Kamal's space: Ax Technical

Using record templates in code for Dynamics Ax 4.0.

Sat, 10 May 2008 14:07:23 GMT

This article deals with defaulting values from record templates through code in Dynamics Ax 4.0.

Whenever you creat a new record in the Item form, a small form opens up showing up the templates. You can choose one of the templates from which you want to the basic values like "Item Group", "Dimension Group" to be copied.(Provided you have setup a template for that table).

This comes handy to create new records further as most of the value is drawn from the template record itself. You can harness this when you do it through code also :) .... The following lines will throw light on how to do it.

1. Assume that you have the template name, then all that you need is to create a new record based on the template.
These three lines will do the job...

    sysRecordTemplate = SysRecordTemplate::newCommon(inventTable); 
    sysRecordTemplate.parmForceCompanyTemplate('Feed'); //Template name as string
    sysRecordTemplate.createRecord();

There are two kind of templates one common for the entire company and the other for specific user. In my example i have taken the company template, for the simple reason that it is valid across all accounts.

2. The above code pressumes that you might know the template name in prior. Sometimes you may want to give user a option of telling what template he wants to use. In that case we may need to create a template for him.

Here is the code that will enable the lookup and validate the selection. Bind these methods to the control where the user selects.

//Call this method in the init method of form
SysRecordTmpTemplate VCTInitItemTemplates()
{
    Container               recordValues;
    ;

    recordValues = SysRecordTemplateTable::find(tablenum(inventTable)).Data;
    recordValues =  condel(recordValues,1,1);
    //tmp1 - Global variable for lookup    
    SysRecordTmpTemplate::insertContainer(tablenum(inventTable), tmp1, recordValues, SysRecordTemplateType::Company, true);
    //tmp2 - Global variable for validation
    SysRecordTmpTemplate::insertContainer(tablenum(inventTable), tmp2, recordValues, SysRecordTemplateType::Company, true);
    return tmp;
}


//Override the lookup method
public void lookup()
{
    SysTableLookup          sysTableLookup;
    SysRecordTmpTemplate    tmp;
    Container               recordValues;
    ;

    super();
   
    sysTableLookup = SysTableLookup::newParameters(tablenum(SysRecordTmpTemplate), this);

    //Add the fields to be shown in the lookup form
    sysTableLookup.addLookupfield(fieldnum(SysRecordTmpTemplate, Description), true);

    sysTableLookup.parmUseLookupValue(false);
    sysTableLookup.parmTmpBuffer(tmp2);
    // Perform lookup
    sysTableLookup.performFormLookup();
}

//Override the modified method
public boolean modified()
{
    boolean                 ret;
    SysRecordTmpTemplate    tmp;
    container               recordValues;
    ;

    ret = super();

    select firstonly tmp2 where tmp2.Description == this.valueStr();

    if (!tmp2 && this.valueStr())
    {
        this.text('');
        warning ('Invalid selection.');
        return false;
    }

    return ret;
}

This also helps you learn usage of temporary tables for lookup's. The following line enables lookups through temporary table.

sysTableLookup.parmTmpBuffer(tmp2);

Hope now you can implement a full fledged code that will create it's record from an pre exisiting template.

----------- any template for codes where i can just get all the code that i want

Missing Dll for "Autozip for Dax" loaded

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:42:08 GMT

I'm extremely sorry guys..... very lately after few emails from the readers i realized that i have missed the Dll file that is required to enable the Autozip option working.

My sincere apologies. I have loaded the xpo and the dll in the following location :)

Download AutoZip.zip file

Hope now you are able to use the Autozip option

............... sorry :(

Autozip 1.0 for Dynamics Ax 4.0

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:43:24 GMT

A Promise is a promise....

Here guys the Autozip for Dynamics Ax 4.0 which i promised a long time back (click to see my promise).

It is pretty simple to use. Here is a short brief of how to install it.

Download it Here: Autozip 1.0 for Dynamics Ax 4.0 (click to land in the download page)

Installing Autozip

1. Dowload and Extract the zip file from the following place...
2. Add the dll file from the extract to your bin directory and simlarly add an reference to it in your AOT
3. Now import the XPO.
4. Autozip is ready to use.

