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As a new user of jQuery I find the syntax very hard to follow.  From some of the samples I have worked with it is extremely powerful.  Microsoft has announced plans to support and contribute to the jQuery effort.  That is great news and I believe that will mean better integration into Visual Studio and IntelliSense making jQuery much easier to use.

What do you do with a confrontational boss?  At my previous job one of the owners always had issues with me.  I believe it was because I held him accountable.  If he said he would do something I expected that he would do it and when he did not do it, I would follow up.  I was polite in my follow up but apparently it was too much for his ego.

In a recent meeting he was upset at me for not being available at 11:00 PM to do a deployment of code to production.  The deployment had not gone well and there were errors with a few components.  I had sent an email that morning at 8:00 AM with some things to try.  I followed up at 11:30 AM with a question as to if my suggestions had been followed yet.  Still no response.  I sent another email at 1:00 PM asking if anyone had done what I suggested.  Still nothing.  Then at 10:30 PM my boss starts sending emails panicking that no one can get a hold of me (they hadn’t even tried.)  They finally tried what I suggested sometime after 11:00 PM but I was no longer available.

In the meeting I kept asking the Director of Network Services, who is an owner, why he would not do what I suggested and why he would not respond to my emails.  He kept trying to put the blame on me for not being available at 11:00 PM but I kept putting the ball back in his court asking why he wouldn’t do what I suggested.  He never did answer me.  The fun part though was that he started to stare me down, literally.  He is a former cop and believes he is tough and since he does not know how to handle conflicts without a gun he stared me down like a 5th grade schoolyard bully.  It was very funny.  I finally stared back at him for about a minute and then looked away and then he finally looked away.

I am glad to be gone from that company.  Childish owners and egos so big there was no room for me.

Unfortunately both owners of the company were very similar like that.  I tried working with them but after 4 1/2 years it was clear there was no room for anyone who was not willing to be subservient to them.  Their egos were just too big.  It’s a shame because they really could do well.

Apparently CRM 5.0 will natively support filtered lookups; however, for CRM 4.0 there is an excellent plug-in available at http://mscrmfilteredlookup.codeplex.com/.  To use it follow these steps:

1. Go to the Source Code tab, http://mscrmfilteredlookup.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets
2. Download the source code and unzip somewhere on your disk.
3. Use Visual Studio to compile the code.
4. Register the plug-in following the steps listed in the readme file that comes with the download.
5. Add simple JavaScript code to any entity you want to have filtered lookups.  Readme file explains the JS.

I tested this plug-in and it works great and is really easy to use. 

Note: You will need access to Visual Studio and to the Plug-in Registration tool to be able to do this.  At the time of this post the only thing you could download was source code, not any dlls.

What do you do when your boss lies?  I am not referring to little things where maybe the boss was mistaken but when you have proof of repeated lying and unethical behavior.  What can be done?

I was faced with this scenario at my previous employment.  For the first 2 years I believed that my boss was simply overly-optimistic and that he actually believed the promises that he made to me.  Over time I caught him in other lies that were clearly lies and not just optimism that something would happen.

 When I accepted my position at my previous employment I had 3 other job offers.  The deciding factor was that I would have ownership of the company.  This is what he told me on the phone when he extended the offer to me.  When I received my official offer letter it said that ownership was just a possible benefit.  I then assumed that it would be available very shortly.  After starting at this new job I asked about it and he said the lawyers were working up the papers and should be done in a few weeks.  A few months went by and nothing happened so I asked again.  Same response.  I let some more time go by and every time I asked it was always the same response.  After 2 years I finally gave up asking.  After being employed for 4 1/2 years I still did not have ownership even though I was told I would.

I was speaking with a co-worker a few weeks before I left my previous job and he asked me how much the largest profit sharing I had been given.  I told him $500.  He then told me that when he was negotiating his offer he asked my boss how much the smallest profit sharing amount had been and my boss told him $1,000.  Then, to confirm, my co-worker responded that he should expect at least $4,000 in profit sharing every year since the smallest ever given was $1,000 per quarter.  My boss responded affirmatively which was a blatant lie.

