Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 tools, utilities, scripts & controls

Following are the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Tools, Utilities, Scripts and Controls that can be helpful in development.

Name:	Category:	Short description:	Type:
Slider Form Control	Form Controls	Slider control for use in forms	Managed Solution
Star Rating Control	Form Controls	Star rating control for use in forms	Managed Solution
Silverlight CRM Image Attachment	Form Controls	Provides a simple way to add a changable image to a CRM 2011 form/entity. The image is stored in the notes, leveragin core CRM.	Silverlight App
CRM 2011 Lookup Preview	Form Controls	Control that shows the preview of selected lookup record	Managed Solution
CRM2011 TreeView for Lookup	Form Controls	Will enable users to use TreeView control to select Lookup data where Lookup is having Self Joined (e.g. account entity  having Parent Account)	Managed Solution
CRM2011 TreeView for Dependant Picklist	Form Controls	Enables Users to use Dependent Picklist data in TreeView form. Having data displayed in TreeView form makes data selection easier and faster	Managed Solution
File upload control – MS CRM 2011	Form Controls	MS CRM 2011, adding a custom control for File Uploading purpose inside the forms, by using the features of MS CRM itself.	JavaScript
MS CRM Rich Text box	Form Controls	This plug-in gives you the feature of adding Rich text box in MS CRM 2011 forms without using any server side HTML or JS or Aspx page.	JavaScript
CRM2011 User Settings Utility	Form Controls	Update user settings for multiple users from one location.	Desktop App
Related records explorer	Form Controls	Silverlight tree control to see the related records(upto any level) of current opened record in form. The entities and the relationships to display is configurable.	Managed Solution
MS CRM 2011 Twitter Integration	Form Controls	Display recent 10 twits related to customer in MS CRM 2011.	Web Resource
LINQPad Plugin for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011	General Development	Helps write and execute LINQ queries	Desktop App
CRM 2011 OData Query Designer	General Development	Silverlight app that allows you to build OData queries and execute them and view the ATOM and JSON data returned.	Managed Solution
Connection Controls	General Development	Connection Controls for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 makes it easier for developer to implement discovery and authentication mechanism in their winform project	VS library
CRM2011 Code Snippets	General Development	A set of JavaScript and C# code snippets to facilitate common Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 development for Visual Studio 2010.	JavaScript and C# snippets
Developer Toolkit	General Development	Enables integration with Visual Studio and is focused on accelerating the development of custom code Solution components. Included in the SDK.	VS addin
Bulk Delete CRM Attributes	General Development	self-explanatory	Desktop App
BingMaps Browser	Integration	Bing Maps Silverlight control for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011	Managed Solution
Skype Connector for CRM 2011	Integration	Allow you to communicate via Skype (outbound calls) directly from a CRM contact record	Managed Solution
InfoPath to CRM	Integration	Enables you to accept emailed InfoPath forms and convert them to entities	Managed and Unmanaged Solution
google maps viewer	Integration	Managed Solution for Dynamics CRM 2011 for embedding google maps in any address form	Managed Solution
Skype Connector for Dynamics CRM 2011	Integration	Skype Connector for Dynamics CRM 2011 enables you to integrate inbound Skype calls with Dynamics CRM. Projects consists of two components: agent tray application & Solution for CRM 2011 (Unmanaged or managed).	Managed Solution and Desktop App
JavaScript Web Resource Manager	JavaScript Development	Helps CRM developers to extract javascript web resources to disk, maintain them and import changes back to CRM database	Desktop App
CRM 4 to CRM 2011 JavaScript Converter	JavaScript Development	Helps convert scripts to the latest CRM 2011 Form scripting model	Desktop App
