MCTS: 70-573 SharePoint 2010 Application Development

On Friday 13th I was certified for SharePoint 2010 Application Development. Since every Dynamics AX Silver+ Partner need at least on SharePoint guy, I’m the one for InsideAx. I’m already experienced in maintaining SharePoint 2012 (mainly Foundation) for those of our Customers running Rolecenter in AX 2009. Furthermore I’ve upgraded and developed Enterprise Portal applications in the last two years. However, EP development and classic SharePoint development does diverge. Everybody who ever tried to modify EP using SharePoint designer knows what I’m taking about.

I don’t want to say that all the cool SharePoint features cannot be used to extend Dynamics AX (e.g. I’ve built a web based appointment app using SharePoint and its lists and calendars to visualize the schedules). All those who are now forced to get in touch with SharePoint may experience that it can be used in may cases to provide cool solutions for their customers. But I’d like Microsoft to strengthen the web / enterprise portal development aspect of Dynamics AX by extending the development course materials and provide an Enterprise Portal Certification.

SSRS: Error when opening design of duplicated report

When you duplicate an SSRS Dynamics AX 2012 report in Visual Studio, and you try to open the design node you may get an error message like “object instance not set to an object”. The reason is that the data set parameters contain the name of the report e.g. SalesQuotation. Now that you have duplicated the report its name is CopyOfSalesQuotation and the report is broken.

Compiling the report project brings up a list of errors.

Navigate to each data set parameter and change the name of the report to match the new name e.g. CopyOfSalesQuotation instead fo SalesQuotation

The fixed parameter should look like this

Finally the report designer is working

Use Fulltext Index in AX 2012 to search in RSS feeds

Here is a simple example how to use the fulltext index capability in Dynamics AX 2012. This example downloads RSS postings into a table with fulltext index and runs a query to identify those with specific words.

Create the RssFeedTable

1. Create a new String Extended Datatype called RssFeedId
2. Create a new table called RssFeedTable and add the RssFeedId, Name and Uri
3. Create a primary index based on the RssFeedId
4. Set the RssFeedTable as Reference at the RssFeedId Extended
5. Populate the table with data e.g.
   FeedId = technet
   Name = “Technet Austria”
   Uri = http://feeds.feedburner.com/TechnetTeamBlogAustria?format=xml

Create the RssContentTable

1. Create a new Table called RssContentTable
2. Add the RssFeedId, Description255 and rename it as Title and a Memo field
3. Create a fulltext index for the memo field

 

Create the RSS Reader Class in C#

1. Create a new Visual C# class library project for .NET 4.0 in Visual Studio
2. Add the project to AOT
3. Copy this code

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel.Syndication;
using System.Xml;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace ErpCoder.RssFeed
{
    public class Reader
    {
        private string xmlAddress = String.Empty;
        private IEnumerator<SyndicationItem> enumerator;

        public Reader(string address)
        {
            xmlAddress = address;
        }

        public void Load()
        {
            var reader = new XmlTextReader(xmlAddress);
            var feed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader);
            enumerator = feed.Items.GetEnumerator();
        }

        public bool Read()
        {
            return enumerator.MoveNext();
        }

        public string GetTitle()
        {
            return enumerator.Current.Title.Text;
        }

        public string GetDescription()
        {
            string text = Regex.Replace(enumerator.Current.Summary.Text,
                                         "<(.|n)*?>", String.Empty);
            return text;
        }       
    }
}

1. Set the Deployment Target at the project to Client: Yes and deploy

Populate the RssContentTable

1. Create a find method on the RssFeedTable
2. Copy this code and substitute the parameter in the find method with one of yours

static void populateFeedTable(Args _args)
{
    System.Exception ex;
    RssFeedTable feedTable = RssFeedTable::find("techat");
    RssFeedContent content; 
    ErpCoder.RssFeed.Reader reader;
    InteropPermission permission;
 
    permission = new InteropPermission(InteropKind::ClrInterop);    
    permission.assert();

    try
    {
        reader = new ErpCoder.RssFeed.Reader(feedTable.Uri);
        reader.Load();

        while(reader.Read())
        {
            content.clear();
            content.Title = reader.GetTitle();
            content.Text = reader.GetDescription();
            content.FeedId = feedTable.FeedId;
            content.insert();
        }
    }
    catch(Exception::CLRError)
    {
        ex = CLRInterop::getLastException();
        error(ex.get_Message());
    }

