Document your CRM installation

Everybody knows the importance of documentation of a project. Thanks to Merijn van Mourik and some other guys there is a tool which can help you documenting your solution. This is a free tool which you can download from Codeplex: CRM 4 documentation.

If you want to use this tool on a standalone machine or a machine without internet connection, then you should download and install the following files first:

vstor30.exe
vstor30sp1-KB949258-x86.exe

I do know that this is not a new tool, but not everybody heard about this before. Happy documentation!

Fetch the ObjectTypeCode based on EntityName

Not a very rocket science, but just something again that I don't want to type over and over again. So here's a piece of code that helps you to fetch the ObjectTypeCode based on the EntityName for CRM 3.0:

private int GetObjectTypeCode (string entityName)
{
CrmMetaDataService.MetadataService metadataService = new CrmMetaDataService.MetadataService();
metadataService.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
EntityMetadata entityData = metadataService.RetrieveEntityMetadata(entityName, EntityFlags.EntityOnly);
return entityData.ObjectTypeCode;
}

For CRM 4.0 this would be (thanks for the comment Pratima):

private int GetObjectTypeCode (string entityName)
{
CrmMetaDataService.MetadataService metadataService = new CrmMetaDataService.MetadataService();
metadataService.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
EntityMetadata entityData = metadataService.RetrieveEntityMetadata(entityName, EntityFlags.EntityOnly);
return entityData.ObjectTypeCode.Value;
}

Have fun copy pasting :)

Showing a sorted list of the entities

When you want to show a list of entities, then you'd need the MetadataService. The code is not that hard to fetch a list of these entities. There's even an example in the SDK. The code to get all entities including custom entities would be:

MetadataService.MetadataService service = new MetadataService.MetadataService();
service.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
Metadata md = service.RetrieveMetadata(MetadataFlags.EntitiesOnly);
ArrayList alEntities = new ArrayList();

foreach (EntityMetadata em in md.Entities)
{
if (em != null)
alEntities.Add(em);
}

But if you do have this list, then how do you show this in a sorted way? Usually you could just say alEntities.Sort()... Too bad that doesnt work here because the collection exists out of a list of EntityMetadata instances. So how do we do this? Well, just create a EntityMetadataComparer based on the IComparer interface. Here's the code that you'll need:

using System;
using System.Collections;
using MetadataService;

/// <summary>
/// The class EntityMetadataComparer allows a collection of instances of the class EntityMetaData to be compared.
/// Use this Comparer class to sort for instance an ArrayList
///
/// Author: Ronald Lemmen
/// Company: Avanade
/// Date: 19 Jan 2007
/// </summary>

public class EntityMetadataComparer : IComparer
{
public enum SortOrder {
Ascending = 1,
Descending = -1
}

private int _modifier;

/// <summary>
/// EntityMetadataComparer constructor without sorting option. The default sorting option will be used: Ascending
/// </summary>
public EntityMetadataComparer()
{
_modifier = (int)SortOrder.Ascending;
}

/// <summary>
/// EntityMetadataComparer constructor with sorting option.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="order">Sort Order. Set this by using EntityMetadataComparer.SortOrder.[Ascending|Descending]</param>
public EntityMetadataComparer(SortOrder order)
{
_modifier = (int)order;
}

/// <summary>
/// Compare the two EntityMetadata objects based on their DisplayName
/// </summary>
/// <param name="o1">Object 1</param>
/// <param name="o2">Object 2</param>
/// <returns>The int return value of the string.CompareTo function</returns>

public int Compare(Object o1, Object o2)
{
EntityMetadata em1 = (EntityMetadata)o1;
EntityMetadata em2 = (EntityMetadata)o2;

if (em1.DisplayName == null)
em1.DisplayName = "";

if (em2.DisplayName == null)
em2.DisplayName = "";

return em1.DisplayName.CompareTo(em2.DisplayName) * _modifier;
}
}

Now you can sort your ArrayList with the command:

alEntities.Sort(new EntityMetadataComparer());

Or to sort with a sort option set:

alEntities.Sort(new EntityMetadataComparer(EntityMetadataComparer.SortOrder.Descending));

Good luck!

File or assembly name Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, or one of its dependencies, was not found

Imagine.. You're writing a wonderful MS CRM 3.0 addon. After writing lines and lines of code, the time is there to run and test the addon. Instead of seeing your fantasic, state-of-the-art, rocket-science, cutting-edge addon, it is this message that arises:

Parser Error Message: File or assembly name Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, or one of its dependencies, was not found.

Great.

