Extender 10.0 SP4 - An Important Improvement & A Critical Miss

One major issue which was in the previous versions of Extender was:

When we delete an Extender Window or Detail Window, the respective records were not deleted and that leaves substantial orphan records in the EXT tables.

This issue is fixed in Extender 10.0 SP4. Now deleting a Window/Detail Window will not delete the underlying records also. Now that's another critical point. The user should be intimated about this when he/she try to delete from Extender Maintenance form.

The issue which I thought could have been fixed in Extender 10.0 SP4 has not yet got fixed, much to my disappointment. Which is this:

When we change the Key fields for an Extender Window (add a field or remove an existing key field), the records pertaining to the old key combination will be left in the EXT tables.

This is a very big flaw in Extender feature. While this do not often happen, when it happens though, we will be left with pretty nasty orphan records which do not have any meaning at all.

I am not quite sure what the technical difficulty that Extender Developers may face when they try incorporating this much needed functionality. But to my knowledge, this looks pretty simple to get it work.

VAIDY

Dumbest Software Pirate - Off (On) the Record

This one is nothing to do with Dynamics GP and it's related technologies. But it is worth mentioning in this blog.

I read this most hilarious CodeSmith forum post and replies, wherein a user (calling himself/herself as "dushyant") asks the CodeSmith Forum a serial key to crack the CodeSmith Professional 5.1.X product?!?!?!?!?!?! You heard it right. A user logged on to ask CodeSmith Product Forum itself to provide him a Serial Key to crack the CodeSmith Pro product.

Read it here: Need Serial Key.

VAIDY

MSDynamicsWire.Com - A Portal from Janakiram MP

I am a bit late in spreading my words about this wonderful initiative from fellow GP Blogger Janakiram MP.

He has started a portal called MSDynamicsWire.Com. Let's read his introduction to this Portal:

"MSDynamicsWire.com is an informative portal dedicated to bring the latest news updates, Blog updates and several other informative resources in Microsoft Dynamics Community. The portal is based on RSS syndication aggregating various sources of information in Microsoft Dynamics community.

MSDynamiWire.com covers various product areas inside Microsoft Dynamics that include Dynamics GP, Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics RMS, Dynamics SL adding to the general news updates in Microsoft."

An wonderful initiative I would say, to centralize all possible MS Dynamics information, Blog articles, etc.

The best that we can do for this initiative is to visit the Portal and send Janakiram MP our feedbacks.

VAIDY

eConnect 10.0 SP4 - Bug in taPOLine Schema

This one is pretty important.

I was reading thru' the GP Partner Forum and learned that PO Integrations using eConnect 10.0 SP4 fails with the message: Microsoft.Dynamics.GP.eConnect: Number = 8701 Stored Procedure taPoLine : Description = Document Date is required for PA

Original Link: eConnect failure in integration manager taPOLine.

MSFT responded back saying that this is a bug and will be rectified in the coming Hot Fix.

So those who are updating eConnect 10.0 to SP4, kindly be informed about this and make sure that you are keeping track of the Hot Fixes which MSFT is going to release in future.

VAIDY

VBA - Modal Dialog Box Event post in GP Dev Newsgroup

There was a post in Microsoft GP Developer Newgroup, Suppress Dialog Box. The question is briefed as follows:

On the Cash Receipts Entry window, the message "Account is empty. Do you want to save the changes with errors?" needs to be suppressed as the users are not allowed to enter an Account in the CR Distribution Window.

The owner of the post was trying to handle this with VBA's Window_BeforeModalDialog() event. The message was still coming up and a solution was sought. I checked this and found one really interesting simple reason behind it:

The message "Account is empty. Do you want to save the changes with errors?" has got two SPACEs between it's two statements. So actually the message is something like this:

Account is empty.[SPACE][SPACE]Do you want to save the changes with errors?

I also got this message popping up invariably after adding the validation when I checked the PromptString (the parameter in VBA event function which contains the message text) against the following message:

Account is empty.[SPACE]Do you want to save the changes with errors?

So how we can avoid this? We have to first display the PromptString on a Message Box and then copy that message to your validations. This will ensure that we are capturing the correct Prompt Message from our VBA code. What we see in GP does not really give us an accurate vision of each message that we see. We do not know where an extra space is added.

Just thought of sharing this, as someone may find this helpful.

VAIDY

A New Beginning in my Career

It's official now. I am now an Independent Dynamics GP Consultant.

There several parameters that drove me to take this decision. First: I wanted to enjoy the work I do and when I enjoy my work, my productivity increases. And that's exactly what I am going to do now. Second: I wanted to work directly with the clients & their realtime business to understand both the Accounting Processes and GP pretty well. This would give me a chance to learn both. Third & Other: Not that important at this stage, anyways.

The major difference that I had seen in all these years:

1. When I worked for an IT Company, there were many a situation that I had to satisfy both your Employer and Client, which in my opinion is very difficult and needless.

When I work with the Client directly, I am the owner of my tasks and the only person whom I am suppose to satisfy is my Client. The client is going to take care of my requirements and I am going to take care of his/her Business Requirements.

