Solutions Monkey

Custom Bound Fields in FieldGroup

You could make the AxBoundFieldGroup use the CustomBoundField (http://blogs.msdn.com/solutions/archive/2009/04/20/ax-custom-bound-fields.aspx) instead of the regular bound field by hooking into the OnCreatingBoundField event (KB971547) of the  AxBoundFieldFactory.

 For example create an assembly with the below code and put it in GAC.

public class AxSampleBoundFieldFactory
{
 public void OnCreatingBoundField(object sender, CreatingBoundFieldEventArgs eventArgs)
 {
   if (eventArgs.Field.Name == "Date")
     eventArgs.BoundField = new AxSampleDateBoundField();
 }
}

Then modify the master page (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\DynamicsAxEnterprisePortal\defaultax.master) and add the below code to invoke this eventhandler in page init. Now any page that displays a fieldgroup will use the AxSampleDateBoundField for any field with the name "Date". You can add any logic that you want here for example you may want to use other field meta data properties instead of the name.

  private AxSampleBoundFieldFactory customBoundFieldFactory;
   
    protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnInit(e);

        // Subscribe to the bound field factory event
        this.customBoundFieldFactory = new AxSampleBoundFieldFactory();
        AxBoundFieldFactory.Instance.CreatingBoundField += this.customBoundFieldFactory.OnCreatingBoundField;
    }

    protected override void OnUnload(EventArgs e)
    {
        // Unsubscribe to the bound field factory event
        AxBoundFieldFactory.Instance.CreatingBoundField -= this.customBoundFieldFactory.OnCreatingBoundField;       
       
        base.OnUnload(e);
    }

Posted by meysun | 1 Comments

Filed under: Development

Passing parameters from Managed code to X++ in dataset

In the user control code behing add an event handler to the CreatingDataSetRun event on the AxDataSource control

protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.AxDataSource1.CreatingDataSetRun += new EventHandler<CreatingDataSetRunEventArgs>(AxDataSource1_CreatingDataSetRun);
}

Set the param value  to the event arugments

void AxDataSource1_CreatingDataSetRun(object sender, CreatingDataSetRunEventArgs e)

{

e.DataSetRunArgs.parm = "4000";

}

 

In AOT override or add method in the data set and use element.args().parm() to received the paramter  

public void executeQuery()
{

 QueryBuildRange             custRange;
 ;
        custRange = SysQuery::findOrCreateRange(this.query().dataSourceNo(1), fieldnum(CustTable, AccountNum));
        custRange.value(element.args().parm());
   super();

}

You can also pass an Enum. For example

void AxDataSource1_CreatingDataSetRun(object sender, CreatingDataSetRunEventArgs e)
{
e.DataSetRunArgs.parmEnumType = EnumMetadata.EnumNum(this.AxSession, "EPFormAction");
e.DataSetRunArgs.parmEnum(2);
}

 

public void init()
{
    super();

     if (element.args().parmEnumType() == enumnum(EPFormAction) && element.args().parmEnum() == EPFormAction::CreateMode)
    {
        //do somethign here

    }
}

Setting Up EP with host headers

Host headers are used either to provide a user-friendly name to the web site address ( and not expose the actual machine name of the web server) or to have multiple IIS websites running on the same port but distinguished by different names.

For example, you may have a machine with the name abcxyz but you want the website url to be http://contoso and not http://abcxyz or you want to have two websites running in port 80 one going to c:\inetpub\wwwroot\folder1 and another going to c:\inetpub\wwwroot\folder2. In these scenarios host headers are useful.

To install EP with host headers

(1)    Create an IIS Web site and configure host header http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190008

(2)    Create a web application in SharePoint Central Admin tool and choose existing IIS Website and pick the one that is created in the above step

(3)    Change to NTLM authentication for HTTPWebRequest in Version 3.5 SP1 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc982052.aspx

(4)    Install EP and select the IIS Web site / SharePoint Web application created in step 2

Refer to the attached document for screenshots

EMEA AX support team's blog

EMEA AX support team's blog http://blogs.msdn.com/emeadaxsupport/ has many useful EP deployment related posts.

Great job team!!!

Channel 9 - EP deployment webinar screen cast

The EP deployment webinar that I conducted on May 4th is now available in Channel9. There were audio interruptions during the webinar. So I redid it and captured it as a screen cast and posted it to Channel9.

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/meysun/Microsoft-Dynamics-AX-2009-Enterprise-Portal-Deployment/

Enterprise Portal Webinar Content

Below is the powerpoint that I am going to use for May 4th Webinar on Enterprise Portal deployment. The link to the attachment is at the bottom of this blog post below the comments link.

