Adding Custom Button in MsCrm 2011

Suppose we want to add a button next to “Save & Close” button in Account Entity’s form.

To do that we need to define a CustomAction child element to CustomActions element within RibbonDiffXml.

Export the solution containing the account entity.

Attributes for CustomAction are

ID- Give it any unique id.

Location- For defining location we first need to find out the id for Save group within the MainTab of the form and then append _children to it.

_children needs to be defined to add a custom button to an existing group.

Open the accountribbon.xml file within

.. sdk\samplecode\cs\client\ribbon\exportribbonxml\exportedribbonxml\

There we can find the following info.

<Groups Id=”Mscrm.Form.account.MainTab.Groups“>


<Group Id=”Mscrm.Form.account.MainTab.Save“ Command=”Mscrm.Enabled“ Sequence=”10“ Title=”$Resources:Ribbon.Form.MainTab.Save“ Image32by32Popup=”/_imgs/ribbon/save32.png“ Template=”Mscrm.Templates.Flexible2“>


<Controls Id=”Mscrm.Form.account.MainTab.Save.Controls“>


<Button Id=”Mscrm.Form.account.SaveAsComplete“ ToolTipTitle=”$Resources:Ribbon.Form.MainTab.Save.SaveAsComplete“ ToolTipDescription=”$Resources(EntityDisplayName):Ribbon.Tooltip.SaveAsComplete“ Command=”Mscrm.SavePrimaryActivityAsComplete“ Sequence=”10“ LabelText=”$Resources:Ribbon.Form.MainTab.Save.SaveAsComplete“ Alt=”$Resources:Ribbon.Form.MainTab.Save.SaveAsComplete“ Image16by16=”/_imgs/ribbon/SaveAsCompleted_16.png“ Image32by32=”/_imgs/ribbon/SaveAsCompleted_32.png“ TemplateAlias=”o1“
/>

Sequence : For sequence first find out the sequence defined for Save & Close button.
<Button Id=”Mscrm.Form.account.SaveAndClose“ ToolTipTitle=”$Resources:Mscrm_Form_Other_MainTab_Save_SaveAndClose_ToolTipTitle“ ToolTipDescription=”$Resources(EntityDisplayName):Ribbon.Tooltip.SaveAndClose“ Command=”Mscrm.SaveAndClosePrimary“
Sequence=”30″
LabelText=”$Resources:Ribbon.Form.MainTab.Save.SaveAndClose“ Alt=”$Resources:Ribbon.Form.MainTab.Save.SaveAndClose“ Image16by16=”/_imgs/ribbon/saveandclose16.png“ Image32by32=”/_imgs/ribbon/saveandclose32.png“ TemplateAlias=”o1“
/>

So now our CustomAction should look like this
<CustomAction Id=”CA_MyFirstButton“ Location=”Mscrm.Form.account.MainTab.Save.Controls._children“ Sequence=”31“>

Now we next need to define CommandUIDefinition and Button child element to our CustomAction
<CommandUIDefinition>

<Button
Id=“B_MyFirstButton“


LabelText=“My First Button“


ToolTipTitle=“My First Button Tool Tip Title“


ToolTipDescription=“My First Button Tool Tip Description“


TemplateAlias=“o1“


Image16by16=“/_imgs/ribbon/saveandclose16.png“


Image32by32=“/_imgs/ribbon/saveandclose32.png“

/>

</CommandUIDefinition>

Here we are using the existing icon of Save and Close button.
Save the file, zip it as a part of the solution and import and publish it.

Final definition should look something like this. 

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<RibbonDiffXml> <CustomActions> <CustomAction  Id="CA_MyFirstButton"  Location="Mscrm.Form.account.MainTab.Save.Controls._children"  Sequence="31"> <CommandUIDefinition> <Button  Id="B_MyFirstButton"  LabelText="My First Button"  ToolTipTitle="My First Button Tool Tip Title"  ToolTipDescription="My First Button Tool Tip Description"  TemplateAlias="o1"  Image16by16="/_imgs/ribbon/saveandclose16.png"  Image32by32="/_imgs/ribbon/saveandclose32.png"/> </CommandUIDefinition> </CustomAction> </CustomActions> <Templates> <RibbonTemplates  Id="Mscrm.Templates"/> </Templates> <CommandDefinitions/> <RuleDefinitions> <TabDisplayRules/> <DisplayRules/> <EnableRules/> </RuleDefinitions> <LocLabels/> </RibbonDiffXml>