Chapter 9: Server-Side SDK

Overview

In addition to all of the Web-based configuration and customizations tools we've discussed so far, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 provides a programming interface that allows you to create even more complex and sophisticated customizations. Information about accessing the Microsoft CRM programming interface is published in a document called the "Microsoft CRM 3.0 Software Development Kit (SDK)." To create customizations and integrations by using the information in the SDK, you must be comfortable developing applications with tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. We will assume you have working knowledge of Visual Studio .NET and Web application configuration using Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). If you're not a developer, we still recommend that you read the chapters in this part of this book to gain an understanding of the types of customizations that the Microsoft CRM programming model makes possible.

The SDK defines all of the supported interaction points, also known as application programming interfaces (APIs), that you can access when writing code that integrates with Microsoft CRM. Using the APIs for your customizations provides several significant benefits:

• Ease of use The APIs include hundreds of pages of documentation complete with real-world examples, code samples, and helper classes to help you write code that works with Microsoft CRM.

• Supportability If you encounter technical problems or issues using the APIs, you can contact Microsoft technical support or use the Microsoft CRM public newsgroup for assistance.

• Upgrade support Microsoft makes every effort to ensure that the code you create for Microsoft CRM 3.0 using the APIs will upgrade smoothly with future versions of the product, even if the underlying SQL Server database changes radically. This is also true for any hotfixes that Microsoft might release for Microsoft CRM 3.0.

• Certification By following the documented APIs, you can submit your customizations to a third-party testing vendor to certify that your application works within the confines of the SDK. This certification provides comfort and reassurance for people evaluating your customizations.

Caution 

As we discussed in Chapter 4, "Entity Customization: Concepts and Attributes," it is technically possible for you to create programming customizations that bypass the Microsoft CRM APIs and interact directly with the SQL Server database. However, we strongly discourage anyone from attempting to do this for all of the reasons just listed.

The Microsoft CRM SDK Help file is divided into three main components:

• Server Programming Guide Explains how to write customizations that you deploy on the Microsoft CRM server. Server-related customizations include pre- and post-callouts, workflow assemblies, system integration, and so on.

• Client Programming Guide Explains how to customize the Web and Microsoft Out-look that users use to access Microsoft CRM. Client-related customizations include form and field event scripts, IFrames, and so on.

• Report Writer's Guide Describes how to interact with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to create, customize, and manage reports.

More Info 

When you download the Microsoft CRM SDK, in addition to the SDK Help file, you will also find an SDKReadme.htm file. This document contains many known issues regarding the SDK, and we recommend that you review it before working with the SDK.

This chapter will cover the following server-side SDK topics:

• Architecture

• CRMService Web services

• MetadataService Web services

• Queries

• Callouts

• Workflow plug-in assemblies

• ISV.configs

• Development environments

• Sample code

Chapter 10, "Client-Side SDK," will cover the client-side programmatic customizations in detail. Don't forget that all of our sample code is available for download. (The book's Introduction specifies the download URL.)