Dynamics crm 2011 javascript and crmrestkit

Dynamics crm 2011 javascript and crmrestkit

I find crmrestkit the easiest and fastest way to work with rest service in Microsoft Dynamics crm 2011. It's really simple, straight forward and supports both synchronous and asynchronous service calls.

In order to get started you should get:

Crmrestkit: http://crmrestkit.codeplex.com/
JSON2: https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js
Jquery 1.4.2: http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.4.2.min.js

Add them to your Microsoft Dynamics crm 2011 Web resources:

Last step is to add them to the CRM form.

Now everything is ready for using the crmrestkit.

Few samples:
1) Retrieve multiple - synchronous :

var columns = ['new_attributeId', 'new_attributeName'];
var filter = "new_attributeName eq 'WOW'";
var collection = CrmRestKit.RetrieveMultiple('EntityName', columns, filter);
if (collection != null && collection.results != null && collection.results.length > 0) {
var valId = "{" + collection.results[0].new_attributeId + "}";
var name = collection.results[0].new_attributeName;
var attribute =Xrm.Page.getAttribute("new_attribute1");
attribute.setValue([{ id: valId, name: name, entityType: "EntityName"}]);
}

2) Retrieve multiple – Asynchronous

var columns = ['new_attributeId', 'new_attributeName'];
var filter = "new_attributeName eq 'WOW'";
CrmRestKit.RetrieveMultiple('EntityName', columns, filter,  function (collection) {
if (collection != null && collection.results != null && collection.results.length > 0) {
 var valId = "{" + collection.results[0].new_attributeId + "}";
var name = collection.results[0].new_attributeName;
var attribute =Xrm.Page.getAttribute("new_attribute1");
attribute.setValue([{ id: valId, name: name, entityType: "EntityName"}]);
}
}); 

As you can see it is simple to read, write and understand.

When working with rest services remember that entities and attributes schema names are case sensitive.
In order to get the right name go to:
CRM website->setting->customization->developer resources-> Organization Data Service.
Or just go to SERVER URL/XRMServices/2011/OrganizationData.svc

Here you can find the names of the Entities, For the Attribute name just add the Entity name to the end of the link Example: SERVER URL/XRMServices/2011/OrganizationData.svc/IncidentSet()

In order to see Rest results go to RSS setting in IE and uncheck the "Automatically mark feed …"

Another great way for building the queries without mistakes is using the "Crm 2011 Odata query designer":

http://bingsoft.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/crm-2011-odata-query-designer-crm2011/