Dynamics CRM - Get entity

Declaration

<AMDYNAMICSCRM ACTIVITY="get_entity" SESSION="text" SERVER="text" OFFICE365="YES/NO" USERNAME="text" PASSWORD="text (encrypted)" DOMAIN="text" ORGANIZATION="text" AUTODISCOVER="YES/NO" DISCOVERYURI="text" ORGANIZATIONURI="text" HOMEREALMURI="text" AUTHTYPE="text (options)" TIMEOUT="number" PROXYTYPE="text (options)" PROXYSERVER="text" PROXYPORT="number" PROXYUSERNAME="text" PROXYPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" ENTITY="text" ID="text" RESULTDATASET="text" COLUMNS="text"  />

Related Topics   

Description

Gets information (attributes) about an existing entity and populates a dataset with results. Supports populating all columns of a dataset or only specific columns.

NOTE: To function properly, this activity requires a Microsoft Dynamics CRM System Administrator or System Customizer security role or equivalent permissions.

Practical usage

Commonly used to retrieve attributes about an individual entity before performing other operations on it.

Parameters

Connection

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Connection --- --- Host --- Indicates where Dynamics CRM user credentials, connection properties and other preferences should originate from. The available options are:
  • Host (default) - Specifies that user credentials and preferences are configured individually for this activity. This option is normally selected if only a single activity is required to complete an operation.
  • Session - Specifies that user credentials and preferences are obtained from a pre-configured session created in an earlier step with the use of the Dynamics CRM - Create session activity. This option is normally selected if a combination of related activities are required to complete an operation. Consolidating several activities to a single session can make the task more manageable and eliminate redundancy. Moreover, a single task supports simultaneous execution of multiple sessions which can improve efficiency and speed up production.
NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.

Connect - Session

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Session Text Yes, if Connection is set to Session DynamicsCrmSession1 SESSION="DynamicsCrmSession1" The name of an existing session to attach this activity to. This parameter is active only if the Connection parameter is set to Session. The default session name is 'DynamicsCrmSession1'.

Connection - Host > Credentials

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Server (protocol) Text (options) Yes HTTPS
  • PROTOCOL="HTTPS"
  • PROTOCOL="HTTP"
 Specifies the protocol used to connect to the Dynamics CRM server. The URL can be HTTP or HTTPS and the port is optional if it is HTTP over port 80 or HTTPS over port 443. The available options are:
  • HTTPS (default) - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, which adds security capabilities of SSL/TLS to standard HTTP communications.

  • HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
Server Text Yes (Empty)
  • SERVER="crm.dynamics.com"
  • SERVER="209.223.157.106"
 The URL or IP address of the Dynamics CRM server to establish a connection with. If entering a URL, the port is optional if it is http over port 80 or https over port 443. (for example, crm-server:port). The server URL is typically in the format of:

http://crm-server:port/organization-name

Or for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online:

https://organization-name.crm.dynamics.com
Username or Windows Live ID Text Yes (Empty)
  • USERNAME="bubbagump
  • USERNAME="bubbagump@shrimps.com
 The username of the service account that is used to connect using AD, SPLA, or Passport authentication types. The format for this is specific to the authentication type: domain\username for AD and SPLA authentication types and a Windows Live ID for Passport authentication.
Password Text Yes (Empty) PASSWORD="encrypted" The password of the service account that is used to connect using AD, SPLA, or Passport authentication.
Domain name (optional) Text No (Empty) DOMAIN="fortra.com" The name of the domain that will verify user credentials (optional).
Organization name Text Yes (Empty) ORGANIZATION="Fortra" The name of the organization associated with the account. To query organization names and Dynamics CRM server URIs that exist on the system, select Discover.

Connection - Host > Advanced

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Microsoft Office 365 Yes/No No No OFFICE365="YES" If selected, connection will be established by way of Office365 account. Set this option to YES if using  Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online through Microsoft Outlook. Disabled by default.
Auto discover Yes/No No No AUTODISCOVER="YES"

Auto-discovery helps you detect where the Dynamics CRM components are installed, whether locally or remotely. If selected, Automate Desktop will use CrmDiscoveryService to obtain a name and URL endpoint for a target organization (disabled by default). The CrmDiscoveryService Web service is accessed through a global URL of an on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM server. Each Microsoft Dynamics CRM server hosts the CrmDiscoveryService Web service, which is located here: http://<server:port>/MSCRMServices/2007/AD/CrmDiscoveryService.asm.

