The Masters at Work!

Here’s David Musgrave and Mariano Gomez honing their presentation on development tools (what else!). They have picked a quiet table in the corner of the bar at Basies. Hey, it’s never too late to prepare for your presentation, right?

David Musgrave & Mariano Gomez

We worked there all day, and David got to experience an ‘object reference not set’ error and couldn’t uninstall Dynamics from his computer. He was off to the races then trying 'things', but the computer was winning. After 6 hours we got a new set of eyes looking at it. David Eichner to the rescue. David E. suggested some pretty agressive 'fixes', but everything started working again at last. And it only took 6 hours! Welcome to my world David!

After our day at the bar, Mariano needed to get some fresh air. I guess two solid days inside the Ramada in Fargo was starting to close in on him. David M, David E, Mariano and me ventured across the street in the cold to Granite City Food & Brewery to get some dinner and exchange more stories and laughs.

We have an early day Monday, so we all headed upstairs to our rooms at about 10:00 pm.

Until next time!

Leslie

Tech Conference in Fargo–Cold Cold Cold

Fargo was cold (zero degrees F) when I arrived from 70 degree Dallas on Saturday. After enduring a two-hour delay in Chicago for de-icing, I was rewarded by meeting up with Haseet Sanghrajka at the Fargo airport. Haseet came in from England and was also on his way to the Ramada.

Mariano Gomez, Leslie Vail & David Musgrave

When I finally walked into the Ramada I was greeted by the best of the best – David Musgrave and Mariano Gomez! It was well past dinner time when I finally arrived, but David and Mariano waited for me to get there so we could all sit down together for a meal at Basies. Mariano was looking mighty hungry though.

All inconveniences of the cold and the delays soon vanished from my mind. David Eichner joined us for conversation and mashed potatoes during dinner and we gabbed until after 1:00 am.

What a great day to catch up and ready ourselves for the Conference!

Until next post!

Leslie

Dexterity Training in Orlando (May 16th to 20th, 2011)

Come join us in Orlando for Dexterity Basics training. We have nine people signed up so far!

It’s –1 F (-18 C) in Fargo, Orlando sure sounds a lot nicer!

The Dex I class is being held at the facility of Integrated Business Group they are a Certified Learning Resources partner and have the best classrooms I have ever seen. Comfortable chairs and lots of room.

For more information and to register call Roxanna Alvarez @ 407-677-0370 or e-mail her directly ralvarez@ibgnet.com.

Date and Location:

• When:  May 16th – May 20
• Where: Orlando Florida

This class is very hands-on and starts at the beginning; no previous Dexterity experience is necessary.

You can download a synopsis of the class Here:
http://www.4shared.com/document/gK3muz4n/Dexterity_I_Synopsis_.html

I have pasted the synopsis below if the download doesn't work.

I hope to see you there!

Until Next Post!
Leslie Vail

Dexterity I – Product Fundamentals

Synopsis:

Dexterity Product Fundamentals will teach you about the development environment used to build the Microsoft Dynamics GP family of products. This course will provide you with the foundation you need to build integrated, database-independent applications. In addition, you will learn how to provide powerful application functionality for Microsoft Dynamics GP.

By actively participating in these classes, you should learn:

Basic programming techniques used by Microsoft Dynamics GP to develop their core modules.

• How to modify existing Dynamics GP forms and reports in order to make customizations for customers.
• How to develop add-on applications that will interact with the Dynamics GP products to meet specific requests by customers.
• How to package and ship your dictionary allowing Microsoft Dynamics GP to make updates to Dynamics GP without affecting the developer's dictionary.
• How to register your product with Microsoft Dynamics GP using a unique Product ID to ensure no duplication of add-on applications with the same name.
• How to develop add-on applications that will "look and feel" like Dynamics GP and provide seamless interface between the applications to ensure a professional finished product.
• How to use object triggers, which are scripts in your applications that are invoked by events in Dynamics GP, allowing several developers to deliver enhancements to the same Dynamics GP form.

Who should attend?

Customers or Partners who will be customizing or building add-on or standalone applications to integrate with the Microsoft Dynamics GP products.