MS CRM Javascript Intellisense Generator	JavaScript Development	Provide intellisense in Visual Studio for CRM scripting model	Visual Studio include file
Toggle visibility	JavaScript Development	Control visibility of controls, sections, tabs, navigation	JavaScript
Change color of form header and footer	JavaScript Development	self-explanatory	JavaScript and CSS
XrmServiceToolkit	JavaScript Development	JavaScript library for easier JS development. Enables you to execute REST, SOAP methods and other common functions needed	Managed and Unmanaged Solution
XrmSvcToolkit	JavaScript Development	XrmSvcToolkit is a small JavaScript library that helps you access Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 web service interfaces (SOAP and REST).	Managed and Unmanaged Solution
CRM 2011 JavaScript Model Generator	JavaScript Development	This tool will increase developer productivity as well as performance in regards to client-side scripting on CRM 2011 entity forms.	Console App
CRM 2011 Visual Studio Tools	JavaScript Development	The tool will listen to the Traffic and when it identifies a JavaScript WebResource file, it will exchange it with your local copy. So you can edit and test the Script directly after you saved the file on your harddrive. You can test the script inside CRM without the need of uploading it to CRM.	VS addin
CrmXpress Trace Helper	Maintanance & Administration	Helps you to enable/disable tracing for CRM components with few clicks. Also gives you the option to manage the trace files from within a single window.	Desktop App
Diagnostics Tool	Maintanance & Administration	Helps you enable trace and devErrors on CRM server. It also generates an HTML report file with information about the CRM deployment	Desktop App
CRM2011 Maintenance Job Editor	Maintanance & Administration	This utility is to be used for editing the CRM 2011 maintenance jobs which are automatically scheduled by the installation of CRM	Desktop App
CrmXpress OptionSet Manager	Maintanance & Administration	Tool to manage all your Option Sets in your CRM 2011 system. It lets you create new Option Sets, update Options in existing Option Sets and delete Options	Desktop App
Multiple Attachment Download Application	Maintanance & Administration	MS Dynamics CRM 4.0 & 2011 don’t have a way for Administrators to Export attachments from database to local machine. This Application allows you to do so	Desktop App
Role Updater	Maintanance & Administration	Add or remove privileges to multiple security roles in one operation	Desktop App
Count CRM users	Maintanance & Administration	Get a count of the number of users across all of your organizations	Desktop App
CRM 2011 Silverlight Web Resource for User Settings	Maintanance & Administration	This utility allows a User with certain permissions to Update User Settings such as DefaultCalendarView, PagingLimit and ShowGetStartedPage.	Managed Solution
Searchable Property Updater	Maintanance & Administration	Makes it easier to bulk change the "Active for advanced find" property of entities attributes	Desktop App
CRM2011 Duplicate Detection Toolkit	Maintanance & Administration	Contains a set of stored procedures that allow to obtain a list of duplicates that can then be consolidated in a report.	Stored procedures & report
CRM 2011 Bulk Disassociation of 1:N relationship records	Maintanance & Administration	CRM Solution which will allow User to remove child records from Parent Entity form and they need not go to individual child record form	Managed and Unmanaged Solution
Export Import User Views	Maintanance & Administration	Silverlight application for Exporting and Importing user views between different Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 environments	Managed Solution
Bulk refresh of user details from AD	Maintanance & Administration	Bulk update of user details from AD. Exposed as a ribbon button	JavaScript
CRM Powershell Management pack	Maintanance & Administration	Set of additional cmdlets to manage CRM system	Powershell Snap-in
Metablast	Modelling & Documentation	Runs through the CRM API to automatically generate a CSV file with all of the data fields for the entities that you specified.	Console App
XRMVisioER	Modelling & Documentation	Generates ER model in Visio based on your CRM metadata	Desktop App
