What are Application object layers in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Dynamics AX 2009 consists of sixteen application object layers that contain all the elements you see in the AOT. These layers can be looked at as an onion with multiple layers. In the middle is the core application in the SYS layer and the outermost layer is the user layer USR. Therefore, when any application element is being executed the system will look at the outermost code layer first to see if there is any code for that element; if not, it peels a layer off the onion, and tries the next layer. When it hits a layer where the element exists, it will use the code from this layer, and will not continue to peel off layers to find code for that element in the innermost layers.
As you might have noticed, the above figure only shows half of the layers. Each of the layers in the illustration, except the HFX, SL1, SL2, and SL3, has a patch-layer. The patch-layers are used for service-packs and hotfixes, and exist one layer outside its corresponding main layer. If we look at the SYS layer there is actually a SYP layer between the SYS layer and the GLS layer.

The HFX, SL1, SL2, and SL3 layers are new in Dynamics AX from version 2009, but can be found in previous versions as DIS, DIP, LOS, and LOP. The list below is taken from the Dynamics AX 2009 SDK and provides an explanation of each layer:


SYS The standard application is implemented at the lowest level, the SYS layer. The application objects in the standard application can never be deleted.

GLS When the application is modified to match country/region-specific legal demands these modifications are saved in a separate layer, the GLS layer. If an application object, for example, a form, is modified in the GLS layer, the modifications are saved in the GLS layer only and the modified version of the form is used.

HFX HFX is an application object patch layer reserved by Microsoft for futurepatching or other updates.
SL1, SL2,or SL3 A layer where the distributor can implement vertical partner solutions. SL is an abbreviation for SoLution.

BUS When a business partner creates their own generic solution, their modifications are saved in the BUS layer and the top-level application objects are used.

VAR Value Added Resellers (VAR) can make modifications or new developments to the VAR layer as specified by the customers or as a strategy of creating an industry-specific solution. Such modifications are saved in the VAR layer.

CUS The supervisor or administrator of an end user installation might want to make modifications that are generic to the company. Such modifications are saved in the CUS (CUStomer) layer.

USR End users might want to make their own modifications, such as in their reports. These modifications are saved in the USR layer.

Each of these layers is represented in the application folder with a .aod file if there is any code in the solution in the layer. The same goes for the patch layers. This means that the application object file for the SYS layer is AxSYS.aod, and as the patch layer for SYS is called SYP, the patch file would be AxSYP.aod.

MorphX version control in Microsoft Dynamics AX

If you have done development in Visual Studio on projects with multiple developers, you have most likely used a version control tool and know the essentials of it. If not, let me try to explain how a version control tool works. It basically is a repository where you can check elements in and out and track changes done to an element over time. If for some reason you would like to take back an older version of an element, the version control enables you to do that as well.

When you check an element out it is locked to other developers so only you can make changes to it. When you have completed your changes to the element you simply check it in and comment on what kind of changes you have made. It will then be available for other developers to change again. If for some reason one of the changes done to the element creates an unwanted situation you can simply revert the element to the state in which it was before the particular change was made.

What are Development tools in Microsoft Dynamics AX

AX comes with many different tools that can help developers do their job. Some of these tools are, however, rarely used because they provide little value. We will now have a look at some of the tools you will use on a day-to-day basis when programming in AX. Some of the things you need to know about are:

• Cross references
• MorphX version control
• Debugger

What are Labels in Microsoft Dynamics AX

The labels in Dynamics AX are a way of translating all user visible text by only referencing to a label ID in the code. Each language is represented by a language-specific label file within each label module. These label files consist of the label ID and the text for that label in that specific language. The label files are stored in the application directory and have the file extension .ald (Application Label Data). When opening a label file in a text editor you can see labels listed below:
@SYS390 Quantity that is not yet cost accounted in the BOM unit.
@SYS400 Create and compose serial numbers automatically.
@SYS403 Finish must be greater than start.
@SYS418 Transfer customer information?

