CRM 2011 Solution package using Visual Studio 2010 – Part 1

Today I am writing on very interesting topic , I was waiting for this functionality from many days , thanks to my colleague and friend Basant who introduced this topic to me .

Now latest version of MS CRM 2011 include “Developer Toolkit” . Developer toolkit include in SDK at “SDK\Tools\DeveloperToolkit”. Double click the “CrmDeveloperTools_Installer.msi” to install to toolkit. Using this toolkit we can create and deploy custom workflow activity , Plugin and javascript in VS2010

In this Article I am trying to explain how this toolkit works

1. After installing toolkit , open VS2010 and in left templates pane you can see Template with name “Dynamics CRM”. Click on Template now you see in middle pane five option in this project I am using first one .

2. As you select and click on OK button . Dialog box to connect CRM Server will appear

In this dialog box enter CRM Server name, Port number and protocol and click on connect button. After this “Authentication Details” section come enable and fill your username,password and domain and click “Log On” Button

After this Organization and Solution Name appear enable and you can select your organization name and select solution for development and as you click ok , all Type of solutions come in “Solution Explorer” window and new Silverlight application dialog will display

Now you will see two explorer windows

1) CRM Explorer

2) Solution Explorer

Now with the help of SDK, I am explaining all features of both explorer windows

CRM Explorer :

Item Organization Name Command Action Refresh Description Refreshes the whole tree   Item Entities Command Action Click on Entity Expand button Description When you will click on entity expand button . you will see list of all entities Command Action Refresh Description Refreshes Entities Command Action Generate Wrapper Description Executes CRMSVCUTIL.exe to generate the strongly typed proxy classes. If you only have one plug-in project, this class is automatically added to this project; otherwise , the Generate Entity Wrappers dialog box lets you select which project to create the classes in. Steps I need to generate strongly typed proxy classes using developer tool Right Click on Entities node and from context menu select “Generate Wrapper” option Now “Generate Entity Wrapper” Dialog box will appear and you need to select project and after that click on “Generate” button Now processing dialog box will appear and it will take few second or minute depend on your system configuration As this dialog box will disappear you will see “Entities.cs” class under “Plugins” project   Command Action Create Plug-in for specific entity Description Steps to Create Plug-in Right Click on specific entity node and from context menu select “Create Plugin” option Now “Create Plug-in” dialog box will appear . Select Message and fill unsecure/secure configuration message and click on “OK” button After clicking “OK” button , new plugin class will appear under “Plugin” Project solution and write your plugin logic in this class Plugin also appear in “CRM Explorer” under “Plug-in Assemblies” After adding plug-in, Now you need to signing your both workflow and plugin project with a strong name key file Rebuild all Solutions Now time to deploy “CrmPackage” Solution As you deploy , plugin will registered and you can see plugin and workflow dll in “Crm Explorer” with different style You can Add/Edit/Delete plugin and its step Now I am explaining how “CrmPackage” Solution store all information need to deploy All information store in “RegisterFile.crmregister” under “CrmPackage” Solution When Project start RegisterFile.crmregister file status After Creating Step in plugin RegisterFile.crmregister file status After deploying Step in plugin RegisterFile.crmregister file status   Command Action Double click on specific entity Description Now no need to go back in CRM web client for customization . double click on entity name and entity customization form will display in VS 2010 Item Option Sets Command Action Refresh Description Refreshes option sets Expand “Option Sets” node show all option sets   Command Action Double click on specific options set Description Opens the option set definition   Item Web Resources Command Action Refresh Description Refreshes Web resources   Command Action Add to packaging project Description Adds web resources of all types from the organization to the project “Add to packaging project” will add new folder with name “WebResources” in “CrmPackage” Solution with all webresources present in CRM Solution You can add new webresources also from VS2010   Item Process Command Action Refresh Description Refreshes Processes On expanding process node will show “Dialogs” and “Workflows” nodes   Command Action Refresh specific dialog Description Refreshes dialogs   Command Action Double click on specific dialog Description Opens the dialog definition   Command Action Add/Edit/Delete specific dialog Description We can add, edit, delete dialog from solution As you click on “Add Workflow” , Create Process dialog box will appear Fill process name and select entity from Entity dropdown As you click on create button new process will display under workflow node and its information will also appear for further steps as you see in CRM webclient   Item Security Roles Command Action Refresh Description Refresh Security roles   Command Action Double click on specific security role Description Opens the security role definition   Item Field Security Profiles Command Action Refresh Description Refreshes field security profiles   Command Action Double click on specific Security Profile Description Opens the field security profile definition

Solution Explorer

Project CrmPackage Role The manifest project that contains all assets to be deployed to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, combined with their deployment settings   Project Plugins Role The Plugins project contains a base class named “Plugin” and classes generated through the create plugin option of the CRM Explorer will derive from this class.   Project SilverlightApplication Role This project is used for develop new Silverlight web resource.   Project SilverlightApplication.Web Role A companion web project that host the above Silverlight project, and can be used to test the Silverlight project.   Project Workflow Role The Workflow project provides support for implementing custom workflow activities to be used for your on-premises Microsoft Dynamics CRM instance.

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