The team I'm working with have created a CRM4 add-on which encapsulates 'standard' CRM customisations (such as modifying existing entities, adding our own custom entities), reports, plug-ins, and our own web pages (in IFrames) and web services. All pretty typical stuff.
I'm writing all the requisite installation code to simplify / automate the install process so that our ISV add-on can downloaded and trialled by anyone, but have been asked to think of appropriate way restrict functionality - to encourage people to purchase a license.
I'm not that familiar with the concepts/best practices/pitfalls when it comes to the 'licensing' of .net apps (especially CRM4 add-ons) so am asking you if you have any suggestions. We're looking for something fairly simple, and should be reasonably 'crackable', since we believe that having to enter a license code is generally a PITA.
Does the CRM API have anything to offer the ISV developer? (I see that one is able to nterrogate the License entity, but I'm assuming that this is for the CRM license itself)
Are there any existing code samples / projects / frameworks that are appropriate to use or implement?
I'm tempted to create a Registry Key upon installation of the add-on which, if after a month the correct license key has not been entered, will restrict functionality. Is this the best way to do this? Have you seen any other add-ons do it differently / better?
In terms of restricting functionality, I'm thinking of throwing InvalidPluginExecutionExceptions. Surely there must be a more 'graceful' way to do this?
All thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Regards,
Peter.
My thoughts:
Yes, you can query the License entity to get the number of licensed users, which is a common license type from what I've seen. Lots of 3rd party vendors charge by the number of licensed users, regardless of how many of those users actually use the customization. I try to stay away from these because the license costs are often prohibitive for enterprise deployments.
Not that I know of.
I like this option, and have seen at least one 3rd party tool use this method. They allow you to declare the license key in your .config file, and if their runtime doesn't find it there it checks a known registry key. The tool comes with an app that registers the license key in the registry for you. I'd be careful to test and make sure your custom code can read the registry in a least-privilege environment.
Definitely not graceful to throw exceptions, but it does prove your point. :) Other than that, just outright skipping your code is another possibility, although that could have data implications. If you must throw exceptions, I would suggest trying to run some javascript on form load of your entities that warns the user that their license is expired and a save will result in an error. Some more nefarious schemes could include Thread.Sleep, kinda like the old shareware nagscreens. :)
Another idea - can you set up an Enterprise IFD deployment so you can give customers remote access to your demo, including their own demo organization? This depends on your audience, but your customers may not have the luxury (time, dev environment) of downloading and installing your trial. They may just want to see it in action - once you qualify the sale maybe you offer free remote installation and not spend so much time on a flawless setup package? Again, depends on your audience and the volume of licenses you expect to sell. Technically, you could dynamically provision organizations using the SDK and make the online trial process completely automatic. Of course this is a big investment, but allows you to maintain absolute control over your demo/IP.
Hope that helps!
Related
We have an existing cross-platform Mobile Application, that also has an accompanying web application, that uses AWS as a back end (RDS for Database, Four server instances, and a Load Balancer to distribute traffic). APK and IPA files are packaged and sent to the stores, while components are retrieved from our server per request, which enables us to reduce the number of store builds, and make the process easier for getting changes out to clients.
We are at the stage of Development that we need to move to another platform to better facilitate our fast growing client base.
Due to the conditions upon our clients, these things must be considered.
must be cross platform (Android / iOS).
must be offline based (users need to be able to access without an internet connection)
must be able to sync with an existing database when there is a connection
requires Authentication
Cloud based (? may not be the right term, but meaning the ability for us to store components on a server and have a device check for updates and download a local copy - enabling us to work and distribute fixes faster)
Ideally compatible with AWS
We are currently looking at Xamarin to facilitate us for this move, however there is a lot of documentation and plugins out there to do all sorts of different things.
As developers, we all have some .net / c# experience, however none particularly with Xamarin.
We have a particular timeline that we need to adhere to (and need to ramp up in the next couple of weeks), and right now are essentially stuck in Limbo in a research phase, as we can't afford to get some things right. We are unable to move forward until we know Xamarin (or some other framework) is able to do everything that we need it to do.
It's hard to escape from the 'code it all ourselves' mentality - especially as we don't know where to start looking in terms of third party packages for Xamarin, and their documentation itself.
