Calculate the remaining characters on the description field

Warning: this type of customization is not supported by Microsoft therefore use it at your own risks!

My client asked me if it was possible to get a “counter” on how many characters you could enter when updating the description field on an activity such as a task, a phone call, and so on.

I said “Of course it’s possible but it is not supported by Microsoft and it involves some JavaScript too”.

OK, it might not be deployed over here because of these 2 statements but still, I’m showing you how to do deal with this kind of request:

1. Pick the entity you want to modify (in this case a phone call) and create a new attribute called “Remaining char.” (or “Car. restants” in French)
   • Type: int
   • Searchable: No
2. Modify your form to add the newly created attribute
   • For more convenience, put the new attribute in ‘read-only’ mode
3. Open the form’s properties and in the ‘onLoad’ event, place the following JavaScript code (do not forget to enable the event )

   var CRM_FORM_TYPE_CREATE = 1;
   var CRM_FORM_TYPE_UPDATE = 2;
   var oDescription = crmForm.all.description;
   var oChar = crmForm.all.new_textsize;
   
   function CalculateRemainingChar()
   {
       oChar.DataValue = oDescription.MaxLength;
   
       if (oDescription.DataValue == null)
       {
           oChar.DataValue = oDescription.MaxLength;
       }
       else
       {
           oChar.DataValue = oDescription.MaxLength - oDescription.DataValue.length;
       }
   }
   
   switch (crmForm.FormType)
   {
       case CRM_FORM_TYPE_CREATE:
           oChar.DataValue = oDescription.MaxLength;
           break;
       case CRM_FORM_TYPE_UPDATE:            
           CalculateRemainingChar();
           break;
   }
   
   crmForm.all.description.attachEvent('onkeyup', CalculateRemainingChar);

4. Save and publish your customization, then test it!

As always, this code is provided as-is and is not intended to be used in a production environment unless it is thoroughly tested and validated!