CRM 2011 Visio add-in: Business Unit Org Chart	Modelling & Documentation	This Visio 2010 addin connects to CRM Server, fetches all business units in the organization and draws an org chart.	Visio add-in
Metadata Document Generator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011	Modelling & Documentation	Metadata Document Generator makes it easier for Dynamics CRM 2011 integrators to generate documentation about entities and attributes metadata.	Desktop App
CRM 2011 Metadata Browser	Modelling & Documentation	Silverlight 4 application that is packaged as a Managed CRM 2011 Solution. Allows you to view metadata within CRM including Entities, Attributes and Relationships. Can export to Excel	Managed Solution
CRM 2011 ERD Designer	Modelling & Documentation	Silverlight 4 application that is packaged as a Managed CRM 2011 Solution. Allows you to build ERD (Entity relationship diagrams) that are dynamically updated based on the published CRM entities and Fields. Supports printing.	Managed Solution
CrmXpress RunAs GUI	Other	Allows you to create profiles with username and password reducing time for testing with different users	Desktop App
Dynamics XRM Tools	Other	Toolset containing following utilities: Odata Query Designer, MetadataBrowser, Trace Tool, Statistics, CRM4 To CRM2011 JS Converter	Managed Solution
MSCRM 2011 – Send report in pdf format as attachment in email	Other	Send report in pdf format as attachment in email. The main idea for creating it as console application was the ability to run it with windows task scheduler on a timely basis.	Console App
Quickly Create Users in AD from CSV	Other	Creates Active Directory users from CSV list	powershell script
CRM 2011 Autonumbering Solution	Plugins	This is a Solution for crm 2011 for autonumbering the configurated entity.	Unmanaged Solution
CRM 2011 Plugin Testing Tools	Plugins	This Solution is meant to make unit testing of plugins in CRM 2011 a simpler and more efficient process.	Plugin and VS class
Plugin Registration Console Application	Plugins	You can now register your plugins and custom workflow activities from a command line, within Visual Studio from the post-build event or from a TFS Build post-build event.	Console App
Microsoft CRM PluginQuickDeploy	Plugins	This tool is made for speeding up your plugin development against Microsoft CRM 2011.	Console App
Advanced CRM 2011 Auto Number	Plugins	Advanced CRM 2011 Auto Number is the most advanced auto number Solution for CRM 2011 Online, On-Premise and Partner Hosted (IFD).	Managed Solution
Solution Import	Solution Management	Makes it to import a Solution Zip file or a extracted Solution folder to the server in one single operation	Desktop App
Dynamics CRM 2011 Versionhandler	Solution Management	Getting all you customizations under versioncontrol in TFS has never been more simple. Requires Team Explorer	Plugin
SiteMap Editor	UI customization	For editing sitemap	Desktop App
CRM 2011 Visual Ribbon Editor	UI customization	For editing ribbon, shows preview as well	Desktop App
View Layout Replicator	UI customization	Helps copying the layout of a view and pasting it to the layout of other views in the same entity	Desktop App
CRM 2011 Workflow Utilities	Workflows	Custom workflow activities for CRM 2011 for: Delete record, Share or “unshare” a record, Insert hyperlink to a CRM record,	Managed Solution
CRM Manipulation Library	Workflows	Set of custom workflow activities to solve equations, date calculations, manipulates strings, perform regex ) formatting & matching	Custom Workflow Activity
CRM2011 Views and Filters Toolkit	Workflows	custom workflow activities to help manage views, filters, filter templates and local data groups	Managed and Unmanaged Solution
CRM 2011 Distribute Workflow Activity	Workflows	This plugin allows to execute a workflow for each entity that has a 1:N or N:N relationship to a given entity	Managed and Unmanaged Solution
Workflow Automation	Workflows	Schedule worfklows via Task Scheduler	Console App
CRM 2011 Share Record Code Activity	Workflows	A simple custom workflow activity to share any record that can be shared or remove sharing to any record in CRM 2011.	Custom Workflow Activity

