Creating Incident using Xrm.WebApi.createRecord fails if you don't do an alert() first

Question

I have a small method that creates an Incident record using Xrm.WebApi.createRecord

function createChangeRequest(emailData) {
var createRequestObj = null;

try {
    //create CR object
    createRequestObj = new Object();
    createRequestObj.title = emailData.name;
    createRequestObj.description = emailData.description;

    var senderId = emailData.senderId.replace('{', '').replace('}', '');
    var account = "";

    if (emailData.senderEntity == 'contact') {
        try {
            //alert(senderId);
            Xrm.WebApi.retrieveRecord("contact", senderId, "$select=fullname&$expand=parentcustomerid_account($select=accountid,name)")
                .then(function (data) {
                    if (data.parentcustomerid_account.accountid != null) {
                        //alert(data.parentcustomerid_account.accountid);
                        account = data.parentcustomerid_account.accountid;

                        //set the lookup value
                        createRequestObj["customerid_account@odata.bind"] = "/accounts(" + account.toUpperCase() + ")";
                    }
                },
                    function (error) {
                        Xrm.Utility.alertDialog(error.message);
                    });
        } catch (e) {
            Xrm.Utility.alertDialog(e.message);
        }

        //set the lookup value
        createRequestObj["primarycontactid@odata.bind"] = "/contacts(" + senderId + ")";
    }
    else if (emailData.senderEntity == 'account') {
        //set the lookup value
        createRequestObj["customerid_account@odata.bind"] = "/accounts(" + senderId + ")";
    }

alert('wibble');

    Xrm.WebApi.createRecord("incident", createRequestObj).then(function (result) {           
        //get the guid of created record
        var recordId = result.id;

        //below code is used to open the created record
        var windowOptions = {
            openInNewWindow: false
        };
        //check if XRM.Utility is not null
        if (Xrm.Utility != null) {
            //open the entity record
            Xrm.Utility.openEntityForm("incident", recordId, null, windowOptions);
        }
    },
    function (error) {
        Xrm.Utility.alertDialog('Create error - ' + error.message);
    });
}
catch (e) {
    Xrm.Utility.alertDialog('General Error - ' + e.message);
}
}

This works as expected, however if I remove or comment out the alert('wibble'); it follows the error callback and gives the message 'Create error - An unexpected error occurred'

I don't not know why this is, or see any reason the short delay caused by the user clicking OK should make it work.

Answer 1

That could be because of Asynchronous behavior of Xrm.WebApi methods. The promise object that returned by this call has to run in browser on its own convenience :)

Move the Xrm.WebApi.createRecord line inside success callback of Xrm.WebApi.retrieveRecord like below:

Xrm.WebApi.retrieveRecord("contact", senderId, "$select=fullname&$expand=parentcustomerid_account($select=accountid,name)")
            .then(function (data) {
                if (data.parentcustomerid_account.accountid != null) {
                    //alert(data.parentcustomerid_account.accountid);
                    account = data.parentcustomerid_account.accountid;

                    //set the lookup value
                    createRequestObj["customerid_account@odata.bind"] = "/accounts(" + account.toUpperCase() + ")";

                    Xrm.WebApi.createRecord("incident", createRequestObj).then(function (result) {           
                        //get the guid of created record
                        var recordId = result.id;

                       //below code is used to open the created record
                       var windowOptions = {
                           openInNewWindow: false
                       };
                       //check if XRM.Utility is not null
                       if (Xrm.Utility != null) {
                           //open the entity record
                           Xrm.Utility.openEntityForm("incident", recordId, null, windowOptions);
                       }
                   },
                   function (error) {
                       Xrm.Utility.alertDialog('Create error - ' + error.message);
                   });

                 }
                },
                function (error) {
                    Xrm.Utility.alertDialog(error.message);
                });