Crm 2011 - How to set a default form depending on attribute value (without using Javascript)? - forms

Question

I have a little requirement that is making me crazy:
We have 8 different forms for the Contact Entity.
We also have a pick list with 8 options.
The idea is that based on the option selected we could open that Contact record showing by default a particular form WITHOUT USING JAVASCRIPT in order to avoid performance problems (each record has to be loaded twice). Example:
Forms:
Form 1
Form 2
Form 3
Pick List Values - Default Form:
Form 1
Form 2
Form 3
If Form 3(pick list value) is selected then, the next time I open that record, Form 3 should be displayed by default.
If Form 1(pick list value) is selected then, the next time I open that record, Form 1 should be displayed by default.
I've trayed registering a plugin at the systemform entity, in RetrieveFilteredForms message, updating the userentityuisettings table and I've been able to set a "DEFAULT" that is displayed every time the records is opened regardless the last opened form.
I've trayed registering a plugin at the contact entity, in Retrieve message, updating the userentityuisettings table but I found that Crm only consults the table Once if there is no attribute updated, the following times Crm take the the default form to open value from the cache.

Answer 1

This is an old question but since it's coming up in my searches for this problem I wanted to add my solution.
We use Dynamics CRM 2013. To my knowledge, later versions of 2011 also support this technique.
The form that is displayed when an entity is opened is determined by a few things - the default form, the security roles and fallback settings for a form and the last form used by the current user for that entity. We had a similar problem to the asker where we wanted a different account form displayed based on the value of a form. We were also tired of the constant reload/refresh that javascript techniques are subject to.
I found some blog posts (in particular this one: http://gonzaloruizcrm.blogspot.com/2014/11/avoiding-form-reload-when-switching-crm.html) which mentioned that it is possible to write a plugin to the Retrieve of the entity that allows you to read out the value (LastViewedFormXml) from UserEntityUISettings that stores which form was last used. If it's not the form you want, you can write in the desired value. This avoids the javascript form refreshing.
I had to modify some code from the samples I found to get it to work, but I'm happy with the results. You need to generate an entity class using CrmSvcUtil and include it in the project. You can get your form guids from the url of the form editor.
using System;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Linq;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.ServiceModel.Description;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Messages;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Client;
namespace CRM.Plugin.AccountFormSwitcher
{
public class Plugin : IPlugin
{
public enum accountType
{
Customer = 100000000,
Vendor = 100000001,
Partner = 100000002,
Other = 100000003
}
public const string CustomerAccountFormId = "00000000-E53C-4DF4-BC99-93856EDD168C";
public const string VendorAccountFormId = "00000000-E49E-4197-AB5E-F353EF0E806E";
public const string PartnerAccountFormId = "00000000-B8C6-4E2B-B84E-729AA11ABE61";
public const string GenericAccountFormId = "00000000-8F42-454E-8E2A-F8196B0419AF";
public const string AccountTypeAttributeName = "cf_accounttype";
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
if (serviceProvider == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("serviceProvider");
}
// Obtain the execution context from the service provider.
IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
ITracingService tracingService = (ITracingService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ITracingService));
IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);
var pluginContext = (IPluginExecutionContext)context;
if (pluginContext.Stage == 20) //pre-operation stage
{
var columns = (ColumnSet)pluginContext.InputParameters["ColumnSet"];
if (!columns.Columns.Contains(AccountTypeAttributeName))
columns.AddColumn(AccountTypeAttributeName);
}
else if (pluginContext.Stage == 40) //post-operation stage
{
EntityReference currentEntity = (EntityReference)context.InputParameters["Target"];
if (currentEntity == null)
return;
var query = new QueryExpression(Account.EntityLogicalName);
query.Criteria.AddCondition("accountid", ConditionOperator.Equal, currentEntity.Id);
query.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet(AccountTypeAttributeName);
var accounts = service.RetrieveMultiple(query).Entities;
Account currentAccount = (Account)accounts[0];
SetForm(currentAccount, service, context.UserId);
}
}
private void SetForm(Account account, IOrganizationService service, Guid userId)
{
var query = new QueryExpression(UserEntityUISettings.EntityLogicalName);
query.Criteria.AddCondition("ownerid", ConditionOperator.Equal, userId);
query.Criteria.AddCondition("objecttypecode", ConditionOperator.Equal, Account.EntityTypeCode);
query.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet("lastviewedformxml");
var settings = service.RetrieveMultiple(query).Entities;
// Some users such as SYSTEM have no UserEntityUISettings, so skip.
if (settings == null || settings.Count != 1 || account.cf_AccountType == null) return;
var setting = settings[0].ToEntity<UserEntityUISettings>();
string formToUse;
switch ((accountType)account.cf_AccountType.Value)
{
case accountType.Customer:
formToUse = String.Format("<MRUForm><Form Type=\"Main\" Id=\"{0}\" /></MRUForm>", CustomerAccountFormId);
break;
case accountType.Vendor:
formToUse = String.Format("<MRUForm><Form Type=\"Main\" Id=\"{0}\" /></MRUForm>", VendorAccountFormId);
break;
case accountType.Partner:
formToUse = String.Format("<MRUForm><Form Type=\"Main\" Id=\"{0}\" /></MRUForm>", PartnerAccountFormId);
break;
case accountType.Other:
formToUse = String.Format("<MRUForm><Form Type=\"Main\" Id=\"{0}\" /></MRUForm>", GenericAccountFormId);
break;
default:
formToUse = String.Format("<MRUForm><Form Type=\"Main\" Id=\"{0}\" /></MRUForm>", GenericAccountFormId);
return;
}
// Only update if the last viewed form is not the one required for the given opportunity type
if (!formToUse.Equals(setting.LastViewedFormXml, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
{
var s = new UserEntityUISettings { Id = setting.Id, LastViewedFormXml = formToUse };
service.Update(s);
}
}
}
}
And to address the asker's issue with it only consulting the UserEntityUISettings once, I'm not sure why that's happening. But why not use javascript to change the form when the triggering attribute is changed? That what I do and I haven't ran into any problems with the plugin not displaying the desired for.