General Prerequisites:

Prior to attending the course, it is highly recommended that students prepare for the course by going through the Dexterity Quick Start reference manual and working through the lessons in that manual. The Quick Start manual is located on the second CD of Dynamics GP and can be found under the Help-Online Manuals option from within Dexterity. Also, necessary is knowledge of basic programming concepts.

Price: $2,995 for 5 day course

Accepted Payment Methods: Check, Visa, MasterCard, American Express

NEW! Keys.ini file Control your Macro's Date and Time

How to Test Date Driven Features in GP

I have added a new file to the .ini collection – the Keys.ini

This information comes compliments of Alice Newsman from the GP Test Team. Alice explains how to use the file, where to put it and why you NEED to use this file when testing date driven features http://blogs.msdn.com/b/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2009/12/18/testing-date-driven-features-in-gp.aspx

Download the new file here: http://www.4shared.com/document/Dn7XeHVj/KEYSini_file_settings.html


Dex.ini Settings

Several settings in the Dex.ini file control the application and enable more consistency to be driven into tests.  The below settings will allow you to specify whether you want to use the Control Panel settings for date, time and currency values as well as allowing you to set the preferred format.

StdInternationalInfo
This setting allows the operating system settings for date, time, and currency formatting to be overridden.

TRUE = Use Dexterity standard formats for date, time, and currency values
FALSE = Use control panel settings for date, time, and currency values

StdInternationalInfoDateCentury
This setting allows control over the year portion of the date values used by StdInternationalInfo

TRUE = Four digits will be used for the year portion of date values
FALSE  = Two digits will be used for the year portion of date values

StdInternationalInfoDateZeroPrefix
This setting allows control over the date format for SdtInternationalInfo

TRUE = Single-digit day and month values will be prefixed with a 0 (zero)
FALSE = Single-digit day and month values will not be prefixed

Keys.ini Settings
The Keys.ini file contains commands that are run at startup to configure various system behaviors. The commands in the Keys.ini are run only if the file is included in the command to launch Microsoft Dynamics GP.

You create this file using a text editor such as Notepad. The Keys.ini file is typically stored in the Data folder of the Microsoft Dynamics GP installation.

To work properly, the Keys.ini file must also have a blank line as the last item in the file. The following commands allow the user to set a static system date and time.


SetEbDateTo
This command specifies the date value to use for the system date.  Note that for this setting the '=' is not included in the switch, it is here just for definition readability. Examples are included to clarify.

'o/s' = Use the operating system date
MM/DD/YY/DOW = Use the date specified, where MM is the month, DD is the date, YY is the year, and DOW is the day of the week

Example: SetEbDateTo date 01/01/1965


SetEbTimeTo
This command specifies the time value to use for the system time.  Note that for this setting the '=' is not included in the switch, it is here just for definition readability. Examples are included to clarify.

'o/s' = Use the operating system time
time HH:MM:SS = Use the time specified, where HH is the hour (from 0 to 23), MM is the minute, and SS is the second

Example: SetEbTimeTo time 4:15:00

Here is an example of how the switches would look in the Keys.ini file

      SetEbDateTo date 01/01/2001
      SetEbTimeTo 'o/s'

Once the above settings have been specified you will then be able to setup your starting data including specific dates for orders, items, etc to create in-depth testing for date driven features.

Enjoy!

Leslie Vail

Dex.ini Downloadable File Updated

Hello everyone,

I have updated my Dex.ini collection. The file name is the same, but it contains a few new switches. As before, please comment and correct me if the descriptions are wrong or give me some new ones that I can add to the list!

I’m still looking for an explanation for the two below. If anyone knows what they mean, please – speak up!

NextEntryID =

NextGroupID =

You can access the latest Dex.ini file on Box. Download here: DEX.ini. Here’s the link done the long way: https://app.box.com/s/xkgae2rz1vil1ap4o579

Until next post!

Leslie Vail

Remembering the Company, not the User

GP 2010 brought with it a couple of new features involving security. Mariano wrote a nice article about several new features on his blog last year:
http://dynamicsgpblogster.blogspot.com/2010/01/microsoft-dynamics-gp-2010-security.html

I would like to add a comment about security that I have seen misinterpreted quite a bit lately. There are two new options, (1) Remember user and password & (2) Remember this company. These two options are not related in any way.

