Business Unit Id cannot be set to null error trying to create equipment record

Question

I was trying to create a facility/equipment with the following code, but i'm getting an error saying "business unit id cannot be set to NULL"

I have only one business Unit created in my crm 2016 Here is my code:

string fetchBU = @"<fetch version='1.0' output-format='xml-platform' mapping='logical' distinct='false'>
                                  <entity name='businessunit'>
                                    <attribute name='name' />
                                    <attribute name='address1_telephone1' />
                                    <attribute name='websiteurl' />
                                    <attribute name='parentbusinessunitid' />
                                    <attribute name='businessunitid' />
                                    <order attribute='name' descending='false' />
                                  </entity>
                                </fetch>";

EntityCollection resultequipments = _orgService.RetrieveMultiple(new FetchExpression(fetchBU));

if (resultequipments.Entities.Count > 0)
{
    Guid BuId;
    BuId = (Guid)resultequipments.Entities[0]["businessunitid"];
    Entity equipment = new Entity("equipment");
    equipment["name"] = "test";
    equipment["businessunitid"] = BuId;
    _orgService.Create(equipment);
    Console.WriteLine("Facility successfully created");
}

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The businessunitid attribute in your query result is a primary key, i.e. Guid type.

The businessunitid attribute in an equipment entity is a lookup, which is represented by an EntityReference object.

You cannot assign a Guid to an EntityReference attribute. Modify your code similar to this:

EntityCollection businessUnits = _orgService.RetrieveMultiple(new FetchExpression(fetchBU));

if (businessUnits.Entities.Count > 0)
{
    Entity equipment = new Entity("equipment");
    equipment["name"] = "test";
    equipment["businessunitid"] = new EntityReference("businessunit", businessUnits.Entities[0].Id);
    _orgService.Create(equipment);
    Console.WriteLine("Facility successfully created");
}