CRM 2011: change format of textfield to hyperlink

A customer asked me to change a single line text field to a hyperlink. As we know or as you have found out. It’s not possible to change the formatting of fields. Personally I think this is something which should be available. Maybe something for the next Dynamics CRM release?

Anyway, I had some options

1) Create a new field with hyperlink formatting, make sure the data is copied from the old field to the new, delete the old field  -> Too much work

2) Create a new field with hyperlink formatting, create a jscript that copies over the data –> Not too much work, but there has to be something else, right?

After some googling I found this URL: http://mscrmkb.blogspot.be/2012/01/convert-text-field-to-link-button-to.html (ALL the credits go to this person, this blogpost is more like a personal note).

This script will convert your field to a link button, how cool is that? Here is the script I used:

function ConvertToLink(fldName) {
    if(Xrm.Page.getAttribute(fldName).getValue()!=null)
    {
        var content = Xrm.Page.getAttribute(fldName).getValue();
        var btn = "<a href='javascript: void(0);' onclick=\"window.open(\'"+content+"',
        \'windowname1\', \'width=600, height=650\');  return false;\" style='color:blue;text-decoration:
        underline !important'>"+content+"</a>";
        var ctrl = Xrm.Page.ui.controls.get(fldName)._control;
        // Add the new button 
        ctrl.get_element().innerHTML += btn;
        // Hide the textbox 
        ctrl.get_element().firstChild.style.display = 'none';
    }
}