If you create new custom activities after the installation of ActivityTools they will not be shown in the activity type drop down and in the NEW ACTIVITY menu of ActivityTools.

This article shows how you can make them available.

Figure 1: Custom activity

 

 

The figure above shows a custom activity. As you can see below, the custom activity is not included in the activity type drop down and the [NEW ACTIVITY]-button menu.  

 

This blog article outlines how to trigger subworkflows from an AutoMergeWorkingItem workflow.  

❶ The main workflow needs to be based on “AutoMergeWorkingItem”.

❷ Add a Wait Step that waits until the AutoMergeWorkingItem is inactive.

❸ Add another Step called “DCPWorkflowSandbox: TriggerSubWorkflow”.

Figure 1: Subworkflow from AutoMergeWorkingItem workflow

In the step displayed below,  select the Primary Record URL of the AutoMergeWorkingItem and the Subworkflow you want to execute. The entity type needs to match! 

​That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com.

SharePoint paths limitations are hard coded. The maximum path length is 260 characters. If that limit is exceeded, you get the SharePoint error 414. This article outlines how to avoid this error. 

Minimum requirements: DocumentsCorePack v.167or higher 

mscrm-addons products offer several default ways to shorten SharePoint paths:

1) We provide you with a default shortening to a maximum of 30 characters + GUID for each folder name. 

SharePoint folder maximum length:

This setting cuts SharePoint folder names that are longer than a certain amount of characters. 

2) We provide you with a default shortening to a maximum of 128 characters for each file name. 

3) ShortIDs: We create a 6-characters ID alternatively to the well-known 36 GUIDs of Microsoft Dynamics 365.  

It is recommended to activate ShortId to avoid the SharePoint error 414 you get because of the path limitations of 260 characters. With ShortId we create a 6-characters ID instead of the 36 GUID like you can see in the example below. 

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How to activate a ShortID for DocumentsCorePack

To create a ShortID for DocumenstCorePack simply navigate to Settings > DocumentsCorePack in your Microsoft Dynamics 365  application.

Here, please add/enable the following options: 

Use short Documentation Logic

The setting in the figure below cuts SharePoint path automatically. 

Figure 2: DocumentsCorePack settings

 

4) Use an alternative field for the generation of paths (e.g. instead of account name we can use a unique account number field)

For the SharePoint folder name attribute:

SPFolderNameAttribute: enittyschemaname;attributename|

e.g.: Account:ptm_name

Please note: Even though the creation of short paths is a very valuable feature, existing paths cannot be shortened anymore, unless very specific criteria are met. Manual interaction is always required.

For further information on how to correct SharePoint paths exceeding the limitations, please have a look at this blog article. 

That's it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com!

There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t met yet.

- William Butler Yeats

 Thank you for joining us at the eXtreme365 in Long Beach! It was a pleasure for us to be part of such a great experience and to meet new business partners. 

Figure 1: eXtreme365 in Long Beach

 

​This year’s eXtreme365 did not only impress with an amazing location, it was full of surprises! Indeed it was a high-energy event where we could gain a deep-dive understanding of Microsoft´s roadmap, expert community insight on overcoming real-world challenges, and exceptional relationship building.  

 Also, we had the chance to present our solutions and ideas in front of a responsive audience. Michael Dohr outlined excellently why working with partners it the key to success. He highlighted the values and benefits of our partner network, as well as the main advantages of our solutions for Microsoft Dynamics 365. 

Figure 2: Beautiful Long Beach

All in all, the event was a complete success for partners and customers. We want to thank the organizers of that outstanding event for their commitment! 

That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com.

 

If you execute your workflow but it does not work correctly, there are several ways to troubleshoot your workflow. In most cases these problems are caused by the user itself, having forgotten to fill fields or having picked the wrong values.

 Here are a few things that you can check if your workflow fails: 

Process Session
Open your process and navigate to the process sessions, like you can see highlighted in yellow below. These are logged sessions of every time our process was executed. 

Figure 1: Process Sessions

Open the regarding process session and check at which step your workflow has failed, and investigate further into this particular step. Please also take a look at the details mentioned there: 

Figure 2: Process session details 


AutoMergeWorkingItem
Check the created AutoMergeWorkingItem to see what went wrong. Do this especially if the workflow fails at the Create: AutoMergeWorkingItem step. 

Next, open the advanced find in Dynamics 365 and search for the entity MSCRM-ADDONS.COM AUTOMERGEWORKINGITEMS and look after the one that fits your workflow session (sort by created on, for example). It will also have the name you gave it in the workflow. 

