Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

Programming next to/outside AX

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Our company is planning to implement AX.

What would be a good path to do some programming next to/outside AX, but based on the AX database ?

We have some experience in PHP without using frameworks.

We will make a choice between either using PHP and framework by Zend, or using .NET framework and C#.

Our IT-manager would like to use VB but I think C# will be closer to X++ and PHP syntax ?

Any of you have any experience in either or both languages in combination with AX ?

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Ahamed Minhaj 250 on at

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Hello,

There are three ways through which you can develop some functionalities and integrate that to work with Ax

1.CLR interop - develop some functionality in dotnet convert them to a DLL then by adding the referance to that DLL you can use those functionality inside AX (AX 2 Dotnet)

2.Business Connector - you can use the AX functionalities or Ax data in external Application. (Dotnet 2 Ax)

3.AIF Frame work - integrate external applications with AX through webservices.(2 way with any xml based standard applications)

visit this link for the details http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/aa877498.aspx

its best to use C# for any kind of development with Ax. (can do all development like SSRS,EP)

Regards

Ahamed Minhaj.A

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In addition to what Ahamed stated, you can also:
4. Directly connect to the Dynamics AX database on SQL Server (or Oracle, if you use that configuration) e.g. through ODBC or ADO, and run the queries as you like.
That depends on what do you want to accomplish, but if you just need to show some data or generate reports and don’t need extended information from AOS, this will work fine. Of course, among other things you should be aware of security implications and take some extra care, e.g. only allow reader access. Or better yet, don’t query the main AX database but create views or stored procedures on a separate database and use them to fetch the data.

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user5555 7,437 on at

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5. Code in X++ itself in the USR layer or VAR layer if you purchase a developer license as well. If you have VS2010 MSDN ultimate you get also development license for Dynamics AX. This gives advantage of creating classes and some other objects you cannot in the USR layer.

Be aware that stepping from PHP to C# and X++ is a steap learning curve. I would advice to code in C# since for VB you can contract less people to have the job done and most focus in on C# and maybe later in future on F#.

J.

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[quote user="bBayt.com Shopping Engine for AX/ NAV"]
5. Code in X++ itself in the USR layer or VAR layer if you purchase a developer license as well. If you have VS2010 MSDN ultimate you get also development license for Dynamics AX. This gives advantage of creating classes and some other objects you cannot in the USR layer.

Be aware that stepping from PHP to C# and X++ is a steap learning curve. I would advice to code in C# since for VB you can contract less people to have the job done and most focus in on C# and maybe later in future on F#.

J.
[/quote] The intention is to program in X++ as well, but for some projects, we will take it outside AX. So we will have to learn X++ anyway, maybe C# is the way to go then, it will probably make for an easier integration with AX anyway ? Are there any plans by Microsoft to replace X++ by another language ? To integrate it into the .net framework ?

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user5555 7,437 on at

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[quote user="PhDJ"]
The intention is to program in X++ as well, but for some projects, we will take it outside AX. So we will have to learn X++ anyway, maybe C# is the way to go then, it will probably make for an easier integration with AX anyway ? Are there any plans by Microsoft to replace X++ by another language ? To integrate it into the .net framework ?[/quote]

VB and C# are both managed code and can be used even side by side in VS. However, the language is a bit different so that coding fast is the limitation. Best is to look what you want to achieve and that your achievements have the least impact on the software of others. Since if you code close to the code of others a code change may ruin your development effort. So be aware of this in coding next or outside AX.

The AX++ development environment is of the stone age or even earlier of that. You cannot compare it to VS2010. There is a startup ISV who created a runtime dll of the AX AOS which can be used in VS2010. It is not strongtyped and has no intellisense ... therefore you need to get to know the syntax and all tables by heart. This dll takes away part of it, but also has it limitations (it is not defacto MS for instance and you need additional license as well and you are stuck to 1 vendor)

I think in the end X++ will be replaced with C#. No doubt about it, only matter is when. I think most logical step is to go even in the cloud with AX/ NAV/ GP (and move them all towards one platform since that gives scalability advantages). But no idea what the road map is.

