Microsoft just released Update Rollup 3 for Dynamics CRM 2013. 

KB Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2930480

Download Link: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43665

This update rollup is specific only for Dynamics CRM 2013 deployment that has not installed SP1 updates.

The strategy of update rollup implementation post SP1 updates is well written here: http://crmtipoftheday.com/2014/06/10/update-rollup-strategy-post-sp1/

Excerpt from the KB Article:

Important notes

• If Update Rollup 3 is applied, we recommend that you wait until Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available before you upgrade to the Service Pack 1 release stream. This is because Update Rollup 3 may contain fixes that are not included in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 SP1.

Entity Image is introduced Dynamics CRM 2013. This is a really useful feature where we could have better presentation to quickly glance on the record. As the adage says: “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

It seems quite common requirements for customizing the form, but it is not automatically enabled on the form. To get the entity image to be displayed on the form:

Navigate to the entity form customization > Form Properties > Display tab > check the “Show image in the form” option > Click OK > Save and publish the customization.

This is a really basic and simple customization, however I keep forgetting the options as I’m mostly working on CRM 2011 projects at this moment.

I hope this helps fellow system customizers/developers.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK team released the Sdk.Soap.js to write JavaScript code in web resources that can perform actions using theMicrosoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Modern App SOAP endpoint. You can use this library in with web resources.
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SdkSoapjs-9b51b99a
The extension of the Sdk.Soap.js is Action Message Generator:
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SdkSoapjs-Action-Message-971be943
And Entity Class Generator:
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SdkSoapjs-Entity-Class-14ca830f
That really useful in creating early-binding type of development for Dynamics CRM.

I followed through the instruction for the Action Message Generator to connect to Dynamics CRM Online instance. I follow exactly each steps that the instruction described, however I got the following error:

The application terminated with an error.The server could not be contacted.the LDAP server is unavailable.

Initially I was quite confused with the error message, as I did not change any part of the SDK sample code at all. So, I decided to debug the code and I found out that the exception was coming from the lines that were trying to authenticate with the current UserPrincipalName with PrincipalServerDownException. The reason I got the above error is:

1. My computer is joined to a my company’s domain, and the I’m logged in to the computer as a domain account. However, the DC is unavailable. (I’m off the domain; working on home network)
2. I’m on the domain. However, I’m in a multiple-domain environment in which the LDAP query service is on an inaccessible domain. (firewall rules on WiFi connection).

So, to fix this issue I modified the sample SDK code that apparently utilising the same CrmServiceHelpers class from the Quick Start guide (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh675400.aspx); from:

// For OnlineFederation environments, initially try to authenticate with the current UserPrincipalName// for single sign-on scenario.else if (config.EndpointType == AuthenticationProviderType.OnlineFederation && config.AuthFailureCount == 0 && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(UserPrincipal.Current.UserPrincipalName)){ config.UserPrincipalName = UserPrincipal.Current.UserPrincipalName; return null;}// Otherwise request username and password.else{ config.UserPrincipalName = String.Empty; if (config.EndpointType == AuthenticationProviderType.LiveId) Console.Write("\n Enter Microsoft account: "); else Console.Write("\n Enter Username: "); userName = Console.ReadLine(); if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(userName)) { return null; }Console.Write(" Enter Password: "); password = ReadPassword();}credentials.UserName.UserName = userName;credentials.UserName.Password = ConvertToUnsecureString(password);break; 

To:

// For OnlineFederation environments, initially try to authenticate with the current UserPrincipalName// for single sign-on scenario.else{ var isPrincipalServerDown = false; var currentUserPrincipalName = String.Empty; try { currentUserPrincipalName = UserPrincipal.Current.UserPrincipalName; } catch (PrincipalServerDownException) { isPrincipalServerDown = true; }if (config.EndpointType == AuthenticationProviderType.OnlineFederation && config.AuthFailureCount == 0 && !isPrincipalServerDown && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(currentUserPrincipalName)) { config.UserPrincipalName = currentUserPrincipalName; return null; } // Otherwise request username and password. else { config.UserPrincipalName = String.Empty; if (config.EndpointType == AuthenticationProviderType.LiveId) Console.Write("\n Enter Microsoft account: "); else Console.Write("\n Enter Username: "); userName = Console.ReadLine(); if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(userName)) { return null; }Console.Write(" Enter Password: "); password = ReadPassword(); }}credentials.UserName.UserName = userName;credentials.UserName.Password = ConvertToUnsecureString(password);break;

Now I’m able to generate the Custom Action that generated by the tool:

A workmate in crime from Brisbane office, Gerhard Pretorius, recently posted an interesting tricks to change On-Premise Deployment with Sandbox Colour Scheme that currently only available on CRM Online:

To make an On-Premise CRM system display the “Sandbox Theme”, you will need to do some code…

Just a note – this is only available for CRM 2013 RU2 and up. THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED CUSTOMISATION!

Edit the main.aspx file on the CRM server, this is usually located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\CRMWeb\main.aspx. In the head section of main.aspx, after the title tag add the following tag (replace OrgName with your CRM Organisation name):

<script>

Restart the CRM Server / do an IIS Reset.

Only the sandbox instance will now show the orange “Sandbox Theme”. This is a great way for users to know which system they are in.

Recently I read a discussion in a mailing list on how to execute large number of on-demand workflow and out of curiosity, I tried to look for the method that was discussed, which uses Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook as elaborated here:

http://www.powerobjects.com/blog/2013/07/30/run-on-demand-workflow-in-dynamics-crm-250-records/

I tried that method with 7000 records and apparently it took long time for me to finish the operation and makes my Outlook application not usable for long period. So, I think there should be another way to do this, as I was presenting the SSIS toolkit in the last Melbourne CRM UG, I recalled that there’s “Execute Workflow” functionality in Kingswaysoft’s SSIS toolkit.

So out of my experiment, I set up a simple SSIS project to execute On-Demand Workflow on Contact record to give the value on email field:

And create a simple SSIS process as follow:

1. Contact Data Source:

2. Destination To Execute Workflow with Batch Size of 200 (I learned this batch size from SF, where their bulk operation is limited in 200 for performace, unsure about Dynamics CRM)

3. The Result

The whole operation that took hours when using Microsoft Outlook client, now accomplished within 4 minutes and 55 seconds (approximately 5 minutes)! It is accomplished with relatively simple and intuitive process.

Below is the result on contact records: