Extend your Microsoft Dynamics AX Knowledge Village network with LinkedIn

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We recently started the "Microsoft Dynamics AX Knowledge Village"
network on LinkedIn. A network where Dynamics AX professionals can
share information about their companies, products and see what the
level of professionality is of co-members.

Participants are able to extend their personal network with LinkedIn
members and initiate long-term relationships.

Extend your network, join the Microsoft Dynamics AX Knowledge Village at LINKEDIN ! Microsoft Dynamics AX Knowledge Village

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Application Object Id’s

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Application objects are stored and referenced internally using IDs rather than names.

This means that the application objects are only known by their IDs in the application, which makes it possible to change the name of the application objects and see it reflected immediately everywhere the application object is referenced by its ID.

In X++ code the name is used in stead of the ID. This means that when an application object is renamed, you need to go through everywhere the object is not referenced by its ID.

Menu Properties.

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Each menu has a number of properties, which we can find in the property sheet. The next table gives an explanation of the available properties. Not all of the properties require a value.

Name:Name of the menu in the AOT.

Label:Enter the name of the menu displayed on the screen.

HelpText:Create a help string for the menu.
The help string is displayed below in the status bar.

ConfigurationKey:

SecurityKey:

NeededAccessLevel:Define the minimum access required. The access rights are: NoAccess, View, Edit, Add and Delete.

SetCompany:Have the system change company when the menu is opened.

When set to Yes: Each time the menu is activated the company changes to what it was when the menu was first activated.

CreatedBy:A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the name of the user who created the object.

CreatedDate:A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the date when the object was created.

ChangedBy:A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the name of the user who last modified the object.

ChangedDate:A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the date when the object was last modified.

ChangedTime:A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the time when the object was last changed.

LockedBy:A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the name of the user who has currently locked the object.


Remarks: Menus and sub-menus are only displayed if they contain at least one menu item.

Menus.

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The standard application comes with a default menu structure. However menus in MorphX are extremely flexible and can be custom made to suit the exact needs of any company and user. Menus allow us to organize application objects so that the end user can find and use them quickly.

All menus in Axapta are based on menu items. When we create a menu, we create references to our collection of Menu Items. Creating Menu Items are a prerequisite for creating any menu.

STEPS to create a Menu
To create a Menu, follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Locate and right-click the node Menus.
- Select New Menu from the shortcut menu. As a result an empty menu item, named MenuX (where X is a number), is created.

- Now right-click the newly created menu and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

- In the property sheet fill in the appropriate properties. At least the properties Name and Help Text are required to use the menu item.


In the next tasks we are going to create a new Menu, add the menu to the Axapta Main Menu and attach our previously created menu item.

Task: Create menu TRA_Menu
The task here is to:
 Create the Menu that holds the menu items we are going to create during the course of this manual.


To create a Menu, follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Right-click the node Menus and select New Menu.
- Right-click the newly created menu and select Properties.
- In the Property sheet set the following properties:
Name: TRA_Menu
Label: Training Menu
Leave the other fields as defaulted.


Task: Create a Tab Page on the Main Menu
The task here is to:
 Create a Tab Page on the Main Menu that holds our menu.


To create a new Tab page on the Main Menu, follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Locate and open the node Menus.
- Locate the node MainMenu.
- Open the node MainMenu in another window. (Right-click, select Open new window)

- Position your cursor back in the window holding the MainMenu node.
- Right-click and select New Menu Reference.

- In the window that opens select your Menu TRA_Menu.

Move a bit around with the open windows so the window containing the MainMenu and the window containing the Menus are visible.

- Drag and drop the menu TRA_Menu onto the Main Menu.

- Save the Main Menu (Ctrl+S).

Hint: When the Menu appears with no menu name in the MainMenu window, ensure you have assigned the menu a label. Then remove the menu from the main menu and start over again.

Note: When you open the Main Menu the newly added menu will not be displayed if it does not contain menu items.


Task: Attach a menu item to your menu
The task here is to:
 Attach the menu item previously created to our menu.

To attach a Menu Item to a Menu follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Locate the node Menus.
- Locate your menu: TRA_Menu.
- Open the menu in another window. (Right-click, select Open new window)

- Position the cursor back in the previous window holding all the menus.

- Locate and open the node Menu Items.
- Select the sub-node Display and locate your menu item: TRA_Menu_Item.
- Now drag and drop the menu item onto the TRA_Menu.