What's the use of Autozip

Autozip let's you automatically zip the exported xpo and similary import an zip file rather a xpo.

How to zip during Export

1. Just click the zip file option while u export.

2. It will export one .xpo file and one .zip file

How to import a zip file

1. Just open any drive and point to a zip file that contains xpo's(doesn't matter if it contain other files inside it also)
2. That's all ... all xpo files inside the zip will be imported.

Can you use this for your own custom development?

Yes you can use it. Please refer to the Job "JobAutozip" along with this project to know about it.

Missing Feature

1. If your zip file extracts them as folders and puts the xpo inside folders, the system will not find them. (This fill
be fixed in the next release)

Enhancements

1. An option to delete the .xpo file which get's exported.

Axaptapedia Link

Also available at Axaptapedial here ...... http://www.axaptapedia.com/Autozip_for_Dax_4.0

Do let me know your comments.

Keep zipping :)

Sending alerts through code without error in Ax

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:28:34 GMT

There was an article sometime back by Helmut on "sending alerts through code"(click to read the article), there was one problem with the code as helmut had quoted

"* you will get an error in the alert form on the second tab"

The error will not crop up if you use the following code....

void sendMessageToUsers()
{
    SysMailer           mail;
    UserInfo            UserInfo;
    EventInbox          inbox;
    EventInboxId        inboxId;
    ;

    select UserInfo where UserInfo.id == CurUserId();

    inboxId = EventInbox::nextEventId();

    inbox.initValue();
    inbox.ShowPopup     = NoYes::Yes;
    inbox.Subject       = "Testing alert via code";
    inbox.Message       = "Hello we are alerting";
    inbox.AlertedFor    = "This alert is just information no links are available";
    inbox.SendEmail     = false;
    inbox.UserId        = UserInfo.Id;
    inbox.TypeId        = classnum(EventType);
    //Give any table and field values
    inbox.AlertTableId = TableNum(Address);
    inbox.AlertFieldId = fieldNum(Address ,Name);
    inbox.TypeTrigger   = EventTypeTrigger::FieldChanged;
    inbox.CompanyId     = CurExt();
    inbox.InboxId       = inboxId;
    inbox.AlertCreatedDate = systemdateget();
    inbox.AlertCreateTime = timeNow();
    inbox.insert();

}

...... Alert plz Alert

Creating new Syscontext Menu in Dynamics Ax 4.0

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:03:37 GMT

Custom menu can be added to "Add-ins" portion of the context menu, this article would explain you in creating a menu like that...

1. Drag the menuItem that you wanted to be activated in to the syscontextmenu
\Menus\sysContextMenu

2. Create a sub menu if you want your add ins menu to appear under one submenu like Copy\EntierPath or Copy\Name.... or a separator if you want to differentiate that particular menu item.

The moment you drag and drop your menuitem in to Syscontextmenu, the new context menu would start appearing in the context menu. The steps to follow would help you in finding out the objects that are selected and process it.

3. The next step would be to decide when the context menu should appear when you select forms or tables,
   and can it work for multiple selection..
   To implement this you will have to go to
   \Classes\SysContextMenu\VerifyItem - Method

You would find a big switch case statement like this ...

   switch (menuItemType)
  {
        case MenuItemType::Display:
            switch (menuItemName)
            {

case menuitemdisplaystr(SysVisioAddIn):
...

                case menuitemdisplaystr(XRefReferencesUsedBy):

                    ...

                case menuitemdisplaystr(SysTableMaps):

                  ...
       }
    case MenuItemType::Action:
            switch (menuItemName)
            {
                case menuitemactionstr(SysCodeExplorer):
                    ...

                case menuitemactionstr(xRefUpdate) :
                  ...
            }
    }

Now just write a case for your menuitem depending on the type on the appropriate section

4. You have few variables based on which you could make your decision

variable:
_firstType => has the UtilElementType of the first node selected

Usage:

    if (_firstType &&
        (_firstType == UtilElementType::Table                 ||
         _firstType == UtilElementType::TableInstanceMethod   ||
         _firstType == UtilElementType::TableStaticMethod     ||
         _firstType == UtilElementType::Macro )

