Get along in Dynamics 365

Efficient data entry

Dynamics 365 encourages users to manage their data concurrently. Users can view and update records even while their colleagues are modifying the very same records. This is in contrast to the old days of Excel sheets being locked when in use by another user. But what happens when two users access the same record and update it at the same time?

The challenges of concurrency

Since CRM 2015 Update 1, Dynamics 365 has supported optimistic concurrency, which is detailed in this blog post.

"The idea is simple, the entities now have a property called RowVersion (auto incremental number) which stores the retrieved version of the record. When an Update or Delete request is executed (and the ConcurrencyBehavior has been explicitly configured), Dynamics 365 will compare if the record RowVersion is the same than the one stored in the database and rollback the operation if they're not."

However, this feature is only available through the SDK, and can't be added with basic form customisations. Some developers have found an internal function to access the RowVersion property, but because the function isn't documented by Microsoft, it isn't supported.

So to answer the initial question: when two users update the same record at the same time, the resulting record in the database is a combination of both records. However, if both users updated the same field, then the database will store the value entered last. The user who hit save a few seconds before would therefore lose their data.

Overcoming the challenges

With reference to this post I've offered two potential solutions, though these require either C# code or unsupported JavaScript.

I'd like to offer an alternative approach which is lightweight, configurable, supported and requires no code to setup.

Introducing get-along.js.

Get Along is a small, documented tool which can be installed in any Dynamics 365 environment and configured to notify users when a record they're viewing is modified by someone else. For developers, the installation is as simple as:

1. Downloading Get Along from its GitHub page.
2. Adding a single script file to the relevant form (i.e. Contact or Account).
3. Registering an onLoad event handler.

At the time of writing, the project is new and only supports an information-style notification banner to users. The project has a backlog of new features on the way, including:

• Configurable alert dialog boxes with buttons as a choice rather than notification banners.
• Configurable notification text displayed to users.
• Hopefully more added by contributors (the project is open source).

Wrapping up

Being notified of changes elsewhere isn't always desired behaviour. Users might want to be left alone to manage their data, and could be well aware that other users are tinkering with the same records.

However, sometimes data loss on forms is a problem for businesses.

• A process within the business might dictate that only one user should be updating a record at one time.
• Form logic might execute on update of certain fields, that all users should be made aware of. Because form logic is client-side, users will not see this change unless they're notified to refresh the record.
• Users may be used to notification behaviour if they use other collaboration tools such as Microsoft Excel Online or Confluence.

There are solutions available such as introducing optimistic concurrency which, as we've explored, can either be complex or require unsupported code.

Get Along offers a lightweight, configurable and supported solution to data loss. The project is open source and has a backlog of new features in the pipeline which will grow to support further configuration.

Unit test Web API calls with xrm-mock and SinonJS

Setting the scene

We write JavaScript to perform business logic client-side on Dynamics forms.

• Sometimes we want to dynamically alter the layout of a form (collapse tabs, hide sections etc.)
• Sometimes we want to update field values
• And sometimes we want to retrieve data from Dynamics using the Web API and then act on it

No matter why we're writing client-side scripts, we always want to write tests for them.

I've previously written in this blog post and others how basic Xrm functions can be tested against using xrm-mock. However, what about more advanced Xrm functions such as Xrm.WebApi?

Introducing the Web API with v9

Xrm.WebApi was introduced with Dynamics 365 version 9. In Microsoft's words, it: "Provides properties and methods to use Web API to create and manage records and execute Web API actions and functions in Customer Engagement".

My interpretation would be that it enables developers to interact with the Web API using shorthand code. For example, prior to version 9, one would write the following to create an account:

Now, using Xrm.WebApi this can be rewritten as:

Faking Web API calls using xrm-mock

XrmMockGenerator.initialise() initialises an empty Xrm.WebAPI object. Calls to its methods such as createRecord throw a not implemented error. The current recommended approach is to therefore stub any API methods being called in the code under test, and force their return values. This allows you to:

• control your test's expected behaviour
• prevent direct calls to the Dynamics database via XMLHttpRequest or similar

Here's an example

This example demonstrates a basic client-side script running on a Contact form in Dynamics. When the form is loaded, the script:

• gets the Id of the Contact's Parent Contact via Xrm.Page.getAttribute.getValue
• retrieves the Parent Contact's name via Xrm.WebApi.retrieveRecord
• sets the Contact's description to "My parent is called {parent contact's name}" via Xrm.Page.getAttribute.setValue

This example uses Sinon.JS to help create Web Api stubs.

