Create your custom web service and integrate with CRM 2011 Online

2011-8-25 | apurvghai | Dynamics CRM SDK | C#

I hope this article can help you understand when you need to create a middleware between CRM system and a Legacy system/or custom application.The below example talks about the “contact” entity where the web service accepts the “lastname” attribute of it and inserts the same into CRM system. The end result is the guid which is retrieved and confirms the successful execution of the operation.

Before we get started, here’s the list of requirements

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
MS .NET Framework 4.0
MS CRM SDK 2011

Walkthrough Steps: Web Service

Open Visual Studio 2010
Select your project, ASP.NET Empty Web Application
Select a suitable name of your project
On Successful Creation of Project
Go to Solution Explorer
Add New Item: Web Service

Provide a suitable name
Click on Add to create
You will see the C# content in “CustomWebService.asmx.cs”
Add reference to CRM Assemblies

Adding another .NET assemblies

Adding Live ID Code File available in CrmSdk (SDKsamplecodecshelpercode)
Declare the namespace

Write the code for CRM

/// <summary>
 /// This function accepts the lastname and creates a contact with that in CRM
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="lname"></param>
 /// <returns></returns>
 public string CreateContact(string lname)
 {
      string message = string.Empty;
      try
      {
      OrganizationServiceProxy serviceProxy;
      ClientCredentials deviceCredentials = null;
      ClientCredentials clientCredentials = null;
      Guid contactId = Guid.Empty;
      
     //Organization URL
      Uri OrganizationUri = new Uri(String.Format("https://{0}.api.crm.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/Organization.svc","<<Organization>>"));
      //Discovery URL
      Uri HomeRealmUri = new Uri(String.Format("https://dev.{0}/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc", "crm.dynamics.com"));
      //Setting Client Credentials
      clientCredentials = this.GetCredentials("<<Live Id>>", "<<Live Password>>");
      //Get the Device Id and Password
      deviceCredentials = this.GetDeviceCredentials();
      //Using Organization Service Proxy to instantiate the CRM Web Service
      using (serviceProxy = new OrganizationServiceProxy(OrganizationUri, HomeRealmUri, clientCredentials, deviceCredentials))
      {
           // This statement is required to enable early-bound type support.
           serviceProxy.ServiceConfiguration.CurrentServiceEndpoint.Behaviors.Add(new ProxyTypesBehavior());
           IOrganizationService service = (IOrganizationService)serviceProxy;
           //Define Entity Object
            Entity contact = new Entity("contact");
           //Specify the attributes
           contact.Attributes["lastname"] = lname;
           //Execute the service
           contactId = service.Create(contact);
           //Confirmation Message
            message = "Contact Created with LastName:- " + lname + " Guid is" + contactId.ToString();
 
       }
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
            message = ex.Message;
      }
      //returns the message
      return message;
 }

Write the other functions used in the code above

        protected virtual ClientCredentials GetCredentials(string username, string password)
        {
            ClientCredentials credentials = new ClientCredentials();
            credentials.UserName.UserName = username;
            credentials.UserName.Password = password;
            return credentials;
        }

        protected virtual ClientCredentials GetDeviceCredentials()
        {
          return Microsoft.Crm.Services.Utility.DeviceIdManager.LoadOrRegisterDevice();
        }

Complie your code
You've successfully completed the walkthrough.

Useful links

How to use retrieve method