So, what can be done?  In my case I confronted my boss over and over and have the emails to prove him a liar and yet he continued to claim that he was an honest Christian.  He thought that by claiming to be Christian I would believe him.  After 4 1/2 years of his lying and no willingness to change I had to leave.  It literally made me sick to go to work every day.  I could not stand to see the sight of him.  He was the owner of the company so I could not go anywhere else for help.

To top it off, my boss is cheating me out of earned money now that I have left the company and is not paying me everything he owes me.  I will likely have to take him to court.

It is a real shame.  He has so much potential and really could be a great guy but I have come to believe that he is clinically sick and needs help.  Now that I have a new job with a real company all I can think is good riddance.

AgilePalooza was in Atlanta on February 26, 2010 and it was a great event.  It confirmed a lot of concepts I have been trying to push at work lately and was comforting to know the Agile community supports what myself and a co-worker have been working on.  Here are the top 5 important Agile principles, as I see them.

1. “Make sure everyone understands what they are doing and not just focusing on tasks.”  To be Agile it is important that each individual understands the goals and direction of the company and how each individual’s responsibilities fit into the company’s goals and direction.  When a Software Development company focuses on project to project and the projects are very different it is very challenging to adhere to and enforce processes because things are always changing.  However; in Agile, if everyone has a clear understanding of what goals they are working towards it makes their contributions much more meaningful and helps boost morale.  It gives purpose to the work.

2. “Agility with discipline.”  This is a phrase that was brought up often during AgilePalooza.  You cannot call yourself Agile unless you have enough discipline to stick with the processes as defined by Agile.  Some software companies claim to be Agile but really do not understand what Agile is and do not follow all of the Agile methodologies.  Just because you have a daily “stand-up” meeting does not mean that you are Agile.

3. “Predictive results come from predictive input.”  During AgilePalooza it was reiterated over and over that a continuous, well-groomed, product backlog is essential.  To be able to have predictive velocity you must have consistent and constant input, the backlog.  You need a product owner who can keep the backlog full.

4. ”Need to avoid the seagulls.”  If you are familiar with Agile you understand what chickens and pigs are.  If not, read this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(development).  Seagulls are the people who fly in and poop on things and then fly away.  You need to manage seagulls so that they do not mess up the rhythm and velocity of the team.  The Agile team needs to remain focused.

5. ”Remove impediments.”  You must have someone who can remove impediments or else you will not be able to run an Agile team.  This can be a Scrum Master or another manager or even a Project Manager.  Regardless of who it is, someone has to have the authority to remove impediments from the team’s view.
 

If AgilePalooza is coming to a city near you I would strongly recommend attending.  It is a very small fee and you will walk away with many ideas of how to improve your processes even if you already practice Agile.

Most all items in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 are URL addressable.  If you run a report, copy the URL, and then send the URL to someone when they click it the report will open on the Report Filter page and they will still have to click Run Report to see the report.

To have the report automatically run when the URL is clicked change the query string parameter action from filter to run.

For example, instead of:

https://crm.ryandev.com/crmreports/viewer/viewer.aspx?id={DD6204B8-1514-DD31-9ED5-050C25C4FE07}&helpID=Top%20Knowledge%20Base%20Articles.rdl&action=filter

do:

https://crm.ryandev.com/crmreports/viewer/viewer.aspx?id={DD6204B8-1514-DD31-9ED5-050C25C4FE07}&helpID=Top%20Knowledge%20Base%20Articles.rdl&action=run

Adding any view, including custom views, into the Site Map in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is very easy to do.  Perhaps you have created a view that you want people to have easy access to or maybe you are trying to setup the navigation in a way that your users will best understand.   

Since everything in Microsoft CRM is URL addressable the first step is to determine the URL of the view you want to add to the Site Map.  To do this, navigate to the view in CRM, click on More Actions, Copy Shortcut, Of Current View as shown in the screen shot below.

Depending on your browser version and settings, you will likely get a prompt warning you that CRM will be accessing your clipboard.  Click Allow Access.

The URL of the CRM view is now on your clipboard.  Paste the URL into NotePad for use in a few moments.

Now you need to export the Site Map from Microsoft CRM so you can make the change and then re-import the Site Map. 

Click Settings, Customization, Export Customizations.

Select the Site Map from the list and click Export Selected Customizations.

