How to resolve “Unable to initialize communication with the Passport server. (Error Code: 80048883)”?

This error message is coming up because the default app pool user does not have permission to initiate the msidcrl40.dll file which called by the IdCrlWrapper.dll

This is an issue which almost all Microsoft CRM Technical consultants will face while trying to communicate to the Microsoft CRM Server from custom developed code in ASP.Net using Microsoft CRM SDK with passport authentication. The situation will arise when you try to move the code from the Development Box to the Production Server.

To resolve this issue you have to follow the steps below:

Solution

Step 1
Make a change in the web.config file. Add the following line

 <identity impersonate=”true” userName=”[LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR USERNAME]” password=”[ADMIN PASSWORD]” />

You can also use a service account like mscrmsrv. In that case your web.config file entry will be as follows:

mscrmsrv” password=”[mscrmsrv PASSWORD]” />

If you are not sure where to add the above line then in that case you can open the IIS Manager. Right click on the website (the one which you are using for your MSCRM Custom App). Click on Properties. It will open the properties window. Click on the ASP.NET tab. Now click on the Edit Configuration button. It will open the ASP.NET Configuration Settings window. Now from this window click on the Application tab. In the application tab under Identity Settings click on Local impersonation. Now put the username and the password. Once you save it will post the entry in the web.config file.

Step 2

Now which ever account you are using for the local impersonation make sure that you now login to the server with the same account and then restart the IIS using IISRESET command. Once done try to run the application. It will not throw the error “Unable to initialize communication with the Passport server”.

 If you reset the IIS from a different logged in user then this problem will showup once again.

You can also find my posts in Microsoft forums.
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/crmdevelopment/thread/1ecd316b-34f2-4747-a56d-b0310eb4471a

If you think the above solution has worked for you then you can vote me in :).

Cheers!!!

How to create Recurring Service Activities in MS CRM 4.0?

Recurring Service Activities are not supported in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Most of the clients looks for this feature as this is something which is not available out of the box. There are workarounds with the help of which you can make it happen. In this post I will demonstrate it to you how easily you can achieve it.

Solution
We need to add 2 new fields in the Service Activity entity.
 

Please read the detailed implementation below:

Entity Name: serviceappointment
Add two new Fields

New Field 1

Field Label: Recurring Frequency
Field Name: new_recurringactivity
Requirement Level: No Constraint
Field Type: picklist
Field Values:
1 – Daily
2 – Weekly
3 – Fortnightly
4 – Monthly
5 – Bi-Monthly
6 – Quarterly
7 – Half Yearly
8 – Yearly

New Field 2

Field Label: Recurring End Date
Field Name: new_recurringenddate
Field Type: datetime
Field Format: Date Only
Requirement Level: No Constraint

Purpose of the new fields

Field Name: new_recurringactivity
Purpose: This field will accept recurring frequency from the user.

Field Name: new_recurringenddate
Purpose: This field will accept the date from the user. It will not create any activity beyond the date. Otherwise it will go in a endless loop.

After adding the two new fields the Service Activity form should look like this

CODE SNIPPET 1

// Add this code snippet to the OnLoad event of the Service Activity Form

// Lock the recurring Service Activiy fields once activities have been created
if (crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.DataValue)
{
crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.disabled = true;
crmForm.all.new_recurringenddate.disabled = true;
}// Code Ends

CODE SNIPPET 2

// Add this code snippet to the OnSave event of the Service Activity
// Function to format a date to the UTC format required by web services
function DateToUTCFormat(inputDate)
{
var date = inputDate.getDate();
var month = inputDate.getMonth()+1;
var year = inputDate.getYear();
var hours = inputDate.getHours();
var minutes = inputDate.getMinutes();
var ampm = ” AM”;
if (hours > 11)
{
ampm = ” PM”;
hours = hours – 12;
}
if (hours == 0)
{hours = 12;}
if (minutes < 10)
{var time = hours.toString() + “:0” + minutes.toString() + “:00” + ampm;}
else
{var time = hours.toString() + “:” + minutes.toString() + “:00” + ampm;}
var UTCDate = month.toString() + “/” + date.toString() + “/” + year.toString() + ” ” + time;
return UTCDate;
}
if (crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.disabled == false && crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.DataValue && crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.DataValue)
{
var interval = 0;
switch (parseInt(crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.DataValue))
{
case 1: // Daily (Please check the value you are getting from the CRM Form)
interval = 1;
break;

case 2: // weekly
interval = 7;
break;

case 3: // Fortnightly
interval = 14;
break;

case 4: // Monthly
interval = 30;
break;

case 5: // Bi-Monthly
interval = 60;
break;

case 6: // Quarterly
interval = 90;
break;

case 7: // Half Yearly
interval = 180;
break;

case 8: // Yearly
interval = 365;
break;
}

var recurringEnd = crmForm.all.new_recurringenddate.DataValue;
recurringEnd.setDate(recurringEnd.getDate()+1);
var activityStart = crmForm.all.scheduledstart.DataValue;
var activityEnd = crmForm.all.scheduledend.DataValue;

