Adjustment of Prefixes in XML Causes Stripped Original Display Names in CRM 4.0
Posted April 14th, 2009 / No Comments
A few days ago, I tried for the first time adjusting the prefixes of custom attributes inside of an XML customizations file. I exported the XML file, found and replaced “new_” with “ibis_,” and tried to re-import the file. When I did, the Original Display Names of some entities in the system were missing. The section where the name would be displayed was merely blank. There wasn’t really a pattern (i.e. only Custom entities), so I enlisted the help of a colleague and began to inspect the XMl file for any kind of irregularities.
After around 20 minutes of searching through the XML file, we noticed something strange. In the XML file to the right of OriginalName, there were two quotation marks side by side ” ”, with no Original Display Name in between them:
This was odd – I hadn’t made this change to the XML file.
We decided that the stripped OriginalNames between the quotations had to be the culprit. We searched through the XML file, found all of the OriginalName sections that were blank, and replaced them with the exact name of each entity. After saving and reuploading the file, the Original Display Names were back up there.
If you have encountered the same issue yourself, follow these steps in order to fix the issue:
1. Open your XML file in NotePad.
2. Select the Find option, and make sure that your cursor is at the top of the document.
3. In the Find area, type in the name of the entity your are searching for. Click Next until you find the line in the code where LocalizedName and Original Display Name and together, and the quotation marks are side by side with nothing in between them.
4. Place the cursor in between the quotation marks and type in the exact Display Name of the entity.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have found and inserted all of the missing display names.
6. Save, Close, and reupload the XML document into CRM.
