BI Persona Presentation for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

A new presentation has been released which can be used when meeting with customers and prospects who need to explore the Business Intelligence capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.

"With this presentation you will be able to present the BI concept and examples of how Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 supports the BI needs of 10 specific roles – from the CEO, accounts payable coordinator to the order processor, Environmental Manager etc. You will be able to present how the different roles with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 have access to the information they need when they need it, and in a format that makes sense to them."

Click on the image to download (Requires Partnersource Logon)

Review of: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Programming: Getting Started

I had been super() busy since the last few weeks so i was unable to do some serious blogging. I however got time last week and read through the new AX book 'Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Programming: Getting Started' by 'Erlend Dalen' and post my feedback.

"This is a very good book for beginners who want to explore the technical side of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 as well as for Functional consultants who want to know what goes behind the hood. The language is simple and easy to follow and there is a case study which can be referred and the solution to the case study 'Carz Inc.' is unravelled as you move through the chapters. One good thing I like about this book is the plenty of sample code and step by step guidance which will help novice AX developers to understand the concepts and apply in real world scenarios.

Chapter # 8 (Integrate with Standard AX) is also very nice and provides some information regarding the important API's which are required for Xmodule integration. There is plenty of sample code and entity diagrams for integration guidance. Considering the real world implementation scenario, this is an important chapter and has been well written.

Chapter # 9 (Creating a New Module) is also good for developers who want to create a new module in AX , just like the other AX standard modules and it walks the developer through number sequences, parameters, security aspects.

Chapter # 11 (Web Services) however deals with the old version of creating a web service (.asmx). In AX 2009 this framework has significantly changed to use WCF. You may want to refer to the latest AX 2009 SDK for AX 2009 AIF & WCF concepts. "

Overall this is a very nice book for new developers. Its definitely worth reading this book. Kudos Erlend.

AX on Cloud 9

Lately there has been a lot of activity related to cloud computing with introduction of Windows AZURE. It truly is an interesting technology providing businesses wider opportunities. Well I decided to explore AZURE a bit and did a small POC on AX integration with AZURE. Well I hit on many roadblocks but was able to overcome them. In my POC I have created a simple WCF service on AZURE Platform and I'm calling that service from AX. The steps are as follows:

1. Setup and configure the AZURE Development prerequisites.

AZURE Account can be obtained at http://windows.azure.com

AZURE Getting Started http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/getstarted/

It is important you download the AZURE Platform Training Kit from MSDN. Really helpful.

2. Create the AZURE WCF Service using Visual Studio 2008 or 2010.

I created a very simple service which accepts employee code and returns the credit rating.

When I went to deploy the service, I got an error and on further investigating I found that SQL Express is required . I was on SQL 2008. Well there is a workaround for this in case you are on SQL 2008. Open AZURE SDK Command Prompt and key in the following as shown and press enter. This will allow you to use SQL Server 2008 for your AZURE Developments.

DSInit /sqlInstance:. /forceCreate

3. Deploy the Service on the Cloud.

Use the demos and the instruction in AZURE Platform Training Kit to deploy the service in the cloud in the Production instance.

My service was called http://daxguy.cloudapp.net/Service1.svc (My Local Service was http://localhost:50026/Service1.svc)

Browse the service by providing the service name on your browser. You will be able to see the service.

One important thing to notice here is that service name marked above in red.

svcutil.exe http://rd00155d3414bb:20000/Service1.svc?wsdl

This is something which will give you issues when you want to generate proxy using wcftestclient or svcutil and also with Dynamics AX :-). There is a hotfix available from Microsoft KB971842 . I could however not use this hotfix as I got an error while trying to install. Im on WIN 2008. Nevertheless the show must go on. My service was up in the cloud and I needed to now access it from AX.

4. Consume the service from AX 2009.

As with general wsdl files, in AX when you go to add a service reference using http://daxguy.cloudapp.net/Service1.svc, you will get an error as shown. There is a issue with AZURE wcf services and proxy generation :-(

Well the workaround is to use your local service http://localhost:50026/Service1.svc to generate the proxy in AX 2009 and then configure the Service Reference using the MS WCF Service Configuration editor to change the service reference. See the screenshot below.

This will change the config file in the Service References folder in your AX 2009 Application Instance folder.
Now write some code to call the service. I created a small form where I pass an employee code and get the credit rating of the employee. Just to be on the safe side, I shut down my local IIS server just to ensure that I was really referring to the cloud.

The code sample is as follows in AX 2009.

And it was working. Really cool. I was consuming a AZURE WCF Service from Dynamics AX. There is a lot of potential in this. Maybe in next generation AIF , developers will be able to generate Cloud AIF directly from AX :-).
I had also created a Windows Application to test this out in similar ways and it worked nicely.

Happy DAXing :-)

Happy New Year 2010

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Programming: Getting Started

Another book on Microsoft Dynamics AX 'Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009: Getting Started' has been released. Its good to see more and more books on Dynamics AX. This is the second book after 'Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009'. Presently I'm reviewing this book and will publish a review soon. The book is available from Packtub Publishing. Click on the image below to visit the site (Available in .pdf and Hard Copy).

There is also a sample chapter available for download and you can view it by clicking on the link below:

Sample Chapter (Chapter #5 - Searching for Data)

Looking forward to review this. Well since version 3 onwards there have been few books on AX and MSDN is primarily the developer source for learning. However more books on AX will really help the developer community. Developers would want to get a copy of this book.

Happy DAXING :-)

Sure Step 2010

The latest version of Sure Step 2010 is now available from Partnersource. Click on the image below to download.

Happy Sure stepping :-)

Statement of Direction for Microsoft Dynamics AX

The updated SOD for Dynamics is now available on Partner Source/Customer Source. The document comprises of four main sections:

• Future direction of the product
• What is our current offering (Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 SP1)
• What is Microsoft Dynamics AX ‘6’
• Customer Support and Maintenance Policies

The SOD will contain information about our development plans through the year 2018.

Click here to download from Partner Source [Login Required]

Microsoft Product Support Index

During AX implementations it becomes necessary to view the support lifecycle policies of the related products like SQL, MOSS. Here is a nice link to the MS Support Index where you will find the support roadmap for all MS Product versions. I found it extremely useful. Click on the image below to view the site.

Happy DAX-ing

AX Application Launcher v2.1

I received some quick feedback on the UI color ;-P. I have changed the UI color to something that will hopefully be pleasant to the eyes :-). [Lemme see if I can create something like a theme...]. The new UI is as:

The installer files are attached below:

Thanks for the feedback :-)

AX Application Launcher v2

Sometimes back I created an application "AX Configuration Launcher" which helped distribute AX Configurations enabling users to open multiple configurations easily. I made some improvements to the earlier application as:
1. New User Interface
2. Ability to sync from a centralized network share
3. Ability to configure the application (Advanced users, config stored in a XML file)
The screenshot is as follows:-

The video to install and use is displayed below:

The installation files & video are shared in the link below.


I tested it out on my local machine as well as at my client. It working fine. The network shared folder must have read access to all users using this tool. In case you use this application, do give me the feedback.
I will publish the source code in Codeplex (Im working on this now to get a license in Codeplex)