Using the CRM 4 Service Broker with CRM 2011
KB001293
PRODUCTK2 blackpearl 0807 to 4.6.4
BASED ONK2 blackpearl 0807
LEGACY/ARCHIVED CONTENT
This article has been archived, and/or refers to legacy products, components or features. The content in this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated. Archived content is provided for reference purposes only. This content does not infer that the product, component or feature is supported, or that the product, component or feature will continue to function as described herein.
Summary
K2 blackpearl and K2 blackpoint integrate with CRM 4 out of the box. CRM 2011 was introduced with K2 4.6.2, available for download on the K2 Customer and Partner Portal. The wizards that work with CRM4, however, do not work with CRM 2011, which means all CRM 2011 interaction is accomplished via SmartObjects. However, you can configure your K2 environment to use the CRM4 SDK files to integrate with a CRM 2011 server. How to configure your environment as well as important limitations of this approach are detailed below.
K2 blackpearl and K2 blackpoint integrate with CRM 4 out of the box. CRM 2011 was introduced with K2 4.6.2, available for download on the K2 Customer and Partner Portal. The wizards that work with CRM4, however, do not work with CRM 2011, which means all CRM 2011 interaction is accomplished via SmartObjects. However, you can configure your K2 environment to use the CRM4 SDK files to integrate with a CRM 2011 server. How to configure your environment as well as important limitations of this approach are detailed below.
Before you begin
You will need to GAC the appropriate version of the CRM4 SDK files on the server running the K2 Server. Download the SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38.
Secondly, you should plan to switch over test environment to integrate with CRM 2011 before making these changes to a production environment. There are certain limitations of using this approach, including:
- Not all CRM 2011 entities are supported, whether they are new to CRM 2011 or exist in CRM 4. See Table 1 below for a full list.
- New CRM 2011 entity attributes may or may not work.
- The integration through the CRM 4 SDK with a CRM 2011 server is slower than integrating using the CRM 2011 SDK.
Known Limitations
Table 1 lists the following limitations of using the CRM 4 SDK with a CRM 2011 server.
| CRM 4 Entity | CRM 2011 Entity | Works with CRM 4 Broker |
| Account | Account | √ |
| Activity | √ | |
| Address | Address | |
| Appointment | Appointment | √ |
| Article | √ | |
| Article Template | ||
| Business Unit | Business Unit | √ |
| Campaign | Campaign | √ |
| Campaign Activity | Campaign Activity | √ |
| Campaign Response | Campaign Response | √ |
| Case | Case | √ |
| Case Resolution | √ | |
| Competitor | Competitor | √ |
| Competitor Address | √ | |
| Connection | √ | |
| Connection Role | ||
| Contact | Contact | √ |
| Contract | Contract | √ |
| Contract Template | Contract Template | |
| Currency | √ | |
| Data Map | √ | |
| Dialog Session | √ | |
| Discount List | √ | |
| Document Location | √ | |
| Duplicate Detection Rule | ||
| √ | ||
| E-mail Attachment | ||
| E-mail Template | ||
| Facility/Equipment | Facility/Equipment | √ |
| Fax | Fax | √ |
| Field Security Profile | ||
| Goal | √ | |
| Goal Metric | √ | |
| Internal Address | √ | |
| Invoice | Invoice | √ |
| Lead | Lead | √ |
| Lead Address | √ | |
| Letter | Letter | √ |
| Mail Merge Template | Mail Merge Template | |
| Marketing List | Marketing List | √ |
| Note | √ | |
| Opportunity | Opportunity | √ |
| Opportunity Close | √ | |
| Opportunity Relationship | √ | |
| Order | Order | √ |
| Order Close | √ | |
| Organization | √ | |
| Phone Call | Phone Call | √ |
| Price List | Price List | √ |
| Process | ||
| Product | Product | √ |
| Publisher | √ | |
| Queue | √ | |
| Quick Campaign | ||
| Quote | Quote | √ |
| Quote Close | √ | |
| Recurring Appointment | √ | |
| Report | ||
| Resource | √ | |
| Resource Expansion | √ | |
| Rollup Query | √ | |
| Sales Literature | Sales Literature | √ |
| Saved View | √ | |
| Scheduling Group | √ | |
| Security Role | ||
| Service | √ | |
| Service Activity | Service Activity | √ |
| SharePoint Site | √ | |
| Site | √ | |
| Solution | ||
| Subject | Subject | √ |
| System Chart | ||
| Task | Task | √ |
| Team | √ | |
| Territory | √ | |
| Unit Group | √ | |
| User | User | √ |
| User Chart | ||
| View |
Other Limitations
Since CRM 2011 introduces new or updated functionality with most entities, such as Notes, Activities, Connections, Queues and E-mail, and these are optional features that can be added to an entity, there may be additional incompatibilities when using the CRM4 SDK. These incompatibilities will be updated here on an ongoing basis as they are discovered or reported to K2. If you discover any, please use the K2 Feedback page to report them.
| Entity | Incompatibility Error Message |
| Activity | Server was unable to process request. The 'Create' method does not support entities of type 'activitypointer'. |
Steps to Configure the K2 Environment
Follow these steps to configure the K2 environment to work with a CRM 2011 server.
-
-
- GAC the appropriate versions (32-bit or 64-bit) of the following files from the CRM SDK (located at sdkin or sdkin64bit):
- microsoft.crm.sdk.dll
- microsoft.crm.sdktypeproxy.dll
- microsoft.crm.sdktypeproxy.xmlserializers.dll
- Add assemblyBinding nodes to the <runtime> section of the following files to force the server and design environments to load the CRM 4 SDK files.
-
- <install drive>[K2 blackpearl or K2 blackpoint]Host ServerBinK2HostServer.exe.config
- <install drive>[K2 blackpearl or K2 blackpoint]K2StudioK2Studio.exe.config
- <install drive>inetpubwwwrootwssVirtualDirectories[SharePoint Web Application]web.config
-
- Restart the K2 Server.
- GAC the appropriate versions (32-bit or 64-bit) of the following files from the CRM SDK (located at sdkin or sdkin64bit):
-
<configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Crm.Sdk" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
<publisherPolicy apply="no" />
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
</configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Crm.Sdk" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
<publisherPolicy apply="no" />
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
</configuration>
 | Notes:
|
Once you have configured your environment, you can use CRM entities within the K2 designers.
 | Important: You will see a full list of CRM 2011 entities because the list is not filtered to hide CRM 2011 entities that the CRM 4 SDK files do not support. |
It is up to you and your workflow designers to use the entities that are known to work with the CRM 4 SDK. If you do not, you may start seeing errors such as the following:
- Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
- SmartObject: 'Connection Role' contains a Property with the same name 'Solution'
- SmartObject: 'Quick Campaign' contains a Property with the same name 'Activity Type'