I hope it can help you.

Enjoy :-)


Reference :  http://everythingcrm.net/2012/01/24/over-40-useful-dynamics-crm-2011-tools-utilities-scripts-controls/

List of Tools and Software : Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Below is the list of tools and software that you can use as per the requirement as shown below.

(1). Site Map Editor

• http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-us/applications/microsoft-dynamics-crm-sitemap-editor-12884928049
  Microsoft Dynamics CRM SiteMap Editor provides a quick and easy way for users to update the site map through a user interface within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
  
  
• http://sitemapeditor.codeplex.com
  SiteMap Editor for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 helps developer and customizers to configure the Site Map in a graphical way.

• http://pragmatoolkit.codeplex.com
  Pragma Toolkit is a developer tool for improving productivity of the CRM 2011 developers. This release contains Ribbon Editor and Site Map Editor.

(2). Ribbon Editor

• http://ribboneditor.codeplex.com
  Ribbon Editor makes it easier for developers and customizers to edit Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 ribbons.

• http://pragmatoolkit.codeplex.com
  Pragma Toolkit is a developer tool for improving productivity of the CRM 2011 developers. This release contains Ribbon Editor and Site Map Editor.

• http://crmvisualribbonedit.codeplex.com
  Visual Ribbon Editor is a tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 that lets you edit CRM ribbons.

• Ribbon Workbench for Dynamics CRM 2011
  Customising/editing the Dynamics CRM 2011 Ribbon has never been easier with the Ribbon Workbench for Dynamics CRM 2011. Unlike other editors available, the Ribbon Workbench allows you to perform a complete set of customisations that have only been possible up until now by hand editing xml. 

(3). URL Encoder/Decoder to easily get CRM Record IDs

• http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/dencoder

(4). LINQ Queries

• LINQPad and CrmLINQPadPlugin.lpx
  Interactively query databases in a modern query language. You can test your LINQ query in the LINQPad before use in plugins and custom workflow activities.

(5). Fetch XML

• http://www.stunnware.com/products/tools4/download.htm
  Stunnware Tools for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4, but we can use it to test Fetch XML. There are other cool tools embedded inside the Stunnware.

(6). CRM Security Roles Interface

• http://roleupdater.codeplex.com
  Role Updater for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 makes it easier for CRM 2011 administrators and developers to add or remove privileges to multiple security roles in one operation. You'll no longer have to open each security role and apply privileges one by one.

• http://crm40admin.codeplex.com
  Used in CRM 4.0 Administration. Release 1.3 contains three utilities, focused on the administration of Users, Security Roles, Views and Local Data Groups. It supports Intranet, Internet and CRM Online deployments.

(7). Entity/Attribute Creation

• Dynamics Xrm Application Speed Builder
  Quickly create CRM entities and attributes by selecting items from an existing database schema.

• http://crmiconator.codeplex.com/
  This application eases the customization of custom entities icons in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. It is also very useful for uploading icons for Ribbon buttons.

(8). Universal Settings

• http://www.sonomapartners.com/Downloads/RequestDownload.aspx?file=universalsettings&h=
  Sonoma Partners Universal Settings utility allows administrators to quickly and easily update any setting on the Organization entity for one or multiple organizations in the same deployment. More info:  http://blog.sonomapartners.com/2012/10/announcing-sonoma-partners-universal-settings.html

(9). CRM WF Utilities

• http://wfdatetimeutilities.codeplex.com/
  The CRM WF Date/Time Utilities are three custom workflow activities that can be used to extend CRM's limitations of Date/Time fields.
  
  
• http://crm2011workflowutils.codeplex.com/
  Provide activities for: Delete record, Share or “unshare” a record, Insert hyperlink to a CRM record, Qualify lead (convert to account/contact/opportunity), Bulk activate / deactivate records (no record count limit)
  
  

(10). CRM 2011 JavaScript Model Generator

• http://crmjsmodelgenerator.codeplex.com/
  Generates JavaScript helper objects based on the fields, tabs, sections, and left navigation items that are currently on the specified entity form. Also caches XRM objects to optimize performance.

(11). CRM 2011 Appender for log4net

• http://crm2011appender.codeplex.com/
  The CRM 2011 Appender is a custom appender for log4net. Instead of the basic file appender that writes log messages to a file, the CRM 2011 Appender will write log messages to your custom log entity inside your CRM 2011 organization.

(12). CRM Tools from Microsoft

• CRMSvcUtil.exe
  Advanced Developer Extensions for Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a command-line code generation tool called CrmSvcUtil.exe that is used to generate a data context class as well as data transfer objects (DTOs) for all Microsoft Dynamics CRM entities.

