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Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook
Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook

Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook: This is a brilliantly accessible book, packed with practical examples, that's perfect for business professionals who want to make more of the advanced features of Dynamics AX to save money and increase management efficiency.

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Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook

Chapter 1. Extending Out with SharePoint

In this chapter, we will show you how to take advantage of some of the features within SharePoint, to help you add value to Dynamics AX through My Sites and Document Repositories. This chapter will cover:

  • Configuring a My Site host site

  • Using note boards to microblog from the Role Centers

  • Adding My Site profile links to the Role Centers

  • Creating shared document libraries

  • Linking document libraries to Dynamics AX records

Introduction


SharePoint is one of the core Microsoft technology platforms which allows you to organize your files with shared document libraries, collaborate with others through shared task lists and calendars, communicate with others with blogs, and much more, all through a web portal. Something that makes SharePoint even more useful is that you don’t have to be a developer to configure these features.

If you have Dynamics AX up and running, then chances are you should already have SharePoint installed and configured, since it is also the foundation for all of the Role Centers and enterprise portals that are delivered with Dynamics AX. Although the Role Centers and portals are preconfigured and use a lot of the features of SharePoint, there are still more features that you can take advantage of in conjunction with Dynamics AX that will make your system even better.

First we will show how to configure the My Sites feature so that the users are able to microblog and maintain their personal information within SharePoint. Once you have this configured, then you are able to add content from your personal My Site, or links to other My Sites into the Role Centers in Dynamics AX. This provides a better collaboration system for the business, and also adds a social element to the application.

We will also show how you can create your own document libraries within SharePoint to allow users to store documents, such as scanned invoices, and then index and link them back to Dynamics AX. This is an alternative to the standard document attachments feature within Dynamics AX. SharePoint document libraries allow multiple records to be linked to the same document list, and also give you document management features, such as file check-in and out to control who updates the documents.

None of these examples are hard to set up or configure, but since they require you to add to your existing SharePoint sites, you will need to have administrator rights to SharePoint. Also, for the last two examples, there is some X++ coding required. Each has only about 10 lines of simple code, so even novices should be able to work through the examples.

Configuring a My Site host site


SharePoint My Sites give your users the chance to have their very own part of SharePoint that they can use to store documents, to update their own personal profile and description, to make notes and blog entries and also to connect with other people within the organization. In a socially connected workplace, My Sites are great tools to allow the users to post and capture knowledge.

If you do not have My Sites configured, then the first step is to create a My Sites site within SharePoint and link it to your Role Centers so that the users will then be able to access their personal profile and content.

Getting ready

Before you start on this example, you will need to make sure that you have access to the SharePoint Central Administration console. To check this:

  1. Access your server that has SharePoint installed on it.

  2. From the program menu, you should be able to find the SharePoint Central Administration Console in the Microsoft SharePoint Products group.

  3. When you open the application, you should see a screen similar to this:

How to do it...

To create and link your own My Sites site, follow these steps:

  1. From your SharePoint Central Administration console, navigate to the Application Management group.

  2. Select the Create Site Collection from the Site Collections group.

  3. Name your application My Sites.

  4. Set the website address to be in the my/personal folder, and name the subfolder My Sites.

  5. From the Enterprise tab on the Template selection choose My Site Host.

  6. Don’t forget to assign the Primary and Secondary administrators to the site that you are creating:

  7. Click on OK to create your site.

  8. From the Application Management option in Central Administration, select the site that we added the My Sites host site to.

  9. Click on the Define button in the ribbon bar, and then select the Managed Paths option:

  10. Here we will add our new My Site link. You don’t need to type in the full URL, so you can skip the host prefix.

  11. Also, you may just want to check the Self-Service Site Creation option, to make sure that the feature is turned On:

  12. Finally, we need to configure the User Profile Service application.

  13. When you select the application, you will be able to see all of the My Site and user profile configuration options. From here you need to choose the Setup My Site menu option.

    Tip

    Remember this link because you may need to come back here later to configure profiles, and so on.

  14. We just need to configure the site parameters, the administrator users, and so on.

    Tip

    Make sure that the host URL matches, that is, SharePoint.

