Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I wanted to take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

May we keep in our hearts, the love that this time of year is suppose to be about. May you be blessed beyond your ability to count, and most of all give thanks to the Creator for the greatest gift, the offer of his love and salvation.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy, Blessed New Year!

Check back in 2008!

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Sharing is caring

Ok, I was trying to come up with a stupid, funny title for this post. So with that, 'Sharing is Caring'. Not sure where that saying came from, but it applies to this post. What I want to do with this post, is share with this community, links of blogs that I visit and read. These blogs are updated on a regular basis, and have a lot of good information in them. They are all about Dynamics AX. So with that said, here is the list of blogs:

• http://blogs.msdn.com/x/default.aspx (X++ Dev Team Blog)


• http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=38&TagID=94 (Ch. 9 DAX Screencast)


• http://blogs.msdn.com/mfp/default.aspx


• http://daxguy.blogspot.com


• http://axcoder.blogspot.com


• http://kashperuk.blogspot.com/ (Rising star!)

I hope that you find some good information in these blogs. I find them very helpful, and I would like to thank the authors of each one for contributing and allowing this Dynamic community to grow!

Check back soon!


Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

When squirrels attack!

Ok,

The following story happened to me today. It is very true, and why I must share this. It has nothing to do with Dynamics AX, and I hope you all enjoy it. I have laughed so hard at me and my family on this. Of course it would happen to us.

So... I was awaken with a crazy surprise this morning. My wife, her Sister, and my two girls come screaming, running into the bedroom. I jump straight out of bed, ninja style, ready for an attack… they are laughing and running, shutting the door behind them, so I ask quickly what is going on? I mean it was 7:00 o’clock in the morning!

Well after I calmed my wife down, she told me that a Squirrel had climbed into our chimney, and came into the house. I busted in laughter, but then realized they were serious. So I went into the living room to investigate. My wife, holding the back of my shirt, as if in a haunted house walk, making sure she does not lose me. Coming into the living room, I noticed nothing, and then bang! Clatter! Something was in the kitchen. I went towards the kitchen, and I saw it… diving right for me. Quickly, I did a duck and roll, with my wife running back towards the bedroom, sreaming, causing my two girls and her sister to scream. Of course I laughed, because I could not believe we actually became the Griswalds.  Now after the duck and roll, I had landed slightly behind the big couch. I got up again, and started looking, and bang, again the Squirrel came out from hiding inside the Big Christmas tree in the corner, and took off running, jumped super high, landed with a jump on the table, and ran head first slam into the closed window. Panic struck the Squirrel, I could see it in his little dark, eyes. Quickly he started digging at the glass, as if trying to understand the invisible force field that was trapping him from his outdoor home. Realizing no way out, he jumped back to the floor, and under the buffet.

By this time, or fearless little dog was strolling into the kitchen area, checking on things like he does, and notices the Squirrel that is near twice his size. With sheer instinct, Marky takes off towards the Squirrel. With tail in air the Squirrel runs back to the tree, and then starts jumping from invisible force field (window) to invisible force field (window), in a mad panic trying to escape the alien world he had entered. (Our home). Finally, after about 15 mins of this, the slow turning gears in my head had a plan! Open the windows! So quickly My wife and I did. (She came back with me.) And after openning the windows, the Squirrel leaped for at least 20 feet, flat from the ground in front of the tree and out one of the open force fields. (Window)

...We all laughed so hard at this event, that we did not need coffee today. So I leave you all with the following image, as it along with the one on top, capture the essence of what happened today:



Check back soon as I post once again about Dynamics AX, and dodge the attacking squirrels in the process!

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Twas the night before implementation

Alright, so I had the following emailed to me from a client. The author is unknown that started this. (Or at least unknown to me) And I have made some small modifications to this from what was sent to me. Either way, this is Very fitting, funny, and hope that is brings a smile to everyone's face that read's it!


"Twas the night before implementation, and all through the house
not a program was working, not even a browse.

The consultants were hung by their laptops in despair, with hopes that a miracle would soon be there.

The users were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of inquiries danced in their heads.

When out of the hall arose such a clatter, I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.

And to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Super consultant with a six pack of beer.

His resume glowed with experience so rare, he turned out great code with that special consultant's flair.

More rapid than eagles, his customizations they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

On Update! On Add! On Inquire! On Delete!
On Migrate! On Closing!
On Dynamics AX Complete!

His eyes were glazed over, fingers nimble and lean, from weekends and nights spent in front of a screen.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
soon came me to know, I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, turning specs into code, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger on the ENTER KEY,
the system came up and worked properly.

The updates updated; the deletes, they deleted; The inquiries inquired; and the closings completed.

He tested each whistle, and tested each bell, with nary a failure, and all had gone well.

The system was finished and all tests were considered.
The client's last changes were even configured.

The clients exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt,
'It's just what I asked for, but not what I want.'"