A lot of documentation mentions various systems of Azure - we would not be against moving to Azure over AWS if it _had to be done*, but because of the existing infrastructure with AWS - staying with AWS is obviously the preferred option (users need to access the current system whilst we build the new system)
This stack overflow post is to ask for recommendations, comments, or other observations on anything and everything involved with the process in regards to choosing frameworks, design patterns, methodologies, third party packages, etc.
Obviously we would like to use best practises for everything moving forward for optimum scalability and cleaner, more robust code. It's just hard to know where to start!
Any input will be highly appreciated.
Cheers!
edit: I am aware that this is 'asking for recommendations' which is 'specifically off-topic'. I have read the posting guidelines about open ended discussion, and am quite confident that this case is different. There is an underlying problem here, in that we are seeking advice on combinations of frameworks and plugins that are fully compatible with all of the items in the list (above)
Let's try to breakdown each of your requirement and constraint mentioned in the question.
1. You need a offline first architecture (With Sync mechanism)
Xamarin + Azure would make a good comdo for you, as it would support offline storage out of box (With a simple PullAsync call).
Albeit there are AWS SDK available for Xamarin. Here it goes http://docs.aws.amazon.com/mobile/sdkforxamarin/developerguide/setup.html
So the call is yours. There are few other ways to achieve caching offline storage in Xamarin, you can build upon those strategy in your logic. Alternatively there is a very interesting C# library Akavache for caching and offline storage.
2. OAuth 2.0 Authentication
Xamarin has a very good library named Xamarin.Auth. Though I would not say it is very easily extendible at this but there has been some serious work going on from Xamarin on this library.
But I would say it is very easy to use. The apps I have developed so far that includes - Google OAuth, Facebook integration, Microsoft account integration. It worked fine for all of them.
3. Cloud based distribution
There are nice tools available with Microsoft. Which makes the distribution easy. Have a look at https://mobile.azure.com . Also hockeyApp is good for distribution I found.
Where to start:
A very good starting point for you would be https://channel9.msdn.com . Just go there search with keyword "Xamarin" and view some videos. May be all these cross platform dynamics will be much easier for you.
Overall I found Xamarin a cool product to work with. Because anything that can be done in native Objective C/Swift or Java can very well be done in Xamarin using C#.
I am looking to automate the deployment process for CRM between different Environments eg.Development Env, Test Env and UAT.
I am wondering if there is existing tools(s) available on market to automate the deployment for me?
If NO, Is it possible to automate the CRM deployment between different environments and what is the best practics for doing that?
Thanks
Where I work we are currently working with the exact same issue. I spend quite some time initially looking for of-the-shelves products that could help us, but I have not found anything promising. Therefore we have undertaken the task ourselves.
Some guys from Microsoft made a short "whitepaper" on the subject which I found quite helpful. It can be found here at Deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and CRM Online Solutions from Development through Test and Production Environments.
I will not claim that we are using "best" practices, but we have chosen to try and script everything in PowerShell or through .net based CmdLets in our own PS-module. CRM server comes with a PowerShell snap-in that sports some basic functionality for creating/removing organizations, but you are more or less on your own when it comes to actually "deploying" CRM-customization, configuration data, users etc.
It would be interesting to know, which approach you choose (if any)? And if you have any specific question, please don't hesitate to ask!
How about this?
The xRM CI Framework is a set of tools that allows you to quickly and easily implement Continuous Integration for your Dynamics CRM solutions.
PowerShell and the XRMCI framework will serve you well for solution deployments, the downside being that for Standing or configuration data that cant be added to a solution (or for solution items that are currently buggy in CRM 2015 e.g. Case Creation Rules, SLA Items etc.). In this case, my client and I have created powershell C# CmdLets that use the SDK and API to create standing data such as Users, Teams, Memberships, Queue's, Case Creation Rules (although its unsupported, the API does allow it), and to configure mailboxes etc.
So in combination, the XRMCI framework, C#, and PowerShell can be used to automate a deployment of one environment to the next. The key is to take it slow, manually execute the scripts to begin with and build trust in the process, tweak and add more elements. Once that trust is achieved, move onto integrating it with TFS in as a CI/CD process.
As for best practice, my own research suggests that this is still a "he/she who dares" area with no real "best practice", in time the players such as Chef, Puppet, Octopus and Microsoft (with DSC) will contribute, but for now....
