A CRM Organization's unique name is the name of the organization as it referred to internally. For example, it's the name of the SQL database.
Usually, the organization unique name is simply the Friendly Name with any illegal characters ( spaces, punctuation, etc. ) removed from the name.
For sample: CRM Accelerators is my friendly name, but crmaccelerators is my unique name.
There was a change introduced into CRM Online with Update Rollup 3 that made the unique name the Organization's Globally Unique Identifier ( GUID ) with the dashes removed.
While I doubt that this will affect to many people, it is a little disconcerting to see the unique name in that formation.
You can find the organization unique name under Settings, Customizations, Developer Resources you will see something like this:
Note: This is from an On-Premise organization.
Note: This is from an Online organization.
You can download it here.
For more information about this release, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2600640:
Update Rollup 6 is available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
To maintain parity between the application components of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, this update rollup includes packages for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Language Packs, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM E-mail Router.
That is the question.
A Universal App is one that will work on both the iPhone/iTouch and the iPad. One of the things that I've been considering from a design standpoint is the question of supported platforms for my apps.
For the app ideas that I've created, some apps are definitely platform specific, either iPhone or iPad, simply due to the amount of real estate required by the functionality I've designed. So those are really no-brainers.
Where the question gets fuzzy is with apps that could be used on either platform. Do I create platform-specific versions or do I create a universal app that can be used on either?
From a user prospective, it is more convenient to have a single app that runs on either platform, for the following reasons:
- It's cheaper since they only have to buy one copy.
- It can be less work assuming that data is stored in the cloud and is synchronized automatically. Their data just "shows up" on their device of choice.
However, it does increase the level of complexity when developing the app. A lot of the code can and should be organized in such a way that the device itself is irrelevant. The real deciding factor is in the View Controller.
My research has shown there seems to be two schools of thought:
1. Use a single view controller with code like this to make decisions about what to display:
if (UIDevice.CurrentDevice.UserInterfaceIdiom == UIUserInterfaceIdiom.Phone)
{
homeScreen = new Screens.HomeScreen_iPhone();
}
else
{
homeScreen = new Screens.HomeScreen_iPad();
}
window.RootViewController = homeScreen;
2. Two view controllers that handle each device separately since the iPad has controls that are not available on the iPhone.
I do think it is a bad idea to create a "generic" application that only functions at the lowest common denominator. We need to use the functionality available to us for a specific device.
At this point in time, I really unsure of what my approach will be. I think I really need to start working on the code for one of the devices then see how much work it will be to actually implement it one way or the other.
If you have some experience and an opinion, or maybe just an opinion, I'd love to hear it.
In case you didn't know, Dynamics CRM 2011 has a basic mobile web site built into the product. You access the mobile site by adding /m to your CRM URL, like this:
Which will produce a web page that looks like this:
Here is what a view looks like:
and finally, record detail:
Now that we've seen it work, let's look at how to make it work.
Configuring the Mobile Experience
Configuring Dynamics CRM 2011 for mobile use is a multi-step process, which is as follows:
Step 1: Enable mobile support for the Entity
The first step is to actually enable mobile support at the Entity level, which you accomplish by checking the Mobile Express checkbox on the Entity's information page:
Click the Save button to record your changes.
Step 2: Update the Mobile form
Dynamics CRM 2011 includes a mobile form, as you can see from the Forms view:
Double-click the Mobile Information form to open it in the form editor.
If you are familiar with the normal CRM form editor you will notice that this is not it. Actually, you really can't do much with the form besides select what fields will be displayed.
This is accomplished by adding or removing fields from the Selected Attributes list on the right side of the dialog.
Like other CRM forms, you can assign roles to the form to show this only to certain types of people, if you wish.
Step 3: Publish your changes
After you have finished editing the mobile form, publish the Entity and your changes will be available to users.
Conclusion
That is about it for Mobile Express. It provides basic HTML-level access to CRM data through just about any mobile device.
However, should you need offline capabilities or a richer user experience, you might try a solution from a third-party vendor such as CWR Mobility, among others.
As I'm working through the tutorials and other documentation I realize that you're going to need quite a few icons and images for my applications. A possibility of 11 to be exact, depending on if I'm creating a universal app or targeting only a specific platform.
Here is the summary:
| Location | Size |
| App Icon (iPhone)s | 57 x 57 |
| App Icon (iPhone hi-res) | 114 x 114 |
| App Icon (iPad) | 72 x 72 |
| Spotlight and Settings (iPhone and iPad) |
29 x 29 |
| Spotlight and Settings (iPhone hi-res) |
58 x 58 |
| Spotlight and Settings (iPad Spotlight search results) |
50 x 50 |
| iTunes | 512 x 512 |
| iPhone Launch | 320 x 480 |
| 640 x 960 | |
| iPad Launch | 768 x 1004 |
| 1024 x 768 |
There are other optional icons for toolbars and tab bars as well as a specific icon required should you be creating a Newsstand app.
I spend several hours browsing around last night looking for established designers that have iPhone/iPad image design experience but didn't really see any that stood out. The recommendations that I did see were related to using sites like oDesk and Guru.com to locate freelancers.
