Change Form Navigation

  • Article

[Applies to: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011]

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, the ability to add navigation items to the entity form has been moved from ISV.Config to the <FormXml> (FormXml) element for each entity form. During upgrade from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, any entity form navigation customizations in the ISV.Config are moved to the definition of the main form for that entity.

In This Topic

Edit Navigation Groups

Edit Entity Form Entity Relationship Navigation Items

Add Links to Other Web Applications or Content

Edit Navigation Groups

The navigation area is divided into five areas: Common, Sales, Service, Marketing, and for entities that support them, Processes. By using the Form editor you can drag the groups to change their relative vertical position. You can also change the names of the groups.

To achieve the same result by using FormXml, you must locate the <NavBarAreas> (FormXml) element and add the <NavBarArea> (FormXml) elements that have id attribute values that correspond to one of the five areas. You can then include <Title> (FormXml) elements to change the names of the groups.

You cannot add new navigation groups or remove existing ones. If a particular navigation group does not have any views to display, the navigation group will not display when the form is shown to the user. This means that you can remove a group by configuring individual navigation items to use other navigation groups.

Edit Entity Form Entity Relationship Navigation Items

Each navigation group displays navigation items. How these items are displayed is a combination of metadata defined in the entity relationship and any <NavBarByRelationshipItem> (FormXml) elements defined in the FormXml. You can manipulate navigation items by using form scripts that use Xrm.Page.ui.navigation.items Collection.

Remove navigation items

You can use the following options to prevent a navigation item from being displayed:

  • Edit security roles
    If a user does not have read access to a particular entity because of the settings of the security roles associated with their user account, the navigation item will not be displayed.
  • Edit the entity relationship
    In most entity relationships, in the Navigation Pane Item for Primary Entity area, you can change the Display Option value to Do not Display.
  • Remove the item by using Form editor
    You can use the Form editor to remove most form navigation items.

  • Edit the FormXml
    The <NavBarByRelationshipItem> (FormXml) element contains a Boolean Show attribute that hides the item if set to false.

    You cannot use this attribute to show a navigation item for an entity relationship that has been configured not to display.

    You can also add requirements by using a <Privileges> (FormXml) element so that the item will only be shown to users who have the specified security privileges.

  • Use form scripting
    Each item has a setVisible method that you can use to hide a navigation item. Certain system entity relationships are configured so that they cannot be removed by using any other technique.

Move Navigation Items to a Different Group

You can use the Form editor to move navigation items to different groups. In FormXml, the <NavBarByRelationshipItem> (FormXml) element contains an Area attribute that you can set to one of the following values: Info, Sales, Service or Marketing. “Processes” is not a valid option.

Change the Relative Order of Navigation Items

The Form editor lets you drag navigation items to change the relative order in a navigation group.

In most entity relationships, in the Navigation Pane Item for Primary Entity area, you can change the Display Order value relative to other navigation items. The lower the value, the higher the item will display in the order.

The <NavBarByRelationshipItem> (FormXml) element contains a Sequence attribute that you can use to override the display order set in the entity relationship.

Change Label Text

You can change label text in the Form editor. The <NavBarByRelationshipItem> (FormXml) element uses <Titles> (FormXml) and <Title> (FormXml) elements to specify label text for specific languages.

Additional Configuration Options

The following options are only available by editing the <NavBarByRelationshipItem> (FormXml) element:

  • Hide the navigation item when the user is not connected to the server
    Setting the AvailableOffline Boolean attribute to false hides the item when a Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook with Offline Access user is working offline.
  • Specify which Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients will display the navigation item
    Setting the Client attribute to either Web or Outlook will only show the item to that client.
  • Change the icon used for the navigation item
    Setting the Icon attribute to a valid image Web Resource changes the icon. The icon should be 16x16 pixels. Be sure to use the $webresource directive.
  • Use a specific view
    By default, each entity displays the Associated View, a special system view that each entity has. To override this view, set the ViewId attribute to the ID of a different view for that entity.

Add Links to Other Web Applications or Content

You can define navigation links in the Form editor. In the exported <Navigation> (FormXml) element, you can use the <NavBarItem> (FormXml) to define a URL to a page or Web resource to display in the main frame of the form.

In the <NavBarItem> (FormXml) you can specify the following:

  • A URL to the page or Web resource to display in the main frame of the entity form.

    When using an HTML Web resource, be sure to use the $webresource directive.

    Note

    To display a Silverlight web resource outside an entity form or chart, create an HTML web resource to be the host page for the Silverlight web resource. Then use the $webresource: directive to open the HTML web resource.

  • The relative order to display each <NavBarItem> (FormXml).

  • Which of the four display areas the link will be displayed in.

  • Which Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 clients will be able to see the associated view.

  • Whether the link will be available to users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook with Offline Access when they are offline.

  • What icon to use when displaying the link.

  • Whether to pass parameters identifying the unique identifier for the record being viewed.

  • The label text to display.

  • The tooltip text to display.

See Also

Concepts

Customize Entity Forms
Create New Entity Forms
Manage Role Based Forms
SystemForm (System Dashboard) Entity Metadata
SystemForm (System Dashboard) Entity Messages and Methods

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
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