We Keep Coding

Dynamics API returning entity fields and field metadata

We can get the entity metadata in Dynamics API it returns all of the fields that are in the entity. What I would like to know is it possible to get the metadata for the fields at the same time?
var request = new RetrieveEntityRequest
{
EntityFilters = EntityFilters.All,
LogicalName = entityName,
RetrieveAsIfPublished = true,
};
var response = (RetrieveEntityResponse)_organisationService.Execute(request);
return response != null ? response.EntityMetadata : null;

Your code already answers your question but you can optimize it like this:
private EntityMetadata GetEntityMetadata(string entityName, EntityFilters entityFilters, bool retrieveAsIfPublished = false)
{
var request = new RetrieveEntityRequest
{
EntityFilters = entityFilters,
LogicalName = entityName,
RetrieveAsIfPublished = retrieveAsIfPublished,
};
var response = (RetrieveEntityResponse)_service.Execute(request);
return response?.EntityMetadata;
}
If you just need Entity and Attributes metadata you can call the previous method this way:
var entityMetadata = GetEntityMetadata("[entityname]", EntityFilters.Attributes | EntityFilters.Entity);
var attributeMetadata = entityMetadata?.Attributes;

Using WebAPI you can do so
[organization url]/api/data/v8.2/EntityDefinitions?$select=DisplayName,EntitySetName&$filter=SchemaName%20eq%20%27Account%27
This gives you the metadataID for the account record in your CRM instance. Now use that value to create another API call and get the specific attributes for this.
Here is the next API call:
[organization url]/api/data/v8.2/EntityDefinitions(GUID)?$select=LogicalName&$expand=Attributes($select=LogicalName)

Bulk collection inside the right Index path in ElasticSearch using NEST in a .NET Core application

I am trying to bulk a collection of elements inside an index of ElasticSearch using NEST inside a .NET Core application.
Currently what I have is working, and the elements are saved, but Is not saved where I try to do
My client creation:
protected ElasticClient GetClient()
{
var node = new Uri("http://localhost:9200/");
var settings = new ConnectionSettings(node)
.DefaultIndex("TestIndex")
.PrettyJson(true);
return new ElasticClient(settings);
}
Here is how I create the descriptor for bulk all the data
protected BulkDescriptor GenerateBulkDescriptor<T>(IEnumerable<T> elements, string indexName) where T: class, IIndexable
{
var bulkIndexer = new BulkDescriptor();
foreach (var element in elements)
bulkIndexer.Index<T>(i => i
.Document(element)
.Id(element.Id)
.Index(indexName));
return bulkIndexer;
}
Finally, once I have this, here is how I index the data
var descriptor = GenerateBulkDescriptor(indexedElements, "indexed_elements");
var response = GetClient().Bulk(descriptor);
But, If I see how It's stored in the Elastic index using this, that is what I have:
How can I know if is created under TestIndex index? Because as far as I can see, there is just one index created
Thank you a lot in advance

When defining the index operations on the BulkDescriptor, you are explicitly setting the index to use for each operation
foreach (var element in elements)
bulkIndexer.Index<T>(i => i
.Document(element)
.Id(element.Id)
.Index(indexName));
where indexName is "indexed_elements". This is why all documents are indexed into this index and you do not see any in "TestIndex".
The Bulk API allows multiple operations to be defined, which may include indexing documents into different indices. When the index is specified directly on an operation, that will be the index used. If all index operations on a Bulk API call are to take place against the same index, you can omit the index on each operation and instead, specify the index to use on the Bulk API call directly
var defaultIndex = "default_index";
var pool = new SingleNodeConnectionPool(new Uri("http://localhost:9200"));
var settings = new ConnectionSettings(pool)
.DefaultIndex(defaultIndex);
var client = new ElasticClient(settings);
var people = new []
{
new Person { Id = 1, Name = "Paul" },
new Person { Id = 2, Name = "John" },
new Person { Id = 3, Name = "George" },
new Person { Id = 4, Name = "Ringo" },
};
var bulkResponse = client.Bulk(b => b
.Index("people")
.IndexMany(people)
);
which sends the following request
POST http://localhost:9200/people/_bulk
{"index":{"_id":"1","_type":"person"}}
{"id":1,"name":"Paul"}
{"index":{"_id":"2","_type":"person"}}
{"id":2,"name":"John"}
{"index":{"_id":"3","_type":"person"}}
{"id":3,"name":"George"}
{"index":{"_id":"4","_type":"person"}}
{"id":4,"name":"Ringo"}
Note that the URI is /people/bulk and that each JSON object representing an operation does not contain an "_index".
If you omit the .Index() on Bulk API call, it will use the DefaultIndex configured on ConnectionSettings:
var bulkResponse = client.Bulk(b => b
.IndexMany(people)
);
which yields
POST http://localhost:9200/_bulk
{"index":{"_id":"1","_index":"default_index","_type":"person"}}
{"id":1,"name":"Paul"}
{"index":{"_id":"2","_index":"default_index","_type":"person"}}
{"id":2,"name":"John"}
{"index":{"_id":"3","_index":"default_index","_type":"person"}}
{"id":3,"name":"George"}
{"index":{"_id":"4","_index":"default_index","_type":"person"}}
{"id":4,"name":"Ringo"}
You can also specify a default index to use for a given POCO type on ConnectionSettings with DefaultMappingFor<T>(), where T is your POCO type.