NOTE: Setting this parameter to YES deactivates various settings.
Discovery URI Text No (Empty)
DISCOVERYURI="crm.disco.com"
 The Discovery URL used by your site if you are connecting to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online organization. To connect to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, the discovery service is first hit to retrieve a passport authentication ticket. This ticket indicates that a Live ID user is, in fact, authenticated to use the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance.
Organization URI Text No (Empty) ORGANIZATIONURI="crm.org.com" The URL of the organization service. If the Auto discover parameter is selected, this parameter becomes inactive.
Home realm URI Text No (Empty) HOMEREALMURI="crm.home.com" The URL of the home realm. This is the address of the identity provider. If the Auto discover parameter is selected, this parameter becomes inactive.
Authentication type Text (options) No LiveID
  • AUTHTYPE="ActiveDirectory"
  • AUTHTYPE="Federation"
  • AUTHTYPE="LiveId"
  • AUTHTYPE="OnlineFederation"
 The type of authentication used to connect to the Dynamics CRM server. If the Auto discover parameter is selected, this parameter becomes inactive. The available options are:
  • None - Authenticates with Dynamics CRM using the current Windows credentials of the application. This is typically used in development environments and only works with on-premises deployments in the same Active Directory domain (or trusted domain) as the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server.
  • Active Directory - Authenticates using Active Directory credentials of a specific service account. This is mainly used for on-premises deployments.
  • Federation - Establishes an authentication gateway using a combination of IAG and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) in order to provide external users with access to the sensitive information that is stored in the CRM system without having to create Active Directory trusts.
  • Live ID - Authenticates using the Windows Live ID authentication mechanism (previously known as Passport authentication). Mainly used for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online deployments.
  • Online Federation - Contains the available identity providers for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service.
Timeout (seconds) Number No 120 TIMEOUT="120" The total amount of time (in seconds) to allow for a synchronous connection request to the CRM server to complete. If this value is surpassed, a timeout error will occur. The default value is 120 seconds (3 minutes).
Proxy type Text (options) No System default
  • PROXYTYPE="none"
  • PROXYTYPE="http"
 The type of proxy in which to connect to. The available options are:
  • System default (default) - Points to the default proxy used by the system.
  • None - No proxy authentication required.
  • HTTP - Proxy type is HTTP.

Use authentication

 --- No --- --- If enabled, specifies proxy authentication is required, enabling authentication-based parameters (disabled by default). It is active only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.
NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Proxy server Text Yes, if Proxy type is set to HTTP (Empty) PROXYSERVER="proxy.host.com" The hostname (server.domain.com) or IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) of the proxy server. This parameter is available only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.
Proxy port Number No 808 PROXYUSERNAME="username" The port number to use to connect to the proxy server. This parameter is available only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP. The default value is 808.
Proxy username Text No (Empty) PROXYPORT="8080" If enabled, specifies proxy authentication is required, enabling authentication-based parameters (disabled by default). It is active only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.
NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Proxy password Text No (Empty) PROXYPASSWORD="encrypted" The proxy password to authenticate with.   This parameter is available only if Use authentication is enabled.

Entity

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Entity logical name (for example, account) Text Yes (Empty) ENTITY="myaccount" The logical name of the entity to get information from. Select the icon to open the CRM Browser which can aid in browsing for entities that exist within the server.
Entity ID Text Yes (Empty) ID=entity_ID" The ID of the entity to retrieve information about.
Create and populate dataset with entity information Text Yes (Empty) RESULTDATASET="test45" The name of the dataset in which to populate with information about the specified entity. For more information, see Datasets.
All columns --- --- --- --- If enabled, all columns of the dataset will be populated with retrieved data (enabled by default).
NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Specified columns Text No (Empty) COLUMNS="name,ownerid" If enabled, only specified columns of the dataset will be populated. To specify more than one value, use a comma (,) to delimit each entry (for example, address1_city,createdby,name,ownerid). Select the icon to open the CRM Browser which can aid in browsing for entities that exist within the server.

Description

Error Causes

On Error

Additional notes

Datasets

A dataset is a multiple column, multiple row container object where every column represents a particular variable, and each row corresponds to a given member of the dataset in question. This activity creates and populates a dataset containing specific fields (rows) in addition to the standard dataset fields. The table below describes these fields (assuming the dataset name assigned was theDataset).

Name Type Return Value
theDataset.ID Text The globally unique identifier (GUID) of the site.
theDataset.Title Text The unique name of the site.
theDataset.Description Text A description entered about the site (if any).
theDataset.URL Text The URL of the site (for example, http://My_Server/My_Site).
theDataset.Language Text The default language for the site.
theDataset.Created Date The date/time the site was initially created. The returned date matches the following format: MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM/PM.

Example

NOTE:
  • Copy and paste the sample AML code below directly into the Task Builder Steps Panel.
  • To successfully run the sample code, update parameters containing user credentials, files, file paths, or other information specific to the task to match your environment.

Description

A sample session-based task that gets entity information and places the result in a dataset (populates only the specified columns as opposed to all columns).

Copy 
<AMDYNAMICSCRM ACTIVITY="create_session" PROTOCOL="http" SERVER="209.223.157.106" USERNAME="administrator" PASSWORD="AM2gvUWJwwypS+Z9QcnFzL2L9z1QydMMsQpaME" DOMAIN="netautoinc" ORGANIZATION="netautodyn" AUTODISCOVER="no" DISCOVERYURI="http://209.223.157.106/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc" ORGANIZATIONURI="http://dynamicscrm2011/netautodyn/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc" AUTHTYPE="ActiveDirectory" SESSION="DynamicsCrmSession1" />
<AMDYNAMICSCRM ACTIVITY="get_entity" SESSION="DynamicsCrmSession1" ENTITY="account" ID="testAccountID" RESULTDATASET="theAccount" COLUMNS="address1_city,createdby,name,ownerid" />
<AMDYNAMICSCRM ACTIVITY="end_session" SESSION="DynamicsCrmSession1" />