Follow me on twitter

It's interesting to see the dynamics folks on twitter. You can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/meysun
I will try to tweet at least once a day

Upcoming EP Webinars

We are having four webinars on Microsoft Dynamics AX EP development and deployment , one each in North America and EMEA time zone. This is open to all partners, customers and Microsoft employees.

Session 1 : EP Development ( repeated) – 28^th April by Diwakar Bedekar ,  Microsoft

 

Here is another opportunity for you to join a developer oriented deep-dive technical session on Enterprise portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. We will cover how to build and customize EP pages, user controls for lists/tasks/wizards, and common programming tasks. You are invited to participate in this virtual meeting bringing your experiences with Dynamics AX to the table, your questions and feedback, too. The discussion will be facilitated by our key R&D folks responsible for this part of the solution.

 

Please use the LiveMeeting invitation details below to join the meeting. If you have any questions about this meeting or others like this, please send us an email at dynresch@microsoft.com.

 

Session 2 : EP Deployment ( repeated) – 04^th May by Mey Meenakshisundaram,  Microsoft

 

Here is another opportunity for you to join an administrator oriented Deployment and Setup discussion on Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. We will dive into some key “how-to” points on deploying and setting up EP, understanding the infrastructure, etc. You are invited to participate in this virtual meeting bringing your experiences with Dynamics AX to the table, your questions and feedback, too. The discussion will be facilitated by our key R&D folks responsible for this part of the solution.

 

Please use the LiveMeeting invitation details below to join the meeting. If you have any questions about this meeting or others like this, please send us an email at dynresch@microsoft.com.

 

We look forward to you joining the call!

Kind regards,

The Dynamics AX Team

 

 

Session	EP Development – EMEA time zone	EP Development – North America time zone	EP Deployment – EMEA time zone	EP Deployment – North America time zone
Date	28 April 2009	28 April 2009	04 May 2009	04 May 2009
Time	7:00-8.30 AM PST (GMT-7) 4:00-5:30 PM CET ( GMT+1)	11 AM -12:30 PM PST (GMT-7) 8:00 -9:30 PM CET( GMT+1)	7:00-8.30 AM PST (GMT-7) 4:00-5:30 PM CET ( GMT+1)	11 AM -12:30 PM PST (GMT-7) 8:00 -9:30 PM CET( GMT+1)
Live Meeting link	Join the meeting	Join the meeting	Join the meeting	Join the meeting
Conference ID	2306579	708791	582045	3648902
Passcode	Passcode is not required	Passcode is not required	Passcode is not required	Passcode is not required
Presenter	Diwakar Bedekar	Diwakar Bedekar	Mey Meenakshisundaram	Mey Meenakshisundaram
Conference call number	Region Number Available Languages Australia, Adelaide +61882177462 English (Australia), English (United States) Australia, Brisbane +61732187088 English (Australia), English (United States) Australia, Canberra +61261224772 English (Australia), English (United States) Australia, Melbourne +61383205995 English (Australia), English (United Kingdom) Australia, Perth +61894208469 English (Australia), English (United States) Australia, Sydney +61298702923 English (Australia), English (United Kingdom) Belgium, Zaventem +3227043888 English, French, German Canada, Montreal +15148465858 French, English Canada, Vancouver +16042476417 English China, Beijing +861058968008 English, Chinese China, Chengdu +862886208008 Chinese, English China, Guangzhou +862085108008 Chinese, English China, Hong Kong +85228044336 Chinese, English China, Shanghai +862161518008 Chinese, English China, Shenzhen +8675586118008 Chinese, English China, Wuhan +862759608008 Chinese, English England, London, TVP +441189093000 English France, Les Ulis +33169864554 French, English, Italian Germany, Munich +498931763500 German, English Ireland, Dublin Atrium +35312797777 English, Italian, Spanish, German, French Israel, Herzeliya +972747112400 English (United Kingdom), English (United States) Japan, Tokyo Shinjuku +81344135200 Japanese, English Korea, Seoul +8225318999 Korean, English Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur +60321707377 English, Chinese Mexico City, Mexico +525552672500 Spanish, English Netherlands, Amsterdam, AMS +31205002500 English, German, French New Zealand, Auckland +6493625577 English (Australia), English (United States) Philippines, Makati +6328608711 English (United Kingdom), English (United States) Singapore, Singapore OMB +6568888007 English, Chinese Switzerland, Zurich +41442055797 German, English, French Taiwan, Taipei +886237253488 Chinese, English Thailand, Bangkok +6622574944 English, Chinese Turkey, Istanbul +902123705222 English (United Kingdom), German, English (United States) United Arab Emirates, Dubai +97143917744 English (United States), English (United Kingdom) USA - Redmond Campus +14257063500 English +18883203585 English

