Development Matters Blog

Here is sample code which can be used to automatically copy Dynamics AX application files to an archive. This step is really important if you want to ensure that you safely backup your Application files.

To restore your application, you should copy the application files from the backup to the proper application directory and then start service and compile all objects in the application.

This is the sample batch file which you can run using Task scheduler or any other similar program.

@echo on

for /f “tokens=1,2,3,4* delims=.:/- ” %%i in (‘date /t’) do (

  for /f “skip=1 tokens=1-4 delims=/-,().” %%x in (‘echo.^|date’) do (

  set weekday=%%i&set month=%%j&set day=%%k&set year=%%l))

REM stop aos service

net stop “Dynamics AX Object Server 5.0$01-XXXXX”

REM maps to folder where backups are stored

net use z: /d /y

net use z: \\Backup

REM creates folder with day and time stamp

z:

cd \

mkdir %weekday%%month%%day%%year%

REM copies app folder to the backup location

XCOPY “c:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\50\Application\Appl*.*” z:\%weekday%%month%%day%%year%\app\ /K /O /Y /F /I /E

REM start aos service

net start “Dynamics AX Object Server 5.0$01-XXXXXX”

You should replace the “Dynamics AX Object Server 5.0$01-XXXXX” with your service name.

When you restore a database from a production environment to a test / dev environment, you should run these scripts to ensure that your database is synchronized with the Application environment and proper object server.

Here are some samples scripts you should run:

Select * from BatchServerGroup
–Update BatchServerGroup set SERVERID = ’01@NewAOS’ where SERVERID = ’02@OldAOS’

Select * from BATCHSERVERCONFIG
–Update BATCHSERVERCONFIG set SERVERID = ’01@NewAOS’ where SERVERID = ’02@OldAOS’

Select * from SYSCLUSTERCONFIG

select * from SYSSERVERCONFIG
–Update SYSSERVERCONFIG set SERVERID = ’01@NewAOS’ where SERVERID = ’02@OldAOS’

Select * from SYSSERVERSESSIONS
–Update SYSSERVERSESSIONS Set AOSID = ’01@NewAOS’, Instance_Name = ’01′ where AOSID = ’02@OldAOS’

Select * from Batch
–Update BATCH set SERVERID = ’01@NewAOS’ where SERVERID = ’02@OldAOS’

select * from SYSCLIENTSESSIONS
–delete SYSCLIENTSESSIONS

Beside these, you should also check the Dynamics database for Enterprise Portal, Analytical Server BI setup and reporting server configuration. This could be done through SQL Server access or trough AX Administration setup.

Here is the list of Forms, tables and Columns which you should check.

List of forms in the Dynamics Databases that holders server specific information

You should also visit this page for further information regarding different scenarios you could need when restoring a Backup of a Microsoft Dynamics AX SQL Database to another Domain or Environment.

Wheaton, IL — April 13, 2010 — Merit Solutions, Inc., a 2009 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club member and provider of Microsoft Dynamics business applications and custom software development, is proud to announce the successful go-live of Oy Finn-Tack Ltd’s (Finn-Tack) new Microsoft Dynamics AX customizations. Over the last 28 years, Finn-Tack has grown to include three production plants, two warehouses, and 900+ retailers worldwide. In order to facilitate future growth and increase customer satisfaction across locations, Finn-Tack recognized the need to offer credit options to some of their customers.

After discovering limitations in their current system that would not meet their business process needs, Finn-Tack turned to the Merit Solutions Development Team. Through custom coding, the team was able to extend Microsoft Dynamics AX to enable a revolving credit option to Finn-Tack’s customers. This meant their customers could now make purchases as often as they wanted, up to a certain credit limit. It then allowed them to decide when to pay off invoices, with minimum monthly payment installment options.

Learn more about Finn-Tack’s Microsoft Dynamics AX Customizations.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a compelling and attractively priced solution to companies now facing a technological crossroad and need to update legacy systems.

To lower the cost and make migrations easier when upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics AX, we utilize the straightforward migration methodology supported by Microsoft tools. Using the Sure Step migration process together with the new Migration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics AX,  we can help companies speed up the implementation process.

Our proven processes lessen the risks inherent in many implementations, providing increased transparency, delivering improved accuracy, and easing the pain that can take place when migrating to a new system.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 WorkFlow can cause an error when setting up a workflow on Win2008R2.

If you receive this error when you run Workflow infrastructure configuration wizard:

The request failed with HTTP status 405: Method Not Allowed.

Then you should change the Application pool for your workflow (which is by default MicrosoftDynamicsAXWorkflow50) to enable 32 bit applications:

I recently had a problem with the CEO role center, specifically the KPIs on that role center which were always loading. I have set up IE security as it was described in this MSDN article.

