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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics SL (Archived) / How to install Visual ...
Microsoft Dynamics SL (Archived)

How to install Visual Basic for Applications for SL

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Posted on by Community Member

I have an existing SL 2011 FP1 edition that I want to do some Visual Basic programming with.   How do I access the environment within SL?   Or how do I install it if it's not installed yet?  And where do I get the installation package from?

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  • Suggested answer
    Ram Peru Profile Picture
    Ram Peru 2,830 on at

    VBA features have been installed during the SL Installation itself. No Need to install it again.

    Do you want to do the customizations on Standard SL screen? If yes, please follow the below steps to do VBA Program in Dynamics SL.

    1. Open the standard SL Screen which you want to do the VBA Programming.

    2. Press (Ctl+Alt+C) to initiate the customization option.

    3. Click F7 to open the VBA Editor

    If VBA feature is not enabled, you have to reinstall the Dynamics SL.

    Hope this will help.

    Thanks,

    Perumalsamy R

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    I'm sorry.   I meant the Visual Basic environment.   The VBA is available when doing customizations.   What I mean is if I want to develop a new screen entirely, do I just use Visual Studio?  And how does that integrate with Dynamics SL?

  • Verified answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    In order to develop complete new screens you must install the SL SDK module and have a license for that module.  this is installed as an option during the SL installation process.  However, this does not install VB.NET (which is what SL 2011 is developed in) so you will also need to purchase Microsoft Studio or download and install the free version of VB.NET.  The biggest problem you will run into is that SL 2011 was developed in the 2008 version of VB.NET and you can no longer get that version in Visual Studio so, unless you already have that, you will have to use the free version of 2008 VB.NET.

    You will need to refer to the Tools for Visual Basic manual for information on how to create new screens for SL 2011.  I must warn you that this is no simple task and can be frustrating at times until you have done it several times.

  • Ram Peru Profile Picture
    Ram Peru 2,830 on at

    As Rick said, You need to download the free version of VS 2008.

    you can use the below link to download the free version of VS 2008.

    http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=7873

    Thanks,

    Perumalsamy R

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Can you use VS 2010 to develop with?

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    As far as I know, the answer is no.  VS 2010 uses VB.NET 2010 and SL 2011 was developed in VB.NET 2008.  My company develops specialized screens and reports added to SL for the Long Term Healthcare industry and when we attempted to create modules for SL 2011 using VS 2010 they would not execute under SL 2011 because of the VB.NET differences.  Because we did not have VS 2008 and it was no longer available through valid channels, we ended up downloading the free version of VB.NET 2008 Express which was still available and did the development with that.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Rick.   I'm back doing some more work in SL.    I want to create a new screen and tie it to Dynamics SL 2011.   I have Visual Basic Express 2008 installed as suggested above and now I just need to create a new VB module.   That's easy enough.  But how do I tie it to Dynamics SL?

  • Verified answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Richard,

    I am going to start with a fairly general answer.  You need to utilize menu maintenance found under Administration.  However, before you can add your item on that screen you will need to add your new program under screen maintenance and grant rights to that screen under access rights.

    The first step under menu maintenance is to select the menu for group.  If that group has menu items showing up under it then the navigation pane work area will fill out.  Select the module you want your screen to appear under (or add a module) and drill down to the screen group level you want.  Expand that screen group and click on the new link button on the toolbar.  Fill out the right side of the screen with the name you want, the screen id you added and the column you want your menu item in and then save.  You can use the arrow buttons on the toolbar to move your added menu item up or down the menu.  When done, save.  You will need to get out of SL and back in again in order to see your new menu item.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Thanks Rick.   Looks like I need to download Visual Studio Express 2008 as I have just the VB Express 2008.   Will that work too?  

    Let me be a little more detailed.   I am familiar with SL as I've been working with that for about 10 years, but more as a designer and project manager.   Not as a developer although I've done customizations.

    What I want to do is create a brand new screen from scratch and integrate into the SL menu system as you describe above.  But I haven't created the VB file yet.  

    I am actually referencing some very old course materials from Solomon 5.0.   Is there a good reference in the SL User Guides that explains this?

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Richard,

    Creating screens for SL using the SDK is far more complex than creating a customization to an existing screen.  If you have not done this in the past then you may be biting off more than you expected.  You will find may posts on building custom SL screens attesting to the fact that, many times, it becomes a trial and error situation as the existing documentation tends to leave things out when building anything more than a simple screen.

    There is a rather detailed manual titled Software Development Kit that loads in the user documentation folder when you install the SL SDK.  It will be your bible but, as I said, it does not always help when you get one of those general SL type errors that really does not tell you want the issue is.  Only experience gets you through those (I have been developing screens using the SL SDK for over 20 years now and still scratch my head from time to time).  With SL 7.0 and beyond you are also dealing with VB.NET which has its own nuances if you are used to VB6.

    So, it may go well for you or it may not.  You are probably going to find a lot of help on this forum for issues developing complete new SL screens and may have to turn to a partner that does that for a living.  Still, if you ask, I will respond with my best effort given the limited time I have to answer questions on this forum.

    Now, back to your Visual Studio question, my SL 2011 development environment just has Visual Basic Express installed and that works just fine.  However, I still have quite a few SL 6.5 clients and most of my new development is done against version 6.5 and then I run that through the SL 2011 conversion program to make the SL 2011 version.

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