Adding An I_Frame For An N:N Relationship

by Danny Varghese 07.10.08

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I've mentioned in a previous post how to add an I_Frame to a related entity: http://crowechizek.com/cs/blogs/crm/archive/2008/03/18/adding-an-i-frame-that-contains-a-view-of-related-entity.aspx.  The steps mentioned work for any entity that has a 1:N or N:1 relationship in both CRM 3.0 and now the new CRM 4.0 (Titan).  As you all know, Titan now has the ability to create N:N relationships!  With any new feature comes some new challenges, but not to worry, you can add an I_Frame for N:N related entities.  Thanks to a user who posted a comment on my blog article, I did a little digging and found that an additional parameter is needed in the url.

The additional parameter is shown in red and has been added to the original code from my other post:

 var urlAct = ""; urlAct =  "areas.aspx?oId=" + crmFormSubmit.crmFormSubmitId.value + "&oType=" + crmFormSubmit.crmFormSubmitObjectType.value + "&security=" + crmFormSubmit.crmFormSubmitSecurity.value +"&tabSet=areaActivityHistory" + "&roleOrd=2";document.getElementById('IFRAME_History').src = urlAct;

Although I don’t have confirmation of what this parameter is, I believe it may stand for "Role Ordinal."  If you look at the definition of the word "ordinal," it means to define the order or succession of something.  This parameter appears to define which side/order of the N:N relationship to display.  In the example above, the value is "2," which represents which side of the relationship you want to view.  So if you create an N:N relationship say from the Account entity, and you're asked to fill in the "Other Entity" section, that would represent the variable "2."  Another way to look at it is, if you're on the Account form, and you want to create an I_Frame pointing to the related entity of the N:N relationship, then the "roleOrd" is 2.  The best way to find the value of this parameter is if you view the source of the page you're on, do a find for "roleOrd," and see what the value is for the related entity.

Either way, I've seen this example work.  If anyone has any comments on this parameter, please do comment.  Thank you!