Hello All,
I've just started a new job and been tossed into the Microsoft CRM world!
I've been asked to create a few custom fields at the Opportunity level. I've
been reading through these forums for a little while now and I just want to
verify the correct procedure for adding custom fields to CRM.

1) Use deployment manager -> schema manager --> select the object you want
to add a custom field to (in my case, Opportunity) and select add schema
field.
2) Fill in appropriate info (ie: field name, type, etc.)
3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
4) Use CRM web client; go to system customization area; select the object
you want to add the custom field to and add it in using Add Field.
5) Use deployment manager to publish the changes to the correct web server.
6) use command prompt to do an IISRESET

Is this the correct process?
Ok, now here's my problem. Before doing this research, I went in to Sql
Server and added the custom fields manually then tried to add them to the
forms through the CRM web client. Realizing that was incorrect, I then went
into deployment manager and added some fields through scheme manager. Then
back to SQL server to manually delete my old columns. Needless to say, I've
learned my lesson, don't touch CRM tables directly! always use deployment
manager for custom fields!! Because now I can't open an Opportunity! Error
occurs. Now, this wasn't our production environment, but it was our training
environment. So, while it's not business critical, it is very important that
I get this thing fixed. Any Suggestions on how fix?????
Sorry this is so long. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
--Sheckyd

RE: How to add custom field - clarification by MattNC

MattNC
Sat Mar 12 23:05:02 CST 2005

First: You don't have to publish after extending the schema, the fields will
be available to add to forms via the web UI. Publish and iisreset after
you've got your form just how you want it. One additional caution here: Watch
out that you don't add too many fields when extending the schema. Each entity
is limited by the SQL 8k row limit and entities like "Contacts" already are
very near the limit. (CRM 2005 is supposed to handle this better, I believe.)
You will want to make sure you plan out your additional fields well. Tip: You
can hijack an unused field of the right type and re-use it for something else.

As for fixing your training environment -- did you have a good backup of the
CRM SQL tables and have copies of the XML files for the customizations? If
so, you can try to do a restore.

Matt Wittemann
http://icu-mscrm.blogspot.com


"sheckyd" wrote:

> Hello All,
> I've just started a new job and been tossed into the Microsoft CRM world!
> I've been asked to create a few custom fields at the Opportunity level. I've
> been reading through these forums for a little while now and I just want to
> verify the correct procedure for adding custom fields to CRM.
>
> 1) Use deployment manager -> schema manager --> select the object you want
> to add a custom field to (in my case, Opportunity) and select add schema
> field.
> 2) Fill in appropriate info (ie: field name, type, etc.)
> 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> 4) Use CRM web client; go to system customization area; select the object
> you want to add the custom field to and add it in using Add Field.
> 5) Use deployment manager to publish the changes to the correct web server.
> 6) use command prompt to do an IISRESET
>
> Is this the correct process?
> Ok, now here's my problem. Before doing this research, I went in to Sql
> Server and added the custom fields manually then tried to add them to the
> forms through the CRM web client. Realizing that was incorrect, I then went
> into deployment manager and added some fields through scheme manager. Then
> back to SQL server to manually delete my old columns. Needless to say, I've
> learned my lesson, don't touch CRM tables directly! always use deployment
> manager for custom fields!! Because now I can't open an Opportunity! Error
> occurs. Now, this wasn't our production environment, but it was our training
> environment. So, while it's not business critical, it is very important that
> I get this thing fixed. Any Suggestions on how fix?????
> Sorry this is so long. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
> Thanks in advance!
> --Sheckyd

RE: How to add custom field - clarification by goldenshine

goldenshine
Sat Mar 12 23:11:08 CST 2005

3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
===No,You don't need to publish at this moment.
The process is right.

You should use SQL Server to restore your database backup. My suggestion is,
you'd backup your database every day (at lest). If something wrong, just
restore the database. Otherwise, I don't know what is the solution.

"sheckyd" wrote:

> Hello All,
> I've just started a new job and been tossed into the Microsoft CRM world!
> I've been asked to create a few custom fields at the Opportunity level. I've
> been reading through these forums for a little while now and I just want to
> verify the correct procedure for adding custom fields to CRM.
>
> 1) Use deployment manager -> schema manager --> select the object you want
> to add a custom field to (in my case, Opportunity) and select add schema
> field.
> 2) Fill in appropriate info (ie: field name, type, etc.)
> 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> 4) Use CRM web client; go to system customization area; select the object
> you want to add the custom field to and add it in using Add Field.
> 5) Use deployment manager to publish the changes to the correct web server.
> 6) use command prompt to do an IISRESET
>
> Is this the correct process?
> Ok, now here's my problem. Before doing this research, I went in to Sql
> Server and added the custom fields manually then tried to add them to the
> forms through the CRM web client. Realizing that was incorrect, I then went
> into deployment manager and added some fields through scheme manager. Then
> back to SQL server to manually delete my old columns. Needless to say, I've
> learned my lesson, don't touch CRM tables directly! always use deployment
> manager for custom fields!! Because now I can't open an Opportunity! Error
> occurs. Now, this wasn't our production environment, but it was our training
> environment. So, while it's not business critical, it is very important that
> I get this thing fixed. Any Suggestions on how fix?????
> Sorry this is so long. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
> Thanks in advance!
> --Sheckyd