   {
          return 1;
   }

The menuitem will be enabled only if the _firstType belongs to any of these specified UtilElementType

variable:
firstnode => has the treenode of the first node selected

   Usage:
   if (firstNode.treeNodePath() == #HelpFilesPath)
  {
        return 1;
  }

   Method:
   this.selectionCount() => returns nubmer of node selected

   Usage:
   if(this.selectionCount() >= 1)
  return 1;

4. The object that your menu item is pointing to can have the following code to find the objects that have
been selected

if (SysContextMenu::startedFrom(args))
{
      sysContextMenu = args.parmObject();
      treeNode = sysContextMenu.first();
      if (treeNode)
      {
          //Place your code here
          treeNode = sysContextMenu.first();
      }
}

5. You can also add items of type MenuReference to your ContextMenu, say you want to have the "GeneralLedger" Module in the ContextMenu, then rightclick select new Menu Reference, you get the link to the module in syscontextmenu...something like this

......... mmm that's nice right ???

Using ADO to read from Excel in Microsoft Dynamics Ax

Sun, 13 May 2007 07:16:54 GMT

Sometime back i had a posting referring to Gloomies blog (click to see the old posting) on using ADO in Ax. Gloomie had used COM based ADO control. Ax also has predefined ADO Com classes which you can use....

Here's a small Job that will help you in working with the Inbuild ADO classes

static void JobADOtoAccessExcelInAxapta(Args _args)
{
    CCADOConnection adoexcel     = new CCADOConnection();
    CCAdoxCatalog    adoCatalog   = new CCAdoxCatalog();
    COM              adoxCatalog = new COM('ADOX.Catalog');
    CCADORecordSet   adoRecordSet = new CCADORecordSet();
    CCADOFields      adoFields;
    CCADOField       adoField;
    int               i;
    ;

adoexcel.connectionString("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=

    C:\\TestAdo.xls ;Extended Properties='Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1'");
    adoexcel.open();
    adoxCatalog.activeConnection(adoexcel.connection());
    adoCatalog.adoxCatalog(adoxCatalog);
    print adoCatalog.tableName(1);
    pause;
    adoRecordSet.open(@"SELECT * FROM [SHEET1$]", adoexcel);
    adoFields = adoRecordSet.fields();

    for (i = 0; i < adoFields.count(); i++)
    {
        adoField = adoFields.itemIdx(i);
        print adoField.name();
        pause;
    }

    while (! adoRecordSet.EOF())
    {
        for (i = 0; i < adoFields.count(); i++)
        {
            adoField = adoFields.itemIdx(i);
            print adoField.value();
            pause;
        }

adoRecordSet.moveNext();
}

}

Here is a snap shot of the excel that i used for the job....

.................. Keep watching while I post more on this ...

#InventDimDevelop macro in Dynamics Ax

Wed, 02 May 2007 14:25:04 GMT

#InventDimDevelop

This is one Macro that we would come across frequently in Ax. But if we check out the Macro node all weu would find is a empty node with only a comment as shown below.

/* used to locate code with direct dimension references */

Even then it is a very significant macro, because it helps you identify all the places in Ax that directly affect Inventory dimensions. Say if we are adding a new Item dimension then we can just search for this particular macro in the AOT to find out the areas where there is a need to do some additional coding to get the new InventDimension in to effect. It is also advisable to take the help of cross referrence to complete the change to Inventory Dimension, because there are still some places where this macro has not be located.

Make sure to use this Macro if there is any code that affects inventory dimensions, it would help a lot for your future changes and upgrades.

........ a macro mystery solved haa haa

creating Transparent forms in Dynamics Ax

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:27:30 GMT

You can adjust the opacity of a form to make it partially transparent. One good example of such a form is the EventAttentionGrabber.

Let us see how to create such forms......