I hope you enjoyed that! Merry Christmas! May God bless each and everyone of you. May peace, joy, and love be with all of you now and going forward into the new year. Make sure to give thanks to our Creator for the days you have, and the love of the people in your lives!

Check back soon!


Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Brandbase USA Inc. Finds Its Ticket to Ride with Microsoft Dynamics™ AX and Sunrise Technologies

Well Sunrise Technologies, Inc. has got yet another Dynamics AX Win! This time Brandbase USA Inc. is the new customer. Check out the following:

"Brandbase specializes in brand cultivation for the action sports industry. Located in Broomfield, CO, Brandbase has a unique set of offerings to assist young companies with growing their brands into major worldwide players. These companies can depend on Brandbase to provide expertise in sales, marketing, production, and distribution of their products to the global marketplace. Brandbase turned to Sunrise Technologies for a back-end ERP system that would allow them to be flexible to the needs of this customer base."

and...

"'Brandbase was looking for a solution that combined cutting edge technology with a solid reputation. Dynamics AX is an adaptable solution that can work with our evolutionary product line. Sunrise has phenomenal experience in our industry and we knew that they would provide the best service for Brandbase,' said Doug Saunders, VP of Operations at Brandbase."

You can find the full PR here: Press Release

Congrats to my fellow Sunrisers! Check back soon!





Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

SysDictClass and some CAS

I ran into an issue when working with the SysDictClass. I am using this to do some 'smart' coding and make use of reflection, in order to speed up my development and not have to manually write code over and over again for the same type of thing. In doing so, I found out that this is considered a protected API now in DAX 4.0, and so you need to make use of an 'ExecutePermission' CAS Permission object, and assert that level of permission.

The error message looked similar to this:

"Request for the permission of type 'ExecutePermission' failed.
(S)\Classes\ExecutePermission\demand
(S)\Classes\DictClass\callObject
..."

So if you see this type of error, then make sure you perform an ExecutePermission Object. assert() before the code, and revert that assertion after the code block. In doing so, you will have gotten rid of this little issue.

This is the first time I had to make use of this code in a while, and so first time I ran into this being a protected API. I hope this helps someone out, as I did not find anything on the web, when searching.

Check back soon!


Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Microsoft Labs - Volta (Cloud Computing)

Well I got some interesting news about Microsoft Live Labs Volta. Volta is a project that offers the ability, for use with VS2008, of allowing a developer to make use of development for the 'democratizing of the Cloud'.

Yeah I know, buzz word right? Well this is something real, and something that can be used now. The idea can be better understood with the following statement from this link: Volta Docs

"In essence Volta is a recompiler. Volta works on MSIL rather than on a textual source language. Volta rewrites MSIL into any number of target languages, including, today JavaScript and MSIL itself. Rewriting, as a general technology, lets us delay permanent decisions about architecture, execution platform and browser until after our code is basically working. Furthermore, it frees us from having to express all these irreversible decisions in your source code. The result is a programming model that enables us to easily reshape a working application, and finally realizes the promise of one application running anywhere.

Volta effects recompilation through 3 general capabilities: refactoring, retargeting, and remodulating. Refactoring converts single-tier code into distributed, concurrent code as directed by user-supplied annotations. Retargeting converts MSIL code into code for other virtual machines. Remodulating tailors a single piece of code for multiple browsers."

So with Volta we see the 3 abilities, of refactoring, retargeting, and remodulating. This means a single code base, that can be, at execution time, wrapped, packaged, displayed, and used based on the incoming client, vs. targeting given clients.

Keep in mind this is new, and a hard concept for a tradional developer to wrap their minds around. Still if you think about this way:

- A single code base that performs some business logic
- Volta developed, for offering up said code
- Said code is called from IE, and Volta does it's thing and IE uses it.
- Said same code is called from Firefox, and Volta does it's thing and Firefox use's it with no issues.
- Said same code is called from a MAC OS, and Volta does it's thing and Mac OS ise's it with no issues.

The developer did not target these, but instead the computin cloud consumed what the developer developed, and the Volta packaging, handled the refactoring, retagrgeting, and remodulation at the time of 'need' for running the code base, that enabled the 3 very different calling bases, could make use of the same code base.

With this the Developer does not know, or need to care, who and what will be calling. All the developer knows is his C# code does something and anything can call it.

Again this has great possibilites for future development. Right now you can download Volta and use it with VS2008. Man it's exicting, and what does this mean for DAX? The possibility of a Dynamics AX process being executed from a Mac, Linux, Unix, etc. Box... it's opens the door for possibilities for offering your ERP module, to the cloud, and allowing that cloud to cosume and make use of your DAX extended process, via Volta!

Check back soon!



Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Dynamics AX implementation Sound Advice

I found some sound advice, that really applies to Dynamics AX here: ZDNet Post Link.

This kind of advice is sound advice, and truly applies to all projects, that have similar nature. This post talks about SOA project implementation. Even though that is the case, still it applies to ERP / Dynamics AX project implementations. I thought the advice was too good, not to share.

Check back soon!

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com