If anyone has any recommendations on designers/artists, then please let me know.
Vulnerabilities in .NET Framework Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2638420)
Microsoft has release a fix for a security vulnerability identified at a security conference yesterday. Since Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an ASP.NET application, any servers running CRM could be affected.
Here is a summary of the issue from the above site. Please review Microsoft's recommendations and formulate a plan of action that makes sense for your organization.
General Information
Executive Summary
This security update resolves one publicly disclosed vulnerability and three privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft .NET Framework. The most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an unauthenticated attacker sends a specially crafted web request to the target site. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take any action in the context of an existing account on the ASP.NET site, including executing arbitrary commands. In order to exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be able to register an account on the ASP.NET site, and must know an existing user name.
This security update is rated Critical for Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1, and Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on all supported editions of Microsoft Windows. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.
The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how the .NET Framework handles specially crafted requests, and how the ASP.NET Framework authenticates users and handles cached content. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.
This security update also addresses the vulnerability first described in Microsoft Security Advisory 2659883.
Recommendation. The majority of customers have automatic updating enabled and will not need to take any action because this security update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates and install this update manually. For information about specific configuration options in automatic updating, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 294871.
For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers consider applying the security update using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service.
See also the section, Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance, later in this bulletin.
Known Issues. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2638420 documents the currently known issues that customers may experience when installing this security update. The article also documents recommended solutions for these issues.
Boy oh boy, talk about a learning curve. It is not rocket science by any means, but learning how the new tools work, and work together, makes for some long self-education sessions.
The biggest issue that I face is just plain not knowing and/or understanding the various messages that get displayed or reported. As a Visual Studio developer on Microsoft Windows, I usually know what to do when Windows or Visual Studio tells me something. With the Mac and MonoDevelop, not so much. Again, change of environment, change of thinking.
So, if you happen to be like me, and want to get started with Monotouch, do these things:
Step 1: Purchase these books:
They are all pretty good and each has something unique to share.
- Learning MonoTouch: A Hands-On Guide to Building iOS Applications with C# and .NET
- Developing C# Apps for iPhone and iPad using MonoTouch: iOS Apps Development for .NET Developers
- Professional iPhone Programming with MonoTouch and .NET/C# (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)
Note: I wrote a review of Professional iPhone Programming in 2010 and need to carve out some time to review the others as well.
Step 2: Review the Tutorials and Documentation
While you're waiting for your books to arrive, you can explore the Monotouch documentation. Xamarin has done a really good job of updating both their documentation and tutorials, which you may find here.
Step 3: Get the Tools
Ok, this may be the first step because without the hardware and software, you can't do any development. I put this as step 3 because it may turn out that you don't like what you see and you choose not to pursue your Monotouch development. If you DO choose to continue, you'll need these things:
A Macintosh
Apple's XCode only runs on a Mac so you'll need one at some point. I needed a new 64-bit laptop so I chose a Macbook Pro and I just run VMWare Fusion to handle virtual machines that I need for my real job.
An alternative may be MacinCloud, which is a cloud-based Macintosh rental service. I've not tried this personally but they have Monotouch pre-loaded so this could be an option.
Note: If you've tried MacinCloud, I'll love to hear about it.
Monotouch
Well, it goes without saying that you'll need Monotouch to do development with Monotouch. However, you don't have to immediately purchase a license. The trial version will allow you to run your code in the simulator which may work for some period of time. A full license is required to actually deploy to a device.
MonoDevelop
MonoDevelop is the Visual Studio-like development for Monotouch. It handles most of the work necessary to talk to the Monotouch compiler, XCode, etc.
Conclusion of Day 1
Well, that's about all there is for Day 1. I'm still working through tutorials and scanning my books myself. I think I'll try to connect Macbook to my wide monitor tonight so that I can see the tutorial on one side of the screen and have the development environment open on the other. Working on a 15-inch screen and swapping back and forth proved ineffective for me personally.
I have been attempting to carve out time in my schedule to work with Xamarin's Monotouch framework for developing applications on the iOS platform – iPhone, iPad, etc. ( I also own a license for Mono for Android but that may be another story altogether. )
Finally, due to the inevitable end-of-year slow-down, the time has arrived and I am going to devote a couple of hours a day for the next three weeks or so learning the new tools and platform.
Over the past few months I have been working on the basic design for several iOS applications. During this process, I have accumulated a list of topics and techniques that I need to learn in order to complete my apps.
As part of my learning process, I thought it would be interesting to document my progress in a series of blog posts and I will attempt to publish one article each day.
Now I can't guarantee that I'll be able to publish one per day, but I will certainly try.
If you're interested, then stay tuned.
When customizing the ribbon of an Entity, it is important to note that the ribbon is part of the Entity itself, not the Application Ribbon.
This means that if you are creating a solution, you only have to include the Entity component, not the Application Ribbon component.
I've updated my Export JavaScript for CRM 2011 to fixe a small bug related to the naming conventions of web resources. This cause the JavaScript not to be exported.
You can download the update from the Free Utilities page:
http://blogs.infinite-x.net/free-utilities
See this post for more detail about the process.
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