To create such transparent forms is very simple, All you have to do is,

1. Change any of the specified property in the Form
(This is only applicable in the following cases 1. When the "Frame" property of the form is in "Border" or "None" 2. When the "Window Type" property of the form is "PopUP")

2. Now on the init or run method of the form write the following code

      WinAPI::setWindowLayered(element.hWnd());
     //opacityLevel can be an integer variable with max value of 255.
     WinAPI::setLayeredWindowOpaque(element.hWnd(), opacityLevel);

and this is how it looks ........

Here is a nice example download and check out a fading window ......

Transparent Form Demo(click to reach the download page)

...... that's nice

A simple utility for Dynamics Ax

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:37:50 GMT

Some days back i had to come up with a document containing the path of several forms in the navigation pane.I was bit lazy to type the path of every form, thought should have a simple utilty that can give me the path at a click. Finally i came up with one in about some half an hour :)

Here is the utility guys....

Job Get Current Path (Click to download)

and this is how it works,

1. select the Node from the navigation pane

2. Run this Job,

3. You get a dialog box. The dialog box asks for a value to replace with.. you can specify the symbol that you want to use in specifying path (specify "->" for "General Ledger -> Chart of Accounts", specify "\" for "General Ledger\Chart of Accounts") of your choice in the dialog box. The default value is " -> ".

4. You will get the path dislpayed in the infolog, copy and paste it in the document

Though it is a simple job, it helped me a lot...... try out for yourself

......................mmm I made my functional gusy happy finally

Using the External Identifier with Aif in Dynamics Ax

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:38:31 GMT

An Axd document supports several actions and these actions are identified through their unique identifier names defined on the document class.

The External identifier helps us to define custom names to the actions and override them.

External identifier can be defined at two different places.

Basic -> Setup -> Application Integration Framework -> Action form

> when the external identifier is defined here it applies to the entire AIF setup.

Basic -> Setup -> Application Integration Framework -> Endpoints -> EndPoint ActionPolicies form

> When the external identifier is defined in this form it applies only to the particular endpoint

The name of the external Identifier has to be unique across Axd's i.e you should always specify a unique external identifier. (Here find the external identifier specified as 'InsertFinanceAccount')

Using ExternalIdentifier :

In the case of the Outbound, the XML generated has the value specified external actions appears in
the <Action> tag.

In the case of Inbound the <Action> tag in XML must be as specified in external identifier field setup. when an external identifier is defined for a particular action then it is mandatory to use that in the xml and the actual action identifier turns invalid for that endpoint or the entire AIF based on the setup.

In this example i have specified the Action to the external identifier value specified earlier 'InsertFinanceAccount'

................... digging deeper to throw some more light over AIF guys so keep watching !!!!

Creating graphs in Dynamics Ax

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:41:39 GMT

Creating a Graph with Dynamics Ax is quite easy. This article will deal on creating a simple graph.

The Graphics class in Ax helps out in creating graphs.

To Start with on using this class we shall creat a simple form ,

1. Add a activex control of type ChartObject to the Form

2. You can either directly use the graphics class to display the data
when there is no user interaction.

     3. Now creat a method called createGraph in your form
         > In this method let us attempt to show all the Total accounts against their balance provided their
            balance value is greater than zero. The code would be something like this

           LedgerTable ledgerTable;
           #chartFx
           ;

           //GraphicsWindow - Activex control name
           graphics = Graphics::newGraphicsTitlesLayout(GraphicsWindow, 100, 200,
                                            'Title', 'X', 'Y', 'z',#CT_TOOL ,1, 1, 1);

graphics.create();

          graphics.parmTitleXAxis('AccountNum');
          graphics.parmTitleYAxis('Balance');
          graphics.parmHeight(150);
          graphics.parmWidth(300);

          while select AccountNum from ledgerTable where ledgerTable.AccountPlType == LedgerAccountType::sum
          {
             if (ledgerTable.balance() > 0)
            {
                graphics.loadData(ledgerTable.AccountNum, '', ledgerTable.balance());
            }
          }

graphics.showGraph();

4. Call this method on the init method of your form

5. Now Just compile save and run, you should get a graph like the one below ..... so simple right :)

on the next post let us see about extending and using the graphics class

................ mmm how about making salary graphs !!!!!

