Dynamics CRM Tools

Hi Dynamics 365 community! Today, I’m releasing a new plugin for XrmToolBox : Portal Records Mover This plugin come from the need to export/import portal records that have been created/updated since a specific date. I implemented a portal for one of my customer last year and he updated pages content and some other portal records. This portal needs new features so we added new portal records in our development organization. But it is not an option to deliver again these pages since it would overwrite customer changes. So I needed a way to deliver only specific portal records. So, how to do it easily? I cannot use Configuration Migration from CRM SDK since it would export all records for defined entities, not only the newly created or modified ones. I cannot use standard export because I would need to export multiples entities and even NN relationships and manage import of multiple files. I could use custom code to export/import records… Better! I can now use an XrmToolBox pl...

A colleague of mine recently asked if it was possible to inspect data usage to determine which attributes are useless in a CRM 2016 organization because not filled with any value. My first answer was: no. I used to know a solution named CRM Data Detective that does the same but for CRM 4 and CRM 2011 only. Ok, I was wrong and found out that a version for CRM 2015/2016 also exists. Anyway, the major problem with this solution is the fact that if the entity you want to inspect has more records than the AggregateQueryRecordsLimit (which is 50,000 in CRM Online and cannot be updated), then you don’t get real usage statistics. This plugin resolves this limitation by querying actual records instead of performing aggregation query (only if aggregation query fails because of the limit). This can impact performance but if you really needs it, you get it. You can also export the result in a raw Excel file. Here is a screenshot As usual, please use the Plugins Store in XrmToolBox to get th...

Hi Dynamics CRM community! It’s been a long time since the last article on this blog! Today, I want to share with you what’s new on Iconator plugin for XrmToolBox and where these changes come from. Believe it or not but,  in my day to day consultant work, I’m not customizing Dynamics CRM anymore but mainly focus on development. So, working with Dynamics CRM icons was not part of my job. But lately, I had to work on a project with me and myself only, so it did require that I create entities and update their icons to have a shiny CRM application. And even if Iconator is a helpful plugin, it was not helpful enough. The major concerns were: Cannot set entities color. You can do it in customizations but one by one entity. Icons used in SiteMap (the 32x32 pixels white ones) don’t fit well if the white color touch icon edges. This is particularly true with icons from FlatIcon.com (which I recommend, by the way) You know me, it couldn’t stay that way… So I updated Iconator plugins...

Wow! It's been a long time since I did not write an article on my blog! Today, I'm releasing the April 2016 version of XrmToolBox. This new version comes with an integrated plugins store. So, what does it mean? It means each and every developer can share his/her XrmToolBox plugins without the need to ask me permissions or help to distribute the plugins across the world. Here is what the Plugins Store looks like As you can see, Jonas Rapp and Daryl Labar already shared their plugins through this new channel. To install their plugins, just select them and click on "Install selected packages" button and you are good to go! The Plugins store is also capable to detect that a new version of an installed plugin is available and let syou update it. The Plugins store is launched automatically after XrmToolBox startup but you can disable this in the store form itself or in XrmToolBox options. The Plugins Store is also available from the main application toolbar....

Just this once, the August release is published in July. Indeed, I’m on holidays this evening and I want to be sure everybody has the chance to get a new release of XrmToolBox with a new plugin : Chart Manager Chart Manager Chart Manager is a plugin that helps you to export/import charts from/to Microsoft Dynamics CRM in bulk. It also allows to edit the XML definition of a chart directly, without the need to export/import. XrmToolBox The toolbox itself and some plugins have been updated to fix bugs and add enhancements. The release note is available here . If you are already using XrmToolBox, you should have received an Update Notification. If not, just go to www.xrmtoolbox.com to download the latest version.

Hi everybody, First of all, maybe you already saw it on social networks but I’' have been renewed as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM MVP for the 6th time! Great honor to be part of the CRM MVP group again and thanks to all XrmToolBox users that  make this possible. Regarding XrmToolBox, I just released a new version today. New plugins management It is a breaking change version since plugins management have been revamped to use Microsoft Extensibilty Framework, which means plugins need to be migrated to this new plugins mechanism to work. This new mechanism helps to manage plugins automatically with no custom code, and also allow to deliver files with multiples plugins inside. If you use plugins other than ones shipped with XrmToolBox, you might want to keep the previous version available until other plugins are migrated. Of course, all plugins shipped with XrmToolBox are compatible. Usage statistics I aslo implemented a new mechanism that will help me and other developers to unders...

