xrmservice

What is kipon-xrmservice

The XrmService is a very basic service you can use to build angular pages with Dynamics 365 as backend.

It is based on the HttpClient implementation of angular 14.

The purpose is to make it a bit easier to use the WebAPI of Dynamics 365, without overcomplicating things to much.

The XrmService supports get (for single record fetch), query(...) to fetch a list of records, create/update/delete to perform such operation and put, to update a single attribute on an entity.

You can use XrmService directly in your components, but to keep a good solid separation of service concerns and components concerns, I recommend that you only inject the XrmService into other services. These services can then use the XrmService to perform the actual http(s) calls to the Dynamics 365 platform.

XrmService is a low level map of simple string top Web API calls. It does not offer more than just mapping string, and adding correct headers to the https calls.

XrmContextService has been build on top og XrmService to provide a more complete programming experience, where prototypes defines your queries.

Even though XrmService can be used as stand-alone, i recommend that you take a look at the XrmContextService documentation. This service offers a more natural programming model with powerfull features that makes it very easy to build complex Dynamics 365 WEB API base extensions.

Go to XrmContextService documentation page

Installation

To install this library, run:

$ npm install kipon-xrmservice --save

and then include the XrmServiceModule and XrmService in your AppModule:

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';

// Import your library
import { XrmServiceModule, XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
	XrmServiceModule
  ],
  providers: [ XrmService ],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

Running your application with ng serve.

If you have an onpremise installation of CRM you do develop against, the most easy way to handle CRM API request i to setup angular proxy for the api call's. The POC project in Github for this project is doing so, so take a look there if you need that.

If you need to do development against an online instance, this is not an option. Then you have to configure witch url to be used.

This is done by importing the XrmConfigService in your solution, and setup bootstrap configuration of the XrmService:

import { XrmServiceModule, XrmStateService, XrmService, XrmContextService, XrmInterceptor, XrmConfigService } from './xrm/index'

const xrmInitializerFn = (appConfig: XrmConfigService) => {
  return () => {
    return appConfig.loadAppConfig('/assets/xrmConfig.json');
  };
};

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent,
  ],
  imports: [
      XrmServiceModule
  ],
  providers: [
      XrmConfigService,
      {  provide: APP_INITIALIZER, useFactory: xrmInitializerFn, multi: true, deps: [XrmConfigService] },
      XrmStateService,
      XrmService,
      XrmContextService,
      { provide: HTTP_INTERCEPTORS, useClass: XrmInterceptor, multi: true }
  ],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

Take a look at above app.module example. First of all, we import XrmConfigService. Secondly we create a const xrmInitializerFn, that gets XrmConfigService injected, and here we call loadAppConfig, giving it an url to use to optain an configuration file. In this example, the configuration file is simply placed in the assets folder, but this approach allow you to place it anywhere.

Thirdly, ind the providers section, we import XrmConfigService, and we define the angular APP_INITIALIZER to use our xrmInitializerFn.

The url parsed to loadAppConfig must return a json object with the following structure:

{
  "tenant": "",
  "clientId": "",
  "postLogoutRedirectUri": "",
  "endpoints": { "orgUri": "http://kipon-dev/kip" },
  "cacheLocation":  ""
}

As you can see, the object is prepared for having all needed information to do authentication, but for now it is just to have a placeholder where we can put the endpoint for dynamics 365.

If you have XrmConfigService setup for you project, but the application is running inside dynamics as a webresource, the configuration will simply be ignored.

XrmService API

The XrmService is Injectable, and uses angular HttpClient to map relevant calles to Dynamics 365.

All example in below show how to build a specific entity services, using the xrmService to simplify the actual communication with Dynamics 365. by using the XrmService, you save the hassel og setting up headers, and url structure, map to correct https methods etc.

All methods returns Observable. Remember that an Obervable are lazy, and nothing will happen until you subscribe, ex.

xrmService.get<MyEntity>('my_entitys','a guid identifyer').subscribe( r => {
   // now r is something that looks a lot like a MyEntity, assuming you defined it to have properties according the my_entity schema
});

Also remember that what you get back from each method is the json object returned from the Dynamics 365 API. In above example, you could think that the object return has been created by calling a constructur of "MyEntity". That is NOT the case. The returned object is simply the json object, returned from the Dynamics 365 API.

