Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 comes with many charts out-of-box to help you visualize your data. Also, just as you can create custom system and personal views, it's also possible to create your own custom charts. You can take the visualization a step further by modifying chart XML in CRM 2013, resulting in seemingly endless possibilities.

Let's start with the basics. What can you modify in a chart?

• Colors
• Labels
• Show/Hide/Format Values
• X and Y Axis

Now we'll walk through some examples of working with a chart's XML. (The examples below will show the opportunity entity.)

How to Export a Chart's XML

1. Navigate to Opportunities and expand the Charts pane on the right-hand side.
2. Select the chart you want to modify and click the Command Bar dropdown.
3. Click Export Chart. Note that this will be for modifying personal charts.
   

   

4. Save the file.
5. Open the file in a program to edit the XML. You can use Visual Studio, but you can also use Notepad. Do not open in Excel.

For System Charts

1. Create a new solution with the entities and charts you want to modify.
2. Export the solution.
3. Open the customizations.xml file to access the chart XML.

How to Import modified Chart XML

1. Navigate to Opportunities and expand the Charts pane on the right-hand side.
2. In the Command Bar dropdown, click Import Chart.
3. Upload your saved .xml file. Note that this will create a new personal chart.

For System Charts

1. Save the changes made in the customizations.xml file
2. Import the solution with the modified xml file

Overview of the Main Parts of the XML

Between the and tags, the main elements are:

• -- This holds the FetchXML query to retrieve data for the chart. This is also where the grouping and ordering is designated. Data filters can be applied here in addition to filters defined in the view.
• -- Each series in the chart will have a . Each measurecollection maps to a designated (vertical or Y-axis)

Also note that each attribute has an 'alias' that is referenced throughout the XML.

The next important part of the XML is between the and tags. The main elements are:

• -- If it is a single-series chart, only one will be defined. Here we can modify the colors, labels, border.
• -- Defines the labeling for the Y-Axis.
• -- Defines the labeling for the X-Axis.