Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Keyboard shortcuts

A whole lot of new and handy shortcuts have been introduced in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. To name just a few, that are very important for developers:
Ctrl+Shift+P opens the Projects
Ctrl+Shift+I (from AOT or projects) opens the import project window, etc.
Alt+F1 will return you to the main Dynamics AX window (especially useful for those fond of Tabax)

A fellow tester from Dynamics AX Client team, David Kidder, created a document containing the shortcuts available, grouping them according to where they are used in the application.

One thing I would like to highlight is that you don't need to work for Microsoft to create this list. You can get the list of all available shortcuts in the system by launching the client (Ax32.exe) with the -internal=GENERATEKEYHELP command line argument. The xml file with the shortcuts, AxKeyDump.xml, will be placed into the Client\Bin folder of Dynamics AX.

It is an extremely useful document, and I suggest everyone prints it out and hangs it by their desk.
The download link can be found below:
AX 2009 Keyboard Shortcuts.docx

Warning: The file is in Microsoft Word 2007 format, but I am sure all of you have that (or the converter) by now.

UPD: Also check out the cool looking poster with shortcut keys for end users to hang by their desk.

AX 2009 RTM Demo Data released

Finally, the new demo data for AX 2009 has been released. Partners and Customers can download it now from the links below:
Partner Source - download (Requires partnerSource login)
Customer Source - download (Requires CustomerSource login)

You will find two different data sets:
• Contoso Base: Contoso base demo data, with almost no transactional data
• Contoso Trans: Contoso transactional demo data, with 2 years of transactional data from Jul 1, 2006 to Jul 1, 2008 for some modules.

Demo Company Overview

The Demo Data set for Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2009 is no longer based on the Global Trade and Manufacturing Company. Based on market feedback we have created a new Contoso Entertainment systems group of companies. It comes with 2 fiscal years of transactional data that enable us to demo our stronger Business Intelligence story and Role Center pages, while allowing us to easily expand the demo data story in future releases as we expand Microsoft Dynamics® AX’s functionality footprint.
Contoso Entertainment Systems (CES) is a home electronics manufacturing, distribution and retail company that includes a Professional Services department. Its headquarters are in the USA with a key distribution subsidiary based in Germany and it works with the relevant currencies. CES distributes televisions, projectors, Digital Video Recorders and Players, and audio receivers. It manufactures speakers and assembles home theatre systems. CES’s customers are primarily based in North America and Europe and include Major Accounts (such as hotel chains), Wholesalers (of differing sizes), Retail stores (that are self-owned and operated), as well an internet storefront.
The legal and physical structure of CES is setup as follows:
• CEC – Contoso Entertainment Consolidation, based in USA
• CEU – Contoso Entertainment USA, Headquarters based in USA
o Site 1: Production of all speakers
o Site 2: Assembly of home theatre systems and Services
o Site 3: Production of Standard speakers
• CEE – Contoso Entertainment Europe, Distribution subsidiary company based in Germany
o Site 4: Distribution, Assembly and Service of all products
• CVC – Virtual company that includes table collections from CEU and CEE.

The downloads for Contoso Entertainment Systems demo data offers transactional data for Basic, Administration, General Ledger, Bank, Fixed Assets, Accounts Payable, Accounts and Receivable, Inventory Management, Intercompany, Production, Master Planning, CRM, Project, Expense Management, and Human Resources modules, and is intended to demonstrate these modules’ functionality. It also offers base data (i.e. no transactions) for the Product Builder modules. There is no demo data available for Payroll and Cost Accounting modules.

A lot of work has been put into these demo data files, to allow the users to investigate most of the functionality of the applicaton.
Thanks for this.

P.S. Just received some more input on the dataset, so decided to edit the message and post this interesting info as well

EditorScripts.addIns_OpenInAOT - version 2

A long time ago, I posted an editor script for opening objects selected in the editor in AOT (link to that post)

Yesterday, miklenew from AxForum posted an editor script for AX 3.0 that opens a new AOT window with the object currently selected in the Editor, that works a little differently and also allows to open objects based on variable type. You can view the original post here.

Today I modified this code, extending it a bit and adding support for Dynamics AX 4.0 and Dynamics AX 2009 (For version 3.0 use the code posted on AxForum).

public void addIns_OpenInAOT(Editor e)
{
    #AOT
    TreeNode            treeNode = TreeNode::findNode(e.path());
    xRefTmpReferences   xRefTmpReferences;
    Column              nCol = e.columnNo() + 1;
    Line                nLine = e.currentLineNo() + 1;
    ;
    treeNode.AOTmakeXref(1);
    xRefTmpReferences = xRefCreate::makeTmp(infolog.lastxRef());

    select firstonly xRefTmpReferences
        order by Column desc
        where xRefTmpReferences.line == nLine &&
              xRefTmpReferences.Column <= nCol;

    if (!xRefTmpReferences)
        return;

    treeNode = TreeNode::findNode(xRefTmpReferences.path());

    if (treeNode)
        treeNode.AOTnewWindow();
}

As you can see, the code is very simple and utilizes the xReferences.
But the great thing about it is that updating the cross references is not required for this code to work, as it updates them on the fly for this specific AOT node.
I think this is a must have method for each application developer out there. :)

AxPaint / AxAssist for Axapta 3.0, AX 4.0 and AX 2009

First of all, I would like to remind anyone interested of what AxPaint is. This is a small activeX component + a small xpo, that will allow you to change the background image of your application to whatever image you like.
You can find installation instructions, screenshot and a more detailed description through the link below:
http://kashperuk.blogspot.com/2007/06/axpaint-make-your-dax-look-cool.html

Well, the tool has recently been updated with support for all versions of AX starting with version 3.0.
The download link for the new (and, most probably, final) version of this tool is AxPaint.
Enjoy! :)

Also, it is hard not to mention another development tool from the same author, AxAssist. Sadly, it is not free, but it is still worthwhile to check it out - maybe that's something you company would be interested in buying. There is a Trial version you will be able to play around with for 30 days. The homepage for the tool is - www.axassist.com

SysFormEnumComboBox - class allowing to show only some of the values for a comboBox

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a new class has been created, that got my attention recently after yet another question about this sort of thing was asked by a fellow Dynamics AX developer.

Often enough, we need to restrict the user selection from a particular ComboBox. Creating a new BaseEnum specifically for this purpose is a really cumbersome solution, which later might lead to problems of maintenance.

Originally, the SysFormEnumComboBox was designed to be used on forms to provide for this behavior. I modified the class slightly to allow for usage in RunBase Framework classes.
To demonstrate, how this class can be used, I modified the tutorial_RunBaseForm class and form, showing both scenarios: adding the control from the dialog method of the class, as well as adding it manually in the form design and methods.

To use this class, you need to know only one static method:

public static SysFormEnumComboBox newParameters(
    FormRun _formRun,
    int     _comboBoxControlId,
    enumId  _enumId,
    Set     _allowedEnumValuesSet,
    Form    _form = null)

And here is an example of how you would use it:

sysFormEnumComboBox = SysFormEnumComboBox::newParameters(element, 
    control::ComboBoxOnForm, 
    enumnum(InventTransType), 
    enumSet);

which means that the control ComboBoxOnForm will be bound to BaseEnum InventTransType, containing only values, found in the Set enumSet.

You can download the project for versions 4.0 and 2009 of Microsoft Dynamics AX through the following link:
download

P.S. It is also worth mentioning, that this class does not provide support for grids. It requires a stand-alone control, not bound to a database table field.