After som tests and attemps, I have found a solution.
First of all, it was a problem with the index configured, once I set it in lower case, the index was working fine indexing data inside.
Then, I had the problem of index data in a specific "path" inside the same index, finalyy I found the Type solution from NEST, taking also advantage of the DefaultMappingFor suggested by Russ in the previous answer.
Client definition:
var node = new Uri(_elasticSearchConfiguration.Node);
var settings = new ConnectionSettings(node)
.DefaultMappingFor<IndexedElement>(m => m
.IndexName(_elasticSearchConfiguration.Index)
.TypeName(nameof(IndexedElement).ToLower()))
.PrettyJson(true)
.DisableDirectStreaming();
var client = new ElasticClient(settings);
Then, the BulkDescriptior creation:
var bulkIndexer = new BulkDescriptor();
foreach (var element in elements)
bulkIndexer.Index<IndexedElement>(i => i
.Document(element)
.Type(nameof(IndexedElement).ToLower()))
.Id(element.Id)
);
And finally, data bulk:
client.Bulk(bulkIndexer);
Now, If I perform a call to the index, I can see this
{
"testindex": {
"aliases": {},
"mappings": {
"indexedelement": {
[...]
}
Thank you Russ for your help and for who have had a look to the post.
UPDATE
Finally, it seems that the unique problem was regarding the default index, that it must be lowercase, so, specify the type with the name of the POCO itself is not neccesary, like #RussCam has truly detected in comments above. After changing thedefault index to lowercase, all the different possibilities worked fine.
Thank you all again

Getting the profileid for a userid

In our company we created a custom Issues app. Additionally to using this app in the web interface, we also want to be able to change the state of an issue (new, acknowledged, test, resolved, ...) automatically via git commit hooks. The basics are working fine (ie change state, add notes, ...), but we also want to change the responsibility for the current item to a specific user. In that special case, it's the creator if this item.
My first try was the following:
var appid = 1234; var itemid = 1;
var item = podio.ItemService.GetItemByAppItemId(appid, itemid);
var update = new Item {ItemId = item.ItemId};
var creator = item.CreatedBy.Id;
var resp = update.Field<ContactItemField>("responsibility");
resp.ContactIds = new List<int>{creator.Value};
//change some other fields as well
podio.ItemService.UpdateItem(update);
This throws an "Object not found" exception, because in the resp.ContactIds one must not set the UserId but the ProfileId.
I then tried to get the ProfileId of the item-creator via
podio.ContactService.GetUserContactField(creator.Value, "profile_id");
but this also throws an exception "(Authentication as app is not allowed for this method").
So how can I get an appropriate profile id for the user when I use authentication as app?

OK, I found a workaround for it, not sure, if this is possible for other scenarios, but it works for the current case.
Instead of using the C# interface for setting the ContactIds for the ContactItemField, I set the json values directly.
var appid = 1234; var itemid = 1;
var item = podio.ItemService.GetItemByAppItemId(appid, itemid);
var update = new Item {ItemId = item.ItemId};
var creator = item.CreatedBy.Id;
var resp = update.Field<ContactItemField>("responsibility");
resp.ContactIds = new List<int>(); // set to an empty list, so that resp.Values is initialized to an empty JArray
var u = new JObject { {"value", new JObject { {"type" , "user" }, {"id", creator } } } };
responsibleField.Values.Add(u); //add the new user to the Values of the field
//change some other fields as well
podio.ItemService.UpdateItem(update);
And if I set the value with type user I can use the known userid and the API on the server takes care of the lookup.

Create a new record with a specific owner without calling AssignRequest in CRM 2011

In our application, we create a few thousand phonecall records. Each phonecall should have a different owner, determined by a method named GetAnyAppropriateSystemUser(), which finds some random SystemUser based on some criteria.
In the code example below, we create a phonecall, and later use AssignRequest on it to specify its owner.
PhoneCall phoneCall = new PhoneCall();
//
// stuff to set up the new PhoneCall instance here; populate fields, etc...
//
// determine this phonecall's owner through some algorithm
Guid appropriateOwner = GetAnyAppropriateSystemUser();
Guid createdPhoneCallId = _serviceProxy.Create(phoneCall);
if (createdPhoneCallId != Guid.Empty)
{
AssignRequest phoneCallAssign = new AssignRequest();
phoneCallAssign.Assignee = new EntityReference(SystemUser.EntityLogicalName, appropriateOwner);
phoneCallAssign.Target = new EntityReference(PhoneCall.EntityLogicalName, createdPhoneCallId);
_serviceProxy.Execute(phoneCallAssign);
}
This works allright, but there are two calls, one to create, and one to assign. Is it ok to just set "ownerid" of the PhoneCall record before calling Create() method, thus eliminating the need to call an AssignRequest later? It seems to work, and I even found an example doing a similar thing in the SDK, as shown below.
SDK Sample: Roll Up Goal Data for a Custom Period Against the Target Revenue
// Create three goals: one parent goal and two child goals.
Goal parentGoal = new Goal()
{
Title = "Parent Goal Example",
RollupOnlyFromChildGoals = true,
ConsiderOnlyGoalOwnersRecords = true,
TargetMoney = new Money(300.0M),
IsFiscalPeriodGoal = false,
MetricId = new EntityReference
{
Id = _metricId,
LogicalName = Metric.EntityLogicalName
},
GoalOwnerId = new EntityReference
{
Id = _salesManagerId,
LogicalName = SystemUser.EntityLogicalName
},
OwnerId = new EntityReference
{
Id = _salesManagerId,
LogicalName = SystemUser.EntityLogicalName
},
GoalStartDate = DateTime.Today.AddDays(-1),
GoalEndDate = DateTime.Today.AddDays(30)
};
_parentGoalId = _serviceProxy.Create(parentGoal);
Although it seems to work, are there anything that we must be aware of if we set ownerid before creating the new record? Are there any differences?
Thank you very much in advance.