This means that if you write @SYS403 in the label-property of a field in AX it will display Finish must be greater than start. to the users viewing that field in a form or report, if they are using the language code en-gb (as this was taken from the label file AxSYSen-gb.ald.)

To create a new label file, simply start the label file wizard from the Microsoft Dynamics AX button (Alt + M), navigate to Tools | Development tools | Label file wizard, and run through the three self-explaining steps of the wizard.

Your label file will then be named AxXXXen-gb.ald, where XXX is a three lettered abbreviation chosen when walking through the wizard.

What are Menu Items in Microsoft Dynamics AX

MenuItems are pointers to forms, reports, or classes. There are three different types of menu items: Display, Output, and Action. The display menu items are used to open forms; the output is used to open reports and the action is used to execute a class with a main method (start point).

What are Resources in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Resources are files that are imported into the AX database, and can be referenced in the code from the resources node in the AOT rather than using a directory and filename on the disk. These files are typically images, icons, cascaded stylesheets, and XML files. You can preview the files by selecting a resources node in the AOT, right-clicking on it, and selecting Open.

What is Workflow in Microsoft Dynamics AX

The workflow framework in AX lets developers create workflows that define certain execution flows depending on certain events. The typical scenario for using a workflow in AX is the purchase requisition where one employee enters a purchase order. If the purchase order is over a certain limit, it has to be approved by a manager. If denied by the manager, a message is triggered to the employee who created the order. If approved, the order is automatically sent to the vendor.

What are Services in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Services are used to set up web services that let other applications use AX classes through the Application Integration Framework (AIF). The AIF is used for electronic communication with trading partners or applications.

What is web node in Microsoft Dynamics AX

The Web node consists of subnodes that in turn hold different types of elements relevant for developing web applications such as the enterprise portal.

What are Menus in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Menus present the end user with options to open the most used forms and reports and to start periodic tasks.

What are Queries in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Queries in the AOT are predefined static queries that can be reused throughout the whole application. A query contains a hierarchy of data sources that defines the data that should be available for the query. Queries can also be used by other elements in AX such as in forms, reports, and classes.

What are Reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Reports are the standard AX reports that will display data in a report form to the
users, or write the data to a printer or file.

What are Jobs in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Jobs are static methods intended to directly execute a small piece of code. They work fine for code that is supposed to execute once, but are not intended to be a part of a customer solution.

Data Setsin Microsoft Dynamics AX

Data Sets are new in AX 2009 and are used by Visual Studio components, such as Reporting Services reports and AX User Controls, as you will see in later chapters. The data sets define the tables that are used by these Visual Studio components by adding the tables to the data sets much like you would do with table in a data source.

Forms in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Forms are the end users' way of communicating with the system. They can open forms to search for data, view data, change data, create new records, or delete records. In addition, forms very often contain buttons that link to other forms, reports, and classes that execute business logic.

Classes in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Classes in AX are classes in the same sense as you are used to from C# or Java or whichever object-oriented programming language you already know. They are blueprints of how objects should look at runtime.

Microsoft Dynamics AX development environment

• The AX programming language
• The Application Object Tree
• The X++ code editor
• The compiler
• The labels

What are Macros in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Macros are predefined values used throughout the solution and are present just as a best practice tool. You won't have to hardcode values into the code, but rather reference a macro-element within a macro.

Data Dictionary In Microsoft Dynamics AX

The AOT is organized to contain all elements that relate to how the data is stored in the database and those that relate to security, such as the Security Keys, Configuration Keys, and License Keys, under the node called DataDictionary. Under this node, you will find tables, maps, views, extended datatypes, base enums, license codes, configuration keys, security keys, table collections, and perspectives.

Dynamics AX Application Object Tree(AOT)

The Application Object Tree (AOT) is where you find all code elements in AX.You can open it by clicking on the icon from the top-menu shown below or by pressing Ctrl + D from anywhere in AX.

