HOL159 Integrating Microsoft Technologies to Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0. Hands-On Lab

Transcription

1 HOL159 Integrating Microsoft Technologies to Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 Hands-On Lab

2 Integrating Microsoft Technologies to Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 Lab Manual Table of Contents Lab 1: Deploy Enterprise Portal... 1 Lab Objective... 1 Pre-lab Exercise... 1 Exercise 1: Create a New Portal Site... 2 Exercise 2: Create a New Roles-based Web Part Page... 6 Lab Summary Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Objective Exercise 1: Build a Visual Studio 2005 Project Post-lab Exercise Lab Summary i

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4 Lab 1: Deploy Enterprise Portal Lab Objective The objective of this lab is to get an understanding of how to deploy a new Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal site in Windows SharePoint Services. This solution has been built on Microsoft Windows Server This lab uses a range of Microsoft technologies: Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 (Build ) Microsoft Dynamics AX.NET Business Connector Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 SP2.NET Framework 2.0 The scenario of this lab is that you are a partner providing a solution for The Light Company. You have been asked by management to deliver a simple internal portal that will allow all authorized users in the network to view data from the business application. You have a limited time to develop and deploy the solution. The good thing is that the company has deployed Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 as the back-end business application. This lab will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. In this lab, you will perform the following exercises: Create a new portal site Create a new roles-based Web Part page Pre-lab Exercise 1. Log in to the virtual machine 1. From the physical host machine s desktop, find the header for this Hands-On Lab: HOL159 Integrating Microsoft Technologies to Microsoft Dynamics AX On the desktop, click on the header link to begin the lab. Note: Wait for the virtual machine to load. This will take a few minutes. At this point, you should have only HOL159_Dynamics AX VPC running. 3. Press the RIGHT ALT+DELETE keys on the keyboard to launch the logon dialog box. Page 1

5 Exercise 1: Create a New Portal Site 4. Log onto the HOL159_Dynamics AX VPC Virtual PC with the following credentials: User name: Administrator Password: pass@word1 Click OK Note: You may enter full-screen mode by pressing the RIGHT ALT+ENTER keys. You may exit full-screen mode at any point by pressing the key combination again. In this exercise, you will deploy the new Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal to Windows Share Point Services. The machine you are using has already been installed with the Enterprise Portal templates from the Microsoft Dynamics AX product CD. 1. Create a new portal site 1. Navigate to Start, Administrative Tools, Services. 2. Ensure that the Dynamics Server$01-Axapta service is running. If not, right-click on it and select Start. 3. Start Internet Explorer. Click Start, All Programs, Internet Explorer. 4. Internet Explorer will start at the default team page. In the top menu bar, locate the Create option. Click Create. Figure 1.1 Team Web Site Page 2

6 2. Create a new site 1. The list of options is displayed on the Create page. 2. Scroll down to the bottom of the list to locate the Sites and Workspaces option. 3. Click on this option to create a new site. Figure 1.2 Create a New Site 3. Review site options 1. You will be presented with a list of site options to edit. 2. Enter the title. It should refer to the portal. In this example, enter Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal in the title. 3. Enter the Web Site Address. This will be the address referred to by the Web browser. In this example, enter HOLEP. 4. You can leave the Permissions option to be the same as the parent site. 5. Click the Create button to finalize the creation. Page 3

7 Figure 1.3 Site Options 4. Select template 1. You will be presented with a list of site templates. 2. You will notice that there is a template for Microsoft Dynamics Enterprise Portal. Select this option and click OK. Figure 1.4 Template Selection 5. Register company selection 1. You will now be presented with an option to register the company associated with the Enterprise Portal. This is where the Enterprise Portal will locate the data from Microsoft Dynamics AX. 2. Select DMO [Demo Company] from the list. 3. Click the Register button to continue. The process of completing the registration may take a few moments. The connection from Windows SharePoint Services to Page 4

8 Microsoft Dynamics AX is through the new.net Business Connector. Figure 1.5 Register Company Selection 6. Complete template site 1. If the previous task resulted in a timeout error, this is okay. This can happen because you are running on a VPC, which can be a bit slower. In the address bar of the Web browser, type 2. This will take you to the pre-configured Enterprise Portal which will look familiar if you have used the Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta Enterprise Portal. The main difference is that the display of data from Microsoft Dynamics AX is rendered in SharePoint Web Parts. 3. Spend some time to navigate through several of the links. Note: As this is pre-release software you may experience some problems and links not working. 4. Navigate back to when you are finished and ready to move on to the next step. Page 5

