by Gustaf Westerlund | Dec 7, 2007
I have been developing a front-end user GUI for a product configurator as a normal aspx-page. I started the development localy and then moved the project to our development server in a virtual directory bellow the CRM directory. (Please read earlier posts concerning problems with this and how to handle it) This is an unsupported way of placing your custom aspx-pages, but the disadvantages of doing it any other way are to great.
Well, my code used ViewState to store some data between requests and this had worked fine on my local machine. But, when I moved it to the virtual directory bellow the CRM site, the ViewState handling stopped. I tried to override the LoadViewState-method but it was never fired. I tried to explicitly set the page to have the property EnableViewState = true, but that didn’t help either.
Then I remembered some things about how settings are inherited from the master website to all virtual directories bellow (i.e. the web.config settings are inherited). This is the reason for why you have to add some <remove assembly=”…”>tags to the virtual directory’s web.config when deploying bellow the CRM website.
I thought that there might be some swith in the CRM web.config that disabled the ViewState and there was; the tag I found was the following:
<pages buffer=”true” enablesessionstate=”false” enableviewstate=”false” validaterequest=”false”>
So, I copied the entire tag to the web.config in the virtual directory, changed enableviewstate=”true” and magic, it worked!
So, specific advice: This is why viewstate might not be working in a Virtual Directory bellow the CRM site.
General advice: All settings in a websites web.config are automatically inherited to all virtual directories bellow. If you want to change anything, set this explictly in a local copy of web.config.
Over and out.
Gustaf Westerlund
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultant
WM-Data/Logica CMG
www.logicacmg.com
by Gustaf Westerlund | Nov 23, 2007
I have previously blogged on the licensing issues of Microsoft CRM and I am still waiting for an answer from the Microsoft representatives in Sweden who have forwarded the question. As soon as I get an answer, I will let you know.
I have also been involved in some discussions concerning what the specifics of the external connection licese are. The following URL describes the details of this for CRM (and also other products). Please have a look:
http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/userights/ProductPage.aspx?pid=161
Gustaf Westerlund
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultant
WM-Data/Logica CMG
www.logicacmg.com
by Gustaf Westerlund | Nov 19, 2007
Currently I am working with a product configurator via an integration hub, a very interesting project that is quite complex. One part of this is to create a dynamic apsx-page that let’s the user choose properties of that are definied from the product configurator. Hence I am creating a new aspx-page that has to dynamically create lots of controls.
In order to do this properly, it is vital to understand the execution model of aspx-pages and the lifecycle of the page. I found this page that describes this, in an easy and understandable fashion. Please review it, if you are in similar needs as I.
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/020102.htm
Gustaf Westerlund
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultant
WM-Data/Logica CMG
www.logicacmg.com
by Gustaf Westerlund | Nov 6, 2007
After some fiddeling, I am now more or less installed at Logica CMG. Some systems still need configuring and I still have to place a few calls to India (where our support is situated) to get it all up and running.
At Convergence, I had the opportunity to browse around and talk to some of the ISV (Independent Software Vendors) that supply 3:rd party addons for Microsoft CRM. One of the companies I found was CWR Mobility that have developed a very competent mobile client for Microsoft CRM 3 (and soon 4). It is a much more mature product (from what I could judge) than the normal Mobile Client, and it supports sometimes-connected scenarios and offline sync, as well as an offline SDK. So, if you are facing a customer with mobility demands, be sure to check out their products.
Gustaf Westerlund
CRM Consultant
Logica CMG
www.logicacmg.com
by Gustaf Westerlund | Oct 31, 2007
Today I attended the CRM 4.0 partner readiness tour and I took the opportunity to ask the technical specialist from Microsoft headquaters a lot of questions. In regard to my entry yesterday concerning licensing, we had an interesting discussion on how it can be managed and how it is handled in CRM 4.0.
In general the same licensing limitations apply as I described in my previous post. The new “light”-userlicense I described bellow will be a read-only user license with a reduced price. The external connector will also be available at a substanially lower cost.
However, we found some technical workarounds that the Microsoft representative actually said were ok but I havn’t asked a Microsoft sales rep and I don’t know if I should…
If you want to create dynamic reports based on CRM data, what you must do is to replicate all the data that you want to base your reports on to your own database. Then create all the reports based on this database, which can be called datawarehouse or something similar.
The same “intermediary” database can also be used when you have, for instance, an internal support page where you can submit your support issue, which is then added to the CRM as a Service case. Let the application write to a database and then create an service that periodically (like every minute or so) reads the new data, and writes to the CRM webservice. There are other similar ways of doing this (like sending emails from the form to a support que) and I think you get the general idea.
The legal workaround using a subsidary company with an external connector license is also valid, but will require you to buy the external connector which has a non trivial price.
I feel this is very strange, that you using a technical solution can bypass some licensing rules that actually should be changed.
Gustaf Westerlund
CRM and SharePoint Consultant
Humandata AB
www.humandata.se
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