What are you intending to code inside or outside AX? Maybe that can help you decide what way to go and what technology to us for that.

J.

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The problem is that little is clear for us, we do not know AX, we have not programmed in X++ or in C#.

Let's say we want to make a webpage were a client could enter an order that needs to be treated in AX.

I guess we can write a PHP script that would call a webservice that would enter the order in AX, at least that is one of the ways to do that, as I gather.

Are there any advantages of doing this in C# instead ?

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user5555 7,437 on at

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Hi,

Can you tell me something more about the business you are in? What process/ business you want to run with AX and without AX?

To download an order you can call a webservice so you need to code something which can be understood by AX. I do not think you can plug in a dll of PHP into AX as a reference, it should be understandable by the compiler: so dll must be a webreference in C# or VB. Alternatively you can have Biztalk talk to the website and talk to AX with AIF documents.

I coded a dll to download the orders from our website directly into AX by pressing a button. It took about 2-3 months to understand Ax and about 3 weeks to code + test + integrate all stuff in AX.

J.

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[quote user="bBayt.com Shopping Engine for AX/ NAV"]
Hi,

Can you tell me something more about the business you are in? What process/ business you want to run with AX and without AX?

To download an order you can call a webservice so you need to code something which can be understood by AX. I do not think you can plug in a dll of PHP into AX as a reference, it should be understandable by the compiler: so dll must be a webreference in C# or VB. Alternatively you can have Biztalk talk to the website and talk to AX with AIF documents.

I coded a dll to download the orders from our website directly into AX by pressing a button. It took about 2-3 months to understand Ax and about 3 weeks to code + test + integrate all stuff in AX.

J.

[/quote]

We are in wholesale, in the printing industry.

Never mind that example, it seems we know to little about everything to decide which path to take now.

Getting some experience in AX first and everything that is possible in AX will make the choice clearer.

We will have to learn how to use AX and program in X++ first anyway.

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user5555 7,437 on at

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[quote user="PhDJ"]

We are in wholesale, in the printing industry.

[/quote]

Do you already have AX running or some other ERP? Web software in php? Do you have a RFI to get more info on what you want to achieve? If you do not have AX yet I first would do the RFI and then invite partners/ vendors which match best your business. To be honest: if you do not have an RFI then your IT budget must be huge to forsee and cover up all misalignment in your IT strategy. As what I can image by printing is that you need AX Production module, logistics module, purchase module etc. To implement all this you need a partner with outstanding experience in various modules of AX. Otherwise it will become a never ending story and your business will not run..since IT costs and or implementation time will kill you. Take also notice of the number of bugs in AX and their your budget goes. In the game between partner and MS you will find that you have to pay for all bugs caused by the dev. team of MS. There are not fixed free of charge as you might be used with regular MS products. This was an unknown and unforeseen issue by me. Also the amount of reporting and giving correct information from AX is a pain: cycle times of inventory, on hand inventory by dimension in quantity etc. A lot of things you expect of a large ERP to be present..but the opposite it true. If your RFI list is long, you might less run into issues like it. Even better: try to find out with software your competitors/ collegues use and make an appointment to see if that can be usefull for your business too.

[quote user="PhDJ"]

Getting some experience in AX first and everything that is possible in AX will make the choice clearer.

[/quote]

I would advise you to focus on your IT roadmap first. Then select a good partner and then part by part code what is missing in AX. You can code anything you like, but to what cost?

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We do not have AX yet, the RFI is ongoing, with a partner that is specialised and has written a module specifically for wholesale.

Cost and other things are not my concern, not directly anyway, I am a developer, but our IT-manager asked us what we thought would be the best path to take, continue on the PHP path ( with Zend framework ) or take the .net path with C# or VB.

In that regard I thought to get some insight from people programming applications outside of AX, using either PHP or C#.

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