Updated version of the windows desktop seach integration
Of course you could still use the old version of the WDS Integration together with Microsoft CRM 3.0. However, this example shows how to use the new API, which makes your live easier. Especially the strongly typed access to all entities makes you much more productive – I love it!
So what is it all about?
Thanx to the power of Microsoft Windows Desktop Search (WDS) it is very easy to integrate it with Microsoft CRM. By integrate Microsoft CRM with WDS users can easily search from the desktop to find any object inside of Microsoft CRM. This is just one more step to reduce the number of steps/clicks to find the relevant information. This example will show how you could integrate WDS with Microsoft CRM to make Accounts and Contacts searchable from the desktop: See the screenshot or look at the video.
Keep in mind, that this is just an example. This is for DEMO only. You should NOT use these in a production environment unless you test them. Support DOES NOT support these tools. Everything here is provided as-is with no warranty.
How to install it:
First of all, download WDS from
Second, download WDS .adm File for Windows Group Policy. The adm file allows you to customize your organization’s WDS setup, indexing options and search capabilities using Windows Group Policy.
Third, download WDS Administration Guide. Use the administration guide to assist with setting up, configuring and customizing WDS for your organization.
Now, install Windows Desktop Search and ensure, that the deskbar is shown.
Next download my example here: Windows Desktop Search Integration for Microsoft CRM and setup it up in a new web site:
If not yet installed, download .NET Framework 2.0 an install it.
Create a new Website because we are using .NET 2.0 for this example: Settings for this Website:
· Windows Authentication and Port 81
· Running under .NET 2.0
· Create a new application pool for .NET 2.0 applications and assign it to your new website
· Create a new virtual folder "Search" under this website and copy all files from the web project into it.
That,s it. You could test it by opening the browser with https://SERVER:81/Search/Default.aspx
Now, just add a new shortcut in the deskbar of the windows desktop search, like:
@crm, https://SERVER:81/Search/Default.aspx?q=$w
Read more about shortcuts in WDS here.
To use it, just type in "crm SEARCHSTRING" in your Microsoft Windows Desktop Search, where SEARCHSTRING is your search string.
Please let me know, what you would like to see in the next version! Greetings, Joris
Comments
Anonymous
February 21, 2006
Joris has just posted updated version of his Windows Desktop Seach Integration for Microsoft CRM 3.0...Anonymous
February 21, 2006
Joriz Kalz has updated his Desktop Search integration for Microsoft CRM 3.0. This is a great way to demonstrate...Anonymous
March 05, 2006
Can you give a detailed Step by step instructions on how do install?I got lost somewhere between the "Create a new application pool for .NET 2.0 applications and assign it to your new website" and the "Create a new virtual folder "Search" under this website and copy all files from the web project into it".Anonymous
March 08, 2006
"Is it possible to search CRM records using Desktop search?" - This is a question we had from one of...Anonymous
March 08, 2006
"Is it possible to search CRM records using Desktop search?" - This is a question we had from one of our partners. Thanks to Joris Kalz's ...Anonymous
September 14, 2006
I am confused - where do the files go? Your zip file has a Custom and a Search folder. I tried placing all files in Custom/Search/ into my site. I can get the search screen but no results. Thanks for your help.Anonymous
November 01, 2006
Very creative little item! I think we could use a little more help setting it up though. I read through http://blogs.msdn.com/joris_kalz/archive/2005/08/21/454243.aspx It answered some of my questions, but CRM seems to have problems with .Net 2.0. Are we supposed to have .Net 1.1 and .Net2.0 installed? Also, Im very new to CRM. (2nd day on the job). When I remote desktop into the CRM server and open the iis.msc I get confused as to what is supposed to happen next. Thanks! CaseyAnonymous
December 10, 2006
I, any Idea how this works with windows vista search?Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Right now I am in Seattle and getting all the news about our products. There is so much amazing stuffAnonymous
February 08, 2007
Right now I am in Seattle and getting all the news about our products. There is so much amazing stuffAnonymous
February 08, 2007
Right now I am in Seattle and getting all the news about our products. There is so much amazing stuffAnonymous
July 30, 2007
I've implemented this in my test environment, and everything is working... But some records (contacts, leads) couldn't be found. Maybe there are some settings for WDS, that I haven't found, (except setting shortcut for it)? Btw, in my case it searches only for leads & contacts (and not for all of them), and I couldn't find any accounts with it. Do you have any ideas? We use local version for Russia, but the problem seems to be in the other field...Anonymous
May 14, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 12, 2008
Any way you could help with expanding this to include other entities? I just need to know what function is returning the id and type? Withers