A small addition to creation of Table throug x++ code in Dynamics Ax

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:41:23 GMT

A small addition to my entry on Adding a Table field through X++ code in Dynamics Ax

I was actually using map's and structures to set the properties for the field type. There is also an alternative way of setting it throug the Global::setproperty method....

Global::setProperty(str properties, str propertyname, str value)

I have rewritten the job based on that.......

static void JobCreateTableFields(Args _args)
{
#AOT
#TreeNodeSysNodeType

    //find the Table
    TreeNode                  tablenode = TreeNode::findNode(#TablesPath).AOTfindChild('LedgerTable');
    TreeNode                   fieldNode, tn;
    Struct                         properties;
    Struct                         propertyInfo;
    Array                          propertyArray;
    str                               propertyValue;
    AOTTableFieldList    lst;
    str                               name;
    Counter                     propertyCount;
    int                               i;
    Map                           map = new Map(Types::String, Types::String);

;

//can be used when we requried to set a fewer properties

fieldNode.AOTsetProperties(setProperty(fieldNode.AOTgetProperties(), 'Label', 'TestField'));

     //save the treenode
    tablenode.AOTsave();

    //Let us open the table
    //and see if the code works :)
    tablenode.AOTnewWindow();
}

.............................

Adding a Table field through X++ code in Dynamics Ax

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 10:37:24 GMT

Sometime back there was a query in one of the discussion forum about inserting a table field through code. I did a small job to demonstrate that, just thought would write that down in my blog too...... and here it is.

I have added sufficient comments to make it explanatory.

static void JobCreateTableFields(Args _args)
{
#AOT
#TreeNodeSysNodeType

;

    //Find the tables field node
    lst = tablenode.AOTfindChild('fields');
    //add the field
    lst.addString('Test');
    //now find the node in the tree
    fieldNode = lst.AOTfindChild('Test');
    //get the properties structure
    properties = fieldNode.AOTgetPropertiesExt();
    //Update the properties map with the required properties
    map.insert('ExtendedDataType', 'LedgerAccount');

    // get the number of properties
    // and the array containing the properties structure
    propertyCount = properties.value('Entries');
    propertyArray = properties.value('PropertyInfo');

    for (i = 1; i < propertyCount; i ++)
    {
        propertyInfo = propertyArray.value(i);
        name = propertyInfo.value('Name');

        //see if we have inserted the property name in to the map
        if (map.exists(name))
        {
            //set the property
            propertyInfo.value('Value', map.lookup(name));
        }
    }

//set the properties structure
fieldNode.AOTsetPropertiesExt(properties);

    //save the treenode
    tablenode.AOTsave();

    //Let us open the table
    //and see if the code works :)
    tablenode.AOTnewWindow();
}

click to download it from Axaptapedia

..........................

A simple "Toolbar" for Dynamics Ax 4.0

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 15:10:05 GMT

This time i have come up with a small development for Dyanmics Ax guys :)

A simple toolbar for Dynamics Ax (not that powerful as Tabax..... ) a simple but sweet one; here down for your glimpse.....

Do check Axaptapedia to download and get a feel of it(includes detailed description of the features in it).

Toolbar for Dax 4.0 (click to reach the download page)

Please provide your feedbacks and input on it.. to make it better

....................... Keep watching for more updates on this

Creating custom Picking list in Dynamics - Part II

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:00:25 GMT

This is in continuation to the article that i posted on creating custom Picking List (click to view)

The last aritcle was about using the Global::pickList forms and creating a simple custom Pick List form which takes map as an input

The custom Picklist's discussed here provide you more options like
>Specifying the image to be used
>Display either a Map or container in the list

There are two ways of creating a complete custom Pick List

'SysPick' form can be used to create custom list with the choice of taking input as Map and displaying standard images like tables, class, fields, You can invoke the "SysPick" form via the classfactory.