A new version of XrmToolBox is available! No new tools from me but some bug fixes and enhancements. The release note is available here . Just be aware that plugins are now stored in a subfolder “Plugins” in “XrmToolBox” folder. This is to ensure XrmToolBox.exe is found easily in the main folder. If you are a XrmToolBox plugin developer and your plugin is storing its own settings file, then please check if everything is still working. Other plugins Maybe you already know it but XrmToolBox github wiki page lists available plugins for XrmToolBox. Some new plugins were added lately so please have a look here

Hi XrmToolBox friends, Today is a big day for XrmToolBox! First release on Github has been published and I have a lot of news to announce! XrmToolBox on Github I already made this announcement before but that’s official now, with this first release, XrmToolBox is hosted on Github and CodePlex project won’t receive updates anymore. You can reach this project on Github by following this link (or read following announcement) XrmToolBox home page XrmToolBox has its own home page now! You can bookmark www.xrmtoolbox.com . It has never been easier to find where XrmToolBox resides! If you are a XrmToolBox plugin developer, and you want me to provide you a subdomain of XrmToolBox.com, just ask (you can see the FetchXml Builder example here : http://fxb.xrmtoolbox.com ).  . New tool: FLS Bulk Updater! I don’t know if you already faced this scenario but I had to update 10 Field Security Profiles with more than 300 Fields Permissions. And it was a nightmare… Ok, you can select multi...

XrmToolBox previous version was a great success : More than 5K downloads, 13 ratings with an average rate of 4,7/5. So today, I’m proud to release a new version of XrmToolBox. This is kind of a major version since a lot of changes are included in this release. Please read blow CRM 2015 and .Net Framework 4.5.2 This release is the version of XrmToolBox to use CRM 2015 SDK assemblies. That means plugins for XrmToolBox can now uses new capabilities of CRM 2015 SDK (of course, it can still connect to CRM 2011 and 2013). That means above all that XrmToolBox now requires .Net Framework 4.5.2. When launching this new version, if your computer does not contain this version of .Net Framework, you will be prompt to download and install it. Signed assemblies Thanks to Digicert.com which provides free code signing certificate to Microsoft MVP’s, files that are shipped with XrmToolBox package are now all digitally signed. That means you can check if files your are using with XrmToolBox come f...

Today, I released a new version of XrmToolBox. No new tool in this release but you now have the possibility to select the plugins to display and the ones to hide (without removing them from the XrmToolBox folder). Here is the option dialog This version includes also improvements for some tool. Check the download page on CodePlex to view a list of improvements Next release will probably support Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 (even if this version should be able to connect to this version, not tested yet)

If you are using the latest version of XrmToolBox, then you should see this popup when launching it This was the super cool hidden feature of the previous version! It works (I’m relieved…) In this new release of XrmToolBox, there is three new features, as described below Optimization in plugin development Thanks to Daryl LaBar, one of the developer of other XrmToolBox plugins, the way to develop plugins for XrmToolBox has never been so easy. All you have to do is to create a user control that inherits from PluginBase class. All the connectivity is handle by the base class and you just have to focus on what your tool should do. Daryl added also helper classes to handle asynchronous call in a really easy way. Read his blog article on this topic . The documentation on CodePlex project page explains how to use the new development model. A new tool : Metadata Browser Even if Microsoft delivers a metadata browser solution in the CRM SDK package, it is just a pain to install thi...

And now a new version of XrmToolBox! This release includes a new plugin that will help you to apply some actions on attributes displayed in mutliples forms. The need for this tool came from a XrmToolBox user that has an entity with 180 forms. Imagine how long it takes to change one attribute property on each of these forms…. Nightmare! So, the tool will help you to change the following properties for an attribute on multiple forms: Label Visibility Read Only Lock The tool can also help you to add/remove an attribute on multiple forms. When adding an attribute, you need to specify next to which existing attribute this new field will be added. If available space, the attribute is just added. If no space available, a new row in the section is added before adding the new attribute. Some other tools in the toolbox have been fixed as some lists had a size problem (due to Visual Studio 2013 Update 3, as far as I can tell). That should now be fixed. Another great feature of the ...

It’s a long time since I’m in touch with Andy Popkin from ZeroToTen. We were talking about the possibility to add multiple plugins to my XrmToolBox tool. I already announced this in a previous blog post without mentionning the exact purpose of the upcoming tools. So today, Andy released the first XrmToolBox plugin of (I hope) a long list : The Bulk Workflow Tool. You can find all information about this tool on this blog post , and you can download the plugin here . I would like to finish this post with a special thank you to Andy for participating to the XrmToolBox adventure!