 

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AX Custom bound fields

A new code sample demonstrating the flexibility to customize the boundfields in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 EP is released in http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/axcodesamples. Here is the link directly to the sample download file. To try out these samples, download this zip file and follow the instructions given in readme.txt file  http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Project/Download/FileDownload.aspx?ProjectName=axcodesamples&DownloadId=5497

EP comes with a rich set of bound fields. This code sample demonstrates how to extend and add bound fields in EP for specific user interface requirements. This sample contains three types of bound fields:

• Multi-line text
• Day/month/year dropdown
• Foreign key lookup that displays a description instead of an ID

Data binding provides an easy and powerful way to create a read/write link between controls on a Web page and the data in an application. With ASP.NET data binding, you can bind any server control to an AxDataSource control in EP and read and write data from Microsoft Dynamics AX seamlessly with little or no server code.

NOTE : These are code samples are not intended for production use as is. You should use them as samples and build your own solutions and test it before using it in production system. These sample bound fields do not work with BoundField designer in VS. You should work in the markup directly to use these boundfields or make the code deal with the boundfield designer.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 White Paper: Configuring Kerberos Authentication with Role Centers

Here is the link to the Kerberos authentication configuration white paper for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=be720eb3-649a-49ff-b019-a1e4e7af6b47&displaylang=en&tm

 

Integrating EP Web Parts to non-EP SharePoint sites

If you already have SharePoint sites ( not based on EP site templates) and if you would like to use some of the AX web parts in those sites, it's easily doable in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.

Here are the steps to do.

(1) Integrating EP web parts to other sites requires install EP on the SharePoint server. To do that run setup and select Role Centers and Enterprise Portal component and go through the setup wizard. ( Uncheck the Auto create site option) since you don’t need a new site.

(2) Then  you need to add a script manager to the master page (for example C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\GLOBAL\default.master)of your site.
For example add
<%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Namespace="System.Web.UI" TagPrefix="asp" %>
Just above the HTML tag ( Search for <HTML)

And add the below just inside the Form tag ( search for <form)
                <WebPartPages:SPWebPartManager id="m" runat="Server" />
   <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" EnablePartialRendering="true" />

If you don’t have permission to change the master page, then you can create a user control that contains this script manager and create a SharePoint feature that adds this UserControl to our AdditionalPageHead delegate control. For example refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.webcontrols.delegatecontrol.aspx

(3) Then Go to AXClient -> Administration->Setup->Internet -> Enterprise Portal and add the website and register the site with type “Web Parts only”. You also need to specify a company.

Once the script manager is added , EP is installed and the Site is registered in AX , then you can start using EP webparts on any SharePoint site.

For example, in the below screenshot, I am using AX web parts ( Cues and Unified worklist) in a wiki SharePoint site

Always keep the Filter section expanded in AxGridView

During AxUG Webinar, I got a question around how to keep the filter section always expanded in a gridview in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 EP. Unfortunately we don't have a simple property to do that in the AxGridView control. Since it's all ASP.NET and javascript, I mentioned that there should be an easy workaround available.
If you add the below javascript code to your user control at the bottom of the markup file ( .ascx file) then the filter section will always be in expanded mode both during initial load as well as during subsequent postbacks. Since the below code uses lot's of internals such as ids and stylesheet names, it is not guaranteed to work in subsequent releases of EP. But if you need this capability in  Ax 2009 and specific pages, this may be useful.

 

<script type="text/javascript">

function ExpandFilter(sender, args) {

var elem = document.getElementById('div_<%=this.AxGridView1.FilterControl.ClientID%>');

var parentDiv = elem.parentNode;

var filterArea = DynamicsFilter.GetFilterArea(elem);

if (DynamicsCommon.IsNull(filterArea)) return;

elem.style.display = '';

var applylink = DynamicsCommon.FindInstance(parentDiv, "applyfilter");

var resetlink = DynamicsCommon.FindInstance(parentDiv, "resetfilter");

var editfilterlink = DynamicsCommon.FindInstance(parentDiv, "editfilter");

if (!DynamicsCommon.IsNull(applylink) && !DynamicsCommon.IsNull(resetlink) && !DynamicsCommon.IsNull(editfilterlink)) {

editfilterlink.style.display = 'none';

applylink.style.display = '';

resetlink.style.display = '';

}

}

Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_endRequest(ExpandFilter);

ExpandFilter();

</script>