                      args = new Args(formstr(SysPick));
                      args.parm(' 2');
                      map = Map::create(SysPickList::fillFieldsMap(int2str(tablenum(custTable))));
                      args.parmObject(map);
                      formRun = classfactory.formRunClass(args);
                      formRun.init();
                      formRun.run();
                      formRun.wait();

                      if (formRun.selection())
                     {
                                 //TODO someAction
                      }

Here

        > The argument for the "args.parm(' 2')" method decides the image type to be displayed.
                      - The argument value is to be based on the following EnumType "SysPickListType"
                         but has to be passed as a string and a blank space before the value is mandatory

> SysPickList class has some static function that gives you a map of several repeated lists
like fields, table, userdomain, class etc. you can use it to get the list to be passed as shown in the code

map = Map::create(SysPickList::fillFieldsMap(int2str(tablenum(TestAdo))));

The other form is "PickList", this accepts any image for display and requires the list input as a container. The follwoing code demonstrates the way using it.

                            Object formRun;
                            #ResAppl
                            ;

                            formRun = classfactory.createPicklist();
                            formRun.init();

                            formRun.choices(['option1', 'option2', 'option3'], #ImageArrowUp);
                            formRun.caption("Testing Picklist");
                            formRun.run();
                            formRun.wait();
                           if (formRun.choice())
                           {
                                 //TODO someAction
                           }

would result in some thing like this

........................... happy picking !!!!!

Running multiple Dynamics Ax clients with differnt permissions

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 05:15:19 GMT

Since Dynamics Ax 4.0 uses Active Directory based logon Authentication, checking your security or code permissions setup requires you to logon with different credentials. "runas" command available with Window Xp and other higher version would be very helpful to run only Ax application with different credentials..............(:) hope "dot net" techies are well aware of this funda)

There are two ways to use runas command, either through command line or a GUI.

1. Executing through command line

   Type the following line :
  runas /username ax32.exe
                eg: runas /kamalakannann.e ax32.exe

next the command line will prompt you for your password once you enter it, your new Dynamics Ax session for the

corresponding user will be ready

   sometimes Dynamics Ax will not open up( ) in such situation
   try this trouble shooting tip
   > RightClick My Computer and go to properties

> On the Advanced tabl click Environment Variables button, this will open a new form

> Go to the System Variable Field, and select SystemVariable named "Path"

> Now click edit and add the following line
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\40\Client\bin"

> Save it and try again, you will find it working

Check out this msdn link to read more about "runas"(click here)

2. Executing through GUI

>Go to program Files and select Microsoft Dynamics Ax 4.1 or any where where you have your shortcut to open

> Right Click and Select Runas

> You will get a login window, Just type in your userid and password Dynamics Ax opens up the session for the corresponding user.(if you type the right password )

............................ hurray easy security check

Data XML Generation Wizard - Version 2.0 For Dynamics Ax

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:11:48 GMT

Data XMLGeneration Wizard Release 2.0

Newer version of "Data XML Generation wizard" is now available from Axaptapedia.com

New Features :

1. Table fields to be exported can now be mapped to a different name

     For E.x: Custable.name -> custable.customername
     so the XML tag would be <customername></customername>
     instead of the actual <name></name>

2. You can specify the location where the XML's generated is to be stored

3. The XML Generated is displayed inside Ax immediately after closing the wizard,
through XML Viewer

4. There is a small addon called the XML Viewer which is being used to display the XML's
you can use that for displaying your html files or xml files just by passing the path
as argument to it.

Click here to download the file from Axaptapedia.com

http://www.axaptapedia.com/Data_XML_Generation_wizard

Click here to view older versions blog entry

http://casperkamal.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9138ED475277CD63!200.entry

Your suggestions, feedback anything over this is most welcome ....

.................Keep watching more tools to come up

InventDim id blank from "Axapta" to "AllBlank" in Dynamics Ax

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:39:14 GMT

Hey,

Just found out something interesting, the blank inventDimid(With all Inventory Dimesions blank) "Axapta" is no more the same, now it is refferred to "AllBlank". I found it as i was digging to find the reason behind no records getting displayed in the "Item" form when I had records in the table.

The problem was the blank record in InventItemLocation, just a wrote a little job to get the things right.

