read-only objects (CRM 3)

[TracyB]

I'm building an Order workflow that's triggered by a change to Canceled
status. It generate several tasks and emails, and I need it to update a
custom date field on the order with the current date. The update entity
portion of the workflow fails because once the order is cancelled the field
is read-only. Here's the question: How to I make a specific field not
read-only once the order is cancelled?
--
Tracy Bourgoine, IT Analyst

[Dave]

Tracy,

1) If they are canceling the order by changing the status, you might
try writing onChange Javascript on that StatusCode field to update the
field with the current date. Something like:

var currentTime = new Date()
if(crmForm.all.status_reason.DataValue = '3') // or whatever your
'canceled' status code is
{
crmForm.all.new_customdatefieldname.DataValue = currentTime;
}

2) If that doesn't work, and you don't have any .Net CRM SDK
expertise, you might try this little hack of a workaround...
a) Create a new custom entity (CanceledOrders)
b) Add the custom date attribute to that entity to hold the canceled
date.
c) Create a 1:M link between Orders and CanceledOrders.
d) Write a workflow that runs on the change of the Order Status. When
canceled, Create a new CanceledOrders record.

The result will be that you can see the canceled date on the order by
clicking on the left nav bar item for Canceled Orders. (You could
also modify the Order form to show an iFrame to the Canceled Orders
associated view. This would make it look more like an order property
than having users click on the left nav bar).

One advantage is that, given than an order can be reactivated, and
canceled again, you could see each of the status code change dates
through the records on this entity.

HTH,
Dave

-------------------------------------------
David L. Carr, President
Visionary Software Consulting, Inc.
Cell: 503-351-4207
davidlcarr_no@#$%sp...@earthlink.net
http://www.vscrm.com