ADFS (CRM 2011) - Authentication Issue in Microsoft Outlook Client for CRM (Response.Redirect(...) & Window.Open(...))

Question

Before I start, our customers have to connect through AFDS to be able to go on the CRM 2011. So we are talking about an “IFD”-environment.

I’m having a problem when using the “CRM 2011 Outlook Client” and the “Window.Open(…)”-JS function. When they hit a button in the CRM 2011 an ASPX-page fires up and does some stuff with an attachment in the e-mail. It then creates successfully a contact and then afterwards it should redirect to that “Contact”-page. But each time I do a redirect to a “CRM 2011”-page, the user is prompt for his credentials. That’s because the “Window.Open(…)” opens the screen in an new “Browser”-screen and the authentication is lost (because we come from the outlook client).

The above scenario works fine when using the “Web”-based CRM 2011, because you need first to login via ADFS.

Have some of you encountered the above problem and have a great solution to this?

Is there a way to do a “Window.Open(…)” and stay in an “Outlook”-screen? The same as you should double-click a contact in the “CRM 2011 Outlook Client”?
Is there a way while doing a “Redirect”, I can automatically give the credentials to the page, so that it will page will be opened without that the user himself need to enter his credentials? I’ve read something about SignInRequestMessage and FederatedAuthentication, but no clear examples were shown to do this.

I’m hoping that you guys can help me out. At my side, if I find any resolution, I will come back here!

Kind Regards, Frederic

I have an answer for this... I need to dig it up. Check back again around 10:00a EST tomorrow. the short answer is "dont use window.open", I have the correct CRM JS call to enable you to open the contact without the auth drama... stay tuned — Glenn Ferrie
It would be great if you could share that answer :) This would solve a lot of our problems ;) — Freeetje

Glenn Ferrie Glenn Ferrie · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-23T23:08:09

OK. This is from one of the MS presenters from the ExtremeCRM conference.

The CRM function call is: openObj(entityId, type).

I am a team leads and I had one of my team execute the implementation, but my understanding is that the call would be something like...

openObj('GuidGoesHere', 'account');

One thing to consider is that this will work in your standard client script scenario, however if you require this functionality from within a custom dialog / html resource you may need to add a reference to the appropriate JS reference depending on where in the baseline JS libraries that function resides.

I can dig deeper if you cannot get it working right away. Youd can use various browser dev tools to explore pages and see which JS resources are loaded on the page as well as debug.

Hope this helps!

ADFS (CRM 2011) - Authentication Issue in Microsoft Outlook Client for CRM (Response.Redirect(...) & Window.Open(...))

2 Answers