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Category: Dynamics 365

CRM 2016 and Firefox 49 issue with notes

Posted in Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Revive

Since a few weeks I hear from more and more CRM users that their CRM notes have disappeared. They are all using Dynamics CRM 2016 (Online or Onprem) and Firefox. Other combinations are currently not affected. So it must be an CRM 2016 and Firefox 49 issue with notes on how Firefox retrieves the notes or displays them.

Analysis

You can very quickly see that it is “only” a display problem when you opening the same CRM record with two different Browsers.

But, what happens? To find this out we have to deep dive into the CSS styling of CRM.
The Firefox developertools show us that Firefox has calculated “transparent” as color for the notetext.

A look into the CSS source file shows us what Microsoft has defined as color.

Exkurs: CSS coloring
Colors in CSS can be specified by the following methods:

  • HTML color names (140 named colors are available)
    {color: Aqua;}
  • RGB colors
    {color: rgb(0, 170, 255);}
  • RGBA colors
    {color: rgba(0, 170, 255, 0.5);}
  • HSL colors
    {color: hsl(200, 100, 100);}
  • HSLA colors
    {color: hsla(200, 100, 100, 0.5);}
  • Hexadecimal notation of RGB colors
    {color: #00AAFF;}
  • Hexadecimal shorthand notation of RGB colors. The browser doubles here every digit.
    {color: #0AF;}

CRM 2016 and Firefox 49 issue with notes

Now it is clear to you that Microsoft uses the hexadecimal notation, but not if it also wants to use the shorthand notation. Browsers until now ignored the fourth digit and interpreted it as shorthand notation and calculated #000000 (Black) for the note text. Till now we are talking about an inaccuracy that nobody has disturbed.

Firefox 49 Release Notes from September 20, 2016 – SOURCE
Excerpt: “Added support for specifying colors with an alpha channel using 4- and 8-digit CSS hex color values (#RRGGBBAA and #RGBA)”

BAM! There is the problem. Mozilla introduces the hexadecimal and hexadecimal shorthand notation of RGBA colors
Starting from Version 49, Firefox interprets Microsoft’s inaccuracy as an #RGBA value and calculates #00000000 from it what is black with 0% opacity as result.

Solution

The solution can only be delivered by Microsoft and is already included in Dynamics 365 (CRM V8.2). So I think it will be also fixed within the next update for CRM 2016.

Workaround

Instead of telling you to avoid Firefox until Microsoft provide a fix, I created a small script that corrects the color attribute for the notes. I know, it’s unsupported.

Drag and drop the “CRM Notes Firefox Fix” button on your Firefox bookmark toolbar to use it as bookmarklet. Click it each time you don’t see notes on CRM.

Dynamics CRM Online license model – May 2016

Posted in Dynamics 365, and Power Platform


NOTE! This post is out of date.

My ‘Dynamics CRM Online license model‘ post from November 2013 is the 3rd popular post of my blog.
As it isn’t up-to-date anymore, it gets time for an update. In the meanwhile MSCRM has received more features and other prices.
What’s still the same is the amount of instances and storage you get inclusive. Social Engagement is also still available with 10+ Professional and/or Enterprise Licenses.
If this is a completly new information for you, have a look at my above mentioned post from the year 2013.

Dynamics CRM Online license model details

The following informations are taken from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online pricing and licensing guide.

Legend:

