Walkthrough Using the New CLR Interop Feature of Microsoft Dynamics AX

Transcription

1 Walkthrough Using the New CLR Interop Feature of Microsoft Dynamics AX

2 Walkthrough Using the New CLR Interop Feature of Microsoft Dynamics AX Lab Manual Table of Contents Lab 1: CLR Interop... 1 Lab Objective... 1 Pre-Lab Setup... 1 Exercise 1: Create a Project... 1 Exercise 2: Reference in Microsoft Dynamics AX... 6 Lab Summary i

3 Lab 1: CLR Interop Lab Objective The objective of this lab is to demonstrate that integrating Microsoft Dynamics AX with line-of-business applications that are based on Microsoft.NET connection software just got easier with the introduction of the.net CLR Interop features. By using these features, IT departments and ISVs can build.net-connected solutions and integrate them with Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Dynamics AX CLR Interop provides developers with a simplified way of developing integrations with Microsoft Dynamics AX and the opportunity to do it by using standard Microsoft developer tools such as Visual Studio.NET and the Microsoft.NET Framework. In this lab, you will perform the following exercises: Create a Visual Studio project to create a class Reference the class from Microsoft Dynamics AX This lab will take approximately 25 minutes to complete. Pre-Lab Setup 1. The session will automatically log you on to the Virtual PC as Administrator, with pass@word1. 2. Navigate to Start, Administrative Tools, Services. 3. Ensure that the Dynamics Server$01-Axapta service is running. If not, right-click on it and select Start. 4. Click the Startup Type column to sort the items, and start any other Automatic services that aren t running except for Virtual Machine Additions Shared Folder Service. 5. Close the Services window. Exercise 1: Create a Project In this exercise, you will create a new.net class with a Visual C# project in Visual Studio Task 1: Start Visual Studio Click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft Visual Studio When Visual Studio 2005 has started, click File, New, Project. Page 1

4 Figure 1.1 Visual Studio 2005 Task 2: Project properties 1. Select Visual C#, Windows from the Project Types tree. 2. In the Templates list select Class Library. 3. In the Name box enter MySampleClass. 4. Click OK to create the project. Figure 1.2 Project properties Page 2

5 Task 3: Add sample code 1. Visual Studio will open and position you on the new class called Class1. This is where you will create your business logic. Because this is a demo, we will create only a small sample to return some data to Microsoft Dynamics AX, but this class can do practically anything that you can develop with these tools. 2. Add a new method to the class to return some data. Use the following method code: public string ReturnDataToAX() { return "Return data from.net"; } Figure 1.3 Sample code Task 4: Properties 1. This class needs to be compiled so that it can be used. But before we do this we will need to add information to the project so that the final assembly can be signed. This is a code runtime projection feature of the.net Framework. 2. Click Project, MySampleClass Properties. Page 3

6 Figure 1.4 Sample code 2 Task 5: Signing 1. Click Signing from the tab menu on the left. 2. Select the Sign the assembly check box. Note: You may have to rearrange the panes in Visual Studio until you can see the check box. You can do this by clicking and dragging the lines that separate the different sections. Figure 1.5 Signing Page 4

7 Task 6: New key 1. In the Choose a strong name key file drop-down list box select New. The Create Strong Name Key dialog box will open. 2. Type MySample into the Key file name field. 3. Enter and confirm the password of pass@word1. 4. Click OK. Figure 1.6 New key Task 7: Build 1. From the main menu, select Build. 2. Select Build MySampleClass. 3. If the build process returns any errors, check the code you have entered. Make sure that you have not mistyped and that the class is placed correctly as seen in Figure 1.3. Page 5

8 Figure 1.7 Build Task 8: Deploy 1. In a typical application development and deployment cycle, the assembly that has just been built will have to be deployed to the client or sever. 2. Because this is just a sample, we will use Windows Explorer to copy our newly assembled DLL to the Microsoft Dynamics AX Client Bin folder. 3. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer. 4. Locate the MySampleClass.dll in the following path: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\MySampleClass\MySampleClass\bin\Debug. 5. Copy MySampleClass.dll to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\4.0\Client\Bin. Exercise 2: Reference in Microsoft Dynamics AX In this exercise, you will reference the.net assembly that you created in exercise 1 and code against this with X++ in a simple job. Task 1: Reference 1. The process of creating the.net assembly is now complete. In this step we will use this assembly in Microsoft Dynamics AX. 2. Click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Dynamics AX. 3. When the Microsoft Dynamics AX client starts, open the AOT from the toolbar or press CTRL+D on the keyboard. 4. Expand the AOT and locate the References node. Page 6

9 Figure 2.1 Reference Task 2: Add reference 1. Right-click the References menu and select Add reference. Figure 2.2 Add reference Task 3: Select reference 1. When the Add reference dialog box appears, click Browse. You can now reference any.net assembly that has been registered in the Global Assembly Cache on this Page 7

10 machine. In this example, to keep things simple, we have not properly registered the assembly we created in the GAC, so we will have to use the Browse option to add in a reference to our assembly. Figure 2.3 Select reference Task 4: Browse 1. The Select File dialog box will be displayed so that you can reference the DLL we created. The dialog box should already be located in the path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\4.0\Client\Bin. 2. Locate and select MySampleClass.dll. 3. Click Open. Page 8

11 Figure 2.4 Browse Task 5: Complete reference 1. MySampleClass will now be the selected assembly. 2. Click OK to close the Add Reference dialog box and complete the process. 3. The MySampleClass assembly is now added to the References node of the AOT. This allows the MorphX X++ developed to start using this assembly. Figure 2.5 Complete reference Page 9

12 Task 6: Add job 1. Locate the Jobs node in the AOT and expand it. 2. Right-click Job1(usr) and select Edit. Figure 2.6 Add job Task 7: Add code 1. Edit the code to create a variable to the referenced assembly. Your code should look like the following: static void Job1(Args _args) { MySampleClass.Class1 MySample; str MySampleReturn; ; MySample = new MySampleClass.Class1(); MySampleReturn = MySample.ReturnDataToAX(); } info(mysamplereturn); Page 10

13 Figure 2.7 Verify code Task 8: Run job 1. Press the Go button (green arrow) to compile and run the code. The code calls the method that was created on the assembly, which will return some data. We will display this data in an InfoLog message inside Microsoft Dynamics AX. 2. When the code runs, you should have the message return from the.net assembly. Figure 2.8 Run job Page 11

14 Lab Summary In this lab, you learned that you can now start integrating business logic code developed for the.net framework. This creates new possibilities for code re-use and provides greater prospects for expanding Microsoft Dynamics AX applications with ISV and inhouse developed solutions. This concludes the lab. When ready, you may Close & Exit. Page 12