MorphX Editor in Dynamics AX

In addition to the programming language, Dynamics AX provides an integrated development environment called MorphX. MorphX is all of the visual development in AX, and it lets the developer create code elements in a graphical way much like Visual Studio by dragging and dropping, and setting properties on elements.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Programming language (X++)

The programming language in AX is called X++, and its syntax is similar to Java
and C#. In addition to being an object-oriented programming (OOP) language, it
also includes embedded SQL. This means that writing SQL statements in AX is very
easy, because you, as a developer, do not need to create a connection to the database,
create a statement that is executed on the connection, and so on. Instead, you can
write the SQL statements directly into the X++ code much like you now can with
LINQ for .NET.

You will get to know the syntax, features, and how the X++ language works in
general in Chapter 2, X++ language.

Dynamics AX Debugger Short Cut Keys

Accelerator Keys	Task Description
F5	Go
Shift+F5	Stop
F11	Step into function calls
F10	Step over function calls
Ctrl+F11	Step out of the function
Ctrl+F10	Run to cursor
Ctrl+Shift+F10	Set next statement
Alt+Number Pad *	Show next statement
Shift+F9	View breakpoints
F9	Insert or remove a breakpoint
Ctrl+F9	Enable or disable a breakpoint
Ctrl+Shift+F9	Remove all breakpoints
Ctrl+Alt+Line	Show/hide line numbers
Ctrl+Alt+V	View variables
Ctrl+Alt+C	Display the call stack
Ctrl+Alt+O	View output
Ctrl+Alt+B	View breakpoints
Ctrl+Alt+W	View watch
Ctrl+Alt+M	Toggle workbook mode
Ctrl+Alt+D	Restore default layout
Ctrl+F4	Close window
Ctrl+Shift+F4	Close all windows
Ctrl+F6	Next window
Ctrl+Shift+F6	Previous window
During code execution
Ctrl+Break	Break execution of currently running script. To open the debugger where the execution is stopped, when the “Are you sure that you want to cancel this operation?” dialog comes up, hold SHIFT and click the No button.

Integer declaration example code in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Integers are numbers without decimals. They are divided into two separate data types in AX: the int which is a 32 bit integer, and the int64 which is a 64 bit integer. The int data type ranges from -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647. The int64 ranges from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, which should be enough for most of us.

You can do any kind of arithmetic with the integers directly in the code, such as the multiplication in the next example that will print Carz Inc have 24 cars in total.

static void Datatypes_integer1(Args _args)
{
int carsInEachOffice;
int offices;
;
carsInEachOffice = 6;
offices = 4;
print strfmt("Carz Inc have %1 cars in total",
carsInEachOffice *
offices);
pause;
}

Dividing two integers will result in a real number unless you are returning the value to an integer. This means that dividing 24/4 gives the result 6.00, but returning the result to an integer and printing it results in 6 as you will see in the next example.
static void Datatypes_integer2(Args _args)
{
int x = 24;
int y = 4;
int res = x/y;
;
// Prints a real value
print strfmt("%1 / %2 = %3", x, y, x/y);
// Automatically type casted to int
// to print the integer value
print strfmt("%1 / %2 = %3", x, y, res);
pause;
}

substr() function in Microsoft Dynamics AX X++

The substr function returns a part of a string. The first parameter is the original string, the second is the start position, and the third is the number of characters to read.

static void Datatypes_string_substr(Args _args)
{
str carBrand;
;
carBrand = "Volkswagen";
print substr(carBrand, 6, 5);
pause;
}

The print command from the method will display wagen as the substring starts at position 6 of the value of the first parameter, which is Volkswagen, and reads 5 characters ahead.