C = EnterpriseP = Professional
B = BasicE = Essential

Use Right
Employee Self Service USLCPBE
Accounts, Contacts, Activities and NotesCPBE
Post & follow activity feeds and Yammer collaborationCPBE
Use a queue itemCPBE
Read articlesCPBE
Shared CalendarCPBE
View AnnouncementsCPBE
Run workflows (automated or on-demand), dialogs and processCPBE
Use relationships and connections between recordsCPBE
Read and write records from custom entitesCPBE
Use Saved views and create personal viewsCPBE
Use Quick-Search and Advanced findCPBE
Export data to Microsoft Excel or perform mail mergeCPBE
Use Dynamics CRM on Mobile Client, iPad, Windows 8 App, Outlook (Windows) and WebCPBE
Lead capture, scoring, routing, assignmentCPB
Qualify and convert a Lead to an Account or ContactCPB
Associate an Opportunity with an Account or ContactCPB
Associate a Marketing List with an Account or ContactCPB
View SLAs, Case management and Interactive Service HubCPB
Convert an Activity to a CaseCPB
Add or remove a Connection (stakeholder, sales team) for an Account or ContactCPB
Create and update announcementsCPB
User reports, charts and dashboardsCPB
Create, update, customize and run ReportsCPB
User Interface integration for Microsoft Dynamics CRMCPB
Import data in bulkCP
Configure duplicate-detection rules and auditingCP
Define connections and relationships between entitiesCP
Define and configure queuesCP
Define and configure workflows and dialogsCP
System reports, charts and dashboardsCP
Customize entities, fields, forms and viewsCP
Administer CRMCP
Opportunities, Quotes, Orders and InvoicesCP
Convert a lead or an activity to an OpportunityCP
Products, Price Lists and Sales literatureCP
Territories, Competitors and GoalsCP
Marketing Lists, Campaigns and Quick-CampaignsCP
Contracts and Contract templatesCP
Configure SLA policies and EntitlementsCP
Unified Service DeskCP
Create and Publish Knowledgebase ArticlesCP
View and Use Knowledgebase in CRM GUICP
Create and Publish Articles, use article templatesCP
Facilities/EquipmentCP
Define and configure business units and teamsCP
Define and configure services, resources and work hoursCP
Full Mobile Offline syncCP
Read AX application dataCP
Email published Voice of the Customer SurveysCP
View Voice of the Customer Survey Results and Survey OutcomesCP
Create & Publish Voice of the Customer SurveysC

Dynamics CRM Online Enterprise

Don’t forget, that this table shows only CRM concerning details, but with the Dynamics CRM Online Enterprise license you have also access to Social Engagement (Enterprise instead of Professional), Dynamics Marketing and Parature.

Enhancements to Sandboxes

Posted in Dynamics 365, and Power Platform

Today I get E-Mail where Microsoft announces that Dynamics CRM Online gets tomorrow enhancements to Sandboxes. The new features have already been announced during the Carina beta programm and now the get rolled out. Below I will paste you the details Microsoft has send with this E-Mail.

Enhancements to Sandboxes


We are pleased to let you know there are future enhancements to Dynamics CRM Online Sandbox instances!

What is a Sandbox instance?
A Sandbox instance is any non-production instance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Isolated from production, a Sandbox instance is the place to safely develop and test application changes with low risk.

How should I use a Sandbox instance in my environment?
You should always use Sandbox instances when you test new functionality, such as a product update, a new add-on solution, changes to a form, or any customization you may include. You will be able to schedule your Sandbox instance to be updated prior to your production update, allowing you to test first.

What’s coming in regards to Sandbox instances in CRM Online 2015 Update 1?

  • Switching an instance enables administrators to easily change the CRM Online instance type:
    • Switch to production – ability to change an instance from Sandbox to Production
    • Switch from production – ability to switch an instance from Production to Sandbox
  • Deleting a Sandbox instance provides the ability to remove an existing sandbox when it is no longer needed:
    • Delete allows you to recover sandbox licenses and storage
    • You must switch production instances to sandboxes before you can delete them.
  • Enhancements to instance reset provides the ability to change your base language and currency during the reset. This allows you to use a single sandbox for testing across many different languages or currencies.

Outage duration: 0 minutes

Enable Silverlight for Chrome 42-44

Posted in Dynamics 365, Power BI, and Power Platform

Google has decided to disable the support for the Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI), due to security reasons. Starting with disabling it in current version 42 and removing it’s support completely in future version 45.
As we CRM people often have addons that run on Silverlight, here is to activate NPAPI and enable Silverlight again.

Pre-requirements


You need to have a Chrome version lower than 45 and Silverlight (you can get it here) installed on your system.
You can check your Chrome version by typing “chrome://chrome” in the address bar.

Enable NPAPI


First step is to enable NPAPI plugins in general. Type “chrome://flags” in your address bar, search for “NPAPI” and enable it.

After that you need to restart Chrome.

Enable Silverlight


Now you can type “chrome://plugins” in your addressbar and enable Silverlight again.

Microsoft Dynamics Timeline

Posted in Dynamics 365, Microsoft Social Engagement, and Power Platform

At the eXtreme CRM 2015 in Madrid we played all together the “Dynamics CRM Trivia” at the evening event and I realized that I do have absolutely no idea about the time before I started in 2011 with Dynamics CRM. In addition to that the release cycles have become increasingly shorter and more products were added and I am also only hardly able to remember when was which released. To fill both gaps at once, I have created this Dynamics CRM timeline.

Microsoft Dynamics Timeline

Short introduction, to the left it goes into the past and the release dates are accurate to the month.

If you want to create a timeline by yourself, you can do it at knight lab.