Updating Different CRM Data Types with PowerShell

In my introductory post on updating Dynamics CRM records with PowerShell here I walked through the simplest example of how to update a text field.  If you're new here please refer to that post as it also contains other important building blocks for accessing the CRM API with PowerShell.  Please get familiar with the structure of the script there.  In this post I'll show how to update additional field types.  CRM treats certain field as simple data types, but others are entered as objects and require some additional coding.

Again, I'm using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and PowerShell version 3, but this code should work on most, if not all versions.

Using this post as a template, the code in each of the following sections should go in SECTION 6 of the script.  Each field you want to update on the CRM record will need one of these lines configured for your specific field.

Text Fields
# Nothing special here.  Just set the value with a string.  
$recordToUpdate["mytextfield"] = "My New Text"

Numeric Fields
# Similar to text, but sometimes I've needed to precede the value with the data type.  This may or may not be necessary depending on where the data is coming from.  
$recordToUpdate["mynumberfield"] = [decimal]25

Boolean (Two Options)
# Set the value of a boolean field with system variables ($true or $false) or system values (1 or 2)
$recordToUpdate["myboolfield"] = $true

Date/Time fields
# CRM accepts date fields as a string as long as it's formatted correctly.  I'm in the US, so for me it's [MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS].  
$recordToUpdate["mydatefield"] = "01/01/1900 00:00:00"

Currency 
# Store a new Money object in a variable and add the value in the ArgumentList parameter.
$priceCurrency = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Money -ArgumentList 25

# Set the field value to the Money variable as follows
$recordToUpdate["mycurrencyfield"] = [Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Money] $priceCurrency

Option Sets 
# Store a new OptionSeValue object in a variable and add the value in the ArgumentList parameter.
$optionSetValue = New-Object -TypeName  Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue -ArgumentList 100000

# Set the field value to the OptionSetValue variable as follows
$recordToUpdate["myoptionsetfield"]= [Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.OptionSetValue] $optionSetValue 

In a future post I will show how to update lookup fields and append records through the API with PowerShell.