web
You’re offline. This is a read only version of the page.
close
Skip to main content
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / The fastest way of int...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

The fastest way of integrating with AX 2012

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by Thomas Vogt Poulsen 345

Hi

I have been given the assignment of choosing a suitable way of integration a webshop with Dynamics AX in a synchronous way and have investigated a few options:

- WCF/SOAP service

- .Net C# with Proxy classes to X++

- Business Connector

Set aside the fact that the BC is old and will be eliminated in the next version they all give the result I want. However my calculation tells me that the "Logon" in both the Proxy and BC solution is quite time consuming. I do not know if there is a way of keeping the sessions alive even though the webshop closes down the connection to these .Net programs (that will most certainly be a RESTful service).

I know there are other solutions like ODataQueryService but that does not support filters with will be needed. Otherwise I will have to query much too large datasets to get just a few informations.

LINQ is another possibility but as I understand it that too is for larger data.

Any experience that contradicts my findings or any other solutions that comes to mind will be welcome.

Thanks

Thomas

*This post is locked for comments

I have the same question (0)
  • Verified answer
    Martin Dráb Profile Picture
    Martin Dráb 236,802 Most Valuable Professional on at
    RE: The fastest way of integrating with AX 2012

    Your consideration of the query service and LINQ suggests that you're interested only in reading from AX, not writing anything from the webshop to AX. Is it correct? What you mean by "integration" is crucial, because not all way support all functionality.

    Proxy classes are basically a nicer way for using Business Connector. :)

    I would prefer custom services (WCF) and only focus on how to configure them for best performance (binding, throttling etc.). Not only it's fast, based on a widely used framework and it gives you a lot of flexibility; you will also be able to upgrade your solution to AX 7 without much effort.

    Business Connector won't be deprecated in a next version; it's already doesn't exist in the current version, AX 7.

    Regarding OData query service, in addition to quite a few limitations, it's also quite slow.

    LINQ isn't limited to large dataset. Nevertheless what's smaller or larger is relative and I don't know what amount of data are you going to transfer.

  • Verified answer
    Iulian Cordobin Profile Picture
    Iulian Cordobin 8,201 on at
    RE: The fastest way of integrating with AX 2012

    I guess the first and most simple question is are you sure you are looking only at one type of interfacing with the external app, and that is synchronous, for all the data that you are going to pass between them? And of course the second part of this question is what type of data are you actually moving around (is it financial, inventory, customers / sales), and is your external app just a dumb consumer (UI) of the data that is fed by AX or does it hold its own data?

    Because, from here I guess you have quite some technical conclusions that can be drawn. But this is just related to when and what are you moving around.

    From a strictly technical point of view, I would say that services are the way to go, in any of the cases above.

    The BC.net (although I love it) will be gone soon and you should think also of the future, even though you're not starting development of something new with the thought of upgrade in mind. And as you put it, it has its downfall.

    .Net solution with proxies, well, this is actually (as it is also mentioned on the MSDN) a replacement for BC.net. I believe using this depends on what exactly you need to implement and how will this be used in the overall picture (this will help you consume some raw BL code from AX and you will have to write code in your app that will reference the AX dll).

  • Thomas Vogt Poulsen Profile Picture
    Thomas Vogt Poulsen 345 on at
    RE: The fastest way of integrating with AX 2012

    Thanks, Martin and Iulian

    Smaller data is only one record in this case.

    Yes you are right that my post is aimed at fetching data from AX because that is the crucial real-time part. There will be writing as well but that comes second at the moment however I believe that custom services if the way to go for both in and outbound data.

    I will study LINQ a little more. It might be suitable for other part of the integration.

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Responsible AI policies

As AI tools become more common, we’re introducing a Responsible AI Use…

Pallavi Phade – Community Spotlight

We are honored to recognize Pallavi Phade as our Community Spotlight honoree for…

Congratulations to the October Top 10 Community Leaders!

These are the community rock stars!

Leaderboard > 🔒一 Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

#1
Martin Tocauer Profile Picture

Martin Tocauer 4

#2
AlissonGodoy Profile Picture

AlissonGodoy 2

#2
Community Member Profile Picture

Community Member 2

Last 30 days Overall leaderboard

Featured topics

Product updates

Dynamics 365 release plans