IE WebDeveloper

A while back I discovered a great browser add-in and development tool named IE WebDeveloper. Although there are some similar add-ins available that are free, it's worth the small price to get the extra features in this app.

Here's how I find myself using IE WebDeveloper while working on CRM 4.0 implementations:

• Get the schema name of any attribute on a form.
• Execute scripts (jscript/javascript) against the current page. Examples: fire the onLoad event for the page or onChange for any field, test your code on the live CRM form page (current DOM) before publishing it, manipulate the browser DOM interactively to test custom UI functionality, or write and run a script to list all "dirty" fields on a form.
• View the script tied to any DOM element. I use this as a quick way to view the onChange code for fields.
• Interactively change the content, attributes, and style for any DOM element. This is useful for placing custom elements on the page, such as an icon next to a field. My team did this recently to provide real-time duplicate checking for data entered into a field. Being able to place images on the form, nudge them around, etc. saved a lot of time and guesswork. (Of course, what I described was an "unsupported" customization.)
• Get the id (Guid) of an entity listed in a grid.
• Capture all window, document, and element events. I used this recently on a custom ASP.NET page (integrated into CRM) to write code to handle various mouse events.

Besides being able to easily browse up and down the page DOM, the second most useful feature of IE WebDeveloper is the ability to run scripts interactively against the current page. You can dynamically hide and show tabs, test field validation code, loop through elements to perform actions on them, and just about anything else you might need to do to interact with any screen in CRM. It really takes the guesswork out of how CRM pages are constructed and how to customize them.

As for other browser tools, I also use Instant Source for interactively browsing the page DOM and Fiddler to help with performance and troubleshooting.

Lastly, if you have a weekend (and hard drive) to fill and want to add to your development tool collection, then it's hard to find a larger collection of dev tools than Scott Hanselman's "ultimate tools" page.