Ok, I guess this three part series just got extended to four. I just have a few last things on the AX 4.0 / 2009 Trace Parser tool that you might find useful. Soon we'll all be using the AX 2012 version right? Anyway, here it goes...

Most of the time Trace Parser works the way it should, but from time to time I do run into some issues. Below I've documented some of the issues I've run into along the way and some things to try if you run into them too.

• Be sure you have .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 installed prior to installing Trace Parser.
• Ensure the .NET Business Connector is installed. It is a required component that Trace Parser uses to allow code to be viewed in the tool while analyzing traces.
• Ensure the “Local client” and “Business Connector (non-interactive use only)” connection settings are the same in the Microsoft Dynamics AX Configuration Utility (client utility). If the settings are different, you may encounter problems getting the code integration to work so you can see code while analyzing traces.

• When using the latest version of Trace Parser in a Dynamics AX 4.0 environment, you may experience issues getting the source code integration working. Below are a few things that might help you so you can view source code while analyzing traces in the tool.
• First, you may need to modify the Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Tracing.TraceParser.exe.config file so the correct version of the .NET Business Connector is being referenced by the tool. The following is an example of the default configuration file that works with Dynamics AX 2009.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<configuration>

    <runtime>

      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

        <dependentAssembly>

          <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>

          <bindingRedirect oldVersion="6.0.0.0" newVersion="5.0.0.0"/>

        </dependentAssembly>

              </assemblyBinding>

    </runtime>  

</configuration>

• The following is an example of a configuration file that has been modified to work with Dynamics AX 4.0.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<configuration>

  <runtime>

    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

      <dependentAssembly>

        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />

        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="5.0.0.0" newVersion="4.0.0.0" />

      </dependentAssembly>

    </assemblyBinding>

  </runtime>

</configuration>

• If the above configuration change doesn’t fix the issue, you may also need to try removing strong name signing:

SNRemove -r C:\Program Files\Trace Parser\Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Tracing.TraceParser.exe

• It may also help to force 32bit execution:

CoreFlags.exe Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Tracing.TraceParser.exe /32BIT+

• Last but not least, occasionally a trace import fails causing Trace Parser to close. The error shown below might appear when this happens. If this happens consistently, database corruption in the Trace Parser database might be the issue. Sometimes creating and registering a new Trace Parser database will resolve this issue and allow you to import traces again.