• Plugin Registration
  It is a tool for registering CRM plug-ins and custom workflow activities.

• Entity Metadata Browser
  The Entity Metadata Browser provides the capability to examine the metadata for all the entities in the system.

• ILMerge.msi
  ILMerge is a utility for merging multiple .NET assemblies into a single .NET assembly. This is used if we have multiple Dynamics CRM 2011 .NET projects in a solution.

• Visual Studio Agents 2010
  Visual Studio Agents 2010 includes Test Controller 2010, Test Agent 2010 and Lab Agent 2010. Test Controller 2010 and Test Agent 2010 collectively enable scale-out load generation, distributed data collection, and distributed test execution. Visual Studio Agents 2010 can help in unit testing of plugins and custom workflow activities.

(13). Third Party Components

• Documents Core Pack: http://mscrm-addons.com
  Documents Core Pack provides the possibility to create and manage documents associated with CRM – records in a comfortable and structured way. It enables creation of Word-Documents with data from MS CRM.

• CRM 2011 OData Query Designer: http://crm2011odatatool.codeplex.com
  The CRM 2011 OData Query Designer is a Silverlight 4 application that is packaged as a Managed CRM 2011 Solution. This tool allows you to build OData queries by selecting filter criteria, select attributes and order by attributes. The tool also allows you to execute the query and view the ATOM and JSON data returned.

• Dependent Picklists: http://treeviewfordependent.codeplex.com OR http://blogs.msdn.com/b/paf/archive/2011/04/21/how-to-easily-create-dependent-picklist-in-crm-2011.aspx
  Create Dependent Picklist by using a user friendly interface.

• ReSharper
  ReSharper is a productivity tool that makes Microsoft Visual Studio a much better IDE. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 developers can use ReSharper's code inspections, automated refactorings, blazing fast navigation, and coding assistance in custom development of plugins and workflow activities.

• http://crm2011vstools.codeplex.com/
  CRM Visual Studio Tools is a Addon for Visual Studio that greatly speeds up testing of Javascript Web Resources.

(14). JavaScript/CSS/HTML Testing: Useful in CRM Custom HTML/ASPX Development

• Test CSS/HTML: http://www.dabblet.com/

• Test JavaScript/CSS/HTML: http://jsfiddle.net/

• Test JavaScript: http://pastebin.com/X6NxXvkC

• JavaScript Development Sheet.pdf
  This document is a cheat sheet and a quick reference to JavaScript methods in the new XRM Page Model of Dynamics CRM 2011. Download JavaScript Development Sheet from here.

• Dynamic HTML Editor 1.9: http://www.dynamic-html-editor.com
  Dynamic HTML Editor is a powerful HTML (website design) Editor that permits you to create your site in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment using both CSS and/or tabled layouts.

(15). Tools for taking Screen Shots: Helpful in writing Functional and Technical Dynamics CRM 2011 Documents

• Balsamiq Mockups: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups
  Using Balsamiq Mockups feels like drawing, but because it’s digital, you can tweak and rearrange easily. Teams can come up with a design and iterate over it in real-time in the course of a meeting.

• Snagit: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.html
  Capture anything on your computer screen with this screen capture tool. Snagit makes it easy to create eye-catching images and videos for quick communication.

• MS Paint
  Paint (formerly Paintbrush for Windows) is a simple graphics painting program that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows.

• Paint.Net: http://www.getpaint.net
  Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

• Microsoft Picture Manager (Microsoft office 2010)
  Microsoft Office Picture Manager is a software program included with Microsoft Office suite starting with version 2003. It is a basic image editing and image management program. It replaced Microsoft Photo Editor, which had been included up to Office XP since Office 97.

