Save to Dynamics Submit Action

Owned by Karl Tompson
Last updated: Jul 27, 2022
3 min read

The Save to Dynamics Submit Action is provided by a default S4D installation and allows the mapping and sending of form submission data to Dynamics 365 entities.

Connection and Entity

The names and domains of all configured S4D connection strings are shown in the Connection list. Selecting a Connection performs a metadata lookup of all available entities for the relevant Dynamics 365 instance, and populates the Entity list. Note: some system entities are hidden to reduce the size of the list.

Once an entity is selected the available fields are populated from metadata and the form field mapping may be configured.

Field mapping

Configure any number of mappings from form fields to Dynamics 365 entity fields. The same form field may be mapped to multiple entity fields if desired.

Additional options:

  • Do not overwrite: If updating an existing Dynamics 365 entity and the field already has a value, the form field value will not overwrite it.

  • Matching rule: Used to find an existing Dynamics 365 entity to update, instead of creating a new one. Specify one or more fields that must match. If an entity is found with the same field values then it will be updated, otherwise, a new entity will be created. If no fields are flagged with the matching rule then a new entity will always be created.

  • Attach files as Notes: this field appears when file upload files exist on the form, and Notes attachments are supported by the selected entity. Check to upload the file(s) to Dynamics 365 as Notes.

Sitecore Analytics

The checkbox is disabled for now as this feature isn’t quite ready but watch this space!

S4D will attempt to add or update the S4D facet on the current xDB Contact. This facet contains a reference to all relevant Dynamics 365 entities created or updated via the Save to Dynamics form Submit Action.

Optional Setting: Store saved entity key in form field

If you select a form field, the key value (for example, leadid) of any Dynamics 365 entity created or updated successfully will be returned and placed into this field. Usually, a hidden field would be used to hide this information from the website visitor.

This allows further Submit Actions to reference the relevant Dynamics 365 entity, e.g.:

  • Save Data to Sitecore

  • Chain additional Save to Dynamics Submit Actions. For example, the first might create a lead and return the key value, which could then be used by a second action to create a task that references the lead

  • Redirect to Url with parameters. For example, the visitor could be sent to a page with custom code that updates email preferences for a Dynamics 365 contact immediately after creating one via a form submission

Optional Setting: Add to Marketing Lists

If the mapped entity, e.g. lead or contact, supports an association with Marketing Lists, S4D will add the submitted entity to the chosen list(s) in Dynamics 365.

Optional Setting: Abort form submission if Save To Dynamics fails

If this box is checked and the Save To Dynamics submit action fails, the form submission will be aborted. This means that any subsequent submit actions will not run.

Testing and development

S4D includes significant debug logging output to help troubleshoot problems. Error emails also provide detailed information about specific submission failures.