Dynamically update or assign the owner of an entity in MS CRM 4.0

In general we use the Update method to update the fields in MSCRM. But, we cannot update the owner of an entity using update method. To update the owner, we have to make use of AssignRequest.

AssignRequest req = new AssignRequest();

SecurityPrincipal assignee = new SecurityPrincipal();

assignee.Type = SecurityPrincipalType.User; //User or Queue

assignee.PrincipalId = ownerID; //crm userid to whom we assign 

// Request changes depending on the entity. For account, it is TargetOwnedAccount

TargetOwnedLead target = new TargetOwnedLead(); 

target.EntityId = leadID; //Id of the lead record whose owner has to be updated

req.Assignee = assignee;

req.Target = target;

_service.Execute(req); //_service is the crm service