The following methods is supported.

xrmService.setVersion(v: string)

Use setVersion(v:string) to upgrade or downgrade the version to be used for calls to Dynamics 365. Default is version 8.2. Only parse the version number, ex. xrmService.setVersion('8.0') to use earlier version of the Web API. Inject the XrmService into you root component and call the setVersion method from there if needed.

If you are using dynamics 365 version 8.2 or later, you do not need to call setVersion to get the correct version. It will be called automatically by the XrmService constructor, using the setVersion method on Xrm.pge.context, introduced with Dynamics 365 version 8.2. Earlier version will assume version 8.0, but even if you use 8.1, you are all set with this version, because the API version for version 8.x i accumulative, and it is your installation and not the version number that determin what is supported and what is not.

xrmService.setVersion(v: string)

xrmService.getContext()

use getContext() to get an instance of the Xrm.Page.context. The method will look for a global implementation, and if not found, look in current frame and parent frame to find an instance.

xrmService.getContext()

xrmService.getCurrenKey(): Observable<XrmEntityKey>

The getCurrentKey() will try to find the primary key of current form by looking in the form url parameters ( id, typename ). If not found, it will try look in the window.parent form, and use the Xrm.Page.ui.data.entity to get knowledge on what the parent object is.

xrmService.getCurrentKey().subscribe(r => {
	// r is an instance of XrmEntityKey ( { id: '', type: ''} )
	// r.id will be null, if no key found
});

xrmService.get<T>(entityTypes: string, id: string, fields: string = null)

The get method allow you to get a unique identified instance of a entity, ex. found via the getCurrentKey() method.

entityTypes is the plural name og the entity to be used, ex 'accounts' or 'contacts'.. etc. The id is the Guid (string) value of the entity fields is optional, but should be parsed as best pratcise. All properties of the record will be returned otherwise, giving a performance penelty on your application.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

export class Account {
    accountid: string;
	name: string;
	address1_line1: string;
}

@Injectable()
export class AccountService {
  constructor(private xrmService: XrmService) { }

  get(id: string): Observable<Account> {
	return this.xrmService.get<Account>('accounts', id, 'accountid,name,address1_line1');
  }
}

xrmService.query<T>(entityTypes: string, fields: string, filter: string, order: string = null, top: number = 0)

The query methods allow you to get a list of records for a entity type, matching the parsed filter, sort and page size. The subscribe(r => r, where r is an XrmQueryResult) will parse on an XrmQueryResult. The class has a property for the context, an array called value, containing the matching instances, fetched from the Dynamics 365 service, and finally a prev() and a next() method that can be used as shortcut to fetch prev or next page. If you are on page one, prev will be null. If you are on last page, next will be null.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

export class Account {
    accountid: string;
	name: string;
	address1_line1: string;
}

@Injectable()
export class AccountService {
  constructor(private xrmService: XrmService) { }

  query<Account>(filter: string, orderby: string, top: number = 0): Observable<XrmQueryResult<Account>> {
	return this.xrmService.query<Observable<XrmQueryResult<Account>>('accounts', 'accountid,name,address1_line1', filter, orderby, top );
  }
}

create<T>(entityType: string, t: T): Observable<T>

Create a new instance of T, and return the created instance.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

export class Account {
    accountid: string;
	name: string;
	address1_line1: string;
}

@Injectable()
export class AccountService {
  constructor(private xrmService: XrmService) { }

  create(name: string: address1_line1: string): Observable<Account> {
	let acc = new Account();
	acc.name = name;
	acc.address1_line1 = address1_line1;
	return this.xrmService.create<Account>('accounts', acc );
  }
}

update<T>(entityType: string, t: T, fields: string): Observable<T>

Update an instance of T, and return the updated instance.

