08 @ December @ 2006 @ Mitch Milam's Dynamics CRM Discussions

The ultimate web site error message

Posted on December 8th, 2006 mitch Print No comments

I love people with an honest sense of humor.

Misc
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MSDNWiki is live

Posted on December 8th, 2006 mitch Print No comments

[via Brad Abrams]

Microsoft has added a Community Content feature to the MSDN site that will allow users to add their own content:

I think this is just amazing and one of the coolest things Microsoft has done in quite a while.

Now if we can just talk them into extending that feature over to the CRM SDK section. That would be really cool. ( and yes, I checked it out before I wrote this – it's not there. )

Some cool links:

The Statistics page: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx
RSS Feed: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-US/library/Community-Edits(d=rss).aspx
For .NET Framework 2.0 reference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229335(VS.80).aspx
For .NET Framework 3.0: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa388745.aspx

Development, Dynamics CRM
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Recovering from a bad SiteMap customization

Posted on December 8th, 2006 mitch

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There are really not too many customization points with CRM and those are fairly well protected, so it takes a lot to make CRM mad.

But, adding invalid information to the SiteMap and importing that site map will do it.

The CRM SiteMap is treated a bit differently from other customizations in that SiteMap customizations are immediately published. This means if you have SiteMap customization issues, you will have an unuseable system, like this:

In case you didn't know, it's really hard to change CRM when you can't get past the opening page. Luckily, there is a work around ( as documented in the CRM SDK readme ).

If you open the following URL:

http://[CRM_Server]/tools/systemcustomization/
ImportCustomizations/importCustomizations.aspx

The import customization page will be displayed. This will allow you to import a corrected SiteMap. Just load the main CRM page again after you perform the import.

Note: In some cases, you may need to clear the browser cache and/or perform an IISReset in order for the revision to take effect.

And what where you doing to cause the above error?

I was modifying navigation of the Marketing area to show the "Groups," using the following code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
      <Area Id="MA" ResourceId="Area_Marketing"
		Icon="/_imgs/marketing_24x24.gif"
		DescriptionResourceId="Marketing_Description"
		ShowGroups="true">
        <Group Id="MA">
          <SubArea Id="nav_leads" Entity="lead" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_accts" Entity="account" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_conts" Entity="contact" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_lists" Entity="list" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_campaigns" Entity="campaign"

                   Url="/MA/home_camps.aspx" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_products" Entity="product" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_saleslit" Entity="salesliterature" />
          <SubArea Id="nav_minicamps" ResourceId="Menu_Label_Mini_Campaigns"
			DescriptionResourceId="Quick_Campaign_Description"
			Icon="/_imgs/ico_18_minicamps.gif"
			Url="/MA/home_minicamps.aspx">
            <Privilege Entity="activitypointer" Privilege="Read" />
          </SubArea>
        </Group>
        <Group Id="ExtensionsMA" ResourceId="Group_Extensions"

                    Title="Company Extensions">
          <SubArea Id="new_realtor" Entity="new_realtor" />
          <SubArea Id="new_lender" Entity="new_lender" />
          <SubArea Id="new_lendercontact" Entity="new_lendercontact" />
          <SubArea Id="new_realtorcontact" Entity="new_realtorcontact" />
          <SubArea Id="new_titlecompany" Entity="new_titlecompany" />
          <SubArea Id="new_titlecompanycontact"

                    Entity="new_titlecompanycontact" />
          <SubArea Id="new_community" Entity="new_community" />
        </Group>
      </Area>

I had added the ShowGroups parameter to the Marketing Area to get the "TreeView" effect you see in the Workplace area. As the error message states, the "MA" Group does not have a Title and CRM needs a Title to display properly. I corrected this problem by changing that line to: