Building a Client .NET for SugarCRM

Antonio
Musarra's
Blog

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solution
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Mail:
antonio.musarra@gmail.com

Building
a
client
.NET
for
SugarCRM

During
this
article
we
will
see
how
to
make
a
.NET
client
to
access
the

information
recorded
on
the
CRM
system
and
use
the
client
as
the
basis
for
the

realization
of
a
simple
application
.NET
C#
that
is
able
to
perform
a
series
of

elementary
operations
as:
login,
create
a
new
contact
and
retrieve
data.

SugarCRM (SugarCRM Inc.)
exports
to
the
outside
of
the
interfaces
that

support
SOAP
and
REST
protocols,
through
these
interfaces
provide
access
to

data
through
a
set
of
CRUD
operations
(SugarCRM Inc.).
The
version
of

SugarCRM,
which
we
will
use,
is
the
6.1
Community
Edition
(SugarCRM Inc.).

We
use
the
SOAP
protocol
for
interaction
between
our
application
.NET
and

SugarCRM.
There
are
different
ways
to
create
a
C#
SOAP
client
can
communicate

with
a
web
service
using
.NET
Framework
(Microsoft)
(Wikipedia).

The
steps
to
follow
to
reach
our
goal
are:

• Generating
the
SOAP
client

• Compiling
a
SOAP
client,
such
as
.NET
Library
Assembly

• Create
the
application
.NET
C#

The
tools
we
use
to
complete
the
work
are:

• .NET
Framework
SDK:
Runtime
and
development
tools.
The
reference

version
used
in
this
article,
is
4.0
of
the
framework.
The
Web
services

support
is
however
also
supported
by
previous
versions
of
the

framework.

• SharpDevelop:
Open
Source
Development
Environment
for
.NET.
The

reference
version
used
in
this
article,
is
4.1 (IC#Code)

The
article
is
intended
for
an
audience
that
has
the
basic
knowledge
of

software
development
.NET
platform
and
in
particular
by
using
the
C#
language,

as
well
as
having
some
familiarity
with
the
technology
of
web
services.

The
entire
project
source
code
made
in
the
article
is
available
on
GitHub

repository
at:

https://github.com/amusarra/SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_DotNetClientLibrary

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Musarra's
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ideal
solution
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problem
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Mail:

1. The
creation
of
SOAP
Client

To
communicate
with
the
SugarCRM
web
service
you
must
create
a
proxy

class,
a
software
element
that
allows
us
to
transparently
access
the
web
service

without
worrying
about
the
way
this
is
called
and
used.
The
Proxy
class
is

derived
directly
from
the
WSDL
document
that
describes
the
web
service.

SugarCRM,
version
5.5,
introduced
support
for
versioning
to
its
API
exposed
as

REST
web
service
is
SOAP,
the
version
of
the
API
reference
is
2.1 (SugarCRM
Inc.).

Through
the
SharpDevelop
IDE,
using
the
Add
Web
Reference
feature,
the

creation
of
the
proxy
class
is
fairly
straightforward.
The
creation
of
the
proxy

class
is
an
operation
that
can
also
be
performed
using
the
SDK
tools
.NET,
in
Box

2
shows
how
to
create
and
build.

Following
a
brief
summary
of
the
tasks
that
must
run
on
SharpDevelop
to

create
our
assembly
that
will
be
used
by
the
application
.NET
C#
to
communicate

with
SugarCRM:

• Creating
a
new
Project
/
Solution

• Creating
the
Proxy
Class
through
the
Add
Web
Reference

• Building
the
Project

The
process
of
creating
the
proxy
class
requires
the
WSDL
of
the
web

service
of
SugarCRM,
the
WSDL
can
be
remote
(http
/
s)
or
local
(file
system).
In

our
case
we
will
use
an
instance
of
SugarCRM
installed
on
the
platform
PHPFog

(PHPFog)
and
can
be
reached
at
https://shirus-‐crm.phpfogapp.com.
The
figures

shown
to
follow
illustrate
some
of
the
important
phases
in
of
the
process
of

creating
the
project
of
SharpDevelop.

Figure
1
The
creation
of
new
project
as
a
Class
Library.

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The
new
project
must
be
created
using
the
Class
Library
template
and

specifying
the
profile
.NET
appropriate
(in
our
case
.NET
Client
Profile
4).
The

project
will
be
created
within
a
solution
that
will
take
the
name
specified
in
the

Solution
Name
(see
Figure
1).

Figure
2
Access
to
the
function
of
Add
Web
Reference.

Once
the
project
is
created
you
can
proceed
with
the
creation
of
the
proxy

class
using
the
Add
Web
Reference
accessible
through
the
context
menu
of
the

project.

Figure
3
Add
Web
Reference:
SugarCRM
web
service's
WSDL.

The
WSDL
document
that
describes
the
web
service
is
accessible
at

https://shirus-‐crm.phpfogapp.com/service/v2_1/soap.php?wsdl.
For
reasons
of

simplicity
I
decided
to
simplify
the
Reference
Name
and
Namespace
than
those

proposed
by
default
(see
Figure
3).
Once
downloaded
you
can
view
the
WSDL

operations
exposed
by
the
web
service
through
the
tab
"Available
Web
Services"

(see
Figure
4).

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Figure
4
Operations
exposed
by
the
web
service.

Figure
5
View
of
the
project
after
the
operation
Add
Web
Reference.

Figure
5
shows
the
result
obtained
as
the
result
of
the
Web
Reference.
The

Reference.cs
file,
contains
our
Proxy
Class.
To
complete
this
first
phase
it
only

remains
to
complete
the
project,
the
build
process
will
create
within
the
bin

directory,
the
dll
assembly.

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2. The
creation
of
the
.NET
C#
Application

Inside
the
solution
created
for
the
project
of
the
Proxy
class,
we
add
a
new

C#
project
which
we
will
call,
for
example,
SugarCRM_SOAP_Console_Client,

using
the
template
Windows
Console
(Windows
Applications
category).

Before
proceeding
further,
we
add
the
new
project,
a
reference
to

System.Web.Services
and
SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary
libraries.
The

reference
to
the
libraries
must
be
added
using
the
Add
Reference
from
the

context
menu
of
the
project
(see
Figure
6
and
Figure
7).

The
sample
application
we
are
building
must
meet
the
following
flow:

a) Log
in
to
the
specified
user;

b) Read
some
information
about
the
system;

c) Reading
for
information
about
who
is
logged
in;

d) Inserting
a
new
contact;

e) Reading
data
from
the
contact
listed
above;

f) User
logout.

Let
us
describe
briefly
what
the
Web
service
operations
that
we
must
use

in
order
to
realize
the
specified
flow
and
ways
of
using
the
application
itself.
In

Table
1
are
shown
in
order
of
the
operations
that
use.
For
more
information

about
SugarCRM
API
should
consult
the
documentation.

Figure
6
Add
Reference.

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Figure
7
List
of
references.

Order
Operations
Description

1
get_server_info
Returns
a
set
of
very
useful
information
to
identify
the

details
of
installing
SugarCRM
(example:
version,

edition,
etc
...).

2
login
Perform
the
login
process
for
the
user
specified,

returns
the
session
identifier
(SessionID).
The
value
of

the
SessionID
is
used
in
all
operations
that
require
the

identification
of
the
current
user.

3
get_user_id
Returns
the
ID
of
the
user
specifying
the
current

session.

4
set_entry
Insert
an
item
for
the
specified
module,
for
example,
a

contact,
leads,
accounts,
etc
...

5
get_entry
Returns
an
object
that
refers
to
the
specified
module.

6
logout
Current
user
logs
out.

Table
1
List
of
Web
service
operations
used
by
the
application.

Our
application
(like
Windows
Console)
will
accept
as
input
a
username
and

password,
plus
the
address
(URL)
you
wish
to
connect
SugarCRM
instance.

Usage: SugarCRMClient.exe {username} {password} [SugarCRM URL]

Listing
1
Using
the
client
SugarCRM
via
console.

The
use
of
the
client
does
not
necessarily
require
you
to
specify
the
URL
of

SugarCRM,
if
not
specified,
will
use
the
URL
from
which
you
created
the
SOAP

client
(Proxy
Class).
Listing
1
shows
how
to
use
the
command-‐line
client
and

Listing
2
shows
an
example
of
use.

SugarCRMClient.exe amusarra amusarra https://shirus-crm.phpfogapps.com

Listing
2
Example
of
client
usage.

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The
URL
must
not
be
to
the
WSDL
document
but
rather
address
the
root
of

SugarCRM,
the
application
will
then
be
responsible
to
construct
the
full
URL
of

the
API.
The
output
of
the
application
will
be
displayed
on
the
console.

Summarily
we
have
defined
the
functions
required
and
how
the
application

should
be
used,
at
this
point
we
briefly
analyze
the
code
of
our
application.
Code

blocks
are
shown
to
follow
the
flow
in
the
order
indicated
above.

// Create a new instance of SugarCRM SOAP Proxy Client
shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.sugarsoap client = new shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.sugarsoap();

if (SugarCRM_URL != null) {
client.Url = SugarCRM_URL.AbsoluteUri + "service/v2_1/soap.php";
}

/**
* Step 1) Try login to SugarCRM istance with username and password
*/

// Prepare a User Auth Object
shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.user_auth userAuthInfo = new
shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.user_auth();

userAuthInfo.user_name = sugarCRMUserName;
userAuthInfo.password = GetMD5Hash(sugarCRMPassword,false);

// Execute a login as admin
shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.entry_value userSession = client.login(userAuthInfo,
"SugarCRM Console Client 1.0.0", null);

Listing
3
Login
operation.

/**
* Step 2) Get SugarCRM Server Info
*/
Console.WriteLine("SugarCRM EndPoint URL: " + client.Url);
Console.WriteLine("SugarCRM Server Version: " + client.get_server_info().version);
Console.WriteLine("SugarCRM Server Edition: " + client.get_server_info().flavor);
Console.WriteLine("SugarCRM Server Time: " + client.get_server_info().gmt_time);

/**
* Step 3) Get logged user info
*/
String userId = client.get_user_id(userSession.id);

Console.WriteLine("Welcome Your SessionID: " + userSession.id);
Console.WriteLine("Get user data...");
Console.WriteLine("---------- BEGIN USER DATA ----------");

shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.get_entry_result_version2 userInfo =
client.get_entry(userSession.id, userSession.module_name, userId, null, null);

foreach (shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.name_value nameValue in
userInfo.entry_list[0].name_value_list) {
if (nameValue.value.Length > 0 && nameValue.name != "user_hash") {
Console.WriteLine(nameValue.name + ": " + nameValue.value);
}

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}

Console.WriteLine("---------- END USER DATA ----------");

Listing
4
SugarCRM
and
server
information
when
the
user
logged.

/**
* Step 4) Insert new contact
*/
Console.WriteLine("Try insert new Contact...");

Dictionary<string, string> contactsData = new Dictionary<string, string>();
contactsData.Add("first_name", "Antonio");
contactsData.Add("last_name","Musarra");
contactsData.Add("title", "IT Senior Consultant");
contactsData.Add("description", "Contacts created bye .NET SOAP Client");
contactsData.Add("email1","antonio.musarra@gmail.com");

shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.name_value[] name_value_list = new
shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.name_value[contactsData.Count];

int i = 0;
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> kvp in contactsData) {
name_value_list[i] = new shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.name_value();
name_value_list[i].name = kvp.Key;
name_value_list[i].value = kvp.Value;
i++;
}

shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.new_set_entry_result contactResult =
client.set_entry(userSession.id, "Contacts", name_value_list);
Console.WriteLine("New Contact as Id:" + contactResult.id);

Listing
5
Inserting
a
new
contact.

/**
* Step 5) Get My Contacts
*/
Console.WriteLine("Get data for Contacts: " + contactResult.id);
Console.WriteLine("---------- BEGIN CONTACTS DATA ----------");
shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.get_entry_result_version2 myContacts =
client.get_entry(userSession.id, "Contacts", contactResult.id, null, null);

foreach (shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com.name_value nameValue in
myContacts.entry_list[0].name_value_list) {
if (nameValue.value.Length > 0) {
Console.WriteLine(nameValue.name + ": " + nameValue.value);
}
}
Console.WriteLine("---------- END CONTACTS DATA ----------");

/**
* Step 6) Logout
*/
client.logout(userSession.id);
Console.WriteLine("User disconnected");

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Listing
6
Retrieving
contact
data,
and
user
logout.

I
remember
that
the
entire
project
is
available
on
the
public
repository

GitHub

https://github.com/amusarra/SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_DotNetClientLibrary

Figure
8
Running
the
client
SugarCRMClient
[0].

Figure
9
Running
the
client
SugarCRMClient
[1].

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Appendices

SugarCRM
on
PHPFog

The
SugarCRM
instance
to
which
we
referred
is
installed
on
the
cloud
platform

PHPFog
whose
data
access
are
as
follows:

URL:
https://shirus-‐crm.phpfogapp.com

User
Account:

• Administrator
=>
admin/admin

• User
=>
amusarra/amusarra

Box
1
Login
information
for
the
SugarCRM
instance.

The
creation
of
the
Proxy
Class
via
SDK
.NET

Through
the
web
service's
WSDL
document,
we
can
create
the
proxy
class
using

the
SDK
tools
.NET.
The
wsdl.exe
tool
allows
us
to
generate
the
proxy
class:

wsdl /language:CS /v /n:shirus.crm.phpfogapp.com /o:

SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary.cs https://shirus-
crm.phpfogapp.com/service/v2_1/soap.php?wsdl

The
language
parameter
allows
us
to
specify
one
of
the
languages
supported
by.

NET
Framework
(in
the
example
is
required
to
generate
a
C
#
class).
The
result

of
the
previous
operation
is
the
generation

SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary.cs
file,
which
contains
the
code
for
the

Proxy
Class
for
SugarCRM
SOAP
service.

At
this
point
we
just
have
to
fill
in
the
Proxy
Class,
always
using
the
SDK
.NET:

csc /t:library /out: SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary.dll
SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary.cs /r:system.dll /r:system.xml.dll
/r:system.web.services.dll

In
this
way,
we
have
compiled
the
class
as
a
class
library
(/t:
library)
indicating

the
result
of
compiling
the
assembly
SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary.dll,

and
using
the
metadata
specified
in
the
parameters
/r.
At
this
point
the
file

SugarCRM_CE_SOAP_V21_ClientLibrary.dll,
can
be
used
as
a
library
from.
NET

applications.

Box
2
Creating
the
Proxy
Class
via
the
SDK.
NET.

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Bibliography

Antonio
Musarra's
Blog.
«PHP
Application
on
the
Cloud.»
30
August
2011.

Antonio
Musarra's
Blog.
Antonio
Musarra.

<http://musarra.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/php-‐application-‐on-‐the-‐cloud/>.

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practices
for
Web
services
versioning.»
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Jan
2004.
IBM

DeveloperWorks.
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Ellis
(msellis@ca.ibm.com)
Kyle
Brown

(brownkyl@us.ibm.com).

<http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-‐version/>.

IC#Code.
«SharpDevelop.»
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IC#Code.

<http://sharpdevelop.net/OpenSource/SD/>.

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Framework.»
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MSDN.
Microsoft.

<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-‐en/netframework>.

—.
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of
Service
Design:
Service
Versioning
.»
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2005.
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Evdemon.
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-‐
us/library/ms954726.aspx>.

PHPFog.
«Rock-‐solid
Cloud
Platform
for
PHP.»
August
2010.
Rock-‐solid
Cloud

Platform
for
PHP.
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Carlson.
<https://www.phpfog.com/>.

SOA
World
Magazine.
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Strategies
for
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5
April

2004.
SOA
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Anagol-‐Subbarao
Chris
Peltz.
<http://soa.sys-‐
con.com/node/44356>.

SugarCRM
Inc.
«Sugar
Community
Edition
Documentation.»
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Sugar

Community
Edition
Documentation.
SugarCRM
Inc.

<http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/support/documentation/SugarCommunityEdi
tion/6.1/-‐docs-‐Developer_Guides-‐Sugar_Developer_Guide_6.1.0-‐
Chapter%202%20Application%20Framework.html#9000244>.

—.
«Sugar
Community
Edition
Documentation.»
2010.
Sugar
Community
Edition

Documentation
|
SugarCRM
-‐
Commercial
Open
Source
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The
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Mail:

Wikipedia.
«.NET
Framework.»
15
July
2011.
Wikipedia
-‐
The
Free
Encyclopedia.

Wikipedia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework>.

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Building a Client .NET for SugarCRM

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