The K2 CRM 2011, 2013 & 2015 Service Instance
Overview
The CRM Functions and Entities service instances provides K2 with the ability to interface with CRM functions and entities based on a dynamic CRM 2011,2013 or 2015 server.
Prerequisites
- The CRM server must be available
- Valid logon credentials for the CRM server
- The K2 server must have .Net Framework 4.5 in use.
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011,2013 or 2015 Redistributable are automatically installed on the K2 Server during setup or reconfiguring the K2 system.
Limitations and exposed methods
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Download: The list of exposed methods can be seen in this Excel sheet.* * - If Excel reports that the file is corrupt when opened directly from this link, choose to save the file to the hard drive and open it from there. |
It is important to note that the 'out of the box' service broker only exposes certain Entities (as shown in the Excel sheet) and that within each resulting ServiceObject, only certain methods are exposed.
Further more, users will notice that not all Entity fields are created all the time. As per Microsoft's recommended best practice, the CRM API SdkMessageFilter is leveraged to determine which methods to expose.
This is how it works:
Each field in an entity has the following properties:
- IsValidForCreate
- IsValidForUpdate
- IsValidForRead
When describing the methods and creating the resulting ServiceObjects, the service broker filters out all fields whose value is false for the above mentioned properties, in order to avoid runtime exceptions. The SdkMessageFilter is then used to determine which methods it should expose for each entity. That’s why certain Entities have all the methods and other Entities only have some of the methods.
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As of CRM 2011 the OrganizationalUI entity has been deprecated and replaced by the SystemForm entity. |
Steps
- Configure the appropriate CRM service instance: Entities or Functions through the Management Console in K2 Workspace
- Set up appropriate security: e.g. SSO
- Create SmartObjects
Security considerations
The Static (cloud) and SSO (cloud/local) authentication modes cannot be used via SharePoint > K2 Site Settings or within Central Administration for Managed CRM SmartObjects.
Where and what authentication modes can be registered:
SmartObject Tester Tool
- On premises (Non Cloud)
- Impersonate
- Enforce Impersonate
- Service Account
- SSO
- Static
- Off premises (Cloud)
- SSO
- Static
Workspace
- On premises (Non Cloud)
- Impersonate
- Enforce Impersonate
- Service Account
- SSO
- Static
- Off premises (Cloud)
- SSO
- Static
SharePoint (Managed CRM SmartObjects)
- On premises (Non Cloud)
- Impersonate
- Service Account
- Static [Specify a user] - (Active Directory User - Only)
- Off premises (Cloud)
- Not supported