"Standalone and test framework agnostic JavaScript test spies, stubs and mocks (pronounced "sigh-non", named after Sinon, the warrior)."

First, here's contact.ts, the script which will be run on the Contact form:

And here's contact.test.ts, the script we'll use to test contact.ts:

Walkthrough: Understand the Code

Testing in action with Wallaby.js

And that's it

Using the example above you can see how to:

• Create a fake Xrm object to use in client-side unit tests by using xrm-mock.
• Stub a call to Xrm.WebApi to control your test's behaviour and not directly call the Dynamics database.
• Write asynchronous TypeScript code for Dynamics.

This example and all its source code is available on xrm-mock's GitHub page here.

Retrieve Status Reason Metadata with the Web API

Quick one! Have you ever tried, or are you currently trying to get statuscode metadata programatically from your Dynamics organisation? e.g. the Status Reason on your Lead or Contact entity.

I mean these values, with their label and underlying value:

You can do so, using the Web API .

However, status reason requires a different message to your usual option set.

• For option sets, use Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.PicklistAttributeMetadata
• For status reasons, use Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.StatusAttributeMetadata

Here are some examples

1. This example gets the labels and values of options on an option set called mediasource on the lead entity:

Of course for your scenario, you'll need to alter the HTTP request. Replace lead with the name of your entity and mediasource with the name of the option set you're trying to retrieve.

Remember you can test your HTTP request by sending it in your browser as https://yourcrmorganisation.crm11.dynamics.com/api/data/...

This request returns the following response:

2. Now if you want to get the value for statuscode which is also an option set, you have to use StatusAttributeMetadata rather than PicklistAttributeMetadata.

This example gets the labels and values of options on the status reason field on the lead entity:

Which returns the following response:

Again, in your specific HTTP request, replace lead with the name of your entity.

Automate UI testing for Dynamics 365 using EasyRepro and a VSTS Build Agent

Why test my Dynamics 365 UI?

We know how configurable Dynamics 365 is; so much so that no two Dynamics organisations are created equal. Companies work in different ways, leverage varying business processes and come in many shapes and sizes. This is great, because Dynamics is flexible enough to cope, and the developer community loves tackling new projects.

However, these very same companies are always changing, and so too are their Dynamics 365 organisations. This is where the developers come in; they configure each Dynamics organisation to meet their customer's needs, and this process is inevitably ongoing. Reconfiguring and adding to an ever evolving system comes with risk:

• Do these new configurations meet the customer's specification?
• Have these changes introduced regression to the existing system?

If your previous Dynamics customisations have tests written for them, these questions can all be answered during development.

As well as mitigating risks, UI tests come with benefits to enhance the usability of the Dynamics 365 organisation being configuring. This means happy stakeholders all around, from developers to end users.

One core benefit is enforcing form style guidelines. Should section headers all be in capital letters? Should the Created On field always be visible at the bottom of every form? Should form headers always contain four fields? Enforce it with UI testing!

What's automated UI testing?

UI tests that aren't automated, consist of a team reading through a list of behavioural expectations and then clicking through the Dynamics organisation manually and asserting a pass or fail to each expectation. These tests can be very click intensive and time-consuming, time that could be better spent by the QA team testing complex features end-to-end.

Automated UI testing is getting a computer to run these tests for you. Selenium is a popular tool built for this purpose: it automates web browsers allowing for websites to be tested by interacting with DOM elements.

Dynamics 365-specific commands have been written for us by Microsoft, in the open source project EasyRepro. In the project's own words:

The purpose of this library is to provide Dynamics customers the ability to facilitate automated UI testing for their projects. These API's provide an easy to use set of commands that make setting up UI testing quick and easy. The functionality provided covers the core CRM commands that end users would perform on a typical workday and working to extend that coverage to more functionality.

Ok, how do I test my Dynamics 365 UI?

