Got the latest VPC up and running in very little time and thought I would share the first 5 minutes with you.

The first thing I thought I would do is grab the CRM 4.0 RC0 SDK from the VPC so I can begin creating Plugins (these replace Callouts in CRM 3.0). That took only a matter of minutes then it was over to look at the new UI so I ran up CRM 4.0 (Web Client) and took a good look around.

Once you have the VPC up and running you can begin the preview of the new Dynamics product as shown below:

Below is a quick look of the new User Interface (UI) for CRM 4.0. The UI is all AJAX enabled allowing for a more richer experience removing the old style postbacks. The Dynamics CRM Development team have done a good job on the UI - i'm quite impressed!

One major feature also is Multi-Currency. You can get to this section by going to Settings > Business Management > Currencies.
There are a number of different Currency Codes supported. The list returned 142.

Right time to look at the SDK now so I will leave you with that small preview.  I will be back with more postings soon as.

Yellow Duck Guy
Greg Olsen

Overview
"This is a preview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 leveraging release candidate code in a Virtual PC (VPC) image. This demo is designed as a one computer setup with Microsoft CRM 4.0 server and Microsoft CRM 4.0 client for Outlook."

Here: https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/products/mscrm/newsevents/news/CRM4VPCImageRC0Release

Contents of VPC Image
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (RC0)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Laptop and Desktop Client
Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK (C:\CRM Tools\SDK)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (SP2)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft Office Professional 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
POP3 E-Mail Services (No Exchange)
Microsoft LCA Approved Sample Data

Files which are available for download
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part01.exe      716800 KB
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part02.rar       716800 KB
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part03.rar       716800 KB
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part04.rar       716800 KB
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part05.rar       716800 KB
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part06.rar       716800 KB
Microsoft CRM 4.0.7309.0 – RC0.part07.rar         11205 KB
Size approximately = 4.21GB

Additional Information
The Virtual PC image can be used only for demonstration purposes (as outlined in the EULA).
The registration key for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application will expire April 2008. The VPC image will expire on 30th November 2008.

So if you have a login to PartnerSource then you can take advantage of downloading the VPC and having a play.

More CRM goodness still to come on this blog ... stay tuned!

Yellow Duck Guy
Greg Olsen

The .NET Framework 3.5 is the newest .NET Framework release from Microsoft and it contains a load of very useful Namespaces and Types which will be in heavy use by every Microsoft .NET developer.

If you would like an overview of the of the Namespaces and Types which make up the new .NET Framework then you can get a hold of the new poster made available.

Simply visit the below link and download your desired output format.

.NET Framework 3.5 Common Namespaces and Types Poster -DOWNLOAD-

Could be something to place on those walls of your development office!

Greg Olsen
Yellow Duck Guy

Sometimes I use this simple but effective date function in my reports (NZ reports) by using the 'Code' functionality given by SQL Reporting Services.  Therefore I thought I would paste this on my site for quick reference. Feel free to use. 

Public Function FormatDate(ByVal d As Date)
 Return d.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy")
End Function

To find where to paste your code then simply goto 'Report Properties' from the Report Menu (in Report Designer) and select the 'Code' tab. Then paste your code inside the window made available and click OK.

Then to use in your reports, simply call it like the following ...

=code.FormatDate(Fields!DATE.Value)

The function above also illustrates how you can write your own functions and call them within your report.

If you are ever wondering where your code will be stored then have a look inside your RDL (report exension .rdl) report file and search for the XML tags of <CODE></CODE>. You will notice it inside there.

Simple aye! Happy coding.

Yellow Duck Guy
Greg Olsen

ActionThis has just gone live this week.

What is ActionThis?

“ActionThis is a web-based team and project management tool with a difference. It focuses on ‘execution’, on getting things done. If you’ve ever had the experience that people agree to do things and don’t follow through, ActionThis can help. It remembers so you don’t have to, with a very cool web interface for anywhere access, plus Microsoft Outlook extensions so assigning and dealing with tasks is as simple as email”

How do I get it?

You can sign up for a 30 day free trial from the Web site here: http://www.actionthis.com/

There is also a ActionThis product datasheet for download for more info here: ActionThisDatasheet.pdf

So I encourage you to sign up now for the 30 day free, no obligation trial.

Yellow Duck Guy
Greg Olsen