Microsoft Dynamics AX AOT Short Cut Keys

Accelerator Keys	Task Description
Ctrl+D	Open the AOT
Ctrl+Shift+P	Open the Projects window
Ctrl+ O  or Menu + O	Context: Description Job: Execute the job Class: Run the main(Args) method Form: Launch the form Report: Run the report Table: Launch Table Browser for this table
Menu + W	Open new AOT window, with only the current node
Ctrl+N	Create a new object
Enter or Ctrl+Shift+F2	Edit an object
Ctrl+S	Save current object
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save all modified objects
Delete	Delete current object
F2	Rename current object
Menu + R	Restore the state of the current object from disk, cancelling any pending changes
Ctrl+Shift+I	Import one or more application objects from a file
Menu + X	Export the current node to an XPO
F7	Compile
Ctrl+P	Print the active application object (basically XPO contents)
Alt+Enter	Open the property sheet
Ctrl+F	Find window
Ctrl+G	Compare different versions of the application object
Alt+Left Arrow	Move the object to the level of its current parent node in the tree
Alt+Right Arrow	Make the current object a child of the nearest container above it in the tree
Alt+Up Arrow	Move the object one slot up in its current level of the tree
Alt+Down Arrow	Move the object one slot down its current level of the tree
Number Pad *	Expand all sub-trees under this node
Shift+F9	View breakpoints
Ctrl+Shift+F9	Remove all breakpoints
Source Control
Alt+I	Check the application object into the version control system
Alt+O	Check out the application object for editing
Alt+U	Undo check out

Dynamics NAV Software Developer Jobs in Long Island

A. B. Computer Systems is looking for experienced NAV software developers to work in a dynamic and challenging environment.  We’re looking for developers who have extensive experience with ERP software implementations, and are resourceful, knowledgeable, dedicated, energetic, and professional.  Applicants must be able to work in the U.S.

A. B. Computer Systems (www.abcsi.com) is a leading provider of turn-key business solutions that include software, hardware and services.  Established in 1989, our company specializes in the implementation of Accounting, Distribution, Manufacturing, Service, CRM and Internet Commerce Software. With very experienced and certified consultants and software developers, and with a proven implementation methodology, we help our customers to increase productivity, efficiency, market share, customer satisfaction, sales and profits.
 
Job Description: 

• Design, Program and Test Software Modifications & Enhancements.
• Responsibilities also include conducting needs and gap analysis studies, consulting, data conversion, upgrades, compiling client requirements and writing specifications.
• Some travel may be required.
• Report to our Senior Project Managers.

 
Requirements:

• Minimum of 2 years of NAV development experience.
• Outstanding communication and strong interpersonal skills are required.
• Must be dedicated, ethical, honest, professional, and a true team player.
• Applicants must possess at least a BS/BA degree.
• Experience with SQL Server, EDI, CRM & WMS is a big plus.

We provide our employees with Outstanding Growth Opportunities and a Pleasant & Professional Work Environment. We also provide Competitive Salary, Bonuses & Excellent Benefits such as 401K (with contributions), Medical and Dental Insurance.

Please send your resume & salary requirements:

By mail to:
Rose Marie - HR
A. B. Computer Systems, Inc.
200 Broadhollow Road, Suite 207
Melville, NY 11747

Or via E-mail (Word or PDF format) - HR@abcsi.com

No phone calls or faxes please.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.abcsi.com/employment.htm

strfmt function in Microsoft Dynamics AX X++

This method is used to format a string and change any occurrences of %n with parameter n.
To illustrate this, the next Job will print 100: Welcome to Carz Inc

static void Datatypes_string_strmft(Args _args)
{
str name;
int a;
;
name = "Carz Inc";
a = 100;
print strfmt("%1: Welcome to %2", a, name);
pause;
}

Notice that the strfmt function also converts any other data types into string.

Dynamics NAV Project Managers and Implementation Specialists Jobs in New York City Dynamics NAV Project Managers and Implementation Specialists JObs New York City

Dynamics NAV Project Managers and Implementation Specialists - New York City

A. B. Computer Systems is looking for Project Managers and Implementation Specialists to work in a dynamic and challenging environment.  We are looking for people who have extensive experience with NAV software implementations, and are resourceful, knowledgeable, dedicated, energetic, and professional.  Applicants must be able to work in the U.S.