    CodeAccessPermission::revertAssert();
}

Create a job to test the fulltext index

1. Create a new job and copy this code
   
   

   static void queryFullText(Args _args)
   {
       RssFeedContent feedContent;
       Query query = new Query();
       QueryBuildDataSource qbdsContent =
        query.addDataSource(tableNum(RssFeedContent));
       QueryBuildRange rangeText =
        qbdsContent.addRange(fieldNum(RssFeedContent,Text),
                             1,QueryRangeType::FullText);
       QueryRun queryRun;
       rangeText.value("Office Hyper-V");

       queryRun = new QueryRun(query);
       while(queryRun.next())
       {
           feedContent = queryRun.get(tableNum(RssFeedContent));
           info(feedContent.Text);
       }
   }

2. Subsitute the value of the fulltext range value with yours
3. Test the query

@Dynamics AX Technical Conference

You can find me at the Dynamics AX Technical Conference in Nice

Extend SalesTable2Line Framework

Dynamics AX provides a Framework for updating changes made on SalesTable fields to SalesLine fields. The update method can be configured within Dynamics AX at Accounts Receivable > Setup > Parameters > Updates > “Update order Line”. This form is used to configure if and how changes made to the SalesTable are written to the lines. This framework can be extended to update your own fields, like a “Notes” field in the example below.

1. Create a new field called "SalesNotes” in the SalesTable and SalesLine
2. Add the SalesTable.SalesNotes field to the Field Group HeaderToLineUpdate at the SalesTable
   
3. Display the new fields in the SalesTable form e.g. in the General tab
4. Open the SalesTable2LineParameters table in the table browser and remove all records. Don’t worry, these data will be populated automatically and is the basis for the “Update order line” form.
5. Add the following line to the SalesTable2LineField.lineUpdateDescription method
   

   case fieldnum(SalesTable, SalesNote):
       return fieldid2pname(tableNum(SalesLine), fieldNum(SalesLine, SalesNote));

   

    

6. Add a parameter method for the SalesNote field to the AxSalesTable class
   
   

   public SalesNote parmSalesNote(SalesNote _salesNote = ”)
   {
       if (!prmisdefault(_salesNote))
       {
           this.setField(fieldnum(SalesTable, SalesNote), _salesNote);
       }

       return salesTable.SalesNote;
   }

7. Add a parameter method for the salesNote field to the AxSalesLine class
   
   

   public SalesNote parmSalesNote(SalesNote _salesNote = ”)
   {
       if (!prmisdefault(_salesNote))
       {
           this.setField(fieldnum(SalesLine, SalesNote), _salesNote);
       }

       return salesLine.SalesNote;
   }

8. Create a setSalesNote method on the AxSalesLine class
   
   

   protected void setSalesNote()
   {
       if (this.isMethodExecuted(funcname(), fieldnum(SalesLine, SalesNote)))
       {
           return;
       }

       this.setAxSalesTableFields();

       if (this.isAxSalesTableFieldsSet() || this.axSalesTable().isFieldModified(fieldnum(SalesTable, SalesNote)))
       {
           this.parmSalesNote(this.axSalesTable().parmSalesNote());
       }
   }

9. Modify the setTableFields method to call the setSalesNote method
   

Test your modification. Open the “Update order line” form and set the update method for Sales Notes to “Prompt”. Open the sales order details form, go to your new field, modify the text and save. A dialog will appear and ask your to update the Note fields. Click OK, and review the Sales Notes in the SalesLines.

