Convert a Fax to a Task

This sample code shows how to convert a fax to a task. The code first creates an incoming Fax activity, and then converts it to a Follow-up Task with a due date a week after it was received.

 
using System;
using Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.Utility;

namespace Microsoft.Crm.Sdk.HowTo
{
    // Microsoft Dynamics CRM namespaces.
    using CrmSdk;

   /// 

   /// This sample shows how to convert a fax into a task.
   /// 
   public class ConvertFaxToTask
   {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         // TODO: Change the server URL and organization to match your Microsoft Dynamics CRM server and Microsoft Dynamics CRM organization.
         ConvertFaxToTask.Run("http://localhost:5555", "CRM_Organization");
      }

      public static bool Run(string crmServerUrl, string orgName)
      {
         #region Setup Data Required for this sample.

         bool success = false;

         #endregion

         try
         {
            // Set up the CRM service.
            CrmService service = CrmServiceUtility.GetCrmService(crmServerUrl, orgName);
            service.PreAuthenticate = true;
            
            // Get the current user.
            WhoAmIRequest userRequest = new WhoAmIRequest();
            WhoAmIResponse user = (WhoAmIResponse)service.Execute(userRequest);

            // Create the fax object.
            fax fax = new fax();

            // Set the properties of the fax.
            fax.subject = "Test Fax";
            fax.description = "New Fax";

            // Create the party sending and receiving the fax.
            activityparty party = new activityparty();

            // Set the properties of the activity party.
            party.partyid = new Lookup();
            party.partyid.type = EntityName.systemuser.ToString();
            party.partyid.Value = user.UserId;

            // The party sends and receives the fax.
            fax.from = new activityparty[] { party };
            fax.to = new activityparty[] { party };

            // Create the fax.
            Guid createdFaxId = service.Create(fax);

            // Retrieve the created fax.
            // Be aware that using AllColumns may adversely affect
            // performance and cause unwanted cascading in subsequent 
            // updates. A best practice is to retrieve the least amount of 
            // data required.
            fax newFax = (fax)service.Retrieve(EntityName.fax.ToString(), createdFaxId, new AllColumns());

            // Create the task object.
            task task = new task();

            // Set the properties of the task.
            task.subject = "Follow Up: " + newFax.subject;

            // Set the due date of the task.
            task.scheduledend = new CrmDateTime();

            // Get the date that the fax was received.
                CrmDateTime endDate = newFax.createdon;
                
            // Set the due date of the task to one week later.
                task.scheduledend.Value = endDate.UniversalTime.AddDays(7).ToString();

            // Create the task.
            Guid createdTaskId = service.Create(task);

            #region check success

            if (createdTaskId != Guid.Empty)
            {
               success = true;
            }

            #endregion

            #region Remove Data Required for this Sample

            service.Delete(EntityName.fax.ToString(), createdFaxId);
            service.Delete(EntityName.task.ToString(), createdTaskId);

            #endregion
         }
         catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException)
         {
            // Add your error handling code here.
         }

         return success;
      }
   }
}

CrmService.Retrieve Method

Retrieves an entity instance using the specified ID.

Syntax

public BusinessEntity Retrieve(

  string  entityName,

  Guid  id,

  ColumnSetBase  columnSet

);

Parameters

entityName

Specifies a String containing the name of the entity to retrieve. For more information, see Entity Names.

id

Specifies a Guid containing the ID of the entity to retrieve.

columnSet

Specifies the set of columns to retrieve. Pass null to retrieve only the primary key. To retrieve all columns, pass a new instance of the AllColumns class. See ColumnSetBase.

Return Value

Returns the BusinessEntity requested. The BusinessEntity contains only the columns specified by the columnSet parameter. The entity is of the type specified by the entityName parameter.

Remarks

Use this method to retrieve an instance of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM entity.

For better performance, use this method instead of using the Execute method with the Retrieve message.

To perform this action, the caller must have access rights on the entity instance specified in the request class. For a list of required privileges, see Retrieve Privileges.

Example

The following example demonstrates the use of the Retrieve method.

// Set up the CRM Service.
CrmAuthenticationToken token = new CrmAuthenticationToken();
// You can use enums.cs from the SDK\Helpers folder to get the enumeration for Active Directory authentication.
token.AuthenticationType = 0; 
token.OrganizationName = "AdventureWorksCycle";
 
CrmService service = new CrmService();
service.Url = "http://:/mscrmservices/2007/crmservice.asmx";
service.CrmAuthenticationTokenValue = token;
service.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

// Create the column set object that indicates the properties to be retrieved.
ColumnSet cols = new ColumnSet();

// Set the properties of the column set.
cols.Attributes = new string [] {"fullname"};

// contactGuid is the GUID of the record being retrieved.
Guid contactGuid = new Guid("4D507FFE-ED25-447B-80DE-00AE3EB18B84");

// Retrieve the contact.
// The EntityName indicates the EntityType of the object being retrieved.
contact contact = (contact)service.Retrieve(EntityName.contact.ToString(), contactGuid, cols);