How to use Tracing in CRM 2011-2013 Plugins and Workflows

In this article we describe Step by step How to use Tracing in CRM 2011-2013 Plugins and Workflows in C# in 5 minutes.
Since CRM Plugins and Workflows are deployed on web servers after the development reaches the release stage , it is usually very helpful to include tracing in your code in profusion, not only in error cases, at least when you are putting to the test new developments .
CRM 2011-2013 allows you to include tracing galore:

How to use Tracing in CRM 2011-2013 Plugins and Workflows

Phase 1: use the GetExtension() method from the "context" at your plugin-workflow:

Since this is a generic C# Dot.Net method, use the ITracingService interface to get the tracing service from the context.

Phase 2: Send the ITracingService to any method where you intend to log information using tracing:

For example:

Phase 3: inside the plugin's methods, call the ITracingService's Trace() method to send messages to the tracing:

In case of error, CRM will display an alert showing the tracing:

That's all...Enjoy Dynamics CRM

by Carmel Schvartzman

כתב: כרמל שוורצמן

How to programmatically create a CustomerAddress in Dynamics CRM 2011/2013

1. In this article we see how to programmatically create a CustomerAddress in Dynamics CRM 2011/2013. 
   In CRM 2013, the address data of an Account or a Contact are stored in a separate Entity called CustomerAddress, on a 1:N relationship basis, in which an Account can have (and have, by default) many addresses.
   This post is about Dynamics CRM 2011 - 2013 custom Plugins or custom Workflows, and any   C# code which calls the CRM Organization Web Service to create a new CustomerAddress item , that means, a third address for an Account or a Contact. The following snapshot shows the Account address fields:
   

How to programmatically create a CustomerAddress in Dynamics CRM 2011/2013

1. When an Account is created, CRM creates by default 2 addresses for it, from  the CustomerAddress entity type, which are called Address1 and Address2.
2. If you intend to programmatically update the Account or Contact address, and not to create a new address, you just instantiate the following Account fields with the data, and CRM will automatically update the corresponding CustomerAddresses objects related to the specific Account:

oAccount["address1_telephone1"]
oAccount["address1_line1"]oAccount["address1_city"]oAccount["address1_postalcode"]

Change "Address1" with "Address2" if you want to update the second Account address.

If you intend to create a new (third) CustomerAddress item for the Account, follow this step by step instructions:

1. First we write a check to see whether we got a legal ID of the Account we want to refer to:
   
   

   if (guidParentAccount.HasValue){

2. Then we create the CustomerAddress entity , and instantiate the "ParentID" of the CustomerAddress . When creating a new address for an Account or a Contact entity, it's crucial to provide a reference field which points to the "ParentId" , that means , the Account or Contact to which belongs this new address. The C# code below instantiates the "ParentId" property with the actual Account , and not just the Parent's  ID (guid) :
   
   

   Entity oAccountAddress = new Entity("customeraddress");                                  
   EntityReference parentID = new EntityReference();                   
   parentID.Id = guidParentAccount.Value;                   
   parentID.LogicalName = "account";
                      
    oAccountAddress.Attributes["parentid"] = parentID;

3. However, if you try to instantiate this "ParentId" field with the guid, you will be confronted with an exception , that's raised informing that the value is null : this error message is misleading, and we wrote about it in another article here.
4. Another way, shorter, to instantiate the ParentID is the following:
   
   oAccountAddress["parentid"] = new EntityReference("account", guidParentAccount.Value );
5. Next we save the street in the "line1" field: for the example, here i made a street search by street code on a generic List<> which contains street codes and descriptions:
   

                   
   
     string sStreetDescription = String.Empty;                   
     if ( oStreetList != null &&  oStreetList.Count > 0  && iStreetCode > 0)                   
     {                       
              sStreetDescription = oStreetList.FirstOrDefault(sc => sc.Code == iStreetCode).Description;                       
              if (sStreetDescription.Length > 0)                       
              {                           
                        oAccountAddress["line1"] = sStreetDescription;                       
              }                   
     }

6. Next we save the city  in the "city" field: for this example, here i got a city object also from data migration, which contains both city code and description:
   
   

   string sCityDescription = String.Empty;                   
   if (oCity != null)                   
   {                       
         sCityDescription = oCity.Description;                       
         if (sCityDescription.Length > 0)                       
         {                           
                  oAccountAddress["city"] = sCityDescription;                       
         }                   
   }

   
   
7. 
   
8. Then we instantiate the "postalcode" and "telephone1" properties:
   
   

    if (oAccount.Zip != null)                    
   {                        
            oAccountAddress["postalcode"] = Convert.ToString(oAccount.Zip);                    
   }
   oAccountAddress["telephone1"] = oAccount.Phone ?? "0";

9. Finally we call the Organization Web Service to create the CustomerAddress entity from the Account:
   
   Guid? guidAccountAddress = XrmContext.Create(oAccountAddress);
10. The CRM database will then reflect the 3 addresses (AddressNumber 1,2 and 3) as shown here:
    
     

That's all...Enjoy Dynamics CRM!!!

by Carmel Schvartzman

כתב: כרמל שוורצמן

How to name SQL parameters in an SSIS Execute SQL Task

In this article we describe Step by step How to name SQL parameters in an SSIS Execute SQL Task , to avoid the common Sql Server Integration Services error : "Parameter name is unrecognized."  
We follow here the conventions introduced by  MSDN in the SQL Server documentation for SSIS . For explaining naming SQL parameters in an Execute SQL Task ,  we will make use of the following SSIS application:

How to name SQL parameters in an SSIS Execute SQL Task

We will want to give to the SQL parameters a proper name in order to avoid  the "Execute SQL Task" error, that can be seen in the picture above   : "Parameter name is unrecognized." :

The  MSDN Documentation explains that naming conventions for using SQL  parameters in OLE DB  should be as follows:

Suppose that we have this SQL query which is using parameters. Then we must use the "?" marker this way :

All parameters must be mapped to the query markers, and indexed base "0" . So, as we have 4 "?" markers, we must name 4 parameters indexed from "0" to "3" ,  using integer numbers conforming to the index positions:

      WHEN ?  - ? <  0          

      WHEN ?  - ? > 0   

        

     

    

That's all...Enjoy Dynamics CRM

by Carmel Schvartzman

כתב: כרמל שוורצמן