Now how to solve this?

Well, Jonathan Randall has answered that question already in one of the newsgroups. Here's his posting:

The issue is caused because when you place your under application under the Microsoft CRM 3.0 web site, your application inherits the settings from the parent web site. Since the Microsoft CRM application has the two assemblies located in its own \bin folder, Microsoft CRM functions
correctly. However, your application does not have these assemblies in its \bin folder so as a result, the application fails to load. Here is some information that will correct the issue:

Symptoms: When a user attempts to access an ASP.NET web application that has its virtual directory located under the Microsoft CRM v3.0 Web Site in Internet Information Services (IIS), the following error will be displayed:

Server Error in '/' Application.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Further detail on the error includes the following:

Configuration Error
Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: File or assembly name Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, or one of its dependencies, was not found.

Source Error:

Line 11: <add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.ManagedInterop, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
Line 12: <add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.MetadataHelper, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
Line 13: <add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
Line 14: <add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.NativeInteropProxy,
Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
Line 15: <add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.ObjectModel, Version=3.0.5300.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

Source File: C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM\CRMWeb\web.config
Line: 13

Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService' could not be loaded.

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: DisplayName = Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
(Fully-specified)
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/Program Files/Microsoft CRM/CRMWeb/KBTest
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = bin
Calling assembly : (Unknown).
===

LOG: Publisher policy file is not found.
LOG: No redirect found in host configuration file (C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet.config).
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\config\machine.config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/WINNT/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v1.1.4322/Temporary ASP.NET Files/kbtest/e724dea7/f72fefd/Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/WINNT/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v1.1.4322/Temporary ASP.NET Files/kbtest/e724dea7/ f72fefd/ Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService/ Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Program Files/Microsoft CRM/CRMWeb/KBTest/bin/Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Program Files/Microsoft CRM/CRMWeb/KBTest/bin/Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService/ Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/WINNT/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v1.1.4322/Temporary ASP.NET Files/kbtest/e724dea7/ f72fefd/Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.EXE.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/WINNT/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v1.1.4322/Temporary ASP.NET Files/kbtest/ e724dea7/ f72fefd/ Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService/ Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.EXE.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Program Files/Microsoft CRM/CRMWeb/KBTest/bin/Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.EXE.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Program Files/Microsoft CRM/CRMWeb/KBTest/ bin/Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService/ Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.EXE.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2300;
ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2300

Cause: Since the ASP.NET web application is located under the Microsoft CRM v3.0 web site, the application is inheriting settings that are part of the Microsoft CRM web site's web.config file. The Web.config file for a specific ASP.NET application is located in the root directory of the application and contains settings that apply to the Web application and inherit downward through all of the subdirectories in its branch. In this case, the Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.dll and the Microsoft.Crm.Tools.ImportExportPublish.dll assemblies are being loaded by the Microsoft CRM web site. These two assemblies are located in the Microsoft CRM web application's \bin directory. Since these two assemblies are not part of the custom ASP.NET application, the Common Language Runtime begins a probing operation to locate the two assemblies. Since the assemblies are not installed into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) or in the custom ASP.NET application's \bin folder, the exception is thrown.

Resolution:

There are four solutions to resolve the error. Each solution is detailed below.

Solution 1: Remove <add assemblies> entries in Microsoft CRM v3.0 web site's web config file.

In the <system.web> element of the web.config file, locate the <assemblies> node and remove the following entries:
<add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<add assembly="Microsoft.Crm.Tools.ImportExportPublish, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

Solution 2: Install the Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService.dll and the Microsoft.Crm.Tools.ImportExportPublish.dll into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).

The two assemblies that can be added to the Global Assembly Cache are located in the \bin directory under the Microsoft CRM web site's installation folder. A typical location would be C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM\CRMWeb\bin.

Solution 3: Edit the ASP.NET web application's web config to remove the two Microsoft CRM assemblies.

Edit the ASP.NET application's web.config by adding the following entries to the <compilation> element that is nested in the <system.web> element of the file:

<system.web>
<compilation defaultLanguage="C#" debug="true">
<assemblies>
<remove assembly="Microsoft.Crm.MetadataService, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<remove assembly="Microsoft.Crm.Tools.ImportExportPublish, Version=3.0.5300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
</assemblies>
</compilation>
</system.web>

Solution 4: Locate the ASP.NET web application in a separate web site from the Microsoft CRM v3.0 web site.

Using this approach ensures that the application does not inherit any of the settings from the Microsoft CRM web site.

Jonathan Randall
Microsoft Online Support Engineer - MBS CRM Developer Support