2. When I worked for an IT Company, the job was more secured, but it did not promise me a sense of satisfaction always.

When I work with the Client directly, there is a huge risk and my job is not always secured, but it does promise tremendous levels of challenges and once I overcome those with flying colors, I have everything: Satisfaction, Sense of Achievement, Reputation and not to forget, a bit more Money.

3. When I worked for an IT Company, I got paid every month regularly, but it did not paved way for me to realize what I always dreamt, to become a Consultant. I always used to tell my Ex-Colleagues; We have to get some interesting tasks to carry out OR We have to get some Monetary Benefits OR We have to at least climb the Corporate Ladder so that we can at least be proud of our Designations. When we fail to get nothing out of those three, something somewhere is wrong and needs some correction.

When I work with the Client directly, I will be paid only for what I deliver and its quality. And that would give me some nightmares, tons of responsibilities and in the end it gives what I aspire: Real Experience, Satisfaction & Reputation. I will gradually learn to spend more Quality Hours than mere Hours.

4. When I worked for an IT Company, I never had my own Identity. If the company performs well, my performance was measured accordingly. If the company performs less, quite unfortunately my performance was questioned more than once. And this invariably affected my enthusiasm in doing my tasks.

When I work with the Client directly, it is even more risky that my Identity and Reputation gets a beat. But that very thought would burn my poor qualities and will always drive me towards Quality Work.

Honesly, I am not advocating of becoming an Independent Consultant the only way to achieve in our lives. Those are my views and due to which I have taken this decision.

I sincerely hope and wish that I would do justice to my decision and do what I aspire.

VAIDY

Customizing RDP Window Properties

This one is for all who work on Remote Desktop (RDP) Connections on a daily basis.

Steve Endow of DynamicsGPLand has come up with this nice article which explains how RDP Window Properties, such as Width Height etc., can be modified to get a customized layout whenever we work on RDP Connections.

Read it here: Customizing RDP window size and position.

VAIDY

IM.INI Settings - Mariano

This one is the first article on IM.ini, I believe.

Mariano has given us some great information on IM.ini settings and it has to be read by all those who are intended to use IM for integrations. Somewhere down the lane we would certainly be using any of these tips.

VAIDY

Keeping Costs Down - Gloria

This one is pretty simple and good article from Gloria of ComputerationDynamics.

The article just shares the importance of keeping our SQL Server & Dynamics Application regularly maintained by applying all necessary SPs, Hot Fixes, etc.

Read this article on her blog: Keeping Costs Down – Why Service Packs, Upgrades, and Maintenance Pay for Themselves.

VAIDY

Understanding Cross Dictionary Customization - David

Back to Basics, David explains at his best to teach us the Cross Dictionary Dexterity Development. From Original Form to Modified Form to Alternate Form, he explains things in a way that once we are thru' with this article, we won't be asking this again anytime in future.

Treasure this article: Understanding Cross Dictionary Dexterity Development.

VAIDY

Sneak Peek at Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010

This demo link from Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP, gives us a nice sneak peek at couple of the upcoming GP 2010 features. Not completely though.

One feature which I really liked is the Word Forms & Email. Tremendous amount of collaboration between the GP and Office technologies. I am sure we all would love this when it is released.

Take a look at this and I bet you would agree with me.

VAIDY

Dexterity 10.0 SP4 is Available

Just a followup to my earlier post:

Dexterity 10.0 SP4 is now available. Follow the below link to get the details:

David's Article on Dex 10.0 SP4 Availability

VAIDY

About the GP Note Field - by Frank Hamelly

Frank has got a very good and informative post on the Ubiquitous GP Note Field.

There are couple of warnings (rather word of caution) given out. One critical point is: Notes can be modified or deleted by any user who has access to the Transaction Window or Inquiry Window where the Note resides. Why would GP allow a Note residing in an Inquiry Window, that means a Posted Transaction, to be modified? Is there any necessity or logic behind this?

I think so. For instance, on a Posted Transaction I may probably want to register my reasons on the date at which the transaction was posted, in case I post it on a date which is not suppose to be the expected. I may also probably want to register my reasons on this specific transaction which was posted individually by taking it out from a batch.

If I have customized my Inquiry Reports by having the Notes included, this would make even more sense to have the latest Notes on my report.

That said, we should be more careful in using Notes and it's more like use it at our own risk. We may probably delete it by mistake or we may find the Notes being modified from it's original content by someone who has got access to it.

I am eagerly waiting for Frank's second post on this topic.

VAIDY

Congrats & All The Best for DynamicsAccounting.Net

Mark Polino & his DynamicsAccounting.Net has been the source for many GP and related information. And no wonder his blog celebrates 4th Anniversary and has successfully started it's 5th year.

My sincere wishes to Mark Polino & DynamicsAccounting.Net. I am sure they are gonna enlighten us with many more articles in future.

VAIDY

Windows 7.0, GP 10.0 & Integration Manager

This post was from Jivtesh regarding the compatibility of GP 10.0 & Tools with Windows 7.0.

I got curious and tried it on my laptop. This is the result:



Thanks Jivtesh for the timely reminder.

VAIDY