Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team Blog: Custom workflow actions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online

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Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/...11-online.aspx
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We have received multiple questions and feedback regarding the capability of adding custom workflow activities in CRM 2011 Online and I would like to provide some responses as well as offer some guidance on how to insert custom logic to workflows in CRM 2011 Online.

Due to a technical limitation we are unable to support custom workflow activities in CRM 2011 Online. Custom workflow activities is a widely used feature and having direct support for it in Online is one of our top priorities, we are considering enabling this support in a future release.

Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that you cannot achieve having custom code that is executed as part of a workflow. There are multiple alternatives that make use of plugins combined with workflows to execute custom code asynchronously similar to custom workflow activities. I will explore one of these patterns in this article by using a real life scenario example.

Scenario: My salespersons constantly call leads to offer our products. If the lead is interested we qualify the lead (convert to account) and add it to a marketing list for prospective buyers. Otherwise we disqualify the lead. We need a call script for the salespersons which seamlessly performs the lead qualification process in the background.

Step 1: Identify which is the logic that is not supported by the CRM Workflow Designer and what inputs/outputs are required.

The only part of my workflow that requires custom code is to add members to the marketing list. Everything else can be handled by configuring a dialog using the CRM workflow designer. For my custom code I don’t need any output but I will need two input parameters: The marketing list and the account which should be added to the list.

Step 2: Create a custom entity to encapsulate the information from step 1.

I will create a custom entity called “Add to marketing list action” hidden from the sitemap. To handle the inputs/outputs it will have two lookup attributes: A marketing list and an account.

Step 3: Define the process in the workflow designer.

I will define the dialog and for the custom action, I will insert a Create step for my custom entity. In the form I will configure the inputs using form assistant:





Step 4: Write the custom code in a plugin

I have my code which I will register in a sandboxed plugin which will trigger on create of “Add To Marketing List Action”.

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