Remembering the user and password can be turned on and off through System Preferences (see below). Turning off the ‘Remember User’ option does NOT turn off the ‘Remember this company’ option.



The Remember user and password checkbox is disabled in the Welcome window because it is not enabled in System Preferences.



The checkbox for ‘Remember this company’ is not controlled by System Preferences. You can always check this box. When the box is checked, you still have to log in to the system but then you are automatically logged on to the remembered company after your password is accepted.



I like the option to remember the company. I think remembering the user and password is too big of a security risk to be viable. For anyone who has Field Level Security, I recommend you hide the field (L) RememberMe on the Login form/window.

Until next post!

Leslie

Dexterity Training Rescheduled

The Dexterity Basics class that was originally scheduled for the week before Tech Conference has been rescheduled and moved to Orlando, FL.

The class is being held at the facility of Integrated Business Group (they are a Certified Learning Resources partner)

For more information and to register:
call Roxanna Alvarez @ 407-677-0370,
or e-mail her directly ralvarez@ibgnet.com.

New Date and Location:

• When:  May 16th – May 20
• Where: Orlando Florida

No previous Dexterity experience is required nor suggested. This class starts from the ground up. We only ask that you have some familiarity with programming in general.

You will be surprised at how much fun you can have in a programming class – and we are close to Disney World!

You can download a synopsis of the class here:  http://www.4shared.com/office/gK3muz4n/dexterity_i_synopsis_.html

I hope to see you there!

Until Next Post!

Leslie Vail

Update path is back for 9.00.0388 to GP 2010

The only path from 9.00.0388 is to 11.00.1667

Version 11.00.1667 is the resulting build after the installation of the 2011 US Payroll Round 2 Tax Update.
Download the tax update patch HERE. KB2477921

Dexterity – Learn it – Love it

With all of this discussion about the fate of Dexterity, I thought I would remind everyone that you can come to the Dexterity Basics class in Fargo the week before Tech Conference and decide for yourself .

Personally, I do not think Dexterity is going to disappear so long as Dynamics GP is alive. Remember the ill-fated project ‘Green’? As Tim Gordon reminds us ..." it  (Dexterity) was designed specifically as a language for building an accounting system…"


Dex is in a class by itself!

Until next post,
Leslie

GP Reports Viewer moves into the Shipping Lanes!

MVP Victoria Yudin just released a fabulous product that will remove so much pain that is now part of herding together all of the various reports in Dynamics. Wow, below is a list of what it can do (stolen directly from Victoria’s blog ).

Download a trial copy and see for yourself! http://www.flex-solutions.com/gpreports.html

Run Crystal and SSRS Reports directly from Dynamics GP

Organize your Crystal and SSRS Reports into Batches and run them all at once

Reports can be run from our GP Reports Viewer screen or from any window in GP - via the Print Button or Extras menu

Your report can automatically use data from the GP company you are in

Auto detection of report parameters and ability to pass parameters directly into reports from GP windows

Assign built-in GP lookups to parameters or easily create additional lookups as needed

Technorati Tags: reporting

Download GP 2010 Payroll Tax Round 2!

It’s finally here for real – GP 2010 Payroll Tax round 2 – and you can download it HERE
GPUG has a nice announcement on their site http://www.gpug.com/member-resources/payroll-update-news

Dexterity Training is coming to Fargo!

That’s right!  A Dexterity training class is being held the week before Tech Conference (Feb 21-25) in Fargo. If you have been wanting to get started with Dexterity, now is a great opportunity for some classroom training. Details of what is covered and other particulars can be had by contacting IBG.

It’s coming up fast, but it’s worth the trip. We are running the Dexterity I class covering the basics in Dexterity, it’s an introduction to the language aimed at a developer who has not worked with Dexterity before. You will learn how to create user interfaces having the exact same look and feel as Dynamics GP, how to create resources and interact with the core applications. This class will bring it all together for VSTools programmers and new Dexterity developers alike.

Don’t forget to bring a coat

For details and to sign up contact ralvarez@ibgnet.com. You could also fill out the ‘Request Information’ form on their web site. Their web site is http://www.ibgnet.com/.

You can download a synopsis of the class using the link below. http://www.4shared.com/document/gK3muz4n/Dexterity_I_Synopsis_.html
I hope to see you there, if not I will see you at the conference.

Until next post!