Microsoft CRM User Default Form Query - dynamics-crm

We're using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 on-premise. Is there a way to do a database query on the default form that users will see for a specific entity?
The reason I ask, we have a user that has an error when opening an email form:
systemform With Id = a7415a93-0113-4d90-80cd-280e28dfb4f7 Does Not Exist
This might have been an old form that has long been deleted from our system, and I'm wondering if there are any other users that might have this default systemform ID, as it will prevent them from opening that entity.

Users' most recently viewed forms are stored in the UserEntityUISettingsBase table. You can query the UserEntityUISettings view to see if any users are having the given form as their default form:
SELECT * FROM UserEntityUISettings
WHERE LastViewedFormXml LIKE '%a7415a93-0113-4d90-80cd-280e28dfb4f7%'
Keep in mind that it is entirely unsupported to update the database directly, so I would strongly recommend that you only stick to querying. If you find any forms this way, you should change them in a supported manner.

Related

Best approach to extending contact entity for different audiences

I am customizing Dynamics CRM 2016 for multiple departments to store contacts. I need to extend the contact entity but I only want to show the department-specific fields to the users of that department.
I can implement field-level-security but that displays all the custom fields (but doesn't allow other departments to see the actual values). That creates a lot of visual pollution.
Is there a better approach to achieve this?
Either create a separate CRM form for each department then control with security role, Or create individual tab/section in single form to show/hide in JavaScript based on dept/user security role.

Dynamics CRM 2016- Limit user accessing Account record before closing the existing opened record

I'm seeking for the solution or suggestion, to find out that did this function is able to work in CRM 2016.
"User A" is opening an (account record form A), in the moment the "User A" is trying to open the another (account record form B) while the previous account record form still haven't close.
Here the requirement from my client.
The (account record form B) is unable to open while there is existing (account record form A) is opened up.
That means the User is only can open the Account record form once at a same time.
I am appreciate if anyone can leave a comment.
Thanks in advance.
This is not possible not only in Dynamics CRM, but also in any Web Application or website out there. This is technically not possible, because user can always open a different browser or browser in private mode and you will not be able to control that (unless you deploy some malware software on all users computer, but this is clearily not a Dynamics CRM customizations thing)
Pawel makes a good point about web apps in general.
Because we have the plugin model and JavaScript in CRM, there is a hypothetical possibility of building something for this - though it pushes the boundaries of abuse of the CRM extension model.
The idea would be something like this:
Create an external table to maintain a list of open Account forms by user.
Register a plugin on the retrieve message of the Account. When the user retrieves an account, populate an entry into the table.
If the user attempts to retrieve another Account, check the table. If they have an open Account form, prevent the retrieve.
Create JavaScript on the Account form to remove the entry in the external table when the user closes the Account form.
If this could even work, it would be a complex, fragile solution that would likely also harm performance.
Unless you want to share the reason why you want only one Account open at a time so we can discuss alternative options, I'd recommend letting this one go.

Access records created by CRM users in D365 Portals

As I understand, we can access records created by Portal users and their respective Entity Permissions apply for them. However, I wanted those users to be able to even access records which were created by CRM users within Dynamics 365 (and not records created from Portal by a Portal user which is assigned to System)
Is this possible? If yes, how can I achieve that?
Thanks in advance!
It does not matter who created the record, what matters is if that user has access to it. It would not make much sense to show only records that were created by the portal users - how would you then handle something like Customer Service (on one end users use portal, but on the other they are using CRM, bot are creating records).
So basically I'm not sure how aware are you of the configuration of permissions, but let's say that you configured that a Contact (which is a portal user) has access to all records "Cases" that are referencing this contact (this is simply configuration in Entity Permission record). If yes then contact will see records created by him and all other cases that are referencing him as a contact, so if you as a CRM user will create a Case for a Contact, this Contact will see the case.

Lookup Field Displays All Records

I'm building an employee self service portal via Dynamics 365, and when I use the lookup field to display my name in a form other employee names are displayed too:
I've been fiddling with the security roles for a while now and still cant seem to get it to display a single employee name.
I'm also planning to do it a different way by filling up the employee name based on the username on the upper right.
How do you guys suggest I go about this?
First things first. Portals won't use any CRM Security role concepts as it's for CRM users. Portal is built on top of Contact entity. Contact is Portal user & Web role will control his/her access.
You have to Entity Form Metadata to populate the fields per your need. The contact lookup can be filled in by current login Portal user this way. Even you can implement something like manage/restrict the Contacts only from your parent Account in that lookup easily.

