Newbie VST Question About Versions and Updates

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Hi,

I am new to the GP world and am just starting to get my feet wet with Development using the VS Tools SDK. I have some pretty basic questions. Be gentle with me. :)

We are on GP 2013 R2 and have the March 2015 update installed which puts us at version 12.0.1894. I installed the version of VST that came on the DVD with GP 2013 R2 and moved the templates over to Visual Studio 2015.

The VST SDK comes with pre-generated dlls and intellisense xml files for the various baseline products. One of the first things I noticed is that the versions of the assemblies that we have are different due to the updates we have installed. For instance, the Application.FixedAssets.dll that ships with VST is at 12.0.1651 whereas the version we have installed is 12.0.1790. I assume that I need to use the DAG tool to create updated versions. First, am I correct in this assumption? From what I understand, the DAG tool references the Application.Dynamics.dll file, but the next question is "Which one?" I have one in my GP2013 installation folder, and I have one in the VST SDK directory. They are both two different versions.

I use Powershell, whenever I can, rather than DOS, so, if I issue the following:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2013 VS Tools SDK"
& .\Dag.exe 309 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2013\dynamics.set" /M /N:FixedAssets1201790 /O

Which is referenced by DAG, the Application.Dynamics.dll file in the directory where Dag.exe resides or the directory where my dynamics.set file resides?

Also, when I create a Visual Studio project it automatically adds references to Application.Dynamics.dll, Microsoft.Dexterity.Bridge.dll, and Microsoft.Dexterity.Shell.dll, all located in the VST SDK directory. The versions of these files is different than the versions we are using for GP. Should I just copy these files from my GP installation directory to my VST SDK directory and rebuild any projects, and do I need to do this before I generate assemblies used by my project?

For those whose are curious, you can get the versions by executing the following from Powershell

cd 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2013'
ls *.dll -r | % versioninfo

Just change directories and run the same thing against the VST SDK directory to get the versions there and compare.

Thanks

Tom

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chadbruels 1,588 on at

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I am not familiar enough with DAG to be useful to you there, so I am going to avoid muddying the waters on that question.

Regarding the automatically referenced DLLs when a project is created, first I remove those references. Then I create a new folder in the project and I add the version of the DLLs I wish to utilize to the folder and create references to them. This way those files are checked-in to source control with the project and anyone else who might work on the project in the future is not missing the correct versions.

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That is a very good suggestion. Where do you copy your references from for Application.Dynamics.dll, Microsoft.Dexterity.Bridge.dll, and Microsoft.Shell.dll? Do you copy them from your GP 2013 program directory?

Thanks

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chadbruels 1,588 on at

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In short, I get them from wherever I can. Sometimes I have an install of the correct version so I grab it from the app directory. Or I might have to apply a service pack before doing so. Sometimes I don't but I have remote access to the client's system so I grab them from their app directory. Recently I have begun the practice of keeping each version of these DLLs - including GPConnNet.dll and the two eConnect DLLS - in OneDrive in folders matching their versions for ease of grabbing the ones I need.

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I noted that there are 23 files in the GP 2013 program directory that also exist in the VST SDK directory that are newer than their VST counterparts. This includes Dex.dic and Dex_US.dic. I am going to backup my existing VST directory and copy all of these newer files over and see what happens.

Thanks

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Jothi Krishnan N 1,895 on at

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Here are the things you should do...

After installing VS Tools SDK...When you create a project....If the versions doesnt match.....Replace all the referenced GP DLLs on your Project to ones in the GP folder not the VS Tools SDK folder(Consider SDK Folder as a Temporary Container).

DAG is required only for Modified Forms or the ones not found in GP Folder(for eg: HRM Solution series).... DAG wont reference to any DLL. It will read the Dynamics.SET file for the Product ID you are mentioning in the command prompt and creates the corresponding DLL in the VS Tools folder. After that you copy the generated DLL into GP folder so that your project always references to the GP folder.

This method is I feel always good as you might have to work on multiple GP instances/projects, but you will have only one VS Tools folder.

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David Musgrave MVP ... 14,095 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi Tom

I would use the dlls that are installed with the version of Dynamics GP you want your code to work against.

Just remove and re-add the references for the correct versions. Don't forget to

David

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Got it. Thank you all.

Tom

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