Hello,
I am developing a solution that will allow various new and updated
entities to be loaded from several source systems into a Microsoft
Dynamics 4.0 installation on an ongoing basis. There are some up-
front components to the solution that detect new/changed source system
data that are custom but I wanted to be able to use the built-in Data
Import facilities within 4.0 to take the data from Excel files and
load it into the CRM. I've looked at the sample code in the SDK and
have been able to write code that will do this, including use of
Picklist and Lookup (ie parent account) type columns; however, I sense
there are some big differences between data maps created in the CRM UI
vs. those created via CRMService code.
1) Why do Data Maps that are created programmatically using the
CRMService not show up in the UI? Looks like you can make them show
up by flipping the IsValidForImport boolean; however, this attribute
is readonly on the importmap class.
2) When I try to import an XML file-based Data Map via the CRM UI that
contains <LookupMap> elements it complains they are "not a valid
element in a data map used for importing data"; however, I am able to
do lookups in Data Maps created via code with no problem - what's the
difference here? Are more advanced concepts like lookups only
supported in code? I would rather create my Data Maps in XML and then
import them for use when importing via code rather than creating them
each time in the code right before their use.
3) When creating Data Maps and using them to import data via code are
you supposed to create the data maps new with each import of a similar
file or can/should they be reused by retrieving them using their
Guid? The SDK shows the former, that is creating and using them on
the fly, but this seems like it should be unnecessary.
Thanks for any help,
Todd Langdon