Using EasyRepro! See its GitHub page for examples spanning forms, charts, navigation, dashboards and more. I've added an example here below which demonstrates a basic test of navigating through Dynamics and opening a contact form:

Notice how readable the functions of XrmBrowser are such as SwitchView and OpenRecord. This is how good tests should be: human readable and descriptive similar to a design document.

Running UI tests locally takes ages, how do I automate it?

Yes, you'll notice that when your UI tests are run (presumably in Visual Studio), a browser window appears as if by magic and your mouse starts moving to sign into Dynamics, and begin running each test individually. If only these tests could run else where and you could carry on with your work..

Well they can, at least, ever since this commit to GitHub which adds headless compatibility to EasyRepro. Headless Chrome is still just Chrome, but without the UI shell. This is necessary because VSTS Build Agents, which we'll be using to act as a remote machine to run our automated tests, don't have a UI for us to use. Chrome without Chrome!

So with these tools, we can configure a headless Chrome browser to run in a VSTS Build Agent, while we get on with other work.

How do I configure my VSTS Build task?

1. Ensure your code is checked into VSTS along with your test code project
2. Restore your NuGet packages and compile your code (as shown in the image below)
3. Install Chrome silently (without installation prompts) on the build agent

4. Run your UI tests by referencing their test assemblies

You'll also need to configure your EasyRepro Test Options

Your EasyRepro test methods require an XrmBrowser object, which itself requires a BrowserOptions object.

So, create your TestSettings class and specify Chrome as BrowserOptions.BrowserType:

Then pass your TestSettings.Options to XrmBrowser in your test classes:

And you're done, you're now equipped to automate your UI tests for Dynamics 365 both locally and from a VSTS Build Agent, using Microsoft's EasyRepro and Selenium.

If your current place of work doesn't make use of tests or UI testing, you now also have a basis of discussion to convince others that UI testing is worthwhile! (As if the incidence of regression bugs wasn't enough!)

How to get SLA Business Hours Calendar in C#

When extending Dynamics 365 using plugins and workflows, requirements often involve interacting with SLAs. This could mean retrieving:

• Daily working hours for example Monday - Friday 09:00 - 17:00
• Scheduled breaks in the working day such as lunch time
• Business-wide holidays such as bank holidays

Let's walk through the code in your plugin/custom workflow

First, knowing the ID of the SLA you want to get, retrieve the SLA using service.Retrieve()

A reference to the Business Hours associated with the SLA is stored in the "businesshoursid" field. To retrieve it's ID, use GetAttributeValue()

Now that we have the ID, we can retrieve the Business Hours record itself. Notice that the schema name of the Business Hours entity is calendar:

Calendars (Business Hours) can have multiple rules, depending on how they've been setup in CRM. If your Calendar has been setup to schedule each day the same in CRM, then you'll have fewer calendar rules. However, if each working day is scheduled differently, then you will have many calendar rules.

Retrieve your calendar rules by calling GetAttributeValue() against your Calendar's pattern attribute:

The pattern is returned as a string as shown by the // comment in my code. You can simply split it by comma delimiters after the substring BYDAY= to establish which days the pattern applies to.

Now we're ready to query the inner calendar rules. These give us values duration and offset which allow us to work out how much time in the day is working, and how much is out-of-hours.

We're interested in looking at our innerCalendarRule variable's duration and offset. For example, if the offset is 540, then the rule begins at 09:00am in the morning, because offset is in minutes and 540 / 60 = 9. Therefore if the duration is 480, then the rule ends at 17:00 (5pm) because 480 / 60 = 8 and 9(am) + 8 = 17(:00).

You can now go even deeper to query your inner calendar rule's inner calendar rules. These rules will have a subcode attribute which can be used to determine whether the time outlined by the inner calendar rule relates to working time or out-of-hours time.

That's it

Calendar rule inception can be quite complicated to figure out but it is possible. Hopefully this post has helped get you a step closer to fulfilling your Dynamics 365 requirement.

If you still need to know more, I'd highly suggest you step through your code in a console application or integration test. This will allow you to read and interact with the data returned from your queries in real time. To help with this, remember to use:

• Jason Lattimer's CRMDeveloperExtensions to fast-track your console application building
• The Microsoft Dynamics 365 SDK. It contains a file called EntityMetadata which outlines calendar attributes

Unit test your client-side customisations: xrm-mock v3 released!

Unit testing your client-side customisations for Dynamics 365 just got easier.

xrm-mock is a package that lets you generate a fake implementation of the Xrm object in your client-side code, allowing you to unit test your scripts.

How do I install it?

Simply download xrm-mock's npm package by running

npm install xrm-mock -D

Then import the XrmMockGenerator module and initialise a global Xrm object

import { XrmMockGenerator } from "xrm-mock";
XrmMockGenerator.initialise();

Now you have a global Xrm object, which you can add attributes to, to simulate a real form in Dynamics 365.

Here's how you add basic attributes:

Now for a lookup attribute:

And finally an option set attribute:

See xrm-mock's readme and Wiki for examples of how to unit test against your newly created attributes.

What's changed in v3?

As part of xrm-mock v3 release, attribute create methods only need two arguments: a schema name and a value, as shown in the above code snippet.

Why xrm-mock?

Faking Xrm is hard and time consuming: it has several nested objects which require a detailed understanding to fake correctly. xrm-mock is gaining traction with the open source community, and can expect to see more releases in the coming months. In fact, Daryl LaBar has become a contributor and he's already hit the ground running.

A case for modular JavaScript development in Dynamics 365

JavaScript files become large, very quickly, when it comes to customising Dynamics 365 forms. Code reusability tends to be low across forms, and external libraries often have vast amounts of redundant code.

The module pattern in JavaScript is similar to classes (if you're familiar with C#, Java, Python etc.). Each module is self-contained with distinct functionality, and can be decoupled from other chunks of code with minimal fuss. In Dynamics 365, a module might represent:

• logic to support toggling sections on a form
• parts of a framework to support Web API calls
• reusable security role querying and validation helpers
• common numeric functions such as VAT calculation

The benefits should be becoming apparent at this point. We've touched on maintainability and reusability, but there's also testability. Each module can have its own individual unit tests, and each form (i.e. contact, account) can be tested end to end. See my GitHub page for an example.

How do I write modular JavaScript for Dynamics?

In this example, I'll demonstrate a requirement that locks every field on the contact form when it is loaded, if the user does not have a specific security role.

We need three modules: contact, security and fields. Security needs to get the users roles and determine if a given security role exists within the users roles:

Note: certain syntax will be unfamiliar here, if you're new to modules. The contents of the functions should feel familiar though.

Fields needs to be able to lock all fields on a form:

Notice the line module.exports = new(); This exposes the module to other modules, which can make use of it by using the require syntax, as shown in the final form contact:

And you're done! The contact form pulls in functions from other reusable files and makes use of them to complete some business logic end-to-end inside of its onLoad function.

But wait... the file path "../security.js" might mean something to your code editor, but it means nothing inside a browser. Chrome or IE therefore won't be able to load the files required by the contact form.

You're going to need a bundler

Bundlers recursively check your application's dependencies and package the modules needed into one (or more) browser-safe bundle.

In this example, I use my preferred bundler, Webpack.

Start by ensuring you have Node.js installed. Then, open a command window in your script's project directory e.g. C:\source\repos\crm-project\web-resources.

To install the latest release of Webpack locally, run: npm install --save-dev webpack

You're now going to need a script to build your contact module. Open your package.json file (which should exist having installed Webpack). Add the following script:

Replace ./src/contact/.. with the relative path of your contact.js file.

Running this script packages your contact script and all of its dependencies and outputs them to the file ./dist/contact.bundle.min.js. The additional tag of --optimize-minimize minimises your script, so that it's smaller in size and production-ready. The script can be run from your command line using npm run build-contact

Now you're (really) done!

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Some notes and caveats:

• Using JavaScript to lock fields often isn't the best approach because it's client-side and can therefore be overriden.
• Minimised scripts aren't readable or easily debugged. You may wish to exclude --optimize-minimize if you're deploying to a development or sandbox environment.
• I've chosen one of several ways to implement JavaScript modules. There are pros and cons to each. For detail see here.