Just copy and run it, if you find a bit lazy to write ....

static void JobChangeAxaptatoBlankInventDim(Args _args)
{
InventItemLocation inventItemLocation;
;

    while select forupdate inventDimId from inventItemLocation
    where inventItemLocation.inventDimId == 'Axapta'
    {
        ttsbegin;
        inventItemLocation.inventDimId = 'AllBlank';
        inventItemLocation.update();
        ttscommit;
    }
}

..................what else ??????? will see....

HTML based Report in Dynamics Ax

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:12:15 GMT

Though Ax reports offer lot of inbuilt functionality, it happens so that we need some features like tables with different alignment styles. Dynamics Ax has the solution for cases of that kind too...

The solutions is very simple and easier, it is using HTML pages for reporting.

check out the step by step methods to create a HTML based report.

1. Decide the type of report you want, now try to simulate the report layout using some HTML editor
or using someonline editors too.
I used an online editor from w3schools(Check out here http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_table_span)

Just let the layout be as it is, now let us turn our attention to Ax and later use the HTML code generated for the layout.

2. Create a query in the AOT if you want to use it in your report

3. Create a simple class that extends runbase and add all necessary runbase methods

4. Add any dialog fields which you require for your report

5. Now add a method called GenerateHTML to your runbase class, you can refer to the following class for example

Classes ->HRMSkillGapEmployeeHTMLGenerate

with a signature of this sort

   CCHTMLString generateHTML()
   {
   }
6. Inside this method use the queryrun class to fetch the records in loop

7. Now move the HTML code that was generated earlier to this method and convert all static content to dynamic(i.e)by

placing the value fetched through the query

eg: generated code :

                                        <tr> <th bgcolor="lightblue">CustomerName</th>'
                                 <td><b>The Light Company </b></td>'
                                 </tr>

Dynamic code :

                                 <tr> <th bgcolor="lightblue">CustomerName</th>'
                                 <td><b>CustTable.Name </b></td>'
                                 </tr>

8. Now create a method with anyname that you want say runreport(), Place the follwoing code
in to it.

    Args    args;
    Object object;
    FormRun formRun;
    ;

    args = new Args();
    args.name(formstr(CCHTMLPrintPreview));
    args.caller(this);
    args.record();

formRun = classfactory.formRunClass(args);

    object = formRun;
    object.parmObject(this);
    object.parmHTMLObject(this);

    object.init();
    object.run();
    object.wait();

The form CCHTMLPrintPreview is responsible for displaying your HTMLcode in the form of Axreport. We invoke this form through the following code.This form uses GenerateHTML method that we created earlier to get the data to be displayed

9. Create a run method and call the above created method(runreport()) to activate the form

10.Create a main method for it, calling the prompt and run method of our class.

11.Drag the class to Output MenuItem and Place the menuItem in to any module that you want, execute it to see the

report.

You can also further refer to the follwoing report for further information and other ways of fetching and feeding data for report rendering.

I have created a simple class that will help you in understanding this, download and check out.

http://www.axaptapedia.com/Image:Class_CustomerDetailHTMLReport.xpo

Snap Shot of my output

....................The "WoW" effect

MFP's Cross word Puzzle - Answers !!!!

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:34:58 GMT

I guess most of you might be aware about the crossword puzzle that MFP had posted in his blog, but i happened to see it very late. It was wonderful and a different kind off...........such that can't keep myself from solving it and so here it is.....

And the Magical Word got by collecting the coloured cells is "Damgaard"

