DAXguy - DAX and the .Net CLR

DAXGuy over at Link did a great write up on Dynamics AX and the .Net CLR interoperation and concept. You can check out the article here: Dynamics AX - CLR interop

What I want to point out is that this is an integration / interoperation between Dynamics AX and .Net. Right now in the current version Dynamics AX is .Net 'aware' but is not a native .net application or framework. In the future, and this is the important part, this will not be the case. In future releases, Dynamics AX will be more and more wrote in .Net and those that develop in X++ will do so from Visual Studio.

I think this is a great move, and support this. There are some questions in my mind for how the data model will be handeled, but I don't think the simplistic way that X++ allows data manipulation of it's managed tables will go away. So thanks DAXGuy for the great post!

Check back soon!

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

.Net Adapter and why?

Alright something that I have discussed a good bit with some clients, as well as associates is the need for creating .Net Assemblies that act as wrappers or better Adapters for connecting Dynamics AX to third part services / software. So I thought I would take a little break from the .Net Custom C# examples and write about this for a post.

Alright so say you have either a COM application or a .Net Assembly that you want to make use of inside Dynamics AX 4.01? Why not since both COM and .Net can now be referenced and used. Well some of the first things that you will run into in this is that X++ can not handle complex data types and return outs from given called COM methods or .Net Assembly methods. What does this mean? Let take for example you have a COM object that you want to make use. Say for example the COM API tells you something as the following:

COMObject.SomeMethod(STR VAR1, STR VAR2, OUT INT STATUS);
VAR1 = Some Variable
VAR2 = Some other variable
STATUS = Out supplied variable, returned at end of Method call

Now looking at the above, right off the bat we notice an OUT variable as being part of the method header / call. In X++ such a variable qualifer or call does not exists. If this is the case, then that means the given COM object method can not be used, and there goes your nifty idea... Not really. Enter the powerful world of .Net Wrappers / Adapters!

In order to allow for Dynamics AX to make use of the above COM object method call, you need to create an adapter that consumes the "complex" data type / method calls and Adapts them into a suitable form that X++ calls can make use of. So in our example we would create a C# .Net Class, that would live in an assembly (.DLL file) and have it call the above with VAR1, and VAR2 passed in. Then we would have an Internal to the .NetClassObject.Method(string Var1, string Var2) method call that would take and call the above as stated. The OUT int varible inside the .Net method call would then set a property of the .Net class equal to the value that was sent out, or return the value as the returned value for the .Net Method call.

But what if we did it the first way, set a property of the .Net Class / Object? well if that is the case [possibly multiple OUT vars] then you would have to create getClassProp() methods that could be called from X++ because even custom properties of a .NetClassObject can not be used from with X++.
So now we have the why, and basics of how for a .Net adapter. The point is to take complex calls and data types, consume them with the .Net Adapter you create, and expose via simple data types and simple method calls that can be used from within X++. The wonderful thing about this approach is the only time your developed .Net adapter changes is when the version of your Third Party software does!

Well check back soon as I continue my talks about .Net Custom code and using the .Net Business Connector for Dynamics AX 4.0.

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Offbeat DLR. Dynamic Language Runtime!

Alright, so in the Amp It up! Microsoft mega year of releases, I thought I would share in some interesting development item that I came across. I a software engineer at heart. Even though my title states Senior Technical Architect, I still love the write code. With that said I thought I would post about a ZDNet blog entry I came across. I is about the DLR or "Dynamic Language Runtime." I know what your thinking? Dynamics Languages now part as the CLR?! Well not yet... but this is very interesting in that Microsoft is releasing this layer of the CLR for "Dynamic Languages." Check it out: ZDNet Post. DLR.

So a Dynamics Language, in these terms are languages like:

• Ruby


• Perl


• PHP


• Pyhton

etc. Implmentations of some of these dynamic languages already exist with .Net CLR but Microsoft is trying to make the CLR more attractive to Dynamic language programmers.
This is from Hugunin explantation of Microsoft's Dynamic Language intentions:

"What we're going to try hard to do is, instead of doing a dynamic language specification, provide a dynamic language library and have guidance on how to use it, because I'm a firm believer in whenever you can capture something in code instead of text it's a far better way to capture it. So we're going to try to capture as much of these guidelines as we can in code."

You may be wondering what this has to do with Dynamics AX and CRM? Well as Dynamics AX and CRM are more and more customized and developed in .Net such dynamic development languages can be used to achieve such customizations and development needs, openning up great possibilities for develop cycles, and how things get developed. So I would classify this as an off beat topic, that could pretain to Dynamics AX 6.0. :-) Well check back soon as I dive deeper in Dynamics CRM, as well as Connecting InfoPath 2007 to Dynamics AX 4.01!


Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com