using Alias in MS CRM

When we are retrieving linked entity related information using FetchXML or Query expression we are using alias attribute to identify the linked entity attributes. Alias name is prefixed to all linked entity attributes.

Below code snippet will give more information on how to use alias in FetchXML.

string fetchXML = @"<fetch version='1.0' output-format='xml-platform' mapping='logical' distinct='false'>

                                  <entity name='contact'>

                                    <attribute name='fullname' />

                                    <attribute name='telephone1' />

                                    <attribute name='contactid' />

                                    <attribute name='middlename' />

                                    <attribute name='lastname' />

                                    <attribute name='firstname' />

                                    <order attribute='fullname' descending='false' />

                                    <link-entity name='account' from='accountid' to='parentcustomerid' visible='false' link-type='outer' alias='AliasAccountName'>

                                      <attribute name='donotphone' />

                                      <attribute name='accountclassificationcode' />

                                      <attribute name='createdon' />

                                      <attribute name='crisp_balance' />

                                    </link-entity>

                                  </entity>

                                </fetch>

                                ";

 FetchExpression fetchExpression = new FetchExpression(fetchXML);

 EntityCollection fetchCollection = service.RetrieveMultiple(fetchExpression);

Here “service” is an organization service. Click here for more information on how to create organization service

After you run above fetchxml, the way we are reading account related attributes are bit different than customer related attributes.

Reading alias values for different datatypes:

OptionSet Value:

int aliasOptionsetValue = ((OptionSetValue)((AliasedValue)fetchCollection.Entities[0].Attributes["AliasAccountName .new_status"]).Value).Value;

Lookup:

Guid aliasstateGuid = ((EntityReference)fetchCollection.Entities[0].Attributes["AliasAccountName.crisp_state"]).Id;

string aliasstateName = ((EntityReference)fetchCollection.Entities[0].Attributes["AliasAccountName.crisp_state"]).Name

Money:

decimal aliasamt = ((Money)fetchCollection.Entities[0].Attributes["AliasAccountName.new_balance"]).Value;

Boolean:

bool aliasisactive = Convert.ToBoolean(fetchCollection.Entities[0].Attributes["AliasAccountName.new_isactive"]);

String:

string aliasString = ((AliasedValue)fetchCollection.Entities[0].Attributes["AliasAccountName.new_name"]).Value.ToString();





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