CRM 2011 - setting a default value with JScript - dynamics-crm-2011

Question

We have CRM 2011 on premise. The Contact entity was customized to use a lookup to a custom entity Country instead of just a text field. When creating a new Contact we would like the country field to be set to Canada by default. I have the following function that does that:
function SetDefaultCountryCode(countryFieldId) {
var _canadaId = "{FC167B4D-1C3B-E111-8904-F2EA3FE25706}";
var countryControl = Xrm.Page.getAttribute(countryFieldId);
// only attempt the code if the control exists on the form
if (countryControl != null) {
var currentCountry = countryControl.getValue();
// if country is not specified, then set it to the default one (Canada)
if (currentCountry == null) {
var defaultCountry = new Object();
defaultCountry.entityType = "cga_country";
defaultCountry.id = _canadaId;
defaultCountry.name = "Canada";
var countryLookupValue = new Array();
countryLookupValue[0] = defaultCountry;
countryControl.setValue(countryLookupValue);
}
}
}
On the form OnLoad I invoke the function like that:
// set Country fields to Canada if not set
SetDefaultCountryCode('cga_address1country');
We have two servers - DEV and TEST. This JScript works fine in DEV. When I run it in TEST it does not work because the Canada in TEST has different id (GUID) - when I create it manually. I was hoping I could export the Country entity values from DEV and import them in TEST preserving their GUIDs. Unfortunately this did not work. I export the data to Excel file and it has the GUIDs of the countries. I also delete any existing Country records in TEST before importing. When I try to import it the import succeeds but does not create any records. If I add a new row in the excel file without specifing a Guid it will import it. It seems to me the import functionality was not meant to preserve the GUIDs of the records. But this also means my script will not work because it depends on the GUIDs.
I have two questions here:
Is it possible to export / import entity data preserving the GUIDs ?
If I cannot have the same GUIDs in DEV and TEST how I can make the JScript to work properly?
Thank you in advance for any help / feedback.

Answer 1

It's very bad practice to hard code your GUIDs and you discovered the problems of it.
As you stated above, we cannot have the same GUIDs but we have the same name. So, we have to query the name of the country using JScript and jQuery to retrieve the GUID.
In order to retireve information from client-side (or Entity Form):
We will use/consume REST Endpoint (testing in browser).
Upload jQuery lib.
Upload Json2 lib.
Use the AJAX function from the jQuery library.
Define your entity, columns and criteria.
Lets, look for querying REST Endpoint.
http://yourHostName/yourOrg/XRMServices/2011/OrganizationData.svc/new_CountrytSet?$select=new_Name,new_CountryId&$filter=new_Name eq 'Canada'
Take this URL, subsitute your actual values and paste it into your browser, you'll find that the response is returned in XML format. If there is any error, please ensure that the Entity name and its attribute are case senisitve.
After seeing your your results, we are going to call this URL using an AJAX call.
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
datatype: "json",
url: 'http://yourHostName/yourOrg/XRMServices/2011/OrganizationData.svc/new_CountrytSet?$select=new_Name,new_CountryId&$filter=new_Name eq 'Canada'',
beforeSend: function (XMLHttpRequest) {
//Specifying this header ensures that the results will be returned as JSON.
XMLHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json");
},
success: function (data) {
if (data.d && data.d.results) {
//var _canadaId = "{FC167B4D-1C3B-E111-8904-F2EA3FE25706}"; no longer be used
var _canadaId = data.d.results[0].ContactId;
// now we have the GUID of Canada, now I can continue my process
}
},
error: function (XmlHttpRequest) {
alert("Error : " + XmlHttpRequest.status + ": " + XmlHttpRequest.statusText + ": " + JSON.parse(XmlHttpRequest.responseText).error.message.value);
}
});
But before you copy the code to your form, you have to download the jQuery lib from here
Then upload it as a Web resource, add this web resource to the Form load libs.
Here is the complete code to be put in the form load event handler:
var context = GetGlobalContext();
// retireve the invoice record id (Opened Form)
var invoiceId = context.getQueryStringParameters().id;
var customerId;
//Retrieve the server url, which differs on-premise from on-line and
//shouldn't be hard-coded.
// this will return something like http://yourHostName/yourOrg
var serverUrl = context.getServerUrl();
//The XRM OData end-point
var ODATA_ENDPOINT = "/XRMServices/2011/OrganizationData.svc";
var odataUri = serverUrl + ODATA_ENDPOINT;
function SetDefaultCountryCode(countryFieldId, odataUri) {
odataUri = odataUri + '/ContactSet?$select=ContactId,FullName&$filter=FullName eq \'Ahmed Shawki\'';
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
datatype: "json",
url: odataUri,
beforeSend: function (XMLHttpRequest) {
//Specifying this header ensures that the results will be returned as JSON.
XMLHttpRequest.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json");
},
success: function (data) {
if (data.d && data.d.results) {
//var _canadaId = "{FC167B4D-1C3B-E111-8904-F2EA3FE25706}"; no longer be used
var _canadaId = data.d.results[0].ContactId;
var countryControl = Xrm.Page.getAttribute(countryFieldId);
// only attempt the code if the control exists on the form
if (countryControl != null) {
var currentCountry = countryControl.getValue();
// if country is not specified, then set it to the default one (Canada)
if (currentCountry == null) {
var defaultCountry = new Object();
defaultCountry.entityType = "cga_country";
defaultCountry.id = _canadaId;
defaultCountry.name = "Canada";
var countryLookupValue = new Array();
countryLookupValue[0] = defaultCountry;
countryControl.setValue(countryLookupValue);
}
}
}
},
error: function (XmlHttpRequest) {
alert("Error : " + XmlHttpRequest.status + ": " + XmlHttpRequest.statusText + ": " + JSON.parse(XmlHttpRequest.responseText).error.message.value);
}
});
}
One more thing, don't forget to check "Pass execution context as first parameter" box on the form properties.
EDIT: Beside adding the jQuery library into the form load event handler, add the Json2 lib as a web resource.
For more information about the REST Endpoint.

Answer 2

It is indeed possible to export and import records along with their guids, just not natively. You'd have to build an app that would export the data for you, then create identical records through the CRM API in the target environment. You just have to clear out fields that aren't valid for create (createdon, statecode, etc.) and just specify the same Guid. CRM will then create the record with that Guid.
The old 4.0 Configuration Data Tool does this. I can't recall if it works against a 2011 org, but it could be a starting point.