MSCRM 3: Filtered view of SharePoint document library

It has been a long time since my last Microsoft Dynamics CRM related post, so I thought I should share a litte JavaScript tip for filtering a SharePoint document library from MSCRM. The simplest way to add a document archive to MSCRM is to use a single, shared SharePoint document library for all MSCRM accounts and then use filtered views from MSCRM to make it look like each account have their own document library. This technique of course imply that you have no need for applying access control to the doc-libs on an account-by-account basis.

Add this JavaScript to the 'OnLoad' event of the account form to add a new button to the account toolbar:

var baseUrl = "http://companyweb/General%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?";
var urlSuffix = "";

var fieldMapping = new Array();
fieldMapping[0] = new Array();
fieldMapping[0][0] = "AccountName";
fieldMapping[0][1] = "name";
fieldMapping[1] = new Array();
fieldMapping[1][0] = "AccountPhone";
fieldMapping[1][1] = "telephone1";
fieldMapping[2] = new Array();
fieldMapping[2][0] = "AccountNumber";
fieldMapping[2][1] = "accountnumber";

for (i=0; i<3; i++)
{
var idx = i+1;
var value = crmForm.all.item(fieldMapping[i][1]).DataValue;
urlSuffix += "&FilterField" + idx + "=" + fieldMapping[i][0];
urlSuffix += "&FilterValue" + idx + "=" + value;
}

var url = baseUrl + urlSuffix.substring(1);
//alert(url);

var button = document.getElementById('New_1_315_Web Only');
if(button != null)
{
button.outerHTML = button.outerHTML +
'<SPAN class=menu id=_btnAccountDocs hideFocus title="Click to view account documents" style="PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; PADDING-LEFT:3px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 3px" onclick=window.execScript(action) action="window.open(\'' + url + '\');" tabIndex=0 pr="3" pl="3"><DIV class=mnuBtn><IMG class=mnuBtn src="/_imgs/ico_18_1.gif">Account Documents</DIV></SPAN>';
}


The script is based on using the MSCRM 3 demo VPC, and adds the new button next to the "Web only" button added in the demo ISV.config file. Note: the filter string added to the outerHTML must be a single line, then linebeaks in the script shown here is just for readability.

The added "Account Documents" button will open a filtered view of the SharePoint doc-lib in a new window as shown in the figure (click to enlarge):


You can add the button (or any other HTML stuff you like) next to any HTML element in the MSCRM web-page, all you need to do is to find the ID of the element you want to use as the injection point. Search through the DHTML source to find the applicable location and look for the nearest HTML element containing an ID attribute. This is your injection point.

Using "View-Source" to view the HTML behind the page will not show changes made to the page after it has loaded in the browser. Use this litte JavaScript directly in the MSIE address field (after using CTRL-N to make the full browser appear) to view the actual, current HTML of the MSCRM web-page:

javascript:'<xmp>' + window.document.documentElement.outerHTML + '</xmp>';

By modifying the action script, it is quite easy to view the filtered SharePoint doc-lib in an IFRAME inside the account form (using the .location of the .form[] collection in the DHTML DOM). You will then need to make a customized view of the doc-lib suitable for inlining in the MSCRM form, see my post about removing the SharePoint chrome, controlling navigation, etc, for further details.