Dynamics CRM in low-trust helpdesk scenario

Ok, so imagine a bank has a call-centre filled with low-trust staff. The staff need to provide basic service to customers over the phone. The call centre staff take calls from a customer, ask them certain security questions, and then service the accounts in some way.
Now, from the customer's point of view, the bank is verifying who they are by asking the security questions. This is subtly different from the bank's point of view: It is verifying that the call centre employee is talking to the customer.
Why is this difference important? The bank wants to restrict these low trust staff, so they cannot view any details of the accounts until the customer calls them. So a call centre employee can't browse account details of customers that haven't just contacted him and asked for service.
So the question is:
Is this sort of setup possible in Dynamics CRM 2011? How would one go about implementing it? Some level of customization would be OK, but a bespoke application driven from the CRM data is not.
I'm thinking that maybe it's possible to create a custom component that temporarily modifies the user's permissions to a record (and all its children) after answering some security questions. However, I'm not even sure that record-based security (beyond Ownership) is supported in CRM...? I guess one could temporarily assign ownership to the user. Is that wise?
Please note: Simply hiding views & find buttons from the GUI isn't the sort of level of security we're looking for here. We're looking to literally restrict the user from accesing the records in question.
I can see a couple of options:
Working within the permissions model. This could work. You could have access restricted by default, and then have another entity where you'd enter in the account details, a plugin would run and verify the details, and then share the record to the current user. I'd be a little concerned, however, on how the unsharing would work. What would trigger it? Would there be a process that just runs outside of CRM and unshares records periodically. What if that process fails? We've also had performance issues in the past with this type of model... CRM seems to do a lot of work under the hood every time an individual record's permissions are changed like this.
Reassigning the owner, as you suggest. Would multiple users ever need to look at the same data? Does the owner of the record need to be maintained for any other reason (e.g. This is Joe's account because he's the owner).
Working exclusively with plugins. You could have a plugin registered on Retrieve and RetrieveMultiple of a record. This plugin could filter out all the details you want to hide from the end user. When the user needs to view the rest of the data, they fill out a form or dialog or something with the data. This data is then included in the Retrieve call for the record. The plugin checks for the hidden data, verifies that it's there and correct, then strips it out and lets the request continue, only this time it retrieves all attributes, and the form populates as expected.
Disclaimer: this answer is based on plenty of CRM 4.0 experience and reading the release notes for 2011.
Short answer: no.
Long answer: yes, but the customisation would be major. The 'easiest' option that springs to mind, is that the authentication process is carried out as a bespoke asp.net page that either a) uses a service account to re-assign an entity to an individual and then returns them to the relevant CRM form, then a plug in that re-assigns it back on saving changes
or
b) has it's own set of forms to that update and retrieve information as a service account, and only do so after answering the security questions.
As an aside, any kind of 'scripted' form is almost impossible in CRM 4.0. I believe 2011 slightly improves on that, but what I've seen is still not encouraging. Using CRM in a contact centre for us has meant investing in a piece of third party form building software and creating bespoke forms that can be launched from CRM and return data via the web services (which are impressively flexible). We only use the CRM interface for viewing historic requests - even most updates trigger one of the bespoke forms.
If I was to implement such a scenario I would create a customer access record (new_custaccess) that is linked to the customer record (new_customer). For this example - keeping it simple - I'm going to assume that the customer has a simple access code they must provide before the bank employee (Operator) can access the record. The access code is stored on new_custaccess in a field (new_secretcode).
Security is that the Operator has no privileges to new_customer and read/update privileges to new_custaccess.
There is a single field (new_secretcodeoperator) on new_custaccess that the operator can update. All other fields are restricted from update (and, if appropriate, read) to the Operator.
When the Customer calls and the Operator searches for the appropriate new_custaccess record. Once they locate the record they enter the Customer provided secret code into the field new_secretcode and do a save.
A Pre-Update query executes on new_custaccess in the context of a user with full privileges (call it MASTER, for fun here.) That plug-in checks to see if the provided code matches the secret code. If it doesn't it throws an error and the Operator can retry. If it does match the plug-in strips the field new_secretcodeoperator from the record, to keep it from saving the value. It also shares appropriate permission on the record new_customer to the appropriate operator.
The Operator now has access to the Customer record (you'll have to decide whether to cascade permissions or share on each record - that decision is beyond this discussion.)
We now need to deal with rescinding permission on the Customer record. I would handle this by having an entity new_customeraccess that is generated by the previous plug-in whenever access is granted to a Customer record. A workflow should be triggered on Create of new_customeraccess that cause new_customeraccess to be updated every 20 minutes (or whatever time the client prefers.)
A plugin is registered on Update of new_customeraccess that fires when the field updated by the workflow is modified. This plug-in will determine - via whatever criteria is decided on by the business - whether to continue sharing or revoke sharing.
I would also create some javascript/html based pop-up from the new_customer ribbon to end sharing by updating a field on new_customeraccess. Provide the Operator with limited Update privs on new_customeraccess via field level security.
This should accomplish what you want without going outside the standard CRM customization model. Not exactly sure of where you draw the line on bespoke but this is probably as close as you'll get to OOTB. A few plug-ins are all the C# you'll need. And the only JavaScript will be for usability, not functionality.
Let me know if you have questions.

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