Module 4: CUSTOMIZING FIELDS

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1 Module 4: CUSTOMIZING FIELDS Adding a field adds one or more fields to the underlying SQL database. The type of the field will specify how many bytes the underlying data takes up in SQL Server. In CRM 2011 and before the SQL database used 2 tables per entity (the base fields and the extended custom set) but in CRM 2013 this has been merged together in to one table. This information is hidden away behind views however and so working against views and NOT tables continues to be the recommended approach. Be wary of adding hundreds of fields there may be constraints in the underlying SQL table definition. The single line of text field now supports , url, ticker symbol and phone text depending on what you choose CRM will render the data as a link that opens the client, the browser, a stock quote or Lync. Remember that IME is Input Method Editor for entering a sequence of characters to generate a Japanese, Chinese or Korean symbol. IME mode can be set as inactive or disabled. Option sets (local and global) work as they did in CRM Set the prefix for the publisher to avoid overlapping values. The default solution starts with option set value 10,000. The two value option set stores its data in the CRM database efficiently as a 0 or 1. Two value option sets must provide two values (Yes, No / Male, Female) null is not a valid option, for this reason you can t really use mandatory (business required) logic on such a field as by default it will always have the first value. If you do want such mandatory checking behavior then use a normal option set with three values unassigned, value 1 and value 2 and set the default to unassigned. Two-option sets can display as radio buttons (not rendered as radio buttons, instead the whole label becomes a toggle), check box or list. In a view a two-option set is always shown as text (not checkbox for example). The whole number field type can be used for integers and also for duration (it stores the number of minutes), a look up list of timezones or languages (only languages installed on CRM are shown). For the duration the CRM will understand input such as 1.5 days or 2.25 hours. Whole numbers can range between + and - 2,147,483,648. Best to set a realistic min and max however for validation. Floating points numbers can store from minus to plus 100,000 million and up to 5 figure precision beyond the decimal point. They are inexact however and can lead to rounding errors. This is because SQL Server serves a very close approximation to the number in the database as binary. Decimal Numbers are exact and not subject to rounding but take up more space. They can also range from minus to plus 100,000 million with a precision up to 10. Type Range Precision Whole Number + / - 2,147,483,648 0 Floating Point Number + / - 100,000 million 5 Decimal Number + / - 100,000 million 10 Use decimals when you need higher accuracy or small issues could compound in aggregations. Also use decimals if you are likely to search for data with inequalities. Also be aware of integration

2 considerations if you are importing data as floating point type from another system then keeping it as that in CRM will avoid the need for an automatic reconversion to, say, decimal. Currency fields are modelled as four fields in the underlying database the value entered by the user, a lookup to the currency of entry, the exchange rate to the base currency and the value in the base currency of CRM. Adding additional currency fields adds only TWO more fields as the currency lookup and exchange rate are already present! By default currency fields use the Currency Precision set for the organization (this is set up in the Currency section of Settings). Or you can override this with your own value or choose to use the Pricing Decimal Precision, also a setting at the organization level in the Administration/System Settings section of settings. Multiple lines of text is used for storage of large text it takes up 2 * n (number of characters) and the maximum length is 1,048,576. Date & Time can store either Date or Date & Time (a datetime is used in SQL Server) and is UTC enabled so that the time is entered for the current user s time zone. Lookup fields are used for 1:N relationship look up. MSFT recommends that you create the relationship first and then the field rather than trying to do all at once by just creating the field. Image fields are new for CRM system entities support these for which 8 are enabled by default. Images always use the schema name entityimage this can t be changed and ensures that there is only one image per entity. Images are rendered as a placeholder icon at the top of entity forms and the user clicks on this to upload an image in a variety of supported formats and under 5120KB. All images are stored as 144 * 144 pixel JPGs in a special dedicated SQL table so that entityimage is effectively a lookup.