Im interested in providing part of magento ecommerce as a SAAS solution. However, it would be great to get some clarity around the osl license.
I realise that distributing that actual software requires me to open the source. However, in a SAAS environment, surely I can charge for the software service? As long as I release all changes to the core code etc?
How about using the XML API to provide data - I guess thats ok too?
What about if I decide to let the user have the source code? what would I be obliged to do then? let them have it? release all changes?
Anyone have any experience with this? ps I realise you may not be a lawyer ;]
Cheers
Ke
What I would do is charge the user for the hosting. You can sell your customizations as you please as they technically are not subject to the Magento license.
I would stay away from making changes to the "core" code and instead build off of them. That way you are not selling modified versions of the core software (which would kill your ability to easily upgrade the system).
You are allowed to license your extensions however you please so you would not have to worry about the open source model.
So I just started an internship with this nonprofit company and it's pretty cool. My first assignment was to find a type of program that would work well for the company and its users. I and some team members just finished summarizing down what I think is a good list for the needed functionality. Before I started working, I've never even heard of content/document/knowledge/project management systems. So I've done a bit of research on many other programs and I've narrowed it down to Joomla, activeCollab, Basecamp, sharepoint and a few more. Which program out there would fit my needs the best? It doesn't have to be from the list I just wrote, those are just the programs that popped up first when I started searching.
MUST-HAVE CAPABILITIES
Searchable
Keyword search
Advanced search: Ability to tag & search documents by different categories, for example, type of file (e.g. PDF, Word, etc.), service line (e.g., fundraising, strategy, etc.), type of document (e.g., deliverable, data set, etc.)
In-document search
Categorization
Simple navigation to browse all content
Simple to set up and modify the tree/hierarchy used to browse content
Workrooms
Provide each team a separate workroom to post their own documents
Easy to navigate from team workrooms to the Toolkits (best if team workrooms reside in the same system the toolkits reside)
Version Control
Ability to see which is the most recent file
Security
Password protected
Tiered security, i.e. certain permissions for certain users (to create workrooms, change navigation tree, change toolkits, view/post team files, etc.)
Multi-year support
Easy to “archive” old workrooms or files so the navigation doesn’t become cluttered over time
Share across workgroups
Ability for power users to access multiple team workrooms
Ability to send docs from one group to another—or to the toolkits (by simple tagging or simple “submit” feature)
Uploading
Ability to upload files to workrooms
Ability to submit a new file for consideration for a toolkit (not a file currently in any workroom)
OPTIONAL CAPABILITIES
Messaging
Opt-in notification of uploaded files or changes to existing files
Version Control
Ability to see who has the file checked out
External Access
Client access to certain documents
Within our website
Users gain access from our website
It looks like it resides on our website
Collaboration Tools
Team Calendar
Blog / Forum
Instant Chat
WebEx/Remote Presentation (for virtual team meeting)
Ratings
1-5 Star document rating (by user community)
Searching & Sorting documents by rating (best documents display first in search results)
Simultaneous Edit
Multiple people can edit the same document at same time
Workflow
Ability to tag a file to be reviewed by another user (ability to “escalate” a file for review by someone else)
Messaging alerts when a file has been flagged for a user
Most of the features that you mentioned above are available for free using Plone, which is an application that runs on top of Zope. I actually built and deployed an instance of Plone for a non-prof that had a lot of the features that mentioned above. They features might not have had the same names, but you get a lot of the same functionality.
Here's what my users really liked about Plone:
The ability to index the content of MS Office documents, so that people could search for documents based on content in addition to property and tags/keywords.
Usability. The default theme for Plone isn't the flashiest thing that you will ever see, but it's usability is excellent.
How easy it was the change the system and add new sites or functionality.
Here's what I liked about Plone:
Zero licensing costs. I was able to implement features that usually only come in very expensive systems for free. And I'm aware of these types of costs, because I administer FileNet systems for a living
It was very easy to install, upgrade, and administer. Please take that "pro" with a grain of salt if you're not a professional systems administrator :)
Overall, it was just very easy to work with.
And here are my cons:
If you need the web site to be accessible on the public internet, then your hosting costs may be higher-than-expected. It's definitely cheaper to set up a vanilla Joomla site than it is to set up a vanilla Plone site. Please note that you sound like you need a lot more than a vanilla content management system, so their may be no difference in hosting costs.
