Dynamics - PDF Generator

In 2017, a third party provide a solution that use to generate PDF from CRM templates.

In recently, Dynamics 365 organization I have seen this solution as a part of Microsoft out-of-box solution list. And this solution is free.

Also Microsoft still not taken this feature as they done for Resco field service module.

So we can see all entity, web resource etc. solution component with third party prefix.

We always need to send PDF to customer for quotation, Sales order or Invoices etc. In On-Premise CRM organization it was easy because we can use register plugin is none Isolation Mode and access other iText like assemblies.

But in Online Dynamics 365 it is not possible.

You can refer below link to get User Guide.

https://gallery.azure.com/artifact/20151001/hcldynamics.f00d916c-e333-4852-b0d3-5c96672c92c8.1.0.2/Artifacts/Documents/1-Dynamics20-20PDF20Generator20User20Guide.pdf

Working:-

Click on “Generate PDF Configuration” button top of solution lists and it will open “hcl_pdf_GeneratePDFConfigurator” web resource for us. We can configure/Enable list of Entity having document templates.

Form here we can remove the generate PDF feature for an entity and template whenever needed.

After configuration is done, we can see a new button configured entity. However this button also visible on create form, which have no use until record is created.

Click on Generate PDF button it will open “hcl_pdf_GeneratePDF” web resource with some query string information from there we can generate our PDF and download or save in note section for selected document template. I have seen it worked of Word Templates.

However I have not seen preview as showing in user guide. But download and add to note working fine.

We can also use this solution for sending email with PDF with some customization and configuration.

1. Create a new workflow named. Ex-Customer Invoice.
2. Create Email with all create information.
3. Create custom workflow to get record (Invoice, Quote etc.) Guid.

public class GetRecordIDFromURL : CodeActivity

    {

        #region variable used

        [RequiredArgument]

        [Input("RecordURL")]

        public InArgument<string> RecordURL { get; set; }

        [RequiredArgument]

        [Output("RecordId")]

        public OutArgument<string> RecordId { get; set; }

        string traceMessage = string.Empty;

        #endregion

        protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext executionContext)

        {

            //Create the tracing service

            ITracingService tracingService = executionContext.GetExtension<ITracingService>();

            //Create the context

            IWorkflowContext context = executionContext.GetExtension<IWorkflowContext>();

            IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = executionContext.GetExtension<IOrganizationServiceFactory>();

            IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

            traceMessage = "Workflow started.";

            tracingService.Trace(traceMessage);

            if (RecordURL.Get<string>(executionContext) != null)

            {

                RecordId.Set(executionContext, RecordURL.Get<string>(executionContext).Substring(RecordURL.Get<string>(executionContext).IndexOf("&id=")+4, 36));

            }

        }

      

    }

4. Call Action “Generate PDF Action”. It will return pdf data in  “PDFBinaryData” parameter.

5. Create custom workflow to add “activitymimeattachment” to email.

   var email = context.InputParameterOrDefault<EntityReference>("Email");

   var output = context.InputParameterOrDefault<String>("output");

  if (email!=null)//CreateEmailAttachment

                    {

                        Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity ActivityMimeAttachment = new Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Entity("activitymimeattachment");

                        ActivityMimeAttachment["subject"] = report.GetAttributeValue<string>("name");

                        ActivityMimeAttachment["filename"] = "Invoice.pdf";

                        ActivityMimeAttachment["body"] = output;

                        ActivityMimeAttachment["attachmentnumber"] = 1;

                        ActivityMimeAttachment["objectid"] = email;

                        ActivityMimeAttachment["objecttypecode"] = "email";

                        service.Create(ActivityMimeAttachment);

                    }

6. Create custom workflow to send that Email.

public class SendEmail: CodeActivity

    {

        private string traceMessage = string.Empty;

        [RequiredArgument]

        [Input("Email")]

        [ReferenceTarget("email")]

        public InArgument<EntityReference> Email

        {

            get;

            set;

        }

        #region Execute  function

        protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext executionContext)

        {

            //Create the tracing service

            ITracingService tracingService = executionContext.GetExtension<ITracingService>();

            //Create the context

            IWorkflowContext context = executionContext.GetExtension<IWorkflowContext>();

            IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = executionContext.GetExtension<IOrganizationServiceFactory>();

            IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

            try

            {

                traceMessage = "Workflow started.";

                tracingService.Trace(traceMessage);

                if (Email.Get<EntityReference>(executionContext) != null)

                {

                    SendEmailRequest SendEmailRequest = new SendEmailRequest();

                    SendEmailRequest.EmailId=(Email.Get<EntityReference>(executionContext).Id);

                    SendEmailRequest.TrackingToken="";

                    SendEmailRequest.IssueSend=(true);

                    SendEmailResponse Response =(SendEmailResponse) service.Execute(SendEmailRequest);

                }

                else

                    traceMessage += " No Record found to update.";

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                tracingService.Trace(traceMessage);

                throw new InvalidPluginExecutionException("error occured in SendEmail workflow: " + ex.Message.ToString());

            }

        }

        #endregion

    }

Update action as per requirement.