3 For all fields CRM allows you to enter a Display Name (label on form, column header in view, name in advanced queries) and Name (column name in SQL Server). Name cannot be changed once created. Requirement level for a field can be Optional, Business Recommended or Business Required but this is ONLY applied on forms. If data is brought in via the SDK, PlugIns, Workflows or the import wizard, these settings are ignored. Business Required fields cannot be removed from forms. You can set Searchable to No to ensure that certain fields are never shown in Advanced Find. Field Security is turned on at the field level if you have particularly sensitive data to protect. Field Security must be associated with a Field Security Profile (more later!) In CRM 2013, the Description provided for a field now becomes a hover-over or tap (on touch devices) tool tip about that field. If it is not set then the field label is just display instead. You can edit the properties of multiple fields at the same time, any values not specified will be left unchanged. Option Sets can be defined on an entity or global to the organization. Translations for different languages can be provided. If a global option set is used, then each time it is placed on a form you can select a different default value to suit your needs. Option Sets are stored as an integer in SQL Server. Global option sets are generally the better option as they can be deployed separately (entity option sets require that the entity be deployed), they take less effort to maintain and if you wish to copy the value between fields using a workflow or plug ins then you are always confident that the list of options is the same in the two so that an error won t occur. Likewise if you set up a relationship with field mappings (more later) so that data is copied from parent to child then global option sets also ensure consistency. Local option sets are a good choice if you want to limit the scope of the field. If we need to change it for instance then we only need to talk to the team responsible for that entity, not consider the effect on the wider system. Removing an option from an option set needs careful consideration as the integer value in the underlying database is not removed and so will still show up in Contains Data queries. If the option set has a default value then next time the user visits the form the record will be reset to that. MSFT recommended approach therefore is to do an advanced find to detect and reset the unwanted value and or change the text to Do Not Use and then use a business rule or workflow to detect selecting it and prevent the record being saved! A better approach for options sets that may change is to create a new custom entity and a look up on this. We can control the security better and we can make a whole record inactive in this scenario so that no data is lost but it cannot be chosen in future. Every record has a STATUS and STATUS REASON. Status is Active/Inactive and Status Reason gives us more information (if necessary) why the status is what it is i.e. status inactive for a phone call and status reason Call Cancelled. Status is statuscode in the schema and status reason is statecode. For new custom entities, the Status Reason is active/inactive by default and just mirrors the information in the Status field. You can modify Status Reason like any other local option set. You cannot modify the Status

4 Reason on certain system entities where the logic associated with this state is intrinsic in CRM such as a phone call s status reasons. Before changing an entity you should look at show dependencies in the Solution file. Note that Reports and JavaScript are not searched to find dependencies however and so this functionality is no substitute for thorough documentation. Developers can explicitly specify a dependency when deploying JavaScript to a form. Reports and JavaScript will throw errors if they refer to fields that have been removed.

5 Question No : 9 A user is editing an Account entity for the first time. The Address 1: Address Type of Account field contains four options, in this order: Bil To Ship To Primary Other The user deletes the Ship To and Other options, adds an option named Secondary, and then saves and publishes the record. What are the default values of the options in the record? A. 1; 3; 100,000,001 B ; ; C. 1; 3; 5 D. 1; 2; 3 E. 1; 3; 100,000,000 Question No : 10 Which three values are valid Field Requirement property values in Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Each correct answer presents a complete solution. A. System Recommended B. Business Recommended C. Business Required D. System Required E. No Constraint F. Optional

6 Question No : 7 You customize the Lead entity by adding a country option set that is automatically populated for records created by a third-party website. You map the country option set in the Lead entity to a country option set in the Contact entity. When you create a Contact record, what happens if the option set value specified in the Lead does not exist in the Contact country optionset? A. The text label and integer value for the country are copied from the Lead country option set to the Contact country option set. B. The text label for the country is copied from the Lead country option set to the Contact country option set and a new integer value is assigned. C. The country is copied to the Contact record but not added to the Contact country optionset. D. The country field in the Contact record is left blank. Question No : 11 You need to ensure that only the fields displayed on a specific form appear in Advanced Find search results. In which element should you define the Searchable property? A. On the form. B. In Advanced Find. C. On the field. D. On the entity. Question No : 12 You need to create a custom field that supports automatic dialing through Microsoft

7 Lync. Which field data type and format should you use? A. Single Line of Text field with Text Area format B. Lookup field with Text format C. Whole Number field with Phone format D. Single Line of Text field with Phone format Question No : 13 The Product entity currently displays one product image. How many ADDITIONAL image fields can you create in the Product entity? A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. An unlimited number Question No : 66 You need to Track two additional status reasons in Opportunity records. What should you do? A. Add custom status values to the Category global optionset. B. Add custom status values to the statuscode field of the Opportunity. C. Create a custom optionset with custom status values. D. Create a global optionset with custom status values. Question No : 67

8 What is the maximum size of an image file that users can upload to an image field? A. 1 MB B. 2 MB C. 3 MB D. 5 MB Question No : 69 You add an optionset to the Contact form and the Active Contacts system view. You plan to replace the optionset with a manual many-to-many (N:N) relationship. Which three actions should you perform before deleting the optionset from the Contact entity? Each correct answer presents part of the solution. A. Remove the optionset from the Contact form. B. Display and remediate dependency issues for the optionset field in the Contact entity. C. Export an unmanaged Solution that contains the Contact entity. Remove dependency issues from the XML code of the Solution, and then import the unmanaged Solution. D. Remove all event handlers from the Contact form, E. Remove all references to the optionset from custom JavaScript Web Resources. Question No : 70 Which field data type supports the Phone format? A. Single Line of Text B. Multiple Lines of Text C. Whole Number D. Floating Point Number

9 Question No : 71 Which two statements about searchable fields are true? Each correct answer presents a complete solution. A. Any option sets created from a non-searchable global option set are nonsearchable by default. B. Only the fields displayed on the form are searchable. C. The content of non-searchable fields can be displayed in Advanced Find results. D. The display name of a searchable field cannot be changed. E. The searchable property of multiple fields can be edited at the same time in the Edit Multiple Fields dialog.