Dynamics 365 – Page 93 – Nishant Rana's Weblog

Using Alternate key in the Dynamics 365 for Sales Connector in Informatica Cloud

In our recent project we were using Dynamics 365 for Sales Connector of Informatica Cloud to push data into CRM from SQL DB.

To update the lookup instead of using GUID we decided to us the Alternate Key.

From the below KB article, it looks like the older version of the informatica connector wasn’t supporting the Alternate Key

https://kb.informatica.com/faq/7/Pages/15/377766.aspx

However, the newer and the recent version of the connector based which is based on Web API supports the alternate key.

To set the alternate key we basically need to use the below syntax,

EntitySetName(keyfield=’keyfieldvalue’)

i.e.

sab_fash_transactionheaders(sab_name=’value’)

Hope it helps..

Error while setting the lookup and publishing the workflow in Dynamics 365

Recently while trying to configure a Team in Assign step we were getting the below error

With following details (not much useful)

The only way we figured out to set that field was to first chagne the Entity in the Assign Drop down and then selecting the team in the lookup dialog bx.

Below we have changed the Entity to Brand (custom entity) from Lead and then changed it back to Lead and then tried setting the team from the lookup dialog box.

We were successful this time.

Or setting the lookup through quick search view instead of opening up the lookup dialog box as shown below

The other issue we were facing was while trying to publish the workflow we were getting the below errorà “The selected workflow has errors and cannot be published. Please open the workflow, remove the errors and try again.”

This we realized in one of the Check Condition steps we had the values repeated for one of the lookup field.

This was because the workflow was imported to the target environment and later the records of the lookup entity that is being referred were deleted and added back which eventually led to 2 duplicate values i.e. same display name and different GUID thing. (1 non-existing in that environment, but still there inside workflow step). Removing it fixed the issue and we were able to publish the workflow.

Hope it helps..

Setting Lookup field in the Dynamics 365 for Sales Connector in Informatica Cloud

Informatica Cloud has recently released new connector for integration with Dynamics 365 named Dynamics 365 for Sales Connector, which uses Web API of Dynamics 365.

Below is how we specify the details of the connection –

Because of lack of documentation for the new connector, while trying to insert a record inside CRM and trying to setup a lookup field we struggled a lot.

Eventually, we realized the format that is required for setting the lookup field.

EntitySetName:(GUID)

i.e.

sab_fash_categories(72e0b837-e060-4a5c-b831-0e8266dd9a56)

Here sab_fash_categories is the EntitySetName of the custom entity sab_fash_item and it is being used as a lookup in another entity.

For the older version of the connector that used OrganizationService, the documentation is available which specifies the following format for the lookups

{SchemaName:GUID} i.e. the way we specify while setting EntityReference field

https://kb.informatica.com/proddocs/Product%20Documentation/6/IC_Spring2017_MicrosoftDynamicsCRMConnectorGuide_en.pdf

Hope it helps..

Limitation of Solution Patch in Dynamics 365

Recently while working with a Solution Patch we came to realize one of its limitation (or feature) which we weren’t aware of.

If we are trying to update a component through the patch, and that particular component has been customized in the target environment ( through default solution in case of managed), the update won’t work on that component.

Let us take a simple example to understand this.

Below we have created a solution with one workflow in it named Test Process.

Now let us export the solution as managed and import it in Test.

Now back in our DEV let us rename the Process and create a patch for it and import it in Test.

https://nishantrana.me/2016/09/22/creating-patches-solution-management-in-crm-2016/

We can see the update in the name after applying\importing the patch.

Now let us go back in our DEV and make some update in the name of the process and import it again in the Test.

We have selected the option of overwriting customizations here.

We can see the update in the TEST after importing the patch.

Now comes the interesting part, in the TEST environment, go to Settings – Customizations and rename the Process. Here we have appended “Updated” in its name.

Now let us import the same Patch Solution back in our TEST with Overwrite selected.

Unexpectedly, we do not see any change, the process is unchanged in the TEST even after importing the patch with Overwrite option. We expected it to be renamed to Test Process Patch Version 1 as it was in the patch solution, instead, it has the suffix Updated to it i.e. the changes that we made directly in the TEST through default solution.

The way we can now update it from DEV is to clone our solution there.

Import it to TEST and apply Solution Upgrade.

Below we can see the new version imported into the TEST and as expected the Process renamed to what it was in DEV.

Hope it helps..

The record could not be deleted because of an association exception in Dynamics 365

Recenlty while trying to delete product records, we got the below error.

The quick way to figure out which associated entity’s record could have restricted the deletion of the record, open the 1:N relationship for the entity.

Search for any Parental, Referential Restrict Delete or any System relationship that has Restrict set for Delete action.

In our case it was the System relationship of Product with Opportunity Product

With Restrict Behavior set for Delete action.

Deleting all the opportunity product record allowed us to delete the Product records.

Hope it helps..

Fixed – Unable to Login to Dynamics CRMOrganizationServiceProxy is null error while using CrmServiceClient

While connecting to Dynamics 365 – Version 9.0.0.0 online through a console application using Visual Studio 2015

we were getting the below error

The fix was to specify the security protocol to be Tls12 for the connection for VS 2015 and for VS 2017 make sure the framework version is 4.6 or above.