D365: Retrieve, Associate, Disassociate N:N Related Records using C#

In this post, we’ll talk about an example where we need to retrieve N:N related records and code snippet for the same.

We are using ClickDimensions component in D365 for marketing purpose. We came across a requirement where we were supposed to disassociate the related records(Marketing Lists) from a record(Email Send a ClickDimensions entity) based on a condition, considering we have N:N relationship between the 2 entities Email Send and Marketing List.

Here, we have to remember 3 things in particular:

1. Primary key schema name of Email Send(cdi_emailsend) entity: cdi_emailsendid
2. Primary Key schema name of Marketing List(list) entity: listid
3. N:N relationship schema name: cdi_emailsend_suppressed_list

Here’s the code snippet to retrieve the related Marketing Lists of a particular Email Send record:

QueryExpression query = new QueryExpression("list"); //Name of the entity to be passed whose records need to be retrieved
var nIsToNRelationshipName="cdi_emailsend_suppressed_list"; //schema name of N:N relationship
query.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet(true);
var link = query.AddLink(nIsToNRelationshipName, "listid", "listid");
//Method Signature: AddLink("N:N schema name to be passed", "Primary key ID schema name of entity record to be retrieved", "schema name of attribute in the N:N relationship")
Guid emailSendID = new Guid("79121c07-220e-41ae-9710-96b880973e6c"); //sample ID of Email Send record for which we are retrieving related records
link.LinkCriteria = new FilterExpression()
{
Conditions =
{
new ConditionExpression("cdi_emailsendid", ConditionOperator.Equal, emailSendID)
// Filter condition to get related marketing lists of an Email Send record
}
};

EntityCollection collRecords = service.RetrieveMultiple(query);
if (collRecords != null && collRecords.Entities != null && collRecords.Entities.Count > 0)
{
foreach (var entity in collRecords.Entities)
{
// Do something
}
}

After retrieving the related Marketing List records, to disassociate them from the Email Send record, use the below code:

EntityCollection collRecords = service.RetrieveMultiple(query);
if (collRecords != null && collRecords.Entities != null && collRecords.Entities.Count > 0)
{
EntityReferenceCollection collection = new EntityReferenceCollection();
foreach (var entity in collRecords.Entities)
{
var reference = new EntityReference("list", entity.Id);
collection.Add(reference); //Create a collection of entity references
}
Relationship relationship = new Relationship("cdi_emailsend_suppressed_list"); //schema name of N:N relationship
service.Disassociate("cdi_emailsend", emailSendID, relationship, collection); //Pass the entity reference collections to be disassociated from the specific Email Send record
}

So, here’s the complete code for retrieving the related N:N records and disassociating them from a particular record.

QueryExpression query = new QueryExpression("list"); //Name of the entity to be passed whose records need to be retrieved
var nIsToNRelationshipName="cdi_emailsend_suppressed_list"; //schema name of N:N relationship

query.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet(true);

var link = query.AddLink(nIsToNRelationshipName, "listid", "listid");
//Method Signature: AddLink("N:N schema name to be passed", "Primary key ID schema name of entity record to be retrieved", "schema name of attribute in the N:N relationship")
Guid emailSendID = new Guid("79121c07-220e-41ae-9710-96b880973e6c"); //sample ID of Email Send record for which we are retrieving related records

link.LinkCriteria = new FilterExpression()

{ Conditions =

{

new ConditionExpression("cdi_emailsendid", ConditionOperator.Equal, emailSendID)
// Filter condition to get related marketing lists of an Email Send record

}

};

EntityCollection collRecords = service.RetrieveMultiple(query);

if (collRecords != null && collRecords.Entities != null && collRecords.Entities.Count > 0)
{
EntityReferenceCollection collection = new EntityReferenceCollection();
foreach (var entity in collRecords.Entities)
{
var reference = new EntityReference("list", entity.Id);
collection.Add(reference); //Create a collection of entity references
}
Relationship relationship = new Relationship("cdi_emailsend_suppressed_list"); //schema name of N:N relationship
service.Disassociate("cdi_emailsend", emailSendID, relationship, collection); //Pass the entity reference collections to be disassociated from the specific Email Send record
}

Also, to associate a Marketing List record to an Email Send record, we can use below sample code:

Guid marketingListID= new Guid("79abbc07-220e-41ae-9710-96b540973e6c"); //GUID of marketing list to be associated

AssociateRequest request = new AssociateRequest
{
Target = new EntityReference("cdi_emailsend", emailSendID),
RelatedEntities = new EntityReferenceCollection
{
new EntityReference("list", marketingListID)
},
Relationship = new Relationship("cdi_emailsend_suppressed_list")
};

service.Execute(request);

Hope it helps !!