallery.

On successful attachment of file/image to notes, the user is presented with the below message.

Users can refresh the timeline to see the attached file.

The sample code using the pickFile method

function PickFile(entityId) {

entityId = entityId.replace(/[{}]/g,'');
Xrm.Device.pickFile().then(

function (data) {

// attach the uploaded file as attachment to note
var entity = {};
entity.subject = "Sample Subject";
entity.documentbody = data[0].fileContent;
entity.filename = data[0].fileName;
entity.mimetype = data[0].mimeType;
entity.notetext = "Sample Text";

// lead entity sample
entity["objectid_lead@odata.bind"] = "/leads(" + entityId + ")";

Xrm.WebApi.online.createRecord("annotation", entity).then(
function success(result) {
var newEntityId = result.id;

var alertStrings = { confirmButtonLabel: "OK", text: "File successfully attached to note. Please refersh the timeline." };
var alertOptions = { height: 200, width: 300 };
Xrm.Navigation.openAlertDialog(alertStrings, alertOptions);

},
function (error) {
Xrm.Utility.alertDialog("Error occured while attaching file to notes. Please try again");
}
);

},
function (error) {
Xrm.Utility.alertDialog("Error occured while picking file. Please try again");
}
);
}

Add the Crm Parameter to pass the GUID of the record to the method.

Thus, using pickFile makes it easy for the end-user to capture and attach the file to notes through a click of a button.

Also check out the wonderful tool Notes Metadata Manager , which provides additional capabilities like adding metadata to the attachments, organise attachments using folder structure, drag and drop attachments, upload multiple attachments etc.

Hope it helps..

Check the other articles of this series

Continuing our previous post, where we configured the entity for the offline, mobile offline profile, and also enabled the offline option for the app, in this post we’d see the behavior of the apps in the offline mode within the Dynamics 365 for Phones App.

On opening the app, the user for which the mobile offline profile is configured will be presented with the below option to download the data for offline.

Clicking on Download will start the download process.

Navigate to Settings à Offline Status (this status will only be added for the apps enabled for offline)

The Offline Status will show us the status of the download.

Once the download completes, we can see the Contact entity available and also the option of working offline enabled for it.

Enabling Work in offline mode, and navigating the dashboard displays the message as below

The phone app also shows the green connection symbol next to the contact entity.

Navigating to the Account entity (which is not configured for offline) shows the below message.

Navigating to Contact entity (configured for offline) displays the lists as expected.

Now let us open one of the records and update the value of a field in it.

Here we have updated the mobile phone number field.

Let us navigate to the Offline Status option and disable Work in Offline Mode.

We see the “The connection was successfully restored” message.

And also the record updated back in our Dynamics 365 Sales Hub App.

In this post, we saw the basic behavior of the phone app in the offline mode, in the next post, we will explore a few more features of the mobile app with regards to offline mode.

Hope it helps..