CRM RetrieveMultiple QueryExpression to retrieve the top one last created record

In this article we see Step by step How to write a C# query Microsoft Dynamics CRM QueryExpression  to retrieve the top one last created record/modified record , in both CRM 2011 , CRM 2013 ,CRM 2015 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 .
We'll use the IOrganizationService RetrieveMultiple method with a FilterExpression and a ConditionExpression, to get only one record: the latest one created . We also check an attribute for null values .
Usually this C# code will be run from a Dynamics CRM Plugin.
Download the C# code from the following GitHub repository:


We'll see here in only 10 minutes how to write the CRM query , which will be shown this way , for example :

CRM RetrieveMultiple QueryExpression to retrieve the top one last created record/last modified record

First , you need to set which columns to retrieve. It is strongly recommended that you do not select all columns in an of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK entity :

Next, we create the QueryExpression that will hold the query to be send to the OrganizationService , as follows :

There, we add an OrderExpression to sort the records acording to its "createdon" or "modifiedon" attribute.

Then, we cut the results to just the first result and circumscribe them to the first page:

Then, we can check some determined attribute to contain a value - with the not null ConditionOperator:

And include all conditions in a FilterExpression, into the Criteria:

The complete query will look something like this (this code has been tested , and works very well) :

The steps are as follows:
0) Set which columns to retrieve.
1) Create the QueryExpression
2) Add an OrderExpression
3) Check some determined attribute to contain a value using a ConditionOperator (optional)
4) Include all conditions inside  the Criteria as a FilterExpression
5) Send a RetrieveMultiple with the QueryExpression

Happy CRM.....

      by Carmel Schvartzman

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"The given key was not present in the dictionary" KeyNotFoundException Exception in CRM 2013 Plugin or custom Workflow

by Carmel Shvartzman

In this walkthrough we will learn how to take care of the "The given key was not present in the dictionary" - "KeyNotFoundException" error in a Dynamics CRM 2013 (2011) Plug-in or custom Workflow.

1. A disadvantage of using late-binding when coding a CRM 2013 Plugin is, you shoud be very careful with the attributes names, since there is no compile time checking. 
2. Specially when you have added a new field to an entity, and you get the "The given key was not present in the dictionary" Exception, you'll be prone to think something is not good with the new field definitions, or worse , the Organization Web Service is not recognizing the new field, or even worse, the Web Service needs to be reset to render the field, or may be you'd be desperately thinking to restart the CRM server to refresh the Web Service.
3. That's because the error message by CRM may be misleading : you may be expecting that, in case your new field contains a null value, CRM Retrieve() or RetrieveMultiple() or Execute() will locate the field attribute, and fetch a NULL value for it. But CRM wouldn't : it WILL NOT INCLUDE THE KEY IN THE ATTRIBUTE'S DICTIONARY UNLESS IT CONTAINS A VALUE : if your field is not a REQUIRED field, you must code a checking for the presence or absence of the field.
4. For instance, let's say you've added a new field named "new_test", and inside your Plug In you fetch it as follows:
   
5. If the present entity has a NULL value in it , you'll be faced to the "The given Key..." exception:
   
6. First think you'll want to check, is whether you requested for the field in the ColumnsSet:
   
7. But that's not the problem. You did indeed. However, the "new_test" field attribute IS NOT THERE:
   
   
8. That's because CRM WILL NOT INCLUDE THE KEY IN THE ATTRIBUTE'S DICTIONARY UNLESS IT CONTAINS A VALUE (meaning it was SET or UPDATED).
9. You MUST perform a check for the field existence, but not a NULL check as this:
   
10. You should instead use the ContainsKey(string) method from the Collection, for EVERY NO REQUIRED FIELD on the Entity:
    
    
    
    Hoping it helped you.
    That's all...Enjoy Dynamics CRM
    
    
    