How it works...

Once you have My Sites configured, you will see a My Site option when you select the drop-down menu under the user name within SharePoint, as follows:

Opening up your My Site will take you to your personal site within SharePoint. Initially it will be a little dull, but since you will be the administrator of this little slice of SharePoint, you can add information and pictures to your profile, create your own blogs, and browse through the organization to see other’s My Sites to see what they are up to. You also have your own personal documents area that you are able to save files to, that you can then share with other users in the organization.

Using note boards to microblog from the Role Centers


A part of your My Site is a personal note board. If you don’t want to create a full-fledged blog, then you can use this to take quick notes for yourself or others within the organization, such as reminders that you will be on vacation, alerts about upcoming events, and much more that you can publish to the entire organization.

In this recipe, we will show you how to make this even more useful by adding the note board directly into the Dynamics AX Role Center. This will allow your users to view your posts quickly and get back to work, without having to open another window.

How to do it...

To add a note board panel to the Role Center, follow these steps:

  1. From within the Role Center, click on the Personalize this page link in the top-right hand corner to enter into the edit mode.

  2. Click on the Add a Web Part link where you would like to add the note board.

  3. This will open up the web part explorer. From the categories, select the Social Collaboration group and this will filter the available web parts to the My Site controls.

  4. Select the Note Board control and click on the Add button:

  5. Now click on the Stop Editing button to return to the view mode for the Role Center.

How it works...

Since the Note Board is a direct link to the user’s personal My Site Notes, they are able to post directly from Dynamics AX without opening up another browser window:

The notes that are posted on the Note Board on the Role Center will show up on the Tags and Notes panel within the user’s My Site page. Additionally, if the user makes notes from their My Site, then these will show up on the wall of the Role Center.

Adding My Site profile links to the Role Centers


Another feature of My Sites is the ability for users to personalize their own profile with descriptions, contact details, profile pictures, and also personal notes and interests. Users configure and update their profiles, and then these can be used as a company directory, and an easy way to get to know the people you work with.

In this recipe, we will show how you can add your profile link to the Dynamics AX Role Center to give you quick access to your own My Site, and also how to add people that you frequently contact on your Role Center for quick access.
Getting ready

Before you start on this example, you will need to make sure that you have configured your own personal profile within your My Site. To do this carry out the following steps:

  1. Access your My Site by selecting the My Site option on the drop-down menu under your name in SharePoint.

  2. Once you are in your My Site, click on the My Profile link in the top-left hand corner to access your profile page.

  3. Click on the Edit My Profile link under your profile picture.

    This will open up the Profile Maintenance page allowing you to add descriptions, avatars, and any other information that you may want to include on your profile:

How to do it...

To add a Contact Details panel to the Role Center, follow these steps:

  1. From within the Role Center, click on the Personalize this page link in the top-right hand corner to enter into the edit mode.

  2. Click on the Add a Web Part link where you would like to add your contact information.

  3. This will open up the web part explorer. From the categories, select the Social Collaboration group and this will filter the available web parts to the My Site controls.

  4. Navigate to the Contact Details control, and then click on the Add button:

  5. This will add the Contact Details web part to the Role Center, but you need to configure it with a contact. To do that, navigate to Click here to add or modify a contact link.

  6. This will open up the Web Part properties panel, and you will be able to select a contact from the address book:

  7. Click on the Stop Editing button and you are done.

How it works...

Once you have defined a contact for Contact Details, then the information from the My Site of that person will be displayed on the Role Center:

If you click on the name of the person, then that will take you directly to their personal site:

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Key benefits

  • Extend Dynamics in a cost-effective manner by using tools you already have
  • Solve common business problems with the valuable features of Dynamics AX
  • Follow practical and easy-to-grasp examples, illustrations and coding to make the most out of Dynamics AX in your business scenario