Click OKto Microsoft CRM’s message.

You will then be prompted to save a zip file that contains the Site Map.  Click Save.

Name the file SiteMap.zip and save it somewhere on your computer such as your Desktop.

Unzip SiteMap.zip and open customizations.xml in NotePad.  Now, either add the URL you copied earlier to an existing entry in your site map or add a new sub area wherever you want it to be displayed in your Site Map.  The SubArea will look like the following:

---

<SubArea Id=”UniqueID” Url=”/../_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1&viewid=%46b5CC8A38-2374-DD11-955C-000C29ECA931%7d” Title=”My Custom View” />

---

Note: The URL that was copied from CRM earlier will need slightly modified.  After the “?” in the url you will see the ampersand “&” right before viewid.  You will get errors trying to import the customizations back into CRM because of the incorrect XML syntax.  You will need to replace the “&” with “&” to be able to import.Second Note: You will want to use a relative url meaning that you remove the http://servername/ portion from the url that was copied earlier.  This is important so that Microsoft CRM in offline mode will still work. Third Note: Please refer to Microsoft documentation for help with specific syntax within the Site Map XML file.Now, all you have to do is import the customizations back in to Microsoft CRM.  Go back to Settings, Customization, and choose Import Customizations. 

Select the file you saved.

Click Upload and Microsoft CRM will read in the XML file and will display a list of all entities available to upload.  Select Site Map and click Import Selected Customizations.

Click OK to CRM’s prompt.

Note: Unlike importing most other customizations, there is nothing to Publish after importing the Site Map.  To see your changes you may need to refresh IE by pressing Ctrl+F5 or sometimes you even have to clear out your history to see the changes take effect.

When possible you will want to use relative URLs instead of absolute URLs in your SiteMap.  For example, if you want to link to a custom view from within your SiteMap you would select the View as normal, click on More Actions and choose Copy Shortcut, Of Current View.  However, this will copy into your clipboard the entire URL including http://crm.somesite.com/. 

The problem with including the entire URL is that the Outlook client will not work when you go into offline mode even though the URL is actually pointing to a view within CRM.   So, instead of doing something like http://crm.somesite.com/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1&amp;viewid=%7b3B3A7E9E-653E-DE11-A323-000C29ECA927%7d you would instead use /../_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1&amp;viewid=%7b3B3A7E9E-653E-DE11-A323-000C29ECA927%7d. 

If you have the IE Developer Toolbar installed I imagine you have found the annoying bug in it.  The toolbar can be activated using the shortcut keys Ctrl+Shift+R; however, at seemingly random times the toolbar will activate with just a Shift+R.  So, as you are typing into a field on a form the toolbar may suddenly popup when you try to type a capital “R”.

As annoying as it is, you can either disable the toolbar or simply turn it back off with Ctrl+Shift+R.  Shift+R will then work again.

Microsoft CRM 4.0 Quick Find is a great feature.  It allows you to quickly search for records without the need to go through Advanced Find.  Where Quick Find lacks is in the ability to modify the filter.  For example, Quick Find will only search for active records.  For some entities this may be OK but often when searching for Accounts or Contacts you may want to include inactive records.

Unfortunately Microsoft CRM 4.0 does not have a supported method for including the inactive records.  The customization window does not allow for modifying the filter criteria of the view.

There is; however, an easy unsupported way of including inactive records. 

1. Click on Settings, Customization, Export Customizations.

2. Select Account (or whichever entity you want to modify) and click on Export Selected Customizations.

3. Click OK to the warning window.

4. Click Save on the File Download window.  Save the file somewhere on your desktop.

5. Extract the Customizations.zip file and then open the Customizations.xml file in NotePad.

6. Search for “Quick Find Active.”

7. Remove the filter condition as shown in the screen shot below.

8. Save the XML file.  Back in CRM, click on Settings, Customization, Import Customizations.  Browse to the modified XML file and click on Upload.  This will read the XML file to determine what customizations are contained in it.  Make sure Account is selected and choose Import Selected Customizations.

9. Lastly, publish the changes.  Click on Settings, Customization, Customize Entities.  Select Account and click on Publish.

Note: This is an unsupported method; however, it will work on any of the entities including custom entities.