9 Figure 1.6 Completed Template Site Exercise 2: Create a New Roles-based Web Part Page In this exercise, you will create a new role-based page to display information from Microsoft Dynamics AX for a salesperson. This will display basic information from the Accounts Receivable module. 1. Create a Web Part page 1. On the template Enterprise Portal page at you will notice a Create option in top right-hand corner. Click on Create. 2. In the list of options available, scroll down to the bottom of the page to locate the Web Part Page option. Figure 2.1 Create Web Part Page Page 6

10 2. Select options 1. You will be presented with a list of options to finish the creation of the Web Part page. 2. In the Name field, enter AXHOLEP. 3. You can choose from different layouts to contain your Web Parts. Select the Header, Left Column, Body option. 4. Under Save Location you can choose any of the document libraries. Choose Employee Services Documents. 5. Click the Create button to finalize the creation of the page. Figure 2.2 New Web Part Page 3. Add Web Parts You will now be presented with a page to which you can add Web Parts. A Web Part is a container for information displayed from different sources. Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal provides a number of Web Parts to display information from Microsoft Dynamics AX. You will also see other Web Parts that can display information from Microsoft Office and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. 1. Click on Virtual Server Gallery in the Add Web Parts pane. Page 7

11 Figure 2.3 Add Web Parts Pane 4. Add Web menu part 1. From the list of Web Parts presented in the Web Part List, locate the Web Menu Web Part. 2. Click on this part and drag it to the Left Column. Figure 2.4 Add Web Menu Part 5. Add Web form part 1. From the list of Web Parts presented in the Web Part List, locate the Web Form Web Part. 2. Click on this part and drag it to the Body. Page 8

12 Figure 2.5 Add Web Form Part 6. Configure properties on Web menu Web Part 1. Locate the Web Menu Web Part that is placed in the left column. 2. Click on the drop-down arrow located in the title bar of the Web Menu Web Part. 3. Select Modify Shared Web Part from the menu that is displayed. Figure 2.6 Configure Properties on Web Menu Web Part 7. Properties of Web menu Web menu Web Part 1. Configure the properties for the Web menu Web Part as follows: WebMenuName: EPSalesHome WebMenuLayout: Vertical 2. Leave the other properties as the default values. Page 9

13 3. Click the Apply button. This will refresh the Web Part and display the EPSalesHome Web menu from Microsoft Dynamics AX. Figure 2.7 Properties of Web Menu Web Part 8. Configure properties on Web form Web Part 1. Locate the Web Form Web Part that is placed in the Body. 2. Click on the drop-down arrow located in the title bar of the Web Form Web Part. 3. Select Modify Shared Web Part from the menu that is displayed. Figure 2.8 Configure Properties on Web Form Web Part 9. Properties of Web form Web Part 1. Configure the properties for the Web form Web Part as follows: Page 10

14 WebDisplayContentItemName: EPCustTableList 2. Leave the other properties as the default values. 3. Click the Apply button. This will refresh the Web Part and display the EPCustTableList Web form from Microsoft Dynamics AX. 4. Close the Web Form Web Part properties task pane. Figure 2.9 Properties of Web Form Web Part 10. Display the page When the Web menu page displays, you will notice that you now have a new page that includes information from Microsoft Dynamics AX. These are the simple steps to display information from Microsoft Dynamics AX in Windows SharePoint Services. You can add information from other sources by using the other Web Parts that have been deployed to WSS. For example, the Report Viewer Web Part allows you to view reports developed for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services on the same page. This allows users the flexibility to display the specific information they need to do their job. Page 11

15 Figure 2.10 Display the Page Lab Summary These exercises have shown you three important pieces of information about Microsoft Dynamics AX: Microsoft Dynamics AX now provides the Web Parts for Enterprise Portal to display information in Windows SharePoint Services to provide a common portal experience for internal enterprise users who need access to Microsoft Dynamics AX data. Users also have the ability to combine data from other applications that expose their data via SharePoint Web Parts. Access to the data in Microsoft Dynamics AX is secured through Windows Authentication provided via the.net Business Connector. New Web Part pages can be created to allow users and administrators to customize the data that is displayed from Microsoft Dynamics AX with the user of the Web Part provided in the Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal. Page 12