RE: How to add custom field - clarification by sheckyd

sheckyd
Sun Mar 13 10:01:01 CST 2005

Thanks both goldenshine and MattNC. Ok, so no need to publish after Step 2.
And I'll be sure to watch the SQL 8K row limit. We do back up our DB's
everynight so I can probably grab Thursday nights backup and do a restore. We
also backup the XML files so I can restore there too. I should be ok.

One other quick question: For our training environment. My idea was to
backup our production site DB and restore it over the training DB each night
so training would have up to date data to use each morning. Our training (Web
and DB) is on it's own box which is in it's own domain. On co-worker says
you can't just back up the CRM DB from one box and restore it to another box
(ie production to training) and expect it to work. Something about the
security descriptors built into CRM? Is this true? If so, how do you move to
new hardware with CRM?

Thanks again for the help!
--Sean

"goldenshine" wrote:

> 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> ===No,You don't need to publish at this moment.
> The process is right.
>
> You should use SQL Server to restore your database backup. My suggestion is,
> you'd backup your database every day (at lest). If something wrong, just
> restore the database. Otherwise, I don't know what is the solution.
>
> "sheckyd" wrote:
>
> > Hello All,
> > I've just started a new job and been tossed into the Microsoft CRM world!
> > I've been asked to create a few custom fields at the Opportunity level. I've
> > been reading through these forums for a little while now and I just want to
> > verify the correct procedure for adding custom fields to CRM.
> >
> > 1) Use deployment manager -> schema manager --> select the object you want
> > to add a custom field to (in my case, Opportunity) and select add schema
> > field.
> > 2) Fill in appropriate info (ie: field name, type, etc.)
> > 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> > 4) Use CRM web client; go to system customization area; select the object
> > you want to add the custom field to and add it in using Add Field.
> > 5) Use deployment manager to publish the changes to the correct web server.
> > 6) use command prompt to do an IISRESET
> >
> > Is this the correct process?
> > Ok, now here's my problem. Before doing this research, I went in to Sql
> > Server and added the custom fields manually then tried to add them to the
> > forms through the CRM web client. Realizing that was incorrect, I then went
> > into deployment manager and added some fields through scheme manager. Then
> > back to SQL server to manually delete my old columns. Needless to say, I've
> > learned my lesson, don't touch CRM tables directly! always use deployment
> > manager for custom fields!! Because now I can't open an Opportunity! Error
> > occurs. Now, this wasn't our production environment, but it was our training
> > environment. So, while it's not business critical, it is very important that
> > I get this thing fixed. Any Suggestions on how fix?????
> > Sorry this is so long. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
> > Thanks in advance!
> > --Sheckyd

RE: How to add custom field - clarification by MattNC

MattNC
Mon Mar 14 08:03:05 CST 2005

The way to do this would be to use the Redeployment Tool available from MBS
for CRM. It's probably a little time-consuming to do everyday, but this would
let you move from one box to another.

Matt Wittemann
http://icu-mscrm.blogspot.com


"sheckyd" wrote:

> Thanks both goldenshine and MattNC. Ok, so no need to publish after Step 2.
> And I'll be sure to watch the SQL 8K row limit. We do back up our DB's
> everynight so I can probably grab Thursday nights backup and do a restore. We
> also backup the XML files so I can restore there too. I should be ok.
>
> One other quick question: For our training environment. My idea was to
> backup our production site DB and restore it over the training DB each night
> so training would have up to date data to use each morning. Our training (Web
> and DB) is on it's own box which is in it's own domain. On co-worker says
> you can't just back up the CRM DB from one box and restore it to another box
> (ie production to training) and expect it to work. Something about the
> security descriptors built into CRM? Is this true? If so, how do you move to
> new hardware with CRM?
>
> Thanks again for the help!
> --Sean
>
> "goldenshine" wrote:
>
> > 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> > ===No,You don't need to publish at this moment.
> > The process is right.
> >
> > You should use SQL Server to restore your database backup. My suggestion is,
> > you'd backup your database every day (at lest). If something wrong, just
> > restore the database. Otherwise, I don't know what is the solution.
> >
> > "sheckyd" wrote:
> >
> > > Hello All,
> > > I've just started a new job and been tossed into the Microsoft CRM world!
> > > I've been asked to create a few custom fields at the Opportunity level. I've
> > > been reading through these forums for a little while now and I just want to
> > > verify the correct procedure for adding custom fields to CRM.
> > >
> > > 1) Use deployment manager -> schema manager --> select the object you want
> > > to add a custom field to (in my case, Opportunity) and select add schema
> > > field.
> > > 2) Fill in appropriate info (ie: field name, type, etc.)
> > > 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> > > 4) Use CRM web client; go to system customization area; select the object
> > > you want to add the custom field to and add it in using Add Field.
> > > 5) Use deployment manager to publish the changes to the correct web server.
> > > 6) use command prompt to do an IISRESET
> > >
> > > Is this the correct process?
> > > Ok, now here's my problem. Before doing this research, I went in to Sql
> > > Server and added the custom fields manually then tried to add them to the
> > > forms through the CRM web client. Realizing that was incorrect, I then went
> > > into deployment manager and added some fields through scheme manager. Then
> > > back to SQL server to manually delete my old columns. Needless to say, I've
> > > learned my lesson, don't touch CRM tables directly! always use deployment
> > > manager for custom fields!! Because now I can't open an Opportunity! Error
> > > occurs. Now, this wasn't our production environment, but it was our training
> > > environment. So, while it's not business critical, it is very important that
> > > I get this thing fixed. Any Suggestions on how fix?????
> > > Sorry this is so long. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
> > > Thanks in advance!
> > > --Sheckyd

RE: How to add custom field - clarification by sheckyd

sheckyd
Mon Mar 14 09:03:03 CST 2005

Alright, I'll look into the Redeployment tool from MBS.
Thank you very much for the help MattNC, I appreciate it!
-Sean


"MattNC" wrote:

> The way to do this would be to use the Redeployment Tool available from MBS
> for CRM. It's probably a little time-consuming to do everyday, but this would
> let you move from one box to another.
>
> Matt Wittemann
> http://icu-mscrm.blogspot.com
>
>
> "sheckyd" wrote:
>
> > Thanks both goldenshine and MattNC. Ok, so no need to publish after Step 2.
> > And I'll be sure to watch the SQL 8K row limit. We do back up our DB's
> > everynight so I can probably grab Thursday nights backup and do a restore. We
> > also backup the XML files so I can restore there too. I should be ok.
> >
> > One other quick question: For our training environment. My idea was to
> > backup our production site DB and restore it over the training DB each night
> > so training would have up to date data to use each morning. Our training (Web
> > and DB) is on it's own box which is in it's own domain. On co-worker says
> > you can't just back up the CRM DB from one box and restore it to another box
> > (ie production to training) and expect it to work. Something about the
> > security descriptors built into CRM? Is this true? If so, how do you move to
> > new hardware with CRM?
> >
> > Thanks again for the help!
> > --Sean
> >
> > "goldenshine" wrote:
> >
> > > 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> > > ===No,You don't need to publish at this moment.
> > > The process is right.
> > >
> > > You should use SQL Server to restore your database backup. My suggestion is,
> > > you'd backup your database every day (at lest). If something wrong, just
> > > restore the database. Otherwise, I don't know what is the solution.
> > >
> > > "sheckyd" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello All,
> > > > I've just started a new job and been tossed into the Microsoft CRM world!
> > > > I've been asked to create a few custom fields at the Opportunity level. I've
> > > > been reading through these forums for a little while now and I just want to
> > > > verify the correct procedure for adding custom fields to CRM.
> > > >
> > > > 1) Use deployment manager -> schema manager --> select the object you want
> > > > to add a custom field to (in my case, Opportunity) and select add schema
> > > > field.
> > > > 2) Fill in appropriate info (ie: field name, type, etc.)
> > > > 3) ***Do I have to publish at this point via deploy mngr???
> > > > 4) Use CRM web client; go to system customization area; select the object
> > > > you want to add the custom field to and add it in using Add Field.
> > > > 5) Use deployment manager to publish the changes to the correct web server.
> > > > 6) use command prompt to do an IISRESET
> > > >
> > > > Is this the correct process?
> > > > Ok, now here's my problem. Before doing this research, I went in to Sql
> > > > Server and added the custom fields manually then tried to add them to the
> > > > forms through the CRM web client. Realizing that was incorrect, I then went
> > > > into deployment manager and added some fields through scheme manager. Then
> > > > back to SQL server to manually delete my old columns. Needless to say, I've
> > > > learned my lesson, don't touch CRM tables directly! always use deployment
> > > > manager for custom fields!! Because now I can't open an Opportunity! Error
> > > > occurs. Now, this wasn't our production environment, but it was our training
> > > > environment. So, while it's not business critical, it is very important that
> > > > I get this thing fixed. Any Suggestions on how fix?????
> > > > Sorry this is so long. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
> > > > Thanks in advance!
> > > > --Sheckyd