Over the last few months I have been working hard on the next build of the Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP. After just over 130 hours of development, testing and documenting it is finally ready for release. I have made over 30 significant changes to the tool which will make the existing features more robust as well as adding functionality and some completely new features.

Below is a summary of the changes made for releases 8.00.0011, 9.00.0011 and 10.00.0011, I have divided them into logical sections:

Navigation

• Added Keyboard Shortcut to Tools menu for opening Support Debugging Tool. 
• Added Keyboard Shortcuts to Tools menu for starting and stopping Manual Logging Mode.
• Added Support Debugging Tool menu item to individual window's Tools menu so it is available at all times (v10.0 only).
• Added ScreenShot menu item to individual window's Tools menu so it is available at all times (v10.0 only).
• Added menu items for starting and stopping Manual Logging Mode to the individual window's Tools menu so it is available at all times (v10.0 only).
• Added Keyboard Shortcuts to Debugger Menu. This is available under Extras (v8.0 and v9.0) or on the window's menu bar itself (v10.0).
• Added Keyboard Shortcuts to the Options menu on the main Support Debugging Tool window.
• Removed Zoom to About window from main window, you can use Options >> About instead.

Reliability

• Added NULL detection and handling to SQL Execute window.
• Added Exception handling to external calls used for right click context menu.
• Added Path checking and Exception Handling to XML Export and XML Import windows.
• Added Resource Explorer windows into Support Debugging Tool, so Advanced Security is no longer needed.
• Added Setup File (debugger.xml) Version Check to ensure all workstations using a setup file have the same build.

Fixes 

• Fixed duplicate issue when saving Triggers or Scripts after printing report from window.
• Fixed Date and Time spacing on Security Profiler Report.
• Fixed Dictionary Control disabling of Alternate Windows and Reports.
• Fixed table positioning when browsing through records after saving with SQL Execute, Runtime Execute and Setup Advanced Debugger Mode windows.
• Fixed Resource Explorer lookups activating Resource Information window Search Again mode when returning values.
• Prevent selection of Temporary Tables from XML Export window.
• Global Change of font back to System font to enable easier translation.

Performance

• Automatic Debugger Mode Performance improvements, no longer reading XML Setup file when triggering. The Setup file is now only read when the triggers are registered.
• Improved Load and Save performance of Setup Automatic Debugger Mode, Runtime Execute and SQL Execute windows.
• Performance improvement by caching SQL Execute and Runtime Execute scripts called by Automatic Debugger Mode Trigger scripts.

Features

• Added Tabs to Administrator Settings window to allow for new options.
   
  
   
• Added Company Based color schemes similar to VBA method described in the Hybrid - Changing Screen Colours Depending on Company Example blog post.
• Added option to activate Test or Historical dialog when logging into companies, based on method described in the Setting up Test and Historical Companies blog post.
• Added option to change the titles on the main Application window (v8.0 and v9.0) or for all Windows (v10.0 only) to include Company ID and/or User ID. This allows quick identification of windows when running multiple instances of Microsoft Dynamics GP.
   
  
   
• Added Email Body template which is used with the Send Email window.
• Added Email Signature which is added to all emails sent by the Support Debugging Tool.
    
  
   
• Added Email Engine supporting mail via Outlook client or SMTP via CDO.  The SMTP mode can be used from a workstation or terminal server which does not have Outlook installed and configured.
   
  
   
• Added Send Email window for sending separate emails.  This provides a user interface when using SMTP mode which can be used for reporting issues to the system administrator.
   
  
   
• Added Export to File or Email to SQL Execute using Tab Delimited, Comma Delimited or HTML Table formats.
• Added Send Email for use in Triggers when conditions are met using Automatic Debugging Mode.
• Added Trigger Date Restriction to Options window for use with Automatic Debugger Mode.
• Added options to execute reject script or reject record commands from non logging Triggers.
• Added ability to enter a Table's Physical Name on the XML Export window.
• Added ability to lookup a form's associated tables from the Resource Information Window.
• Added ability to lookup a form using menu navigation from the Resource Information Window.
• Added facility to call Runtime Execute scripts from the Report Writer using the rw_ReportStart, rw_ReportEnd, rw_TableHeaderString, rw_TableHeaderCurrency, rw_TableLineString, and rw_TableLineCurrency report writer user defined functions. See the Knowledge Base (KB) article below for more information:
   
  Useful functions for developers to use instead of creating alternate reports in Microsoft Dynamics GP (KB 888884)  
   

Acknowledgments

I must send a huge thank-you to Mariano Gomez and Robert Cavill for their tireless help in beta testing each of the changes made.  There are many issues that you won't see because they were found during beta testing and fixed.

Also, credit must go to Mariano for his post on Sending emails with Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) and Dexterity which forms the basis of the emailing by SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) functionality now in the Support Debugging Tool.  Mariano also assisted with getting the code fine tuned to correctly handle the SMTP Server Authentication modes.

Thanks guys for your invaluable assistance.

I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Microsoft Dynamics GP support team for the Asia Pacific region. They have supported me and allowed me to dedicate a significant amount of time to the Support Debugging Tool project. 

Downloads

Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Great Plains 8.0 (link broken go to the portal)

Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0

Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

NOTE: The tool is posted on PartnerSource  and so can be downloaded by partners.  If you are a customer, you will need to obtain the tool through your partner. Any feedback or questions about the tool will be handled via the GP developer newsgroup.

For other related articles and posts have a look at the Support Debugging Tool Tag page.

[Edit] Please check out the Support Debugging Tool Portal page, your one-stop-shop for all things relating to the Support Debugging Tool.

Please post your comments on what you think about the new features. Also tell us what other features to assist in supporting and debugging Microsoft Dynamics GP you would like to see in the Support Debugging Tool.

David

10-Mar-2010: Added link for Support Debugging Tool Portal page.