Allowing users to self register in Dynamics Portals

Hey Dynamics 365'ers, this is a follow-on from my previous vlog post where I showed how to enable a calendar for users on Dynamics Portals. The next step is allowing users to self register for the event they have selected from the calendar which is what I go through in this vlog.

Steps

The following is what I applied as seen in my vlog. It doesn't take that long to configure.

1. Create a custom entity for the registration

In my last vlog I showed that I used a custom entity called Event where these records were displayed in a Calendar style. This time you need another custom entity that will represent the user registrations. I created a custom entity called Event Registration and created a dedicated form for the portal. The key here is to have a lookup to the Event custom entity and a lookup to the Contact entity.

This form will be used by a Dynamics Portals Entity Form record.

2. Add the custom entity as a sub-grid

For users to be aware that they have registered for the event, I added a sub-grid to the Event form that is used by the Calendar in Dynamics Portals.

3. Create an additional Entity Form action

In the Dynamics Portal Event Entity Form record, you want to add the "Create Related Record" action and in here this is where you can select the custom entity created earlier - Event Registration, this is #1 in the screenshot below.

Next step is to define the relationship which is the Event lookup field (#2 in screenshot).

As a prerequisite to this action, you need to create a Dynamics Portals Event Registration Entity Form record that will be displayed as a modal when the user click on the Add Register button (#3 in screenshot). This is the dedicated Event Registration form for Dynamics Portals that I created in Step 1 above.

The Target Type is Entity Form (#4 in screenshot) and in the last step (#5 in screenshot) you will need to give the action a label so that it will appear as a button to the user.

4. Time to test

Clear the cache and simply click on the Register button. The modal will appear and fill in the fields before submitting the form.

5. What it looks like in Dynamics 365

The Event Registration record will be associated to the Event and the Contact. When you view the Event, you'll be able to see the associated Event Registrations. For the purpose of this vlog I navigated to the Event Registration Associated View. I didn't add a sub-grid in the Main form.

When you open the Event Registration record, you'll see the details of what the user entered through Dynamics Portals.

Summary

By using a combination of Entity List and Entity Form with an additional action, you can create a simple event self registration process. This is for a single event, this quick tip does not cater for a conference style registration process where there are parallel sessions or limited registrations per event.

As mentioned in my last vlog post, there is Marketing for Dynamics 365 which will have preconfigured event capabilities including Dynamics Portals. Currently it is in Preview mode. This option does cater for conference style events so keep your eyes posted on what's coming.

Till next time. Toodles.