16 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Objective 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 Business Connector. By using the.net Business Connector, IT departments and ISVs can build.net-connected solutions and integrate them into Microsoft Dynamics AX. This feature allows developers a simplified way of developing integrations into Microsoft Dynamics AX and the opportunity to do it by using standard Microsoft developer tools such as Visual Studio,.NET, and the.net Framework. Technologies highlighted: Microsoft Dynamics AX.NET Framework The C# programming language Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 The scenario for this lab is that a developer wants to create a.net connection software application that will integrate into Microsoft Dynamics AX. This could be a line-ofbusiness application that is already deployed in a company and now needs to be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics AX, or it could be an ISV solution that expands the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX. The objective of this lab is to show the simplicity of being able to integrate.net connection software applications into Microsoft Dynamics AX. It will demonstrate how developers can extend the functionality provided in Microsoft Dynamics AX and how they can use a simplified development model to solve business problems. This lab will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. In this lab, you will perform the following exercise: Build a Visual Studio 2005 Project Exercise 1: Build a Visual Studio 2005 Project In this exercise, you will build a new project in Visual Studio 2005 Project to use the.net Business Connector to access data from Microsoft Dynamics AX. 1. Open Visual Studio Create a new project 1. Click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio From the menu, select File, New, Project. Page 13

17 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual Figure 1.1 New Project 3. Create a new project 1. In the New Project dialog box, select Visual C#, Windows from the Project Types. 2. From the Templates list select Windows Application. 3. Click OK. Figure 1.2 Project Type 4. Add controls You will need to add on controls from the Toolbox to the new form that is created from the project template. 1. Move the mouse over to the left side of the window. The Toolbox will expand open. 2. Drag three controls, one at a time, from the toolbox to the form. 3. You will need to drag the Label, TextBox, and Button controls. Page 14

18 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual Figure 1.3 Project Type 5. Lay out controls Take a little time to reposition your controls. See the example in Figure 1.4. Figure 1.4 Controls 6. Add button code The next task is to add some code to your project to extract the data from Microsoft Dynamics AX. 1. Double-click on the Button1 you added to the form to get to the code behind the button. 2. To be able to access data from Microsoft Dynamics AX you will have to create a connection. That connection is done with the.net Business Connector. In your Visual Studio project you will need to add a reference to the.net Business Connector. 3. Right-click on the References node in the Solution Explorer. Page 15

19 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual 4. Select the option to Add Reference. Figure 1.5 Add Reference 7. Browse 1. Click the Browse tab in the Add Reference dialog box. 2. Browse to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\4.0\Client\Bin. 3. Select Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet.dll. 4. Click OK to add the reference to your project. Figure 1.6 Browse 8. Add code Now that you have added the reference to the project you can add your code. 1. Locate the button1_click method. 2. Add the following code to the method. This code is Page 16

20 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual using the objects from the.net Business Connector: Axapta and AxaptaRecord. An explanation of these objects can be found in the.net help file provided with Microsoft Dynamics AX. The methods on these objects provide the ability to work with Microsoft Dynamics AX through the.net Business Connector. In this example we will use the AxaptaRecord object to execute a query. This query will extract some customer data from Microsoft Dynamics AX and allow us to display the data on the controls we have added to the windows form in this project. Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet.Axapta DynAx = new Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet.Axapta( ); Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet.AxaptaR ecord DynRec; DynAx.Logon(null, null, null, null); DynRec = DynAx.CreateAxaptaRecord("CustTable"); DynRec.ExecuteStmt("select firstonly * from %1"); textbox1.text = (string) DynRec.get_Field("Name"); label1.text = (string) DynRec.get_FieldLabel("Name"); Page 17

21 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual Figure 1.7 Add Code 9. Run the project You can now debug your project to test the code. 1. Press the F5 key on the keyboard to build and run the application. If the build stops with errors, then check the code in the previous step. The application will run and the form will be displayed. 2. Click the button you just created. Figure 1.8 Run Project 10. Returned data Wait till the code runs and returns data from Microsoft Dynamics AX. In this example, it is just returning the first customer that is in the database. The label control on the form is updated with the label Page 18

22 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual information from Microsoft Dynamics AX. If you were running in a different language you would see the label updated from Microsoft Dynamics AX with that language. Data can be written back to Microsoft Dynamics AX with the methods available on the.net Business Connector. Figure 1.9 Returned Data Post-lab Exercise 1. Shut down the VPC 1. If you are in full-screen mode, press RIGHT ALT+ENTER to return to windowed mode. 2. For each open Virtual PC, select Close from the Action menu on the Virtual PC 2004 menu bar. Lab Summary In this lab you performed the following exercises: Created a new Visual Studio 2005 Windows Forms application Added a reference to the project to access Microsoft Dynamics AX with the.net Business Connector Added C# code to the button on the form to access data from Microsoft Dynamics AX Page 19

23 Lab 2: Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics AX Using the.net Business Connector Lab Manual Microsoft Dynamics AX allows developers to start integrating business logic code developed for the.net Framework. The.NET Business Connector opens up new scenarios for creating applications or ISV solutions that integrate into Microsoft Dynamics AX and allows customers to solve business problems with simpler methods of integration. Page 20