• Is the Primary Record URL filled and pointing to a Record in your Dynamics 365 that can be merged with the template?
• Is the Template to Execute and the SaveAs Value filled?
• Is the CreatedDocument filled (In our case it is not and therefore the document generation itself has failed) If this is not filled, check if the Template works with the Primary Record or not?

• Check the Return Value, if it has an Error Message like you can see in the figure below:

If you are attaching to e-Mail, open the e-Mail record and check if sender and recipient are filled, if the document is attached and in which state the email remains (Draft, Pending Send): 

Check your Dynamics 365 permissions if you are allowed to send e-Mails and if you are allowed to send e-Mails on behalf of this user. Check if the recipient is allowed to receive e-Mails. 

With these hints and a little Dynamics 365 knowledge, you will be able to find the cause and resolve it.

 Should nothing of this work, send us an e-Mail to  support@mscrm-addons.com and include a proper description of the issue, screenshots and your findings and analysis so far.

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There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t met yet.

- William Butler Yeats

 Thank you for joining us at the CRMUG Summit in Nashville! It was a pleasure for us to be part of such a great experience and to meet new business partners. 

​The atmosphere at CRMUG Summit was perfect, which was not only due to the well-selected location but also to the excellent speakers and truly informative sessions. The event was amazing and full of great people. From the very first moment, we knew that being a Gold Sponsor for this event had been a great decision. 

Figure 1: Nashville - 10 years of CRMUG Summit photo gallery  

During the – nearly familiar atmosphere – we managed to talk to a lot of great people and we also had the opportunity to listen to the outstanding sessions held by MVPs on a personal basis. Amazing keynote speakers, small group sessions, gripping speeches and lots of networking opportunities converted this event into a Microsoft Dynamics 365 festival. 

All in all, the event was a complete success for partners and customers. Being part of this event was a great and really very special experience! We want to thank the organizers of that outstanding event for their commitment! 

That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com.

Where will you be 6-9 November 2017? We will be at the eXtreme365 2017 in Long Beach as a silver sponsor, presenting our powerful solutions to the audience.

Figure 1: eXtreme365 Long Beach

The event is an important conference for Microsoft Dynamics 365 partners with the following specials offering the possibility to connect with and learn from other partners, experts, implementers and developers:

• Real-time strategy updates on Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft roadmap from key Microsoft global leadership including Ron Huddleston, James Phillips and Alysa Taylor.
• Keynotes and sessions on how to effectively work with Microsoft with U.S. OCP leaders including Gretchen O’Hara (Go-to-Market Motion), Casey McGee (Build Motion), and Karen Del Vescovo (Sell Motion)
• Real-time updates across the Dynamics 365 workloads with the concentration on Sales, Marketing, Field Service, Customer Service, Talent, and Finance and Operations.
• Deep sales and technical content on the Intelligent Business Cloud components including the Common Data Service, PowerApps, Flow, Power BI, IoT, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Azure platform services.
• Enrolling in the Executive Exchange gives you exclusive executive only access to deep-dive practice building sessions with Microsoft leadership and key industry experts.
• In-depth pre- and post-event full-day training sessions will expand your knowledge of specific ISV products as well as the Intelligent Business Cloud platform and Dynamics 365 applications. 

Register here to share strategies with peers, meet face to face with Microsoft leaders and dive deep into a bunch of interesting sessions and network opportunities. Whether it comes to strengthen your existing customer relationship or to make up new business connections, the value of eXtreme365 is outstanding! For full agenda go here. 

We will be happy to expand the limits of Dynamics 365 with YOU! See you soon at BOOTH #10!

This blog article outlines how to activate debugging for DocumentsCorePack Server Based. This step-by-step tutorial information refers to Microsoft Dynamics 365 only! 

Please note: There are two options to activate debugging. It depends on if you have a service or not. If you do not have a service, you will only need to follow the steps of the first option. Else please follow both options and send us the debugging files of both options. 

1) WITHOUT a service, activate debugging this way:  

 1) Please navigate to Settings > MSCRM ADDONS and click on DocumentsCorePack.  

Figure 1: Click on DocumentsCorePack

2) In the so opened Getting-started surface, switch to the General settings-tab and set Active Debugging and Active File Debugging on 'enabled'. 

Figure 2: Enable debugging

 3) The debugging logs will be stored in your installation directory. For example in: 

C:\Program Files (x86)\PTM EDV-Systeme GmbH\DocumentsCorePack Server for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 365\Log

Figure 3: Log files

If you do not have a service, please also take steps 4) and 5), otherwise proceed with the 2. option (WITH service)! 