Plone is built on Zope, and Zope is an application server. It's easy to set up and use, but it works a little differently than a lot of other web and application servers. If you're used to administering a LAMP stack, then this will be different (but not necessarily bad).
One final con is true with all modern content management systems: don't give your users enough rope to hang themselves. When it take 2 minutes to a wiki and a blog to a web site, then users expect you to add new sites all of the time. Every new site adds a lot of administrative work to your plate, so try and get as much functionality as you can from each site that you add.
Hope that helps!
Tom Purl
Basecamp. Even if it doesn't have all the features you think you need, it does what it is supposed to (37Signals loves to rant about too many features, you aren't gonna need it (YAGNI), etc.)
Joomla is a pain. Activecollab is a poor clone of basecamp (unless it has changed drastically in the year or so that its been since I tried to use it to get out of paying for basecamp).
My organisation is in the final stages of acquiring CRM 4.0 for use as a general purpose software development platform. The company who is selling it to us has convinced upper management that CRM will solve all our productivity problems and make software development as easy as point and click. (They don't read Brooks.)
Having resigned to the fact that I can't stop CRM from being foisted upon us developers, I have been doing research on how to manage the complexities of large scale CRM development.
I have so far identified the following complexities that need to be addressed:
CRM seems wholly incompatible with basic configuration management practices.
Keeping the black box CRM database in bidirectional synchronisation with external LOB systems is both very hard and critical to project success.
What other complexities must I take into account when building a large scale CRM application?
What limitations does CRM have as a development platform?
Edit: This topic provided additional insight.
I've worked with MS CRM 3.0 and now 4.0 here's my take:
Whenever possible focus on standard best practices. Don't get overly confused by what CRM is doing or wants you to do.
Don't be afraid to break what's "supported" by MS. With some caveats on 2 major factors - will your company let you think outside the box to solve problems and do customizations/integrations that are not officially supported? - and are you comfortable enough with .Net, SQL, javascript etc to weave through their code and implement what you need?
I have sometimes banged me head 100 times trying to do something in a "supported" fashion when one small tweak to a js file here or a small db modification there gave me what I needed.
If constant data integration with other LOB apps is critical you should consider a 3rd party tool like Scribe (http://www.scribesoft.com/). It's not cheap but can basically get you 90% of the way when it comes to integrating with your other LOB apps.
As a general rule, MS CRM is great at contact management - doing things like tracking appointments, doing mail merges, etc. Could you use it as your core HR system - probably. Finance system - maybe a bit more difficult. The further you go from it's core competency of performing contact management the more custom work you'll have to do. The more custom work you have to do the more you should consider if MS CRM is the right solution to that problem.
I know you're likely well underway into your deployment of Dynamics CRM, but just a few quick tips:
I'd avoid making unsupported changes purely because it becomes too hard to track the changes eventually. Since Dynamics CRM allows developers to make C# Plugins and access to web services, it's usually unnecessary to make unsupported changes for anything non-trivial. Plus you run the roulette of having to hide changes from MS if you have to call their support. I know many people will include external javascript files (jquery, etc) and other somewhat benign changes, but try to mentally stop yourself when an unsupported edit involves anything non-visual.
Look into the phrase Microsoft Dynamics Xrm, there are several books on the subject that are excellent, http://www.thecrmbook.com/ is particularly good because it comes with some nice custom code to use with your CRM.
Source Control your customizations xml's and don't let people touch the database, also, Google Halan CRM tool, and use it for scripting out CRM customizations and javascript files. Easier than writing custom powershell scripts to do the same job.
Transaction Support
If your application require transaction support from the underlying platform, Dynamics CRM is not the correct choice. The reason is because currently Dynamics CRM SDK web service doesn't support transaction.
The reference thread is here : Does MSCRM web-service support database transactions?
Since you would like to utilize Dynamics CRM as a platform, that means all the business logic should utilize Dynamics CRM SDK Web Services as data access layer. But imagine without the transaction support and you're invoking a series of web service calls as a unit of work, and one of the web service calls fails. That means you potentially will encounter data integrity issue.
Configuration
Usually i create a custom entity called Configuration, which will store all the necessary related configuration for the current CRM application. After it has been created, you can use Dynamics CRM SDK Web Service to read all the necessary configurations from the Configuration custom entity