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Store and use photos in CRM

  • 1.  Store and use photos in CRM

    TOP CONTRIBUTOR
    Posted 7 days ago
    Hi everyone

    We'd like to store photos against our event bookings in CRM but I haven't a clue where to start.  I've added the Image field to the custom entity and can load a photo to a booking record but then have no idea how it can be used/extracted (which is the primary purpose of storing them - for name badges).

    Ideally we'd also like to store a biog file against each record but again, I've come unstuck as I've created a new field with file type of File but can't even add it to a form.

    I really don't want to have to enable Notes but if that's what is what is required, so be it.

    Anyone with any thoughts on this please let me know.  We're on 9.2 online.

    Cheers
    Jules

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    Julia Streatfield
    CRM Business Intelligence Manager
    CBI
    London
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  • 2.  RE: Store and use photos in CRM

    Posted 6 days ago

    Hi Julia.

    Take a look at the link below at Inogic which details further what is feasible or not with images.

    https://www.inogic.com/blog/2020/04/file-and-image-type-attributes-now-supported-in-model-driven-power-apps-with-2020-release-wave-1/

    The article also explains using Power Automate to send the image as an attachment in an email which could be adapted for printing or creating a pdf ?

    Hope this helps.

    With regards





    ------------------------------
    Fayzal Balu
    The University of Manchester
    Manchester
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Store and use photos in CRM

    TOP CONTRIBUTOR
    Posted 6 days ago
    Hi Fayzal

    Thanks for the link it's a really good set of information.  Unfortunately I can't get past creating a new column Photo with data type of Image.  For some reason it always sets it as Primary Image and it isn't available to add to the form.  I'm doing it all in a solution in PowerApps and we're '2020 release wave 2 enabled' so that shouldn't be an issue.

    What am I missing :(.

    Cheers
    Jules


    ------------------------------
    Julia Streatfield
    CRM Business Intelligence Manager
    CBI
    London
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Store and use photos in CRM

    SILVER CONTRIBUTOR
    Posted 5 days ago

    Hi Julia,

    it is some time ago that I was working with pictures and I do not remember every detail I figured out at that time. The use case has been to store a bunch of product pictures on a product record. That is what I currently remember:

    • Yes, it is possible to use the photo column but as you have already observed there can only be one on an entity. I think the photo is stored as base64 encoded.
    • Alternatively, it is possible to store pictures in a text field, but it should be stored base64 encoded. Currently I do not remember how I managed the base64 encoding and decoding but I think it has been some very simple JavaScript task.
    • Yes, and finally it is a possibility to use the annotation functionality. This is what I am currently using.

    I hope this helps.

    Best Regards

    Torsten



    ------------------------------
    Torsten Harden
    Solution Architect
    Sycor-Group
    Goettingen / Germany
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Store and use photos in CRM

    TOP CONTRIBUTOR
    Posted 5 days ago
    Hi Torsten

    Thanks for the tips.  I've had a really great session with Fayzal today who has walked me through creating a custom table in which to store my pictures which I've then linked via lookup to Contact and another custom entity so thank you Fayzal for all your help.  I have managed to create a new image column in that table and can even output the file to a Word template!

    My problem now is being able to export the data into a report (preferably SSRS) rather than Word but at least I've now cleared the first hurdle.

    Cheers
    Jules

    ps see how I'm steaming into 2021 using Table and Column :)

    ------------------------------
    Julia Streatfield
    CRM Business Intelligence Manager
    CBI
    London
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Store and use photos in CRM

    GOLD CONTRIBUTOR
    Posted 4 days ago
    There's an app in Microsoft AppSource within Dynamics called PowerPhoto which creates a PowerPhoto entity and stores photos in Base64 along with the parent entity name and guid.  It provides a control which can be used on any entity form to provide a facility for the user to take and/or upload photos.  We used it in the Booking Service Booking entity to allow colleagues to take photos of work they'd done for an allocated job using the D365 app on their smartphone.

    As it was then stored as Base 64 in a separate entity, I wrote a flow which retrieved the Base64 image and the parent records which ran on a nightly basis.  It was really good!

    ------------------------------
    Stewart Tranter
    Business Systems Manager
    idverde
    Derbyshire, UK
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    Original Message


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