Again, this tool is an application for Robert Boyer, my suggestion box for XrmToolBox tools currently So, the tool allows you to select multiple roles and multiple users or teams to: Add the selected roles to selected users or teams Remove the selected roles to selected users or teams Remove all existing roles from selected users or teams and add them roles selected There is some limitations: You cannot use remove roles action on your own profile Business unit roles, that are not inherited from root business unit can only be added to users/teams in the same business unit I hope this tool will improve your productivity when the need to add or remove multiple roles on multiples users or teams comes. Here is a screenshot of the plugin: As usual, this tool is available as part of the XrmToolBox on CodePlex NB: There is also a bunch of updates for other tools, check them on the download page

Two plugins in one day! wow! This one was, in fact, developed a couple of months ago. One of my colleague was using a solution from my fellow MVP Andrii Butenko which allows to import/export NN relationships in a silverlight web resource. This was nice but my colleague was using other attributes than primary key to do the mapping and Andrii’s solution does not support this. So he asked me to develop a XrmToolBox’s plugin that could do this. And, here it is! You can select entities and relationships and moreover, choose mapping attributes on both enitities. I only let text and number attributes selectable as other does not really make sense for mapping purposes. Then you can import or export NN relationships! Here is a preview As usual, this plugin, among other, is available with XrmToolBox on CodePlex

Hey guys, Here is another tool for the XrmToolBox! This one, like the previous one, was asked by a member of the community (by the way, he is the same guy than for Synchronous event order editor). It allows you to move all or defined components from a solution to another one. What’s the point? Well, when working on a specific feature, you might want to isolate the corresponding items in a specific solution. When the feature is completed, you want to transfer components from your specific solution to the deliverable solution. Instead of adding each type of components, one by one, this tool helps you add them in a bulk.! Here’s a preview As usual, this plugin, among other, is available with XrmToolBox on CodePlex

Last week, I receive a request from Rob Boyers that was asking for a tool that can help him to order execution order of synchronous events, plugin steps and workflows. Indeed, in Dynamics CRM 2013, you can set the “rank” property of a plugin step to define its execution order among other steps in the same message and stage, using the PluginRegistrationTool. Unfortunately, there is no such way to edit the “rank” property of a synchronous workflow in a UI. So, here is the “Synchronous events execution order editor”, a new XrmToolBox plugin It works only with CRM 2013 and loads all synchronous plugin steps and workflows and group them by Entity, Message and Stage. When selecting a stage, you can see all events registered and you can update the rank value. Then, just click on the button “Apply update(s)” to update events on the organization. Just a note: for synchronous workflows that are activated, they will be deactivated, updated then activated back. As usual, the XrmToolBox and i...

You may have noticed that latest releases of XrmToolBox embed a sponsor screen that is displayed once a week. This sponsor screen is here to remind you to support my work, by rating the tool on CodePlex or by making a donation. As a reminder, the screen looks like this: If you want to get rid of this screen, you must make a donation. When I get a donation, I send the donor a license file that removes the screen and adds a message of thanks on the start screen, see below. The message may include your name and your company name if you want. You can also be listed as a XrmToolBox sponsor on the Donators list on this blog. If you're wondering what to serve me money from your donations, my goal is to buy a Surface 2 Pro for a true mobile computer and to continue to develop XrmToolBox anywhere! So you know what you have to do

I just released a new version of my toolbox with two new “features”: A new tool developed by my colleague Damien (DamSim) that will allow you to copy a view from one organization to an other. This is the View Transfer Tool. A new way to manage your connections. Some users reported that it was difficult to find where to manage connections. You have now the possibility to display connections list by clicking the button “Manage connections” in the toolbar of the toolbox. This will display the list of connections and let you create, update or delete connections. You can also notice that this list exposes the version of the organization. it will help you determine which rollup is installed on your organizations. This number is updated each time you connect to the organization. This updates is obviously available on CodePlex Moreover, I’m pretty excited because I have been in touch with a developer from a well known Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner that should release a bunch of p...

I updated the SiteMapEditor to allows you to change the default dashboard that is displayed when navigating to a Dashboard SubArea in Dynamics CRM 2013. To do so, follow this procedure: Connect the XrmToolBox to your organization Open SiteMapEditor plugin Load the SiteMap Navigate to an area that is a dashboard page Click on the “Browse” (…) button in the details panel (Default Dashboard Id) Select the dashboard that should be displayed when navigating to this SubArea Save the SubArea item Update the SiteMap Please note that this feature is only available in Dynamics CRM 2013 and Dynamics CRM Online Fall '13 Service Update. If you try to use this feature in CRM 2011, you will get the following error: