Using Dynamic Entities

This sample shows how to create, retrieve, and update a contact as a dynamic entity.

   1:  //# Using Dynamic Entities 

   2:  using System;

   3:  using System.Collections;

   4:   

   5:  using CrmSdk;

   6:  using Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Utility;

   7:   

   8:  namespace Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.HowTo

   9:  {

  10:     /// <summary>

  11:     /// This sample shows how to create a contact with a DynamicEntity and

  12:     ///  retrieve it as a DynamicEntity.

  13:     /// </summary>

  14:     public class DynamicEntityHowTo

  15:     {

  16:        static void Main(string[] args)

  17:        {

  18:           // TODO: Change the server URL and organization to match your Microsoft

  19:           // Dynamics CRM Server and Microsoft Dynamics CRM organization.

  20:           DynamicEntityHowTo.Run("http://localhost:5555", "CRM_SDK");

  21:        }

  22:   

  23:        public static bool Run(string crmServerUrl, string orgName)

  24:        {

  25:           bool success = false;

  26:   

  27:           try

  28:           {

  29:              // Set up the CRM Service.

  30:           CrmService service = CrmServiceUtility.GetCrmService(crmServerUrl, orgName);

  31:   

  32:              #region Setup Data Required for this Sample

  33:   

  34:              // Create the account object.

  35:              account account = new account();

  36:              account.name = "Fourth Coffee";

  37:   

  38:              // Create the target object for the request.

  39:              TargetCreateAccount target = new TargetCreateAccount();

  40:              target.Account = account;

  41:   

  42:              // Create the request object.

  43:              CreateRequest createRequest = new CreateRequest();

  44:              createRequest.Target = target;

  45:           

  46:              // Execute the request.

  47:              CreateResponse createResponse = (CreateResponse)service.Execute(createRequest);

  48:              Guid accountID = createResponse.id;

  49:   

  50:              #endregion

  51:   

  52:              #region Create Contact Dynamically

  53:   

  54:              // Set the properties of the contact using property objects.

  55:              StringProperty firstname = new StringProperty();

  56:              firstname.Name = "firstname";

  57:              firstname.Value = "Jesper";

  58:              StringProperty lastname = new StringProperty();

  59:              lastname.Name = "lastname";

  60:              lastname.Value = "Aaberg";

  61:           

  62:              // Create the DynamicEntity object.

  63:              DynamicEntity contactEntity = new DynamicEntity();

  64:   

  65:              // Set the name of the entity type.

  66:              contactEntity.Name = EntityName.contact.ToString();

  67:   

  68:              // Set the properties of the contact.

  69:              contactEntity.Properties = new Property[] {firstname, lastname};

  70:        

  71:              // Create the target.

  72:              TargetCreateDynamic targetCreate = new TargetCreateDynamic();

  73:              targetCreate.Entity = contactEntity;

  74:   

  75:              // Create the request object.

  76:              CreateRequest create = new CreateRequest();

  77:   

  78:              // Set the properties of the request object.

  79:              create.Target = targetCreate;

  80:   

  81:              // Execute the request.

  82:              CreateResponse created = (CreateResponse) service.Execute(create);

  83:           

  84:              #endregion

  85:           

  86:              #region Retrieve Contact Dynamically

  87:   

  88:              // Create the retrieve target.

  89:              TargetRetrieveDynamic targetRetrieve = new TargetRetrieveDynamic();

  90:   

  91:              // Set the properties of the target.

  92:              targetRetrieve.EntityName = EntityName.contact.ToString();

  93:              targetRetrieve.EntityId = created.id;

  94:   

  95:              // Create the request object.

  96:              RetrieveRequest retrieve = new RetrieveRequest();

  97:   

  98:              // Set the properties of the request object.

  99:              retrieve.Target = targetRetrieve;

 100:              // Be aware that using AllColumns may adversely affect

 101:              // performance and cause unwanted cascading in subsequent 

 102:              // updates. A best practice is to retrieve the least amount of 

 103:              // data required.

 104:              retrieve.ColumnSet = new AllColumns();

 105:   

 106:              // Indicate that the BusinessEntity should be retrieved as a DynamicEntity.

 107:              retrieve.ReturnDynamicEntities = true;

 108:   

 109:              // Execute the request.

 110:              RetrieveResponse retrieved = (RetrieveResponse) service.Execute(retrieve);

 111:   

 112:              // Extract the DynamicEntity from the request.

 113:              DynamicEntity entity = (DynamicEntity)retrieved.BusinessEntity;

 114:   

 115:              // Extract the fullname from the dynamic entity

 116:              string fullname;

 117:   

 118:              for (int i = 0; i < entity.Properties.Length; i++)

 119:              {

 120:                 if (entity.Properties[i].Name.ToLower() == "fullname")

 121:                 {

 122:                    StringProperty property = (StringProperty) entity.Properties[i];

 123:                    fullname = property.Value;

 124:                    break;

 125:                 }

 126:              }

 127:   

 128:              #endregion

 129:   

 130:              #region  Update the DynamicEntity

 131:   

 132:              // This part of the example demonstrates how to update properties of a 

 133:              // DynamicEntity.  

 134:   

 135:              // Set the contact properties dynamically.

 136:              // Contact Credit Limit

 137:              CrmMoneyProperty money = new CrmMoneyProperty();

 138:   

 139:              // Specify the property name of the DynamicEntity.

 140:              money.Name="creditlimit"; 

 141:              money.Value = new CrmMoney();

 142:   

 143:              // Specify a $10000 credit limit.

 144:              money.Value.Value=10000M; 

 145:   

 146:              // Contact PreferredContactMethodCode property

 147:              PicklistProperty picklist = new PicklistProperty();

 148:   

 149:              //   Specify the property name of the DynamicEntity. 

 150:              picklist.Name="preferredcontactmethodcode"; 

 151:              picklist.Value = new Picklist();

 152:   

 153:              //   Set the property's picklist index to 1.

 154:              picklist.Value.Value = 1;

 155:   

 156:              // Contact ParentCustomerId property.

 157:              CustomerProperty parentCustomer = new CustomerProperty();

 158:   

 159:              //   Specify the property name of the DynamicEntity.

 160:              parentCustomer.Name = "parentcustomerid"; 

 161:              parentCustomer.Value = new Customer();

 162:   

 163:              //   Set the customer type to account.

 164:              parentCustomer.Value.type = EntityName.account.ToString();

 165:   

 166:              //   Specify the GUID of an existing CRM account.

 167:              // SDK:parentCustomer.Value.Value = new Guid("A0F2D8FE-6468-DA11-B748-000D9DD8CDAC");

 168:              parentCustomer.Value.Value = accountID; 

 169:   

 170:              //   Update the DynamicEntities properties collection to add new properties.

 171:              //   Convert the properties array of DynamicEntity to an ArrayList.

 172:              ArrayList arrProps = new ArrayList(entity.Properties);

 173:              

 174:              //   Add properties to ArrayList.

 175:              arrProps.Add(money);

 176:              arrProps.Add(picklist);

 177:              arrProps.Add(parentCustomer);

 178:   

 179:              //   Update the properties array on the DynamicEntity.

 180:              entity.Properties = (Property[])arrProps.ToArray(typeof(Property));

 181:   

 182:              // Create the update target.

 183:              TargetUpdateDynamic updateDynamic = new TargetUpdateDynamic();

 184:   

 185:              // Set the properties of the target.

 186:              updateDynamic.Entity = entity;

 187:   

 188:              //   Create the update request object.

 189:              UpdateRequest update = new UpdateRequest();

 190:   

 191:              //   Set request properties.

 192:              update.Target = updateDynamic;

 193:   

 194:              //   Execute the request.

 195:              UpdateResponse updated = (UpdateResponse)service.Execute(update);

 196:              

 197:              #endregion

 198:   

 199:              #region check success

 200:   

 201:              if (retrieved.BusinessEntity is DynamicEntity)

 202:              {

 203:                 success =  true;

 204:              }

 205:   

 206:              #endregion

 207:     

 208:              #region Remove Data Required for this Sample

 209:   

 210:              service.Delete(EntityName.contact.ToString(), created.id);

 211:              service.Delete(EntityName.account.ToString(), accountID);

 212:   

 213:              #endregion

 214:           }

 215:           catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException ex)

 216:           {

 217:              // Add your error handling code here...

 218:              Console.WriteLine(ex.Message + ex.Detail.InnerXml);

 219:           }

 220:           

 221:           return success;

 222:        }

 223:     }

 224:  }