(16). Tools for Unit Testing: Helpful in custom development of plugins, workflow activities and ASPX pages

• MOQ: http://code.google.com/p/moq
  Moq (pronounced "Mock-you" or just "Mock") is the only mocking library for .NET developed from scratch to take full advantage of .NET 3.5 (i.e. LINQ expression trees) and C# 3.0 features (i.e. lambda expressions) that make it the most productive, type-safe and refactoring-friendly mocking library available.

• Rhino Mock
  Rhino Mocks is a dynamic mock object framework for the .Net platform. Its purpose is to ease testing by allowing the developer to create mock implementations of custom objects and verify the interactions using unit testing.

• .NET Code Coverage Tool: http://www.jetbrains.com/dotcover
  Reporting statement-level coverage in .NET Framework and Silverlight applications. Integration with Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010.

I hope it can be useful to someone.

Enjoy ...!!!  :-)

Reference : http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11290.microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-list-of-tools-and-software.aspx 

Hide left navigation items pane on form in CRM 2011

Today i will show you how to hide Left Navigation Items Pane on Entity Form of CRM 2011.

Follow below steps for that.

• Open CRM form customization screen
• Click on “Form Properties” button in  ”Form” tab
• Go to “Display” tab and uncheck “Show navigation items” (Refer screen below)
• Save & Publish 

 

After this setting...

“Open” the form and you will get form without “Navigation” section as shown in below figure.

Enjoy ... :-)

 

Save Disabled Field value to CRM 2011

I am here writing How to save Disable Field/Attribute Value to CRM db.

Because, if the field is disabled then it will not save the Actual Value of that field/attribute to db.

I can show you one scenario where it can create a problem.

Let suppose there is a field on Account Entity Form and it is in disabled form.
And then you change its value using javascipts, it will show you the changes on form that time.

But when you save the form, it will not actually save that field to crm db.

Here is the Solution for the same.

Write below javascript line where you set your disables field property.

Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(<YourAttributeName>).setValue(<YourValue>);

Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get(<YourAttributeName>).setSubmitMode('always'); // Save the Disabled Field



Enjoy !!! :-)

Delete Record in Sub-Grid in CRM 2011.

I am here writing for purpose of Deleting records from Sub-Grid on CRM Entity Form.

Because whenever you want to delete record or a row from Sub-Grid it will ask to Delete a record from System and you just want to disassociate that record with that Entity, Right !!!

So here is the Solution.

(1). Remove your Current Relationship with those Entities and
(2). Add N:N Relationship between those 2 Entities.

And then try to delete record from Sub-Grid. It will allow you to remove that row from Grid but not record from crm system.


Enjoy !!! :-)

Adding a Close Ribbon Button on each Entity form of Ms Dynamics CRM 2011 Application.

Hello All,

I did some work around as i needed to add a Close Ribbon button on each Entity Form.
And finally i found one good solution that it is in SDK itself.

if you find in MSD CRM sdk folder under "sdk\walkthroughs\ribbon" path,
you can find a solution file (zip file) named "addacustombuttontoanexistinggroupforallentities.zip".

Import this zip file into your Solution tag of your CRM Application.

Refresh your browser.
You can find now a new Ribbon Button "Close" on each Entity Form Ribbon Area.

Adding New SiteMap to your Ms Dynamics CRM 2011 Application

Hello,

I will discuss here to edit or adding a new tab or
you can say a new SiteMap in MSD CRM terms.

Follow below steps.

(1). Make a Solution and add SiteMap extension in that.

(2). Export this Solution. It will exported in Zip File Format.
Open that file and unzip first.
Now open customizations.xml file in any editor. Here i have opened it in Visual Studio. You can use Notapad++ too.

(3). Now locate you area under which you want to add your new custom SiteMap.
Here i have added my "Training" sitemap under "Workplace" Area.

Now here you can provide your details as i have added Account Entity under my Custom Training SiteMap as in below figure.

(4). After editing customizations.xml file ,Save it and make a new Zip file of those 3 files ([Content_Types],customizations,solutions).

(5). Import that zip file into your CRM. And refresh the browser. You can See your new custom Sitemap as in my case "Training" as below. :-)

If you have any concern the i welcome your comments :-).