- Save the Menu (Ctrl+S).

Menu Item Properties.

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Each menu item has a number of properties, which we can find in the property sheet. The next table gives an explanation of the available properties. Not all of the properties require a value.

Name: Name of the menu item in the AOT.

Label: Enter the name displayed in menus and on buttons.

HelpText: Create a help string for the menu item.
The help string is displayed below in the status bar.

Class: Choose one of the object types that match your object. Types are:
Class
Form
Job
Query
Report
Web
Web Form
Web Page
Web Report

Object: Choose one of the objects from the object type given by the Class property.

Parameters: Enter text as parameters to the Object.

EnumTypeParameters: Choose an enumerated type as parameters to the Object.

EnumParameter: Enter the parameter for the Enum Type.

RunOn: Choose whether the menu item should be executed on the client, the server or where it is called from.

ConfigurationKey: Set which key(s) are required to enable the menu item.

CountryConfigurationKey: Idem but for country.

WebConfigurationKey: Set which key(s) are required to enable the menu item used in a Web page.

SecurityKey: Set which key(s) are required to enable the menu used in conjunction with NeededAccessLevel. Default is disabled on installation.

NeededAccessLevel: Define the minimum access required if the menu item is to appear on a menu or a button. In conjunction with SecurityKey, this property is used to set access to Axapta’s menu.

Web:

WebSecureTransaction:

WebPage:

MultiSelect: Choose to allow use of the menu item on multiple record selections in forms.

CreatedBy: A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the name of the user who created the object.

CreatedDate: A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the date when the object was created.

ChangedBy: A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the name of the user who last modified the object.

ChangedDate: A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the date when the object was last modified.

ChangedTime: A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the time when the object was last changed.

LockedBy: A read-only property set by the system.
Gives the name of the user who has currently locked the object.

Remark: The EnumTypeParameter and EnumParameter are typically used to make one form behave differently depending on the menu item that is opening or calling the form.

Menu Items

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Menu items are a collection of items that can be activated from menus and forms. Each item runs an application object: a form, a report, a class, or a query.

We must always create a menu item when we want to activate an application object from a menu or from a form. The link to an application object is made through a menu item.

A menu item is created in the Menu Items node in the AOT. As we can see there are three menu item types. Each type corresponds to a sub-node in the node Menu Items.

The valid types are specified in the system enumeration MenuItemType. Each type represents a category with certain characteristics.

The categories are:

- Display: Holds items that are displayed on the screen, typically forms.
- Output: Holds items that generate output, primarily reports.
- Action: Holds items that activate queries and classes.

Notes:
• The sub-nodes are identical in structure and we can use them as we wish.
• The name of a menu item must be unique within its category.


STEPS to create a Menu Item
There are two ways to create Menu Items:
o Drag and drop an application object onto the Menu Items sub-node. (Automatic creation)
o Right-click on the sub-node and select New Menu Item. (Manual creation)


To create a Menu Item, manually, follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Locate and open the node Menu Items.
- Right-click one of the sub-nodes, that matches the purpose of the new menu item.
- Select New Menu Item from the shortcut menu. As a result an empty menu item, named MenuItemX (where X is a number), is created. In the property sheet we will have to give the menu item an appropriate name.

- Now right-click the newly created menu item and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

- In the property sheet fill in the appropriate properties. At least the properties Name, Class and Object are required to use the menu item.


To create a Menu Item, using Drag and drop, follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Locate the node Menu Items
- Right-click and select Open New Window.

- Locate the node where the application object.resides.
- Select the application object.
- Drag and drop the application object onto the respective menu item sub-node. A menu item for the application object is now created.

Note: The properties of the menu item are automatically taken over (set) from the application object, except for the Label and Help text properties.

- Now right-click the menu item and select Properties from the shortcut menu. In the property sheet set the properties Label and Help Text.


Task: Create menu item TRA_Menu
The task here is to:
 Create a Menu Item that holds the menu items we are going to create during the course of this manual.

To create a Menu Item, follow these steps:
- Open the AOT.
- Locate and open the node Menu Items.
- Right-click sub-node Display AND select New Menu Item from the shortcut menu.

- Now right-click the newly created menu item and open the property sheet.

- In the Property sheet set the following properties:
Name: TRA_Menu_Item
Label: Training Menu Item
HelpText: Help Training Menu Item
Leave the other fields as defaulted.