As you already found is allowed to set the ownerid when you create the record.
But is not possible to edit the owner of an existing record in the same way, in that case you must use the AssignRequest.
Check also this question:
ETL Software, can't retrieve owner of a contact

MongoDB: update only specific fields

I am trying to update a row in a (typed) MongoDB collection with the C# driver. When handling data of that particular collection of type MongoCollection<User>, I tend to avoid retrieving sensitive data from the collection (salt, password hash, etc.)
Now I am trying to update a User instance. However, I never actually retrieved sensitive data in the first place, so I guess this data would be default(byte[]) in the retrieved model instance (as far as I can tell) before I apply modifications and submit the new data to the collection.
Maybe I am overseeing something trivial in the MongoDB C# driver how I can use MongoCollection<T>.Save(T item) without updating specific properties such as User.PasswordHash or User.PasswordSalt? Should I retrieve the full record first, update "safe" properties there, and write it back? Or is there a fancy option to exclude certain fields from the update?
Thanks in advance

Save(someValue) is for the case where you want the resulting record to be or become the full object (someValue) you passed in.
You can use
var query = Query.EQ("_id","123");
var sortBy = SortBy.Null;
var update = Update.Inc("LoginCount",1).Set("LastLogin",DateTime.UtcNow); // some update, you can chain a series of update commands here
MongoCollection<User>.FindAndModify(query,sortby,update);
method.
Using FindAndModify you can specify exactly which fields in an existing record to change and leave the rest alone.
You can see an example here.
The only thing you need from the existing record would be its _id, the 2 secret fields need not be loaded or ever mapped back into your POCO object.

It´s possible to add more criterias in the Where-statement. Like this:
var db = ReferenceTreeDb.Database;
var packageCol = db.GetCollection<Package>("dotnetpackage");
var filter = Builders<Package>.Filter.Where(_ => _.packageName == packageItem.PackageName.ToLower() && _.isLatestVersion);
var update = Builders<Package>.Update.Set(_ => _.isLatestVersion, false);
var options = new FindOneAndUpdateOptions<Package>();
packageCol.FindOneAndUpdate(filter, update, options);

Had the same problem and since I wanted to have 1 generic method for all types and didn't want to create my own implementation using Reflection, I end up with the following generic solution (simplified to show all in one method):
Task<bool> Update(string Id, T item)
{
var serializerSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
{
NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore,
DefaultValueHandling = DefaultValueHandling.Ignore
};
var bson = new BsonDocument() { { "$set", BsonDocument.Parse(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(item, serializerSettings)) } };
await database.GetCollection<T>(collectionName).UpdateOneAsync(Builders<T>.Filter.Eq("Id", Id), bson);
}
Notes:
Make sure all fields that must not update are set to default value.
If you need to set field to default value, you need to either use DefaultValueHandling.Include, or write custom method for that update
When performance matters, write custom update methods using Builders<T>.Update
P.S.: It's obviously should have been implemented by MongoDB .Net Driver, however I couldn't find it anywhere in the docs, maybe I just looked the wrong way.

Well there are many ways to updated value in mongodb.
Below is one of the simplest way I choose to update a field value in mongodb collection.
public string UpdateData()
{
string data = string.Empty;
string param= "{$set: { name:'Developerrr New' } }";
string filter= "{ 'name' : 'Developerrr '}";
try
{
//******get connections values from web.config file*****
var connectionString = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["connectionString"];
var databseName = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["database"];
var tableName = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["table"];
//******Connect to mongodb**********
var client = new MongoClient(connectionString);
var dataBases = client.GetDatabase(databseName);
var dataCollection = dataBases.GetCollection<BsonDocument>(tableName);
//****** convert filter and updating value to BsonDocument*******
BsonDocument filterDoc = BsonDocument.Parse(filter);
BsonDocument document = BsonDocument.Parse(param);
//********Update value using UpdateOne method*****
dataCollection.UpdateOne(filterDoc, document);
data = "Success";
}
catch (Exception err)
{
data = "Failed - " + err;
}
return data;
}
Hoping this will help you :)