Adding Textboxes to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Form

Sometimes it can be helpful to add some additional text to a form in CRM to give CRM users instructions on how to use the form.  However, CRM configuration does not give the option to insert a block of text on a form.

There are several ways to do this.  You could create an attribute and add it to the form with your text as the label.  Then, using javascript, you could hide the field while leaving the label displayed.  This is an easy way to do it, but this option does not give you very much control over the spacing, font, or colors of the text box.

Another approach is to create a custom html document with the text that you want to display and display it in an iframe.  This option is much more flexible than option 1, since you can have the text span across all columns and you can control the look and feel of the text.

Step 1:  Create a simple HTML page in your editor of choice.  If you are a HTML junkie, you can use notepad, or use Microsoft Word, Frontpage, Sharepoint Designer, or any application that create HTML documents.

Step 2:  Set your  background color and fonts to match the Microsoft CRM interface.  Download the Microsoft CRM 4.0 SDK and you can find this information in the style guide document.  For example, the web code of the background color of the CRM form is #EAF3FF. 

Step 3:  Add your text to the very top of the page and save to a folder on the CRM server

Step 4:  Create a virtual directory in IIS under the CRM web site linked to the folder that you saved the custom html document to.  See instructions here.  The only permissions necessary to grant on this virtual directory is read permission.

Update—Shai notes in the comments that If you put the html page under ISV directory you don't need to create Virtual directory.  

Step 5:  Add an IFRME to your form in CRM, and make your custom html page the URL.  If you created your virtual directory under the crm web site, you do not need to enter in the full URL in the IFRAME configuration box.  For example, instead of having to enter in http://crm:5555/test/test.html, you could just enter /isv/test.html. 

Step 6:  Disable scrolling and border.  On the Formatting tab of the IFRME configuration dialogue, set the Scrolling option to Never, and make sure that the Display border checkbox is unchecked.  This will make the textbox seamlessly appear as part of the form.

Comments

[Shai]

If you put the html page under ISV directory you don't need to create Virtual directory.

[Joel Lindstrom]

Good suggestion Shai--I updated the post.

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