Another blog post and with it another great feature of Web API enhancements in Dynamics 365 that I will be sharing it. A small enhancement but a really handy one I would say.
So let’s understand what this feature I am talking about. If you just saw the header and jumped into this post without really understanding much from the title of this topic, don’t be disappointed. It’s my bad and I am terrible to in finding click bait headers for my topics. Hope I will do a decent job explaining the feature. So buckle up.
Prior to Dynamics 365, when you create a record in Dynamics CRM, be it through Web API or through Organization Service, you would get the guid of the newly created record back. And to get the whole object back you would again need to query the with the returned guid.
The problem become more prominent if you are using the deep insert feature using Web API. For example when I create a account, I can create an associated contact in the same operation. However after the create operation, all you get back is the guid of account record.
Well if you have been bothered by this, no need to worry anymore. The awesome Dynamics 365 is here to bail you out.
With Dynamics 365, you can pass an optional parameter in the header of the request to return the created record if you wish to. In the below example, I am creating an account record and an associated contact record as well and then returning the whole account record
function createAccount() {
debugger;
var serverURL = Xrm.Page.context.getClientUrl();
var account = {};
account["name"] = "Web API representation example";
account["address1_city"] = "Bangalore";
account["primarycontactid"] = {
"firstname": "Debajit",
"lastname": "Dutta"
};
account["numberofemployees"] = 1000;
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("POST", serverURL + "/api/data/v8.2/accounts", false);
req.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json");
req.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf-8");
req.setRequestHeader("OData-MaxVersion", "4.0");
req.setRequestHeader("OData-Version", "4.0");
req.setRequestHeader("Prefer", "return=representation");
req.send(JSON.stringify(account));
var response = req.responseText;
}
The key in the above code is the line highlighted. Infact if you do not pass the above, the request internally sends a default header of return=minimal and that’s why all we get back is the guid of the created record.
Below is the JSON result I get back:
"{
"@odata.context":"https://xrmtr30.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v8.2/$metadata#accounts/$entity","@odata.etag":"W/\"642226\"","openrevenue_date":"2016-11-02T15:02:27Z","territorycode":1,"address2_freighttermscode":1,"address2_shippingmethodcode":1,"accountid":"785a73fc-73a1-e611-80e6-c4346bac4500","statuscode":1,"creditonhold":false,"donotbulkemail":false,"donotsendmm":false,"createdon":"2016-11-03T03:17:02Z","statecode":0,"businesstypecode":1,"donotpostalmail":false,"_ownerid_value":"e4306322-8b0f-4cb4-93e9-1d2da3169fdd","donotbulkpostalmail":false,"name":"Web API representation example","address1_city":"Bangalore","donotemail":false,"donotphone":false,"address1_composite":"Bangalore","address2_addresstypecode":1,"versionnumber":642226,"opendeals_date":"2016-11-02T15:02:27Z","_modifiedby_value":"e4306322-8b0f-4cb4-93e9-1d2da3169fdd","shippingmethodcode":1,"followemail":true,"preferredcontactmethodcode":1,"numberofemployees":1000,"_owningbusinessunit_value":"e8d2b7eb-199e-e611-80ea-c4346bacda3c","_primarycontactid_value":"795a73fc-73a1-e611-80e6-c4346bac4500","_createdby_value":"e4306322-8b0f-4cb4-93e9-1d2da3169fdd","donotfax":false,"merged":false,"customersizecode":1,"marketingonly":false,"accountratingcode":1,"address2_addressid":"e836a8b7-c4f7-44b4-b46e-344c3d312622","_owninguser_value":"e4306322-8b0f-4cb4-93e9-1d2da3169fdd","modifiedon":"2016-11-03T03:17:02Z","participatesinworkflow":false,"accountclassificationcode":1,"address1_addressid":"13b1f69c-6b06-4990-be7e-2ab502b71b19","openrevenue":null,"lastusedincampaign":null,"address1_name":null,"address1_telephone2":null,"overriddencreatedon":null,"entityimageid":null,"ownershipcode":null,"creditlimit":null,"address1_county":null,"entityimage_timestamp":null,"telephone3":null,"address1_freighttermscode":null,"address2_line1":null,"onholdtime":null,"int_twitter":null,"_createdbyexternalparty_value":null,"telephone2":null,"primarysatoriid":null,"address2_telephone1":null,"address1_fax":null,"_createdonbehalfby_value":null,"address2_city":null,"address2_latitude":null,"address2_composite":null,"creditlimit_base":null,"aging90_base":null,"address2_postalcode":null,"address2_name":null,"preferredappointmentdaycode":null,"_owningteam_value":null,"address2_line3":null,"revenue_base":null,"aging30":null,"ftpsiteurl":null,"_originatingleadid_value":null,"emailaddress3":null,"_modifiedbyexternalparty_value":null,"paymenttermscode":null,"websiteurl":null,"revenue":null,"address1_shippingmethodcode":null,"description":null,"tickersymbol":null,"lastonholdtime":null,"marketcap":null,"_parentaccountid_value":null,"_preferredsystemuserid_value":null,"address2_longitude":null,"_defaultpricelevelid_value":null,"openrevenue_state":null,"address1_primarycontactname":null,"accountcategorycode":null,"marketcap_base":null,"address2_telephone3":null,"address2_postofficebox":null,"_preferredserviceid_value":null,"importsequencenumber":null,"address1_upszone":null,"stageid":null,"utcconversiontimezonecode":null,"aging60":null,"customertypecode":null,"telephone1":null,"opendeals_state":nul
l,"address1_postofficebox":null,"yominame":null,"address2_country":null,"address1_line2":null,"address1_postalcode":null,"traversedpath":null,"_transactioncurrencyid_value":null,"fax":null,"address2_upszone":null,"aging90":null,"address1_longitude":null,"emailaddress2":null,"address1_telephone1":null,"exchangerate":null,"address1_stateorprovince":null,"address2_line2":null,"entityimage":null,"primarytwitterid":null,"timespentbymeonemailandmeetings":null,"accountnumber":null,"address1_line1":null,"_territoryid_value":null,"_slaid_value":null,"address2_county":null,"_preferredequipmentid_value":null,"sic":null,"entityimage_url":null,"processid":null,"address2_telephone2":null,"address1_addresstypecode":null,"address1_utcoffset":null,"address2_fax":null,"aging60_base":null,"address1_country":null,"_modifiedonbehalfby_value":null,"stockexchange":null,"address1_line3":null,"int_facebook":null,"aging30_base":null,"openrevenue_base":null,"sharesoutstanding":null,"_slainvokedid_value":null,"address2_primarycontactname":null,"address1_latitude":null,"_masterid_value":null,"address2_utcoffset":null,"emailaddress1":null,"timezoneruleversionnumber":null,"opendeals":null,"address2_stateorprovince":null,"preferredappointmenttimecode":null,"industrycode":null,"address1_telephone3":null
}"
As you can see, not only I get the account record back but also the GUID of the primary contact associated with the entity record that I created using deep insert.
Please note that the status of the response would be 201 (Created).
Stay tuned for another wonderful update from the world of Dynamics CRM
Debajit Dutta
(Visit http://www.xrmforyou.com/products.html and checkout our tools library)