4) Repeat all the steps you took before until the error occurs! This is necessary to capture the error in our log-files. 

5) Please send these files and a short description on which steps were taken to support@mscrm-addons.com.

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2) WITH service, activate debugging this way:  

1) Go to the start-pane on the server where you have your DocumentsCorePack ServerBased installed and search for the DocumentsCorePack ServiceManagement like you can see below. 

Figure 4: DocumentsCorePack ServiceManagement

 2) In the so opened window, you have the possibility to activate debugging. But first, select the ❶ service you want to debug and ❷ stop it if it is active. 

Figure 5: DocumentsCorePack - stop service

 

3) After your service is stopped, please ❶ activate debugging and enter your ❷ Logfile Path. There you can find all your debugging logs stored. 

Figure 6:  Activate DocumentsCorePack service debugging

 

4) After these few steps, save your changes by clicking the [Save service configuration]-button and start your service again.  From now on you will find all your debugging logs in the folder, which you defined as Logfile Path before. 

Figure 7: Debugging logs

   

5) Repeat all the steps you took before until the error occurs! This is necessary to capture the error in our log-files. 

6) Please send all the files (of both options) and a short description on which steps were taken to support@mscrm-addons.com.

 

That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com.

This blog article outlines how to create a document for every contact of an account using the CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchXML step. 

Please note: You have to make sure you first look into the basics of DocumentsCorePack workflow-steps, fetchXML and Dynamics 365 workflows before you start with this. It will make the progress a lot easier. 

In this case, we want to create a document for every contact of an account. To achieve this we need the CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchXML step. 

1) Therefore create a new workflow based on  Account. Go to ❶ DCPWorkflowSandbox and select ❷ CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchxml, like you can see below. 

Figure 1: Add new workflow step - CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchxml

2) Next define the properties of your new workflow step by clicking the [Set Properties]-button, highlighted below. 

Figure 2: Set Properties for CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchxml

 

3) In the properties of the CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchxml step, we add the values displayed below: 

Figure 3: Set custom properties

   

❶ Template1: Our desired Contact Template

❷ Entity Record URL Base: The Record URL of our main entity Account 

❸ FetchXML: The XML we want to execute. (How to build such an XML will be explained later in this article)

❹ FechtSMLResultField: The ID-Field of the returned entities - ContactId in this case

❺ FetchXMLResultEntity: The name of the returned entity (contact in our case) 

 

4) Next, add a second step: Create Record - MSCRM-ADDONS.com AutoMergeWorkingItems.

Figure 4: MSCRM-ADDONS.com AutomergeWorkingItem

5) Then define the properties as follows:

Figure 5: Properties for AutoMergeWorkingItems

❶ Name: Choose a fitting name

❷ AutoMergeAction: Create Document

❸ PrimaryRecordURLFetchXML: The Record URL of the primary entity (in our example Account)

❹ SaveAs: Your desired output (in this example pdf)

❺ MultiDocumentXML: The XML output of the previous step 

How to create the Fetch XML

You can use 3^rd party tools like "XRMToolBox" to make the creation of the FechXML easier. 

Figure 6: FetchXML

1) Use the Dynamics 365 Advanced Find to get the base structure of the Fetch XML you want,  like you can see below. In this case, we wanted to merge all contacts of a particular Account. 

Figure 7: Download FetchXML

2) After building this verifying the result, download the FetchXML and paste it into your XML editor. Adjust the FetchXML so it can be executed correctly and has no syntax errors. 

Figure 8: XML Code - Record URL

3) Afterwards replace the Record URL, which is the primary record you start from, with the value QID, highlighted in yellow below. This is necessary to make the workflow dynamic. 

Figure 9: XML Code - QID

 

4) Then copy the finished XML and paste it into the CreateMultiPartXMLbasedonFetchXML step into the field FetchXML.

 

That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com.

 

 

This blog article outlines how to modify the subscription of our soltutions.

1) Please go to our website www.mscrm-addons.com, click on the [LOGIN]-button in the upper right side and enter your credentials.

Figure 1: mscrm-addons.com Login

2) Once registered click on the [My Account]-button, as you can see below highlighted in red. 

Figure 2: Account Overview

 

3) In the so opened Account Overview, you can see at the bottom a list of your Subscriptions. Click on the [Modify package size]-button to modify the subscription you want. 

Figure 3: Modify subscription

  

4) Now you are redirected to the UgradeSubscription-section. Click on the [show more]-button to see all your available options. 

Figure 4: Available subscription options

 

 

That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com!