Plugin development and samples for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

UPDATED RELEASE: Access SQL Database from Plugin (Jun 27, 2008)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:17:58 GMT

Have you had problems accessing SQL database from Plugin? Do you want to know how to impersonate as Caller in the SQL instead of making calls as NetworkService?

You can achieve this using the Execute AS command in SQL. You can read more at [url:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181362.aspx]
Network Service should be granted as sysadmin role in the database in order for Impersonation to work(Security->Logins->NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE)

I have created a simple plugin to demonstrate this process. I do the following steps
# Retrieve the Domain Name of the caller from the CRM using SDK. SystemUser entity in CRM stores this information, so you can call Retrieve on that entity to get the information
# Create the SQL Connection to a custom database using the connection string specified in the configuration attribute of the step. You can use integrated auth or hard coded sql user as explained in the above section
# Start the impersonation as the caller
# Run the code that you would like to execute
# Revert the sql context to the Networkservice

public void Execute(IPluginExecutionContext context)
{
// Step 1. Get the Domain Name of the Caller
ICrmService crmService = context.CreateCrmService(false);
systemuser callingUser = (systemuser)crmService.Retrieve(EntityName.systemuser.ToString()
, context.UserId, new ColumnSet(new string[] { "domainname" }));

// Step 2 . Connect using SQL Connection specified in the configuration of step
using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(m_connectionString))
{
conn.Open();
SqlCommand comm = conn.CreateCommand();
// Step3. Start Imersonation in the SQL
comm.CommandText = @"Execute as Login='" + callingUser.domainname +"'; ";
// Step 4. Run the Commands that need to be executed
comm.CommandText += "SELECT SUSER_NAME(); ";
// Step 5. Revert the Context back to the NetworkService context in the SQL
comm.CommandText += "revert;";
comm.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;
// For Demo, I am displaying the username it is running as
throw new InvalidPluginExecutionException( comm.ExecuteScalar().ToString());
}
}

UPDATED RELEASE: Access SQL Database from Plugin (Jun 27, 2008)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:14:44 GMT

UPDATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins (Feb 29, 2008)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:13:48 GMT

!! Plugin Samples Version 1.0

* *LogContextToCRM* plug-in logs all the Context to new_plugincontext entity
* *AmIExecutingOffline* plug-in displays a popup showing if plug-in is running in Offline or on the Server
* *RetrieveEntityId* retrieves the EntityId from the InputParameters property bag
* *RetrieveIncidentIdOnCloseIncident* gets the IncidentId from the InputParameters property bag
* *PluginHelper.cs* has all the libraries to help write plugins easier
- +Ajith Gande+

!! Simple conflict resolution for requests played back by an offline client

* A plugin now knows if a request is coming from an offline queue playback and the timestamp of when it was added to the offline queue. The sample plugin uses the timestamp to determine if there is a conflict i.e. the record has been changed on the server after that time and if so, rejects the request from the offline queue”.
- +Navin Thadani+

UPDATED RELEASE: Access SQL Database from Plugin (Jun 27, 2008)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:13:30 GMT

UPDATED RELEASE: Access SQL Database from Plugin (Jun 27, 2008)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:13:17 GMT

CREATED RELEASE: Access SQL Database from Plugin (Jun 27, 2008)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:12:53 GMT

UPDATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins (Feb 29, 2008)

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:57:04 GMT

UPDATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins (Feb 29, 2008)

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:56:31 GMT

!! Plugin Samples Version 1.0

* *LogContextToCRM* plug-in logs all the Context to new_plugincontext entity
* *AmIExecutingOffline* plug-in displays a popup showing if plug-in is running in Offline or on the Server
* *RetrieveEntityId* retrieves the EntityId from the InputParameters property bag
* *RetrieveIncidentIdOnCloseIncident* gets the IncidentId from the InputParameters property bag
* *PluginHelper.cs* has all the libraries to help write plugins easier

!! Simple conflict resolution for requests played back by an offline client

* A plugin now knows if a request is coming from an offline queue playback and the timestamp of when it was added to the offline queue. The sample plugin uses the timestamp to determine if there is a conflict i.e. the record has been changed on the server after that time and if so, rejects the request from the offline queue”.
- +Navin Thadani+

UPDATED WIKI: Home

ajithg — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:54:48 GMT

Resource Page Description
Sample Plugin for CRM 4.0
Tricks and Tweaks to Plugin development and plugin registration

LogContextToCRM plug-in logs all the Context to new_plugincontext entity
AmIExecutingOffline plug-in displays a popup showing if plug-in is running in Offline or on the Server
RetrieveEntityId retrieves the EntityId from the InputParameters property bag
RetrieveIncidentIdOnCloseIncident gets the IncidentId from the InputParameters property bag
PluginHelper.cs has all the libraries to help write plugins easier

Plugin registration tool is located at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/crmplugin

UPDATED WIKI: Home

ajithg — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:54:01 GMT

Resource Page Description
Sample Plugin for CRM 4.0
Tricks and Tweaks to Plugin development and plugin registration

LogContextToCRM plug-in logs all the Context to new_plugincontext entity
AmIExecutingOffline plug-in displays a popup showing if plug-in is running in Offline or on the Server
RetrieveEntityId retrieves the EntityId from the InputParameters property bag
RetrieveIncidentIdOnCloseIncident gets the IncidentId from the InputParameters property bag
PluginHelper.cs has all the libraries to help write plugins easier

Plugin registration tool is located at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/crmplugin

UPDATED WIKI: Home

ajithg — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:21:29 GMT

Resource Page Description
How to develop a plugin?
- Tips & Tricks
Sample plugins

Plugin registration tool is located at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/crmplugin

UPDATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins (Feb 29, 2008)

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:02:39 GMT

!! Simple conflict resolution for requests played back by an offline client

* A plugin now knows if a request is coming from an offline queue playback and the timestamp of when it was added to the offline queue. The sample plugin uses the timestamp to determine if there is a conflict i.e. the record has been changed on the server after that time and if so, rejects the request from the offline queue”.
- +Navin Thadani+

!! Coming soon !!!
1. How to read EntityId in the Plugin for most of the messages?
2. How to use pass data to plugin via registration?
3. How to use Filtered Views from Plugins?

UPDATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:01:34 GMT

! Simple conflict resolution for requests played back by an offline client

A plugin now knows if a request is coming from an offline queue playback and the timestamp of when it was added to the offline queue. The sample plugin uses the timestamp to determine if there is a conflict i.e. the record has been changed on the server after that time and if so, rejects the request from the offline queue”.

!! Coming soon !!!
1. How to read EntityId in the Plugin for most of the messages?
2. How to use pass data to plugin via registration?
3. How to use Filtered Views from Plugins?

UPDATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:01:17 GMT

UPDATED WIKI: Home

ajithg — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:50:21 GMT

Resource Page Description
How to develop a plugin?
- Tips & Tricks
Sample plugins

Plugin registration tool is located at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/crmplugin

CREATED RELEASE: Sample Plugins for reading entity id

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:13:55 GMT

1. How to read EntityId in the Plugin for most of the messages?
2. How to use pass data to plugin via registration?
3. How to use Filtered Views from Plugins?

UPDATED WIKI: Home

ajithg — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:10:57 GMT

Resource Page Description
How to develop a plugin?
- Tips & Tricks
Sample plugins