DataBind Wijmo Grid to Dynamics CRM Data



Provide real-time Dynamics CRM data to interactive controls.

The API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics CRM (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), provides Dynamics CRM data as Web services, which enable connectivity to live data. This article shows how to consume JSONP-formatted Dynamics CRM data from a Wijmo Grid.

About Dynamics CRM Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics CRM data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the Dynamics CRM 2011+ Services and Dynamics CRM Online.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics CRM in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.

CData customers use our Dynamics CRM connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics CRMa data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Dynamics CRM OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Dynamics CRM

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics CRM, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Dynamics CRM by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

The connection string options meet the authentication and connection requirements of different Dynamics CRM instances. To connect to your instance, set the User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, to valid Dynamics CRM user credentials and set the Url to a valid Dynamics CRM server organization root. Additionally, set the CRMVersion property to 'CRM2011+' or 'CRMOnline'. IFD configurations are supported as well; set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

Additionally, you can provide the security token service (STS) or AD FS endpoint in the STSURL property. This value can be retrieved with the GetSTSUrl stored procedure. Office 365 users can connect to the default STS URL by simply setting CRMVersion.

You can then choose the Dynamics CRM entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources. This article uses Account as an example.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Create a Real-Time Grid

Follow the steps below to consume Dynamics CRM data from the Wijmo JavaScript controls:

  1. Load the required Wijmo, jQuery, and Knockout libraries:
    
    <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.1.min.js"></script>
    <script src="http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.11.0/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
      
    <!--Theme-->
    <link href="http://cdn.wijmo.com/themes/aristo/jquery-wijmo.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
      
    <!--Wijmo Widgets CSS-->
    <link href="http://cdn.wijmo.com/jquery.wijmo-pro.all.3.20161.90.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
      
    <!--Wijmo Widgets JavaScript-->
    <script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/jquery.wijmo-open.all.3.20161.90.min.js"></script>
    <script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/jquery.wijmo-pro.all.3.20161.90.min.js"></script>
    <script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/interop/wijmo.data.ajax.3.20161.90.js"></script>
     
    <!--Knockout JS Library-->
    <!-- Both of the links below can work -->
    <script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/wijmo/external/knockout-2.2.0.js"></script> 
    <!--<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/amd-js/3.20161.90/knockout-3.1.0.js"></script>--> 
    
    <!--Wijmo Knockout Integration Library-->
    <script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/interop/knockout.wijmo.3.20161.90.js"></script>
    
  2. Create a ViewModel and connect to it using the ODataView. You will need to replace the placeholder values for the URL of the API Server, an API Server user, and the authtoken for that user.
    
    <script id="scriptInit">
    $.support.cors = true;
    var viewModel;
    
    function ViewModel() {
      var accountView = new wijmo.data.ODataView("http://MyServer:MyPort/api.rsc/Account", {
      ajax: {
        dataType: "jsonp", 
        username: "MyUser",
        password: "MyAuthtoken",
        data: { "$inlinecount": null }
      },
      pageSize: 10
    });
      accountView.refresh();
      accountView.nextPage();
      this.account = accountView;
      this.prevPage = function () {accountView.prevPage();};
      this.nextPage = function () {accountView.nextPage();};
    }
    
    $(document).ready(function () {
       viewModel = new ViewModel();
       ko.applyBindings(viewModel, $(".container").get(0));
    });
    </script>
    
  3. DataBind: Below is a simple table with some paging buttons, which you can paste into the body section of your markup.
    
    <h2>Connect to Live Dynamics CRM Data in Real Time</h2>
    
    <h3>Account</h3>
    <div>
      <button title="previous page" class="pagebuttons" data-bind="click: prevPage, button: {}"><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-seek-prev" /></button>
      <button title="next page" class="pagebuttons" data-bind="click: nextPage, button: {}"><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-seek-next" /></button>
    </div>
    <table id="demo-grid" data-bind="wijgrid: { 
      data: account, 
      showFilter: true, 
      allowPaging: true,
      pagerSettings: { position: 'none'},
      columnsAutogenerationMode: 'append',
    }" >
    </table>   
    

Below is the resulting grid. You can filter and sort through pages of Dynamics CRM data.

Ready to get started?

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CData API Server