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How to debug a CRM 2011 Custom Plugin / Workflow

by Carmel Schvartzman

1. In this walkthrough we will learn Step - By - Step How to debug a custom  Plugin / Workflow in Dynamics CRM 2011. Once you have developed your custom workflow, you deploy the assembly containing the plugin in the CRM web server, and register it with the Plugin Registration Tool of the CRM 2011 SDK.
2. The problem is, every time you change the code, and recompile the assembly, you must redeploy it and the process of debugging-compiling-deploying-registering is very time-consumer and this cycle restarts for every bug and every update you may want to do.
3. The best and quickest way of debugging-redeploying  your plugin is inside the CRM server itself. If you upgrade your code from inside the CRM web server, the process of debug and redeploy it will be far more quicker. You can also perform the testings against a test Organization.
4. First, check whether or not Visual Studio 2010-2012 is installed in the CRM web server. If it doesn't, install it.
5. Next, copy the workflow solution to the CRM server, or else develop entirely your  Plugin from the Visual Studio in the CRM server.
6. Provided you have already built your workflow project, you must deploy it in the CRM server. You copy the assembly from the BIN folder of your project, to the special folder where CRM expects the plugins to be ( Microsoft Dynamics Crm\Server\Bin\Assemply ). Then, open the Plugin Registration Tool, and select "Register New Assembly":
7. 
8. Specify the assembly location:
   
9. Select the "Database" option:
   
10. Now that your plugin has been registered, you can debug it this way: switch to the workflow project opened in the Visual Studio installed on the CRM web server:
    
11. On the "Debug" tab, select "Attach to Process":
    
12. Now select the two "CrmAsynchService.exe" which are running on the CRM server. Those are the services which take care of the plugins, workflows, and every asynchronic processes being run on the CRM 2011:
    
13. Press the "Attach" for each one of the processes:
    
14. Now debug your workflow at your ease. Open your CRM account and call the workflow which calls your custom plugin/workflow. Wait some seconds (it's an asynchronic process so CRM will decide by its own when to run your plugin) and you'll see that the breakpoints you have set on your code will be reached.
15. Let's say that you've found a bug or you need to upgrade the code. You compile it and next you must redeploy the assembly and update the registration of the plugin, and debug again.  Therefore, open the BIN folder of your workflow project, and copy the .dll:
    
16. Now open the folder where are stored the CRM custom plugins ( Microsoft Dynamics Crm\Server\Bin\Assemply ):
    
17. Paste there the assembly. Next, open the Plugin Registration Tool, select your assembly and press "Update":
    
18. Specify the location of the assembly to update:
    
19. Finally click the button "Update Selected Plugins":
    
    
    
    And now you can debug again your plugin and see how the breakpoints are reached by the runtime.
    
    
    That's all...Enjoy Dynamics CRM
    
    
    
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How to Extend the Dynamics CRM Entity Class to enable Indexing for Late Binding

by Carmel Schvartzman

1. In this walkthrough we will learn Step-By-Step  How to Extend the CRM2011 Entity class enabling Indexing while calling a Web Service in Dynamics CRM 2011. We'll call the CRM 2011 WCF Web Service and perform CRUD operations using Indexing on the generic Entity class.  We'll consume the CRM 2011 Organization (SOAP) services from a class which can also be used by a console application, or a Windows Service, or a Windows Form application.
   We'll not use the Microsoft CRM SDK designed for Early Binding; instead we'll reach directly the CRM 2011 WCF SOAP endpoint to perform the CRUD operations for Late Binding.
2. By enabling Indexing we mean that we could access an Entity property getting/setting its value, by using an " entity["field_name"]  "  sintax, while reaching Crm2011 from a WIN app via its Organization Web Service. Therefore, a code like the following....:
   
   
   ... will allows us to create a new Contact, for example:
   
3. In order to create a client for the CRM2011 Organization Service, we'll create a .dll which will send requests to the CRM2011 Organization Web Service Endpoint. Then, we'll create a WIN project to use that assembly and fetch the CRM data, and also create new entities.
4. So let's create a new Class Project in Visual Studio 2010 or 2008, selecting the target framework to be version 3.5:
   
5. Next, add the CRM 2011 Web Service reference to the project:
   
6. Remember that we'll be using the Organization CRM Web Service, so type the address:
   
7. After adding the Web Service, rename the Class :
   
8. Code an static method returning an IOrganizationService object. This function will receive as parameters the host, organization and user logon data:
   
9. Now add the following security code for reaching the CRM Web Service :
   
   
   
   
   