1.Which function deletes all non-alphanumeric characters from the text string specified by text. – str2Alph
2: Which function converts the time text string specified by text into an integer value. -Str2time
3: Which function converts the date specified by date to a text string. – date2str
4: Which function calculates the length of the text string specified by text. - strlen
5: Which function returns the User ID for the current user. - CurUserId
6: Which function returns the printable name (the label) of the specified field. – FieldPname, Fieldid2Pname
7: Which function returns 1 if arg specifies an ultimo date, 0 otherwise. - ultimoyr
8: Which function converts to a string representing the field name of the field specified. - fieldStr
9: Which function returns the current value of an annuity.- pv
10: Which function returns the date in the previous year which corresponds most closely to the date specified by date. - prevyr
11: Which function removes the characters specified in text2 from the text string specified by text1. - strrem
12: Which function returns the number of intervals for the given period. - intvmax
13: Which function returns the fractional part of the argument decimal. - frac
14: Which function returns the real starting date (the normalized date) for the period. - intvnorm
15: Which function returns the date in the following quarter which corresponds most closely to the date specified by date. - nextqtr
16: Which function returns the date which corresponds to the specified number of days since 01\01\1901. – num2date
17: Which function returns a null container. - connull
18: Which function converts the decimal number specified by number to a text string. – num2str
19: Which function calculates the contribution ratio, based on the sales price specified by sale and the purchase price specified by purchase. - dg
20: Which function returns the current time on the computer system - timenow
21: Which function converts to a string representing form if it is an existing form. - formstr
22: Which function returns the constant depreciation amount for the specified asset for each period of the asset's life. - sln
23: Which function returns the lesser of the two figures specified by figure1 and figure2. - Max
24: Which function returns the absolute value of figure. - abs
25: Which function returns the hyperbolic cosine of argument arg. - cosh
26: Which function calculates the future value of an investment. - fv
27: Which function expresses the natural logarithm of the decimal figure specified by figure. - logn
28: Which function returns the percentual increase of the amount specified by amount. - pt
29: Which function returns the arc cosine of the argument arg. - acos
30: Which function returns the sine of the argument x. - sin
31: Which function converts all letters to lower case in the text string specified by text. - strlwr
32: Which function returns the cosine of argument arg. - cos
33: Which function calculates the year which contains the date specified by date - year

The answers are my findings so if you find any change in the answer please inform me..................

.............wonderful idea MFP, Expecting more..... but will not miss this time

Customizing Infolog through SysInfoAction

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:15:19 GMT

This section will explore about customizing the Infolog in Ax through SysInfoAction,

We generally use the infolog to display various type of messages , occasionally we also carry out some action through the Infolog, say for example opening a new form or the code from which the info originated these can be done with the help of SysInfoAction.

The Info has the following signature,

Info(SysInfoLogStr txt, URL helpUrl = '', SysInfoAction _sysInfoAction = null)

_sysInfoAction is the parameter that helps us to customize Infolog,

To customize the infolog, in such a way that Infolog appears with a button"OpenCustTable" and when the button is clicked a “CustTable” Form is opened, The code would look like this

         SysInfoAction_FormRun   SysInfoAction = SysInfoAction_FormRun::newFormnameDesc(Formstr(custtable), 'OpenCustTable');
         ;

         Info('Trying to customize Infolog', '', SysInfoAction);

The second parameter in the static method of sysInfoAction specifies the name of the button that appears in the infolog

Similarly Ax comes with a set of classes that will help us to perform different actions through the infolog namely,

    SysInfoAction_Editor
    SysInfoAction_Formrun
    SysInfoAction_FormrunQuery
    SysInfoAction_MenuFunction
    SysInfoAction_newWindow
    SysInfoAction_Properties
    SysInfoAction_Showplan (Seems to be used for SQL Trace display, exploring it will soon post it’s use J !!!)

SysInfoAction_TableField

This class takes a any table record as parameter and displays the selected record in the associated form

(Using dictable.formRef ()).

try out the same with these classes too and have fun……....

Data XML Generation Wizard

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:28:59 GMT

I have developed a small wizard for the first time. As the name describes u can use this Wizard to generate XML for any table.

This wizard comes with the following features………

You can customize and choose the fields that you want in the xml
You can specify a query which will govern the data to be sent in the xml.
A schema file is generated that displays the data generated in the form of tables and not as normal XMLs.
Fields that are at system level or visible property is set to “No” are not allowed in the xml.
All mandatory fields are always included in the xml.
The XML and style sheet gets saved in “C:\”

Complete detail of the wizard, screen shots and XPO are available in Axaptapedia under the following link

http://www.axaptapedia.com/Data_XML_Generation_wizard

..............................more features to come