Answer 2

EDIT: the OP specified after that he needs a solution without javascript, I leave this reply for future references.
You can use javascript, inside the OnLoad event you check the picklist value and navigate to the desired form. Check this code as example
var value = Xrm.Page.getAttribute("new_optionset").getValue();
switch(value) {
case 100000000:
Xrm.Page.ui.formSelector.items.get(0).navigate();
break;
case 100000001:
Xrm.Page.ui.formSelector.items.get(1).navigate();
break;
case 100000002:
Xrm.Page.ui.formSelector.items.get(2).navigate();
break;
/// ... other cases here
default:
// default form to open when there is no value
Xrm.Page.ui.formSelector.items.get(0).navigate();
}

Answer 3

This is an oldy but a goody... I use CRM Rules to generate Hide Tab and Show Tab actions that essentially show each user role a different form.
Steps:
Create one, massive form with all of the fields you want to display (if you already have many forms, this would include all fields across all forms).
Organize the form into TABS, with each tab showing 'one form' worth of data. (You can also have many TABS for each user group). Typically, I create one 'General' tab that has the key option set that will set the rest of the form up, and any fields that are common across roles / user groups / forms, like status, name, etc...
3) Hide all of the tabs except the General tab by unchecking the visible box on those tab form property forms in the Admin UI.
4) Using CRM Rules (crm-rules.com), you can then bring in the metadata, with the form, and all of the tabs and sections in there. Then you just have to write one rule for each 'form' you are trying to show... Each rule is of this format:
IF User_Role contains 'Sales' THEN Show Tab: Sales
IF User_Role contains 'Marketing' THEN Show Tab: Marketing
You can also do this, of course, with an option set, or any field on the form as the condition... One of the benefits of this approach is that if users cross role boundaries (or some users were part of security roles that could access multiple forms), this technique shows them both forms at once...
HTH somebody, CRM Rules (www.crm-rules.com) generates the JavaScript to make this happen...