// Set the first reccuring appointment as per the recurring frequency opted by the user
activityStart.setDate(activityStart.getDate()+interval);
activityEnd.setDate(activityEnd.getDate()+interval);

// Prepare values for the new Service Activity
var subject = crmForm.all.subject.DataValue;
var regardingId = crmForm.all.regardingobjectid.DataValue[0].id;
var customerId = crmForm.all.customers.DataValue[0].id;
var serviceid = crmForm.all.serviceid.DataValue[0].id;
var resourceId = crmForm.all.resources.DataValue[0].id;
var ownerId = crmForm.all.ownerid.DataValue[0].id;
var new_recurringactivity = crmForm.all.new_recurringactivity.DataValue;
// Loop for the number of recurring Service Activities
while (activityStart < recurringEnd)
{
// Prepare the SOAP message.
var startUTC = DateToUTCFormat(activityStart);
var endUTC = DateToUTCFormat(activityEnd);
var recurringEndUTC = DateToUTCFormat(recurringEnd);
var authenticationHeader = GenerateAuthenticationHeader();
var xml = “” +
“xmlns:soap=’http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'”+
” xmlns:xsi=’http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'”+
” xmlns:xsd=’http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema’>”+
authenticationHeader+
“<soap:Body>”+
“xmlns=’http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices’>”+
“xsi:type=’serviceappointment’>”+
“<subject>”+subject+”</subject>”+
“<serviceid>”+serviceid+”</serviceid>”+
“”+ownerId+””+
“<customers>”+
“<activityparty>”+
“<partyobjecttypecode>account</partyobjecttypecode>”+
“”+customerId+””+
“<participationtypemask>11</participationtypemask>”+
“</activityparty>”+
“</customers>”+
“<resources>”+
“<activityparty>”+
“<partyobjecttypecode>systemuser</partyobjecttypecode>”+
“”+resourceId+””+
“<participationtypemask>1</participationtypemask>”+
“</activityparty>”+
“</resources>”+
“”+startUTC+””+
“”+endUTC+””+
“”+recurringEndUTC+””+
“<new_recurringactivity>”+new_recurringactivity+”</new_recurringactivity>”+
“</entity>”+
“</Create>”+
“</soap:Body>”+
“</soap:Envelope>”;
// Prepare the xmlHttpObject and send the request.
var xHReq = new ActiveXObject(“Msxml2.XMLHTTP”);
xHReq.Open(“POST”, “/mscrmservices/2007/CrmService.asmx”, false);
xHReq.setRequestHeader(“SOAPAction”,”http://schemas.microsoft.com/crm/2007/WebServices/Create“);
xHReq.setRequestHeader(“Content-Type”, “text/xml; charset=utf-8”);
xHReq.setRequestHeader(“Content-Length”, xml.length);
xHReq.send(xml);
// Capture the result
var resultXml = xHReq.responseXML;

// Check for errors.
var errorCount = resultXml.selectNodes(‘//error’).length;
if (errorCount != 0)
{
var msg = resultXml.selectSingleNode(‘//description’).nodeTypedValue;
alert(msg);
}
// Notify user of Service Activity creation
else
{
// alert(“Service Activity created on ” + activityStart);
}
// Increment the next Service Actvity to be created by as per the recurring frequency opted by the user
activityStart.setDate(activityStart.getDate()+interval);
activityEnd.setDate(activityEnd.getDate()+interval);
}

} // Code block Ends

Some More Explanation

Please note in the above code snippet I am taking resources as user. So for that I have used in the code snippet

“<resources>”+
“<activityparty>”+
“<partyobjecttypecode>systemuser</partyobjecttypecode>”+
“”+resourceId+””+
“<participationtypemask>1</participationtypemask>”+
“</activityparty>”+
“</resources>”+

If you are considering equipments as your resources then use

“<partyobjecttypecode>systemuser</partyobjecttypecode>”+

Also note that if you want to accept multiple resources then you need to change the value in the “participationtypemask” node.

Since I am expecting 1 resource so I have kept the value as 1.

You can also find my posts in Microsoft forums.
http://social.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/crmdevelopment/thread/3f020e02-cd86-44b2-9cff-36e6cdafc8d8/
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.crm&tid=fa7512cc-41b9-47a7-bafc-5ea310c07ef8&cat=&lang=&cr=&sloc=&p=1

If you think the above solution has worked for you then you can vote me in 🙂

Cheers!!!