KPIs and Business Overview keep loading all the time and never end.

If the whole Role Center content in enterprise portal comes up except the Business Overview webpart and it keeps displaying the loading progress image for a long time with no error message in the event log, it may be because IE security setting prevents the webpart from asynchronously getting the data. To resolve this issue add the EP site to the intranet site zone in IE or disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration from Add / Remove programs -> Add / Remove Widnows Components. It still did not show the KPI web parts, but just kept loading it. I have used win2008R2.

The other problem I had with this Installation was that I was not able to modify any role center page. Whenever I would try to modify it I would receive an error message from SharePoint: Error occurred contact your administrator.

A strange thing was that when I tried to view the Role Center through Google’s Chrome browser, I could see the KPIs and modify the role center web parts. That was really frustrating.

In the event viewer I had a message:

An unexpected error has occurred.
Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that <machineKey> configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.

Then I saw this other article on MSDN.

EP Site creation is successful and able to view most of the pages. But when trying to access lookup or sorting on grid (any postback to the page) it gives an unexpected error and in eventlog it has:

An unexpected error has occurred.
Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that <machineKey> configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.

Check and make sure the Machine name or the host header does not contain any non alphanumeric characters such as “_”or “-“ etc. The machine name should just contain only alphanumeric characters.
For example mey1 is a valid machine name. mey_1 is not. If you have any other character in the machine name, then validation of viewstact MAC fails. So to resolve this issue, check and make sure the machine name contains only alphanumeric characters and EnableViewStateMac is set to true in the web.config and in case of load balancing, the same machine key is used in the web.config of all participating web server machines.

And see that I have the character _ in my computer name.

When I changed the name of my computer so I have only alphanumeric characters, I was able to see the KPIs from IE and I was also able to modify my role center pages with IE.

My opinion is that this step should be included on the AX Installation guide and put it on first place there, because it is very hard to change the name of computer when you install all of EP in AX 2009.

I found a nice article on the Art of Creation Dynamics AX Blog. It discusses things you can try (in the order the author does it) to resolve issues while developing for Dynamics AX.

Here are a couple of ideas discussed:

Close the debugger
Sometimes, when the debugger is active, AX will keep executing ‘old’ code. Close the debugger to make sure the latest code is executing.

Synchronize data dictionary
You may have made changes to application objects that haven’t been synchronized with the database. Open the AOT, right click on the Data Dictionary node and choose Synchronize.

Refresh AOD, Dictionary and Data
You can flush cashed information using three option in the Tools > Development tools menu: refresh AOD, refresh Dictionary and refresh Data. This can be useful when you just imported an xpo file, or when you are developing for the enterprise portal.

Remove .aoi file
When the AOS is stopped, you can delete the .aoi file from the application files. This file will be rebuilt when the AOS starts.

Use the link above to see the rest!

Microsoft will discontinue the X++ based Web User Interface in Enterprise Portal effective with general availability of the next version of Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 (current release), is the last that will include the X++ based Web User Interface. In future versions, the Enterprise Portal ASP.NET Web User Interface Framework will be the only one included.

Enterprise Portal X++ Web User Interface Framework, a development and runtime component of Enterprise Portal, is used for building and rendering the Web user interface.

Dynamics AX 2009 contains no dependencies on the Enterprise Portal X++ Web User Interface Framework, and future investment is focused on technologies built on the ASP.NET Framework-based Web User Interface. Enterprise Portal X++ Web User Interface Framework will not ship in future Microsoft Dynamics AX releases.

The purpose of the Dynamics AX batch job system is to be able to run certain processes according to a predefined schedule or simply during off-peak hours. Many system forms including jobs and reports in Dynamics AX have a tab named Batch, where users can set up the process to execute as a batch job.

Because executing batch jobs can significantly impact the performance of a system, it is common practice in the Dynamics AX community to dedicate a physical server to this purpose, commonly designated as a batch server.

The most common problem with job processing is that users forget to attach a job to the batch group.
In order to process batch jobs you need the batch server running.

Goto Basic -> Inquries -> Batch -> Batch processing and select the batch group you want to process.

Your job must be attached to this group. Click OK and you will get your job running in the scheduled time.

John O’Donnell, Microsoft Dynamics ISV Architect Evangelist, recently stopped by the Merit Solutions office to discuss our Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Snap In – the Vendors Journal.

In this video, John talks with Merit Solutions team members Bill Burke and Nenad Simeunovic and learned about our Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Snap In / Integration capabilities.

Product Demonstration starts at time index – 8:10.

View the video on Channel 9:
A Look at Snap-Ins for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 by Merit Solutions