   SymmetricSecurityBindingElement security = new SymmetricSecurityBindingElement();
   security.ProtectionTokenParameters = new SspiSecurityTokenParameters();
   HttpTransportBindingElement httpTransport = new HttpTransportBindingElement();
   httpTransport.MaxReceivedMessageSize = Int32.MaxValue ;
   CustomBinding binding = new CustomBinding();
   binding.Elements.Add(security);
   TextMessageEncodingBindingElement encoding =
   new TextMessageEncodingBindingElement(MessageVersion.Soap12WSAddressing10, Encoding.UTF8);
   binding.Elements.Add(encoding);
   binding.Elements.Add(httpTransport);
    
10. Now add the WCF Endpoint code:
    
    
    
    EndpointAddress endpoint =
    new EndpointAddress(new Uri(string.Format("{0}/{1}/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc", host, organization)),
    EndpointIdentity.CreateUpnIdentity(string.Format("{0}@{1}", user, "")), new AddressHeader[] { });
     
11. And finally add the code to create the Client:
    
    
    
    
    
    OrganizationServiceClient client = new OrganizationServiceClient(binding, endpoint);
    client.ClientCredentials.Windows.ClientCredential = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(user, password, "");
    
     
12. Check that we have all the "usings" we need:
    
13. Also, check whether all the references are listed:
    
14. Now, in order to perform the testings on our class, create a new console Project , which will call our CRM assembly:
    
15. Add the following references:
    
16. First, add the Runtime.Serialization assembly:
    
17. Second, add our class assembly:
    
18. Now, code a call to the IOrganizationService:
    
19. Add the corresponding using:
    
20. ... and type the relevant logon data, for security reasons:
    
21. Next, select some columns that you want to retrieve, and instantiate the entity object:
    
22. Check in the QuickWatch window that you get an account with the required attributes:
    
    
    
23. Now, try to use the  "account["field_name"]" sintax, that means to use Indexing on the Entity class:
    
24. It seems that,  if we want to use the "account["field_name"]" sintax, we'll be confronted with an error:
    
25. Same thing will happen if we try to create a new record, let's say a new Contact:
    
26. According to the error message, Indexing cannot be applied to an Entity.
27. To solve the problem, let's add Indexing support to the Entity class. We'll extend the Entity class by using two collections: the FormattedValueCollection and the RelatedEntityCollection:
    
28. Loockup also the RelatedEntityCollection documentation on MSDN:
    
29. Both collections are defined as OptionalFieldAttribute on the Serialization assembly, meaning that the formatters will not require such fields while serializing the Entity class:
    
30. Take a look at the FormattedValuesField in the "References" .cs file on your project:
    
    
    As you can see, the Entity class is partial, can be extended, and the FormattedValuesField is an optional collection.
    
31. Therefore, the first thing we'll do is instantiate those two fields in the partial Entity constructor:
    
32. Next, we'll add the Indexing feature to allow a "entity["field_name"] " sintax:
    
33. Then, code the get/set functions of the indexing using the AttributeCollection class:
    
34. Press "F12" on the AttributeCollection to see that object:
    
    
    It's a generic List<> of  KeyValuePair<string,object>, therefore let's code according to that.
35. Create a static class to hold the Extensions we need to interact with that List<>. Inside the static class, type the get - set extension methods for that List<>:
    
36. There are two simple cases that can happen while getting-setting a value from-to a collection. Let's code against them first. In the case of the "get" extension method, prepare to throw an exception if the key does not exists:
    
37. In the case of the "set" extension method, the value does not exists in the collection, so just add it to the List.
38. Next, the two important cases are when the value is in the collection , and we need to know the index it is in, in order to fetch it....:
    
    
    ...and when the value is in the collection, and we must override it with the new value. In both cases we'll use a method to get the index of the cell holding the value: GetIndex<K,V>(IList<> col,K key, out i).
39. Create the  GetIndex<K,V>(IList<> col,K key, out i) method:
    
40. Code the basic case in which the collection is null:
    
41. .. Next add the code for the Index search:
    
42. We're done. Compile and run the WIN Startup Project which uses the assembly:
    
    We can see that the Indexing is now working, and we can fetch the Account name, and also create a new Contact record.
43. Finally, let's check our CRM 2011 Workplace to see the new Contact added:
    
    
    
    
    That's all...Enjoy Dynamics CRM
    
    
    
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