A. B. Computer Systems (www.abcsi.com) is a leading provider of turn-key business solutions that include software, hardware and services.  Established in 1989, our company specializes in the implementation of Accounting, Distribution, Manufacturing, Service, CRM and Internet Commerce Software. With very experienced and certified consultants and software developers, and with a proven implementation methodology, we help our customers to increase productivity, efficiency, market share, customer satisfaction, sales and profits.

Job Description: 

• Implement the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Financials, Distribution, Manufacturing, Service, E-Commerce, EDI, and CRM Software at companies in NY, NJ, PA & CT.
• Responsibilities include conducting needs and gap analysis studies, consulting, training, compiling client requirements, writing specifications, and providing on-going phone and on-site customer support.
• Manage customer relationships & ensure high customer satisfaction. Interface with senior management and end users.
• Willing to learn new technologies and concepts.
• Some travel may be required.
• Report to our Senior Project Managers.

Requirements:

• Minimum of 2 years professional experience in implementing Financials, Distribution, Manufacturing, Service, E-Commerce, EDI, and CRM Software.
• Outstanding communication and administration skills are a must.
• Excellent presentation and strong interpersonal skills are required.
• Must be dedicated, ethical, honest, professional, and a true team player.
• Applicants must possess at least a BS/BA degree, preferable in Accounting.

We provide our employees with Outstanding Growth Opportunities and a Pleasant & Professional Work Environment. We also provide Competitive Salary, Bonuses & Excellent Benefits such as 401K (with contributions), Medical and Dental Insurance.

Please send your resume & salary requirements:

By mail to:
Rose Marie - HR
A. B. Computer Systems, Inc.
200 Broadhollow Road, Suite 207
Melville, NY 11747

Or via E-mail (Word or PDF format) - HR@abcsi.com

No phone calls or faxes please.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.abcsi.com/employment.htm

String declaration in Microsoft Dynamics AX

The string data type is probably one of the most used data types. It is used to hold text information, and its length can either be set while declaring the variable or it can be dynamic. When using fixed length strings simply add the number of characters you would like to limit the variable to between the variable type and the name of the variable, as shown in the next example.

Also note that the variable type keyword is str and not string.

static void Datatypes_string1(Args _args)
{
str 7 fixedLengthString;
str dynamicLengthString;
;
fixedLengthString = "Welcome to Carz Inc";
dynamicLengthString = "Welcome to Carz Inc";
print fixedLengthString;
print dynamicLengthString;
pause;
}
When working with strings there are some functions that are nice to know about, that help you manipulate strings, search for text inside a string, and so on. These functions can be found in the Application Object Tree (AOT) under System Documentation\Functions and some under Classes\Global.

I will show just a few of these functions in this chapter but you should get familiar with more of them by browsing the AOT and trying them out yourself.

MS Dynamics AX Project/PSA Consultant Jobs

Job ResponsibilitiesAs an Pre-Sales Dynamics AX Consultant, you will be a key contributor towards customer success by providing unique solutions for our Dynamics AX clients. You will be responsible for presenting and demonstrating Dynamics AX prototypes. Hands on experience in the Financials/ Projects or PSA suite of Dynamics AX is required to perform this role.

Required skills
Strong knowledge of Dynamics AX – Financials, Projects or PSA (up to date certifications are a plus)
Excellent communication skills
Functional or technical sales/pre-sales experience is highly preferred
Dynamics experience is AX or SL is REQUIRED

This is a flexible position in which travel will be required, but will not be extensive. Functional consultants who are interested in moving into a pre-sales capacity are eligible for this position as well. This is an ideal opportunity for anyone looking to fully use their superb communication skills and spend less time travelling.

Pre-sales candidates with Dynamics SL experience may also be considered for this position.

Candidates are preferred to be located in the UK.  Some travel may be required.

We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, dental and 401(k).

CGS is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V/D.