Last month I mentioned that I had created a small utility the generate the XML code required to populate a CRM 3.0 picklist.

I decided to go ahead and release it, as is.  Here is a screen shot:

  

Here is how it works:

  1. In the text box on the left ( Source ), enter your Picklist Options. One per line
  2. Picklist options are generally numbered sequentially starting with 1. If you need your list to start with a different number, change the Starting Option Count to reflect that number.
  3. Click the Generate button to generate the XML.
    Its formatted funny due to the XML CRM requirements, so don't change anything.
  4. Click the Copy to Clipboard button to copy the contents of the Destination text box to the clipboard.
  5. Launch WordPad and open the Customizations exported from CRM.
  6. Locate your picklist and replace the Options with the code generated by this utility.
    ( just highlight it and select Edit, Paste )
  7. Save your customization file.
  8. Import into CRM and Publish Customizations.

That's it.

 

Requirements:

  1. .NET 1.1 runtime.

  

Installation Process:

  1. Unzip the CRMGenOptions.zip file.
  2. Double-click on CRMGenOptions.exe to run.

Download it here.

If you run into any issues, please let me know.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, this functionality will be built into another utility that I'm creating to assist CRM Customizers.

 

Additional Info

A week or so ago, Kjell-Sverre Jerijærvi mentioned the possibility of using Excel to generate Picklist Option XML. Well, I tried it this morning and found that Excel generated so much extra "stuff" that it would have been useless to import it into CRM.

Not being an Excel expert, I'm hoping that Kjell will give it a try and if successful, post a sample that we can all use.