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Vista CRM Search Gadget

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10/10/07 UPDATE: Please read this https://blogs.msdn.com/joris_kalz/archive/2007/10/10/Vista-CRM-Search-Gadget-_2D00_-Update.aspx too.

CRM-Friends! As promised here I wanted to update my multi entity search for Microsoft CRM by using a Windows Vista Gadgets. And here you go: This posting exists of two parts.

The first part is a small Windows Vista Gadget. Gadgets are easy-to-use mini programs that give you information at a glance and provide easy access to frequently used tools. This gadget allows you to find any information inside of Microsoft CRM.

The second part is the main search application which allows you to find information from multiple entities in Microsoft CRM. In this version you can search for accounts, contacts and leads at once. However, I tried to make it more generic so that you are able to customize it just by configuring a xml file.

 
The search application

Important: you have to install at least the search application, the Windows Vista Gadget is just a nice to have. But if you want to use the gadget, you have to install the search application first.

In addition, the search application provides you with IE7 search provider, so you can add this seach application to your favorite list of search engines in your Internet Explorer.

Adding this search application to the IE7 search providers


Now you can search from your Internet Explorer in Microsoft CRM

When pressing the search button in the IE search bar or in the gadget the search application will be opend in a new browser window:

From there you you get a list of all results containg your query. Just click on the result to open the full record in Microsoft CRM.

It's just that easy to find your desired accounts, contacts, leads etc. with just one click from your desktop!

How to install the seach application

First install the search application. You can download it here: Search Application.

  • Create a new ASP.NET 2.0 web application on your IIS.
  • Don't forget to configure a new application pool
  • Inside of it create a new virtual folder Search
  • Copy the content of the zip file into it. It should look like this:
  • Open the web.config with your notepad and edit the crmserver key to point to your crm server
    <appSettings>
     <add key="crmserver" value="192.168.1.211" />
    </appSettings>

How to install the gadget

When the search application is working you can download the gadget here: Vista CRM Search Gadget. The first time you are running the gadget you have to enter the search apllication url in the settings dialog.

The value should be https://[yourwebsite]/Search/  

Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

 Greetings Joris

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    CRM-Friends! As promised I wanted to update my multi entity search for Microsoft CRM by using a Windows

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    Hello - crm search works like a charm - good job Joris I have one hickup - it is only searching through leads - so it is not touching Opps and Accounts Why? Vali

  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2007
    @vali: it should search in accounts, contacts and leads. open the config.xml to see which fields will be searched.

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    @Vali: The fact that it wasn't searching the Account had something to do with a minor bug in the add2DataTable method. Just add following code to the catch block in the method and everything should work:            catch (Exception)            {                if (dataRow != null && dataRow["id"] != null && dataRow["id"] != String.Empty)                {                    dataTable.Rows.Add(dataRow);                }            }

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2007
    @petergordon: please check if your web site for the search application is running in windows authentication mode. @JochenG: thanks a lot for your correction

  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2007
    Hi there, really cool app. CS0103: The name 'dataRow' does not exist in the current context I get this error after adding the catch statement to the default.aspx.cs file. I am not a developer so please excuse. I get this when trying to fix the bug so that it may search through accounts. Kevin

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2007
    I got the same error...any ideas? -T

  • Anonymous
    June 11, 2007
    I can now proudly announce that we will have the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM VPC available for download

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2007
    Introduction Microsoft CRM 3.0 shipped with an extensive web service API that can be used by various

  • Anonymous
    September 21, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 21, 2007
    Also, did anybody else find that if you have too many results when using the Vista Gadget (more than about 10), the IE7 window that pops up cuts off the rest of the results? In other words there is no scroll bar. Any ideas how to fix this?

  • Anonymous
    October 04, 2007
    For all those struggling with the CS0103 error I have the solution! Move the following line from default.aspx.cs up ABOVE the try block. DataRow dataRow = dataTable.NewRow(); In other words that add2DataTable should function should look like this: private static void add2DataTable(ref DataTable dataTable, BusinessEntityCollection entityCollection)    {        // adding records        for (int i = 0; i < entityCollection.BusinessEntities.Length; i++)        {            DynamicEntity dynamicEntity = (DynamicEntity)entityCollection.BusinessEntities[i];    DataRow dataRow = dataTable.NewRow();    try            {                dataRow["type"] = dynamicEntity.Name;                dataRow["id"] = ((KeyProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[0]).Value.Value;                if (((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[1]).Value != null)                    dataRow["field1"] = ((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[1]).Value;                if (((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[2]).Value != null)                    dataRow["field2"] = ((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[2]).Value;                if (((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[3]).Value != null)                    dataRow["field3"] = ((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[3]).Value;                if (((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[4]).Value != null)                    dataRow["field4"] = ((StringProperty)dynamicEntity.Properties[4]).Value;                dataTable.Rows.Add(dataRow);            }            catch (Exception)            {             if (dataRow != null && dataRow["id"] != null && dataRow["id"] != String.Empty)               {                   dataTable.Rows.Add(dataRow);               }            }        }    }

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2007
    TourismVI, Thank you very much for sharing your solution! I highly appreciate it! Joris

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2007
    If you haven't read about the Vista - Microsoft Dynamics CRM Search Gadget yet, please read this first:

  • Anonymous
    October 19, 2007
    Joris Kalz is working as Partner Technical Specialist for Microsoft in Germany. He focuses on consulting,

  • Anonymous
    October 25, 2007
    Joris Kalz is working as Partner Technical Specialist for Microsoft in Germany. He focuses on consulting,

  • Anonymous
    December 06, 2007
    Nu har ytterligare en ny Vista Gadget dykt upp som gör det enkelt att söka igenom Microsoft CRM databasen

  • Anonymous
    April 08, 2009
    Thank you very much for the script! With modification listed in comments here it works great. In fact, maybe the source file could be also fixed a little to be up to date, considering what was noted in comments? One question (getting back to what dr3w2k was asking, but wasn't answered): how easy is it to make it search in additional entities such as cases, articles, E-mails, Appointments? Would it be a task of rewriting everything or just some small modifications? Thank you very much again. I appreciate great work. Vitaly Stockman

  • Anonymous
    February 23, 2012
    Hi. I'm interested in the web search engine for our CRM 4.0 RU14 environment, but the files are no longer available. Could you please let me know where I can find them? many thanks