It is true that an image can speak a thousand words. In Field Service for Microsoft Dynamics CRM by default we can’t see the entity images but they are simple to add. In this post I will explain how.

By way of an example I will show you how to add the entity image on contacts but this could be useful on many entities within Field Service. For example, showing a picture of products could be very useful.

Below I’ve shown the out of the box contact view. Notice that no images are included and also that email address is way out on the right hand side. I don’t like that position so I will also show you how to move it.

First of all you will need to load your field service project in Resco MobileCRM Woodford. If you haven’t already downloaded and installed the Woodford client, then you will need to do that first of all. You can find instructions here. Open Woodford and select the Field Service Project.

Tip:
If you are going to make any amount of changes it will probably be best to clone the default application and then make changes in a copy. (So you can revert if required.)

Once the project has been opened, go to entities and scroll down to find the contact entity. (Or whichever entity you want to add images into.) The first thing you will need to do is enable the entity image for contact under “Fields”.

To do this simply select the Fields option, scroll down to the “Entity Image” field and tick it. Then save your change.

Now the entity image has been enabled you are ready to alter the view. So again under contact in entities select the view option. I am going to select the Default public view and change that. On some entities you may have multiple views or you may wish to create a custom view and only show images when a particular view is selected.

Tip: Now you have the entity image available you can also add it to forms as required!

Initially the default public view will appear as shown below. It simply includes name, phone number and email. At this point you could change the fields displayed but I am going to stick with these.

To add the entity image into the view select “Add Image” and then select “ListEntityImage”.

Tip:
If the option isn’t available then you will have probably missed the first step I explained to add the entity image!

After you have added the entity image the image will be added to the right hand side of the view. Its position is perfect for my needs but you will notice that it overlaps the name and phone number.

To tidy this up select each field in turn.

Then in properties change the width property to make the fields a smaller more manageable size.

Having done that you can also drag the fields on the view until your view looks something like the one I have shown below. You may have to experiment with this is little until you get the perfect layout for your needs.

Remember I mentioned I didn’t like the fact that my email address field was showing on the far right hand side? Clicking on the email field will show two solid blue traingles. These show the anchor or alignment for my email. The one on the right being selected suggests this field is right set.

To alter the email field to be right set you use the anchor option in the properties. See below that I changed it from having the right box selected to being the left. Simples! J

Finally I will need to save my change and publish it. So first select save & close.

Then back on the project select publish all.

Tip: You may need to change the version to whatever works for you. In my case the latest version was 9.1 but I needed to publish at version 8.3.

Finally, in the mobile application you will need to download the revised application. Next time you sync it will be downloaded. Sometimes you seem to be able to just sync other times a download icon will show and you will also need to select that.

You will get a prompt when a new version of the application has been downloaded. As shown below.

And my contact list now looks like this, complete with a better layout and a really nice photo. J

I hope this post has been useful. I have found enabling pictures on accounts, contacts, products and customer equipment has really added to the usability of the mobile application.