Add Sound to Infolog

I’ve been asked by a colleague if it is possible to let the Infolog make a noise depending on the log type, e.g. a *beep* for an info, a *pling* for a warning and an evil noise for an error. Fortunately we can use .NET in AX 2009. The System.Media.SystemSound class already provides access to the typical system sounds. I’ve modified the Info class in AX this way:

Exception add(
    Exception _exception,
    str _txt,
    str _helpUrl = ”,
    SysInfoAction _sysInfoAction = null,
    boolean buildprefix = true)
{
    int numOfLines,i;
    int actionClassId;
    container packedAction;
    xSession session;   

    System.Media.SystemSound sound;
    InteropPermission permission;
    ;

// default infolog code here …

    permission = new InteropPermission(Interopkind::ClrInterop);
    permission.assert();
    switch(_exception)
    {
        case(Exception::Info):
        sound = System.Media.SystemSounds::get_Asterisk();
        break;
        case(Exception::Warning):
        sound = System.Media.SystemSounds::get_Hand();
        break;
        case(Exception::Error):
        sound = System.Media.SystemSounds::get_Exclamation();
        break;
    }    
    if(sound!=null)
        sound.Play();
    CodeAccessPermission::revertAssert();

    return super(_exception, (buildprefix?getprefix():”)+_txt);
}

Enterprise Portal Custom Filter Error after a short time

Again I experienced a strange behavior within Dynamics AX 2009 Enterprise Portal. I’ve created a AxGridView using an AxDataSource connected to a DataSet in Dynamics AX. The DataSet holds a setFilter method to set values on some QueryBuildRanges. Moreover I’ve create a button in my AxUserControl Webpart that invokes the setFilter method with some values.

protected void SearchButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   string value1 = TextBox1.Text;
   string value2 = TextBox2.Text;
   AxDataSourceMyTable.GetDataSet().DataSetRun.AxaptaObjectAdapter.Call  
    (“setFilter”,value1,value2);
}

public void setFilter(str _value1, str value2)
{;
   qbrSomeField.value(_value1);
   qbrAnotherField.value(_value2);
   MyTable_DS.executeQuery();
}

This implementation worked fine the first time using the webpart. However, after a very short time I got an error telling me that no Business Connector Session was found.

First I thought of some kind of timeout and played with IIS settings. But Google found this discussion where it is explained that Dynamics AX deletes the QueryBuildRange objects after a very short time, and therefore the call fails. The solution is to use SysQuery::findOrCreateRange .

public void setFilter(str _value1, str value2)
{
   QueryBuildDataSource qbds;
   ; 
   qbds = MyTable_DS.query().dataSourceTable(tableNum(MyTable))
   SysQuery::findOrCreateRange(qbds,fieldNum(MyTable,Field1)).value(_value1);
   SysQuery::findOrCreateRange(qbds,fieldNum(MyTable,Field2)).value(_value2);
   MyTable_DS.executeQuery();
}

Color Rows in Enterprise Portal AxGridView

1. Create a new display method webBackgroundColor at InventTable
   

   public display Color webBackgroundColor()
   {;
       switch(this.ItemType)
       {
           case ItemType::BOM:     return "Red";
           case ItemType::Item:    return "Green";
           case ItemType::Service: return "Blue";
           default: return "White";
       }
   }

2. Create a new Dataset and add InventTable as DataSource
3. Create or open a new Dynamcis Ax web project in Visual Studio
4. Create or open an AxWebUserControl and add an AxDataSource using InventTable data set from AX
5. Add an AxGridView and link it with the AxDataSource
6. Add webBackroungColor**, ItemId and ItemName to the grid
   
7. Select the AxGridView, change to events and modify the RowDataBound event
   

   protected void AxGridView1_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
   {
       string axColor = e.Row.Cells[0].Text.ToLower();
      
       if(axColor.Equals("red"))
           e.Row.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
       else if(axColor.Equals("green"))
           e.Row.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green;
       else if(axColor.Equals("blue"))
           e.Row.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Blue;       
   }

8. Load the user control in an enterprise portal site

Use an Extended Datatype (Color instead of str) for the display method, otherwise you may experience strange behaviour in your ASP.NET application.

Item Journal Approval Workflow

I’ve create an Item Journal Approval Workflow. It can be used to change the default order settings for a journal of items as part of a workflow. The Workflow contains three approval steps, for purchase, inventory management and sales. Each approval sets or clears the stopped flag in the default order settings in the corresponding tab.

 

Watch the Video at YouTube:

Item Journal Approval Workflow for Dynamics AX 2009

 

Download the Source at Axaptapedia

AX 2009 Database Reverse Engineering

I’ve made a video to demostrate how easy it is to reverse engineer tables from Dynamics AX 2009 Visio:

AX 2009 Database Reverse Engineering