Description

Dynamics AX is built on a number of foundation products from Microsoft that are used to make it bigger, better, and stronger than the average business system. Taking advantage of these products will make your life easier. Use these tools to maximize the efficiency of your business management, taking advantage of a powerful and centralized tool set. "Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook" will show you how to use tools that you already have to extend out Dynamics AX and discover potential new directions. You will be surprised at what you can do on a shoestring budget. The book will allow you to streamline your work processes, and use the system's powerful and centralised features to the advantage of your organization. "Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook" will show you how to maximize the potential of Dynamics AX with common and popular tools to enhance your business management systems. We will begin by exploring how to extend Dynamics AX out with SharePoint. After this, the book will guide you through important elements in maximizing business management efficiency, focusing on key aspects like reports, dashboards, and workflows. The book will then finish by teaching you how to customize your management systems, achieving a comprehensive coverage of the most important extension processes relevant to you and your business with very little programming. This is a book for those of you that want to make the most out of Dynamics AX by using what you already have, and without breaking the bank.

Who is this book for?

This title is for business professionals, such as administrators and consultants, who want to take full advantage of the features of Dynamics AX. This book has a wide appeal and you do not need to be a SharePoint, database or programming expert. As long as you know a little about these elements, you will be able to take full advantage of the business efficiency created with Dynamics AX extensions.

What you will learn

  • Easily create attractive dashboards and reports using Performance Point, PowerView and Excel
  • Improve and maximize the potential of user communication and collaboration with Outlook and Lync
  • Create and configure roles centers for your users
  • Build personal portals and document libraries within SharePoint
  • Create a streamlined organization through workflows
  • Build new help files specific to your business
  • Develop personalized and customized screens

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Aug 26, 2013
Length: 314 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781782168331
Vendor :
Microsoft

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Publication date : Aug 26, 2013
Length: 314 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781782168331
Vendor :
Microsoft

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Table of Contents

11 Chapters
Extending Out with SharePoint Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Reports and Dashboards Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Dashboards, Charts, and Scorecards Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Communication and Collaboration Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Cases to Manage Incidents and Requests Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Organizing Your Workflows Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Reporting in Office Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Talking to the Outside World Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Help Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Web Services and Forms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Role Center Personalization and Customization Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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cazo76 Oct 09, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The book is a must add to any Functional consultant's and/or Client based IT department library. Every chapter is an easy to follow how-to that easily explains each covered area. After having this book for less than three weeks, I was able to show the client how to add role centers to their respective outlook accounts. I am going to recommend that the client use this book to handle adding their process flows into the help menu.The book is well written and is very easy to read. A novice would be able to follow the sections in each chapter which uses the Contoso demo company. The book was able to get detailed enough while straddling the line to not get so technical that only a developer would understand it.[...]
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J.Lopez Sep 30, 2013
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Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook is a great book of recipes that will aid you in creation of forms, web services etc. The directions(recipes) are easy to follow and extremely beneficial.The recipes include great "help" or reminders and tips that can really go a long way in ensuring that your creations are at their best. This books is clearly written with great contributors and a great author that understand Microsoft Dynamics and gives real world scenarios.Please visit [...] for more information.
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Peter B S Mello Sep 17, 2018
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If you want to get serious with Dynamics, you need this book. There are other books from this author too.
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M.Aamer - AX - MVP Oct 15, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook provides a wide deep range of non-functional requirements which gives a flavor to Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation. I recommend this book for Microsoft Dynamics AX Solution Architect, Application Consultant, Business Analyst, and IT Manager. This book gives them the overall overview with the required level of details to implement, and deploy important non-function requirements of which build on Microsoft technologies Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Office Excel, and Microsoft Office Outlook.It provides a walkthrough of utilizing Microsoft Office Excel Power View, and PowerPivot and how it integrate with Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Dynamics AX. In addition to the executive supporting tools of Dashboard, Charts, and Scorecards platform.Extending Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Cookbook illustrate how to use Microsoft Dynamics AX as a communication channel between the organization and its customers, how to utilize the push strategy reports through the personalized role center to give the right information to the right person at the right time. I enjoyed the book content very much.[...]
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uhgriesser Feb 05, 2014
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Gäbe es nur mehr von solchen Büchern. Endlich mal nicht nur Theorie oder "so müsste es gehen", sondern Lösungen die sofort anwendbar sind. Danke
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