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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / Are Dynamics AX edit c...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

Are Dynamics AX edit controls .net based? MFC-based? or native GUI-controls?

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Posted on by Johan Andersen 85

Hello,

 

I have a quick question.

Are edit controls in MS Dynamics AX systems based on .net, MFC, native GUI-controls, or a mix of these?

 

If you don’t have the full picture, maybe you can tell what framework the vast majority of (built-in/out-of-the-box) edit-controls in Dynamics AX is based on? The same in AX 4.0, 2009, and 2012?

 

And what about these specific edit controls? (the only real text edit controls, I could find at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh881894.aspx)

StringEdit from AX 4.0:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/aa601664(v=ax.10).aspx

 

StringEdit from AX 2009:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/aa601664(v=ax.50).aspx

 

StringEdit from AX 2012:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/aa601664.aspx

 

.net Controls are only mentioned specifically for AX 2012:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg864879.aspx

does that imply that only this newest AX-version can use .net edit controls?

 

Are there any other important text-input controls that we need to be aware of?

 

If someone here only know part of the question, it will still be highly appreciated!

Best,

Johan Andersen

 

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  • Verified answer
    Joris dG Profile Picture
    Joris dG 17,775 on at

    I think originally they were native GUI-controls. I know they changed everything around in 2012 because they wanted to make AX2012 compatible with the "accessibility" framework in Windows, which has also resulted in proper support for automated UI testing. I think the controls in 2012 are .NET based.

  • Verified answer
    Joris dG Profile Picture
    Joris dG 17,775 on at

    Oh and yes, previous versions of AX only support ActiveX controls, but in 2012 you can use WPF controls on your forms as well.

    Don't get too excited though - most of the "native" binding using the drag and drop MorphX IDE is not available to custom controls out of the box, and you can't easily extend the binding since it is in the AX kernel - you basically have to code all of the logic on your own.

    That's why most custom controls are special case scenarios - such as visual tools (graphs, workflow designer, etc). But don't expect to put your custom control on an AX grid, or binding a WPF grid to a form datasource. In such a case you'll need to do ALL of it yourself - for example create a complete WPF form yourself, perhaps using the Linq components in R2. But even then, you'll have to explicitly call business logic for validation etc.

  • Johan Andersen Profile Picture
    Johan Andersen 85 on at

    Thanks!

    That would explain why I don't see the .net part in the AX-documentation until version 2012.

    --

    Johan

  • Johan Andersen Profile Picture
    Johan Andersen 85 on at

    So AX 4.0 and 2009 had native controls _and_ Active X? And MFC presumably?

    And AX 2012 supports .net controls + WPF?

    Is anyone from the AX-team listening? And can you confirm that most is now converted to .net?

    I assume that integrators can still add .net things and non-.net things to AX 2012, right? (according to msdn.microsoft.com/.../aa663364.aspx )

    Best,

    Johan

  • Johan Andersen Profile Picture
    Johan Andersen 85 on at

    You are right about the new UI Automation support in AX 2012. I found this blog about the subject: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dave_froslie/archive/2011/09/01/visual-studio-10-coded-ui-action-recordings-support-for-microsoft-dynamics-ax-2012.aspx 

    And these is some new .net support: http://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg843765.aspx

    But "What's New in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Developers" does not mention any major shift to .net, though: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg845327.aspx

    Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

    BR, Johan

  • Martin Dráb Profile Picture
    Martin Dráb 237,965 Most Valuable Professional on at

    Most of controls are still native, even in AX2012, although you can find several WinForms and WPF controls. Some are used by AX "kernel" (e.g. code editor is a WPF control), some use usual ActiveX and ManagedHost form controls.

    The best way how to find more is to use Inspect - it will show you a lot of interesting details including the technology used by particular controls. I myself used it with AX2012 when I was implementing some special handling of active windows (via the UI automation framework).

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