NAV/CRM Dynamics Connector – Error – Object reference not set to an instance of an object

I got this error today

NAV/CRM Dynamics Connector – Object reference not set to an instance of an object

this was very frustrating because I hadn’t changed anything, literately tried to turn on the connector to make some changes.

I’m not sure what had happened but the connector had got itself into a right mess.  I tried to repair it and it couldn’t write any values to the MSDI database.

It was complaining about the user privileges but the user had admin rights on the machine and the database.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling but this didn’t work at all because then the service was appearing in the list of services, the database was still dodgy.

In the end to resolve this problem I had to delete the MSDI database in SQL Server management studio.

What I surmise was the problem was the database had for some reason become corrupted and if you don’t delete the database I think it still leaves it there to use, so when I reinstalled the connector it was still using (or trying to) the corrupted database.

I did find a couple of other blog posts which put forward different answers but they seemed like more effort than deleting and starting again (make sure you back up those maps)

but I will paste them below if you need to try them

this one seems quite promising but it didn’t work for me

http://nav-connector.com/?p=88

 

http://community.dynamics.com/product/ax/axtechnical/b/axsupport/archive/2011/05/24/object-reference-not-set-to-an-instance-of-an-object-while-testing-the-settings-or-running-maps-in-the-ax-crm-connector.aspx

 

Dynamics World list of Top CRM Add on’s for 2012

Trying to find good add on’s can be quite a task and as more and more are being added all the time, it isn’t going to get any easier.

so when I saw Dynamics world had created a list of the top add on’s for 2012 (it seems a bit odd they are confident no better add on’s will be created next year).

Dynamics world has a list of Top Add on’s for all of the Dynamic products which you can view here or you can view just the CRM Top add on’s here

these are the 15 add on’s Dynamics world would recommend

 

These are the 15 Dynamics CRM Add-Ons for 2012 that Dynamics World Recommends.

Advisor Desk for Wealth Managed

ADX Studio xRM Extensions

CDM Optimize

Click Dimensions

CRM Advantage

eNumber

Global Search

Image Control

Linkpoint Vue

Mobile CRM

Powertrak

Price List Utilities

Scribe Adapter

TenDigits

Tribox & CRM Integration

CRM 4 – Ultimate Dynamics CRM Tools List

Although I have been working with CRM 2011, I  still have to work with CRM 4 projects.  It’s quite unusual now because a lot of the tools that worked in CRM 4 don’t work in CRM 2011 so you need to keep two sets of CRM tools

So today I was using the Javascript manager tool to extract the Javascript from an organisation and see what entities had Javascript.

So today I found the ultimate list of Dynamic tools for CRM 4, which you can find here

http://vidmar.net/weblog/archive/2010/05/06/ultimate-dynamics-crm-tools-list.aspx

It is a fantastic list of tools for CRM 4, one or two even work with CRM 2011

Here are my are my top five from the list.  I would also recommend looking at the blog because there are some interesting comments as well.

CrmDiagTool4 for Microsoft CRM 4.0

This tool makes starting tracing and turning on DevError for CRM really easy. You don’t need to manually edit web.config files, do it by clicking a button.

Customization Comparison Utility

This utility will do side-by-side comparison between two cusomization.xml files. Useful for documenting changes, spotting bugs and much more

CRM Trace Log Viewer

Simple but very useful tool that lets you filter and resolve users in Dynamics CRM trace files.

Form JavaScript Manager

If you do lots of JavaScript customizations, you know the editing of script is not easy within CRM. Form Javascript Manager is one way of solving those issue. It helps you with export/edit/import cycle of editing.

MS CRM Javascript Intellisense Generator

This tool will generate .js files for all entities. If you edit your JavaScript in Visual Studio, the editor can use this file for autocomplete.

 

 

 

 

Creating an xRM Portal Website

This site has a very cool Accelerator for CRM, you can see it here

Basically it quickly creates a portal and then stores all the data into CRM.  It’s like a content management system except with a lot more functionality because you can also configure security.

I think I like the idea because it’s so simple, why not store all the variables in CRM entities.

The beauty of this accelerator is you can quickly create a website and have all the pages CRM, making it easy to manage.

Here are the features

Portal & Site Management
Comprehensive Web Portal & Site Management Tools	Publishing States & Workflows URL Redirects Central Page Templates Site Settings Site Markers Website Bindings Sitemap Provider User Defined Reporting
Consistent Corporate Branding & Presentation	Page Templates Template Selector CSS Attributes
Lock-Tight Security	Web Roles Web Page Access Control Rules Website Access Permissions

 

They have some interesting demonstration videos which you can watch here

 

You can see the portal demo here

I also think they have just released this CRM portal accelerator for CRM 2011, which is good news

Microsoft CRM Add on’s and 3rd Party tools

I have been looking at Add on’s for CRM.

Here are some good links to places where you can find some good CRM add ons.  Most of these links are for CRM 4 and a lot of these might be included in CRM 2011 as standard, which is another good reason to upgrade.  but not all the features in these add on’s are included so it might be useful to check them out.

this site had some good reviews from some people on linked in, he mentioned they were willing to custormize the add on.

http://www.mscrm-addons.com

This blog is really good, the person has done a great job of keeping a list of all the Crm Add on’s he has come across

http://customery.co.uk/crm-add-ons/

Someone said aximom has a credit card solution for CRM.

http://www.axonom.com/crm_solutions/powertrak/pt_crm_overview.html

this is a good one for people who want to use CRM for a helpdesk tool

C360 ITSM including ITIL best practices for IT service desks and help desks such as incident management, configuraiton management (CMDB), and service level management (SLAs).

Someone also advised me to look at this, which sounds quite useful but I would say the person who recommended it does work at the company

Hi Ben, Take a moment to check out Akvelon’s Global Search ( http://www.akvelon.com/Products/Dynamics%20CRM%20global%20Search/default.aspx ). Global Search is essentially a search engine that searches across all entities (including custom) with one single search. You can customize what it searches, and can even search email contents. Visit the link above to try it out with the demo, or even download the free 2 week trial to test it in your own environment. Since it’s not industry specific it is quite useful for all user types.

KGPB5CZA7S52

javascript:var%20a2awp_button=’http://static.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save_256_24.png’;var%20s=document.createElement(‘script’);s.src=’http://static.addtoany.com/js/wordpress_com.js’;s.type=’text/javascript’;void(document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0].appendChild(s));