Once this workflow will run an email with Invoice PDF will sent to customer.

You can also test this Action from XRMToolBox.

In result you will see PDF content in binary format that can direct use in email or Note attachment.

Please share your feedback.

Integrate Dynamics CRM 365 with Node Js Application

In recent days Node Js becoming quite popular. Different kind of portals and applications are made on Node Js technology because of it's performance and efficiency.

So it's becoming important to integrated Dynamics CRM 365 with node JS.

In this blog I will try to explain how we can integrate Dynamics 365 to Node Js with help of Azure Apps.

After creating azure app we can integrate Dynamics 365 with our other products also.

There are two kind of Azure App which can be used for integration.

1. Native App
2. Web App/ API Application

We can use Both type of application in integration. But the major difference is:-

1. We need to use User name and Password while integrate via Native APP.

2.  We need to use secret key and application user while integrate via Web App /API APP.

Native APP Integration:-

1. Login in Azure with admin permission

         https://aad.portal.azure.com

2. Click on “Azure Active Directory”

3. You will find two App registration
      a) App Registrations.
      b) App Registrations(Legacy)

For more information visit:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/app-registrations-training-guide

4.       Click on App registration not Legacy.

5.       Here we will find “Owned applications” and “All applications”, where we can see all registered Apps.

6. Click on “New registration” and select below options.

Click on “Register” button.

7. Copy and Save Application (client) ID for further use.

8. Click on Authentication and made below changes and save.

9. Click on API permission and add Dynamics CRM Online.

10. Grant admin consent

11. Go back to App registration and select Endpoints.
and copy Token endpoint(v1)

If you still want to create Legacy APP, select App registration(Legacy)

1. Provide information and select Application Type as “Native”.

2. Copy Application ID to use as Client Id while integration.
3.  Click on settings and select “Required Permissions”.

4. Add Dynamics CRM Online in permission.

We can also use Web App /API APP for Integration

1. With new App you can use same App for Native and Web API as both.

2.  Go to Authentication and provide Type as Web.

3. Add secret Key and create Application User .

Copy and Save secret key for further use.

1. (Web App with Legacy App Registration) Provide information and select Application Type “Web App/ API”.

2. Click on settings and select “Key”.

We can choose one of four (Legacy Native App, Legacy Web App, New Native App, New Web App)
for integration.

Now our App ready to integrate for other product like Node.Js

1. To test application Node.js online, open

https://repl.it/languages/javascript

and paste below code. Update organization and application information in Code.

//Use Below Sample Code started For Native App Integration Testing

'use strict';

var https = require('https');

//set these values to retrieve the oauth token

var crmorg = 'https://CRMORG.crm8.dynamics.com';

//Application ID

var clientid = 'Application ID';

var username = 'User Name';

var userpassword = 'Password';

var tokenendpoint = 'Pasted copied Endpoint';

var crmwebapihost = ' CRMORG.api.crm8.dynamics.com';

var crmwebapipath = '/api/data/v9.1/contacts'; //basic query to select contacts

//remove https from tokenendpoint url

tokenendpoint = tokenendpoint.toLowerCase().replace('https://', '');

//get the authorization endpoint host name

var authhost = tokenendpoint.split('/')[0];

//get the authorization endpoint path

var authpath = '/' + tokenendpoint.split('/').slice(1).join('/');

//build the authorization request

var reqstring = 'client_id=' + clientid;

reqstring += '&resource=' + encodeURIComponent(crmorg);

reqstring += '&username=' + encodeURIComponent(username);

reqstring += '&password=' + encodeURIComponent(userpassword);

reqstring += '&grant_type=password';

//set the token request parameters

var tokenrequestoptions = {

    host: authhost,

    path: authpath,

    method: 'POST',

    headers: {

        'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',

        'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(reqstring)

    }

};

//make the token request

var tokenrequest = https.request(tokenrequestoptions, function (response) {

    //make an array to hold the response parts if we get multiple parts

    var responseparts = [];

    response.setEncoding('utf8');

    response.on('data', function (chunk) {

        //add each response chunk to the responseparts array for later

        responseparts.push(chunk);

    });

    response.on('end', function () {

        //once we have all the response parts, concatenate the parts into a single string

        var completeresponse = responseparts.join('');

        //console.log('Response: ' + completeresponse);

        console.log('Token response retrieved . . . ');

        //parse the response JSON

        var tokenresponse = JSON.parse(completeresponse);

        //extract the token

        var token = tokenresponse.access_token;

        //pass the token to our data retrieval function

        getData(token);

    });

});

tokenrequest.on('error', function (e) {

    console.error(e);

});

//post the token request data

tokenrequest.write(reqstring);

//close the token request

tokenrequest.end();

function getData(token) {

    //set the web api request headers

    var requestheaders = {

        'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + token,

        'OData-MaxVersion': '4.0',

        'OData-Version': '4.0',

        'Accept': 'application/json',

        'Content-Type': 'application/json; odata.metadata=minimal',

        'Prefer': 'odata.maxpagesize=500',

         'Prefer': 'odata.include-annotations=*'

