CRM 2015/CRM2013 – JavaScipt to get the current users name

This blog post will show you a quick way to get the name of the user using JavaScript.

Where you might use this functionality

This functionality is useful because you might need to update a User lookup field to a particular user in situations like

• The current user changed a key field
• The current user is primary contact for a project, account, deliverable.
• Set a text field of the users name for reporting purposes.

Why are you mentioning it

To do retrieve the current user name in CRM 2011 it took a soap call to retrieve the user name field using the Xrm.Page.context.getUserId().  Below is a blog post I wrote

CRM 2011 – Setting a user lookup with the logged in user with Javascript

There is now a much easier way to do this in CRM 2013 and CRM 2015.  I found this way whilst reading this forum post

crm 2013: javascript get attributes from other entity in Contact Form

Start with the CRM SDK

The Hosk CRM developer mantra is to always start with the CRM SDK to see what methods and functionality exists which can help.

Searching the CRM SDK first helps you see what functionality Microsoft have added, most CRM developers will be surprised the number of new methods added.

It’s very easy for developers to copy and paste existing code in projects but just because it works it doesn’t mean its the best code to use.

This is classic case, the CRM 2011 code is long and involves a soap call, the new functionality added in CRM 2013 allows you to access the data with one line.

Microsoft Client code page – Client-side context (client-side reference)

There are three useful functions about the existing user (there’s another about language but I’m not including it).

getUserId

Returns the GUID of the SystemUser.Id value for the current user.

getUserName

Returns the name of the current user.

getUserRoles

Returns an array of strings that represent the GUID values of each of the security roles that the user is associated with or any teams that the user is associated with.

 

Xrm.Page.context.getUserId()

This would get you the SystemUser.Id

Xrm.Page.context.getUserName();

This would return a text string of the user name

Setting User lookups

The common reason for retrieving the user name and the user id is because both values are needed if you want to programatically set a lookup field in CRM.

Example code is shown below

var setUservalue = new Array();
 setUservalue[0] = new Object();
 setUservalue[0].id = Xrm.Page.context.getUserId();
 setUservalue[0].entityType = 'systemuser';
setUservalue[0].name = Xrm.Page.context.getUserName();

Xrm.Page.getAttribute("LookupField").setValue(setUservalue)

Alternatives

In the requirement I was working on I used JavaScript because I needed to set a field dynamically and instantly.  Other CRM customizations may have different requirements and you could set the lookup field using a Plugin or a workflow.

What I have learnt

• Use the CRM SDK to see what functionality exists, there might be a better way
• Microsoft added a new getUserName method in CRM 2013
• You need the guid, name and entity type to set the value of a lookup field
• If you don’t need to set the lookup instantly you can use workflows or plugins
• CRM forum posts provide extremely useful information from a number of CRM developers