If you parse null or blank string in fields, null will be returned from the subscribe method. If you add fields as a comma separated string of fields to be returned, you will get an object with these properties for the record updated.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

export class Account {
    accountid: string;
	name: string;
	address1_line1: string;
}

@Injectable()
export class AccountService {
  constructor(private xrmService: XrmService) { }

  update(accountid: string, name: string,fields: string): Observable<Account> {
	let acc = new Account();
	acc.name = name;
	return this.xrmService.update<Account>('accounts', acc, accountid, fields );
  }
}

put<T>(entityType: string, id: string, field: string, value: any): Observable<T>

Update a single field on the entity with a new value

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

@Injectable()
export class AccountService {
  constructor(private xrmService: XrmService) { }

  put(accountid: string, field: string, value: any): Observable<Account> {
	return this.xrmService.put<Account>('accounts', accountid, field, value );
  }
}

delete(entityType: string, t: T): Observable<null>

Delete a record.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

@Injectable()
export class AccountService {
  constructor(private xrmService: XrmService) { }

  delete(accountid: string): Observable<null> {
	return this.xrmService.delete('accounts', accountid );
  }
}

associate(fromEntityType: string, fromEntityId: string, toEntityType: string, toEntityId: string, refname: string)

Create an M:M relationship between the from entity and the to entity.

Remember that the order is significant and must correspond to the order the relationsship has been defined in Dynamics. If the request fail, try swith around from and to.

fromEntityType and toEntityType must be the plural name of the entity. Refname is the schema name of the reference.

disassociate(fromEntityType: string, fromEntityId: string, toEntityType: string, toEntityId: string, refname: string)

Delete an M:M relationship between the from entity and the to entity.

Remember that the order is significant and must correspond to the order the relationsship has been defined in Dynamics. If the request fail, try swith around from and to.

fromEntityType and toEntityType must be the plural name of the entity. Refname is the schema name of the reference.

action(name: string, data: any, boundType: string = null, boundId: string = null)

Enable you to perform WebAPI actions, for unbound actions, just parse the full name of the action and a json object with the data to be parsed with the action.

For bound actions, also parse the plural name and id of the entity the action should be bound to.

XrmStateService

The XrmStateService allow you to monitor if the XrmService is currently active, and the number of request successed and number of errors. Especially the first is convinient, because it allow you to draw a spinner or similar in the UI, while the service is running requests.

This concept is optional, and is based on the angular HttpClient interceptor concept. This means, that if your application has other types of HttpCient activities than the Dynamics 365, these activities will be included in the state of the XrmStateService. In other words, the XrmStateService actually has very little to do with the XrmService, because it is just providing a simple mechanisme to monitor HttpClient activities.

To include the XrmStateService capacity in your model, change your app.module.ts according to below

import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { HTTP_INTERCEPTORS } from '@angular/common/http';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { XrmServiceModule, XrmService, XrmStateService, XrmInterceptor } from 'kipon-xrmservice';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    AppComponent
  ],
  imports: [
      XrmServiceModule
  ],
  providers: [
      XrmStateService,
      XrmService,
      { provide: HTTP_INTERCEPTORS, useClass: XrmInterceptor, multi: true }
  ],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

As you can see in above example, a new XrmStateService is imported, and the XrmInterceptor is imported. Finally we setup the HttpClient HTTP_INTERCEPTORS to use the XrmInterceptor

When these elements has been added to the module, you can inject the XrmStateService into your components or services and use the service as below example.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { XrmStateService } from 'kipon-xrmservice';


@Component({
    selector: 'xrm-running',
    template: '<span *ngIf="xrmState.running">I am talking to a server</span>'
})
export class XrmRunning {
    constructor(public xrmState: XrmStateService) {
    }
}

Beside "running", an instance of the XrmStateService also have the following readonly attributes

{ 
	running: boolean,
	success: number,
	error: number
}

XrmContextService

While XrmService is a simple map of strings to correct url and methods against the Dynamics 365 service, the XrmContextService is more a programming model where queries is defined by TS prototype objects, objects are cached within the context, field level change management is supported, allowing you to call a simple update(objectinstance) method to push your changes to the api and more.

For a more complete documentation of the XrmContextContext service:

Go to the XrmContextService documentation page

License

MIT © Kipon ApS, 2018-2022