    };

    //set the crm request parameters

    var crmrequestoptions = {

        host: crmwebapihost,

        path: crmwebapipath,

        method: 'Get',

        headers: requestheaders,

    };

    //make the web api request

    var crmrequest = https.request(crmrequestoptions, function (response) {

        //make an array to hold the response parts if we get multiple parts

        var responseparts = [];

        response.setEncoding('utf8');

        response.on('data', function (chunk) {

            //add each response chunk to the responseparts array for later

            responseparts.push(chunk);

        });

        response.on('end', function () {

            //once we have all the response parts, concatenate the parts into a single string

            var completeresponse = responseparts.join('');

           // console.log(completeresponse);

            //parse the response JSON

            var collection = JSON.parse(completeresponse).value;

collection.forEach(function (row, i) {

  console.log(row['fullname']);

  });

            //loop through the results and write out the fullname

        });

    });

    crmrequest.on('error', function (e) {

        console.error(e);

    });

    //close the web api request

    crmrequest.end();

}

//Use Below Sample Code started For WEB App Integration Testing

'use strict';

var https = require('https');

//set these values to retrieve the oauth token

var crmorg = 'https://CRMORG.crm8.dynamics.com';

//Application ID

var clientid = 'Application/Client ID';

var Client_secret = 'Copied Key';

var tokenendpoint = 'Copied endpoint';

//set these values to query your crm data

var crmwebapihost = 'CRMorg.api.crm8.dynamics.com';

var crmwebapipath = '/api/data/v9.1/contacts'; //basic query to select contacts

//remove https from tokenendpoint url

tokenendpoint = tokenendpoint.toLowerCase().replace('https://', '');

//get the authorization endpoint host name

var authhost = tokenendpoint.split('/')[0];

//get the authorization endpoint path

var authpath = '/' + tokenendpoint.split('/').slice(1).join('/');

//build the authorization request

//if you want to learn more about how tokens work, see IETF RFC 6749 - https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6749

var reqstring = 'client_id=' + clientid;

reqstring += '&resource=' + encodeURIComponent(crmorg);

reqstring += '&client_secret=' + Client_secret;

reqstring += '&grant_type=client_credentials';

//set the token request parameters

var tokenrequestoptions = {

    host: authhost,

    path: authpath,

    method: 'POST',

    headers: {

        'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',

        'Content-Length': Buffer.byteLength(reqstring)

    }

};

//make the token request

var tokenrequest = https.request(tokenrequestoptions, function (response) {

    //make an array to hold the response parts if we get multiple parts

    var responseparts = [];

    response.setEncoding('utf8');

    response.on('data', function (chunk) {

        //add each response chunk to the responseparts array for later

        responseparts.push(chunk);

    });

    response.on('end', function () {

        //once we have all the response parts, concatenate the parts into a single string

        var completeresponse = responseparts.join('');

        //console.log('Response: ' + completeresponse);

        console.log('Token response retrieved . . . ');

        //parse the response JSON

        var tokenresponse = JSON.parse(completeresponse);

        //extract the token

        var token = tokenresponse.access_token;

console.log(token);

        //pass the token to our data retrieval function

        getData(token);

    });

});

tokenrequest.on('error', function (e) {

    console.error(e);

});

//post the token request data

tokenrequest.write(reqstring);

//close the token request

tokenrequest.end();

function getData(token) {

 

 

    //set the web api request headers

    var requestheaders = {

        'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + token,

        'OData-MaxVersion': '4.0',

        'OData-Version': '4.0',

        'Accept': 'application/json',

        'Content-Type': 'application/json; odata.metadata=minimal',

      

        'Prefer': 'odata.maxpagesize=500',

       

         'Prefer': 'odata.include-annotations=*'

      

    };

    //set the crm request parameters

    var crmrequestoptions = {

        host: crmwebapihost,

        path: crmwebapipath,

        method: 'Get',

        headers: requestheaders,

      

    };

    //make the web api request

    var crmrequest = https.request(crmrequestoptions, function (response) {

        //make an array to hold the response parts if we get multiple parts

        var responseparts = [];

        response.setEncoding('utf8');

        response.on('data', function (chunk) {

            //add each response chunk to the responseparts array for later

            responseparts.push(chunk);

        });

        response.on('end', function () {

            //once we have all the response parts, concatenate the parts into a single string

            var completeresponse = responseparts.join('');

           // console.log(completeresponse);

            //parse the response JSON

            var collection = JSON.parse(completeresponse).value;

collection.forEach(function (row, i) {

  console.log(row['fullname']);

  });

 

            //loop through the results and write out the fullname

        });

    });

    crmrequest.on('error', function (e) {

        console.error(e);

    });

    //close the web api request

    crmrequest.end();

}

For Fetch query use below code

var fetchQuery = "encoded fetch query";

var crmwebapipath = '/api/data/v9.1/dynamicproperties?fetchXml=' + fetchQuery;