Getting started / training on development for Dynamics AX pre-365

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Posted on by TrevorG

I've recently gotten access to the Dynamics Learning Portal and am intending to start learning Dynamics AX, but the pre-365 on-premise version.

The DLP has something called "Readiness Learning Plans" for various roles (Developer, Marketing, Sales, Architect, etc) that has a pre-configured set of courses appropriate for each role. However, choosing the Developer track, the content is all based upon Dynamics 365 and I don't see any way of choosing the Developer Learning Plan collection that would have existed before the new 365 version was released (I would think all of the individual courses would still be there, but the Learning Plan that grouped them together seems to no longer exist, or was modified to only contain the 365 content).

I have managed (I think) to find and download the necessary files to get a VM up and running (haven't gone through with it yet) thanks to this blog post:

https://guyterry.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/pimp-your-ax-demo-vm/

(I would almost think that process would have been covered somewhere in the DLP training material previously?)

Hopefully someone here can help me with some advice on the best approach for learning Dynamics AX, Fundamentals as well as getting into hands on development, either through suggestions on how to find the proper course collection on the DLP &/or other training resources (free or paid) that would be worthwhile, must-read books, etc.

For context, I have several years of .Net C# development experience, although I haven't done much coding in the last 5 years or so.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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TrevorG on at

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Sorry, it's **pre**-365 content I am looking for (ie: Dynamics AX 2012).

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi TrevorG,

For AX2012 systems, please also check the documents and training materials available at the customer/partner source site.

Best regards,

Ludwig

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Vilmos Kintera 46,149 on at

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The DLP site is relatively fresh, and the content created is for the new D365fF&O product mostly.

The reason why they did not bother creating more content is because the product is being phased out in a couple of years completely (no new licenses sold already, and exams are no longer valid) it is already available on PartnerSource as training materials intended for Dynamics AX 2012, as it was mentioned above.

Since you want go for the technical track, I would suggest reading a book first, which would give you a great overall idea. You could start with the book published by Microsoft:

[View:https://books.google.hu/books/about/Inside_Microsoft_Dynamics_AX_2012_R3.html?id=-d0RBAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y:750:50]

Once you are familiar with the various components and tooling that comes with AX on a high level, you may start to deepen your knowledge by using the MSDN documentation, checking the tutorial* forms and classes within the AOT.

The best experience comes by finding a mentor at a Partner and doing actual implementations though, so you would find real-life problems from which you could gain practical experience.

My mantra/2cents is that developers are not just coders, but must be aware of the full product stack including Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio C# development, Windows Server and Active Directory management, and infrastructure for laying out a system deployment and configuring it properly that it performs. Essentially the requirement on the market is higher for DevOps.

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Ajit 8,755 on at

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And functional knowledge is also plays a critical role in order to customizing/modifying/new DEV in application.

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TrevorG on at

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Thanks for everyone's replies.

Ludwig, is this where I should be looking on PartnerSource for training and documentation?

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/products/AX

(Hopefully you can access that link.)

In the shorter term, it looks like I might be first looking into doing some Power BI reporting against Dynamics AX 2012. Much smaller scope of a question but am having some trouble finding solid documentation on that.

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Vilmos Kintera 46,149 on at

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PowrBI is something which stands on it's own, not really part of AX 2012. It is more integrated in D365fF&O.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee873272.aspx#Access%20data%20by%20using%20Microsoft%20Excel%20and%20Power%20BI%20for%20Office%20365

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/dev-itpro/analytics/power-bi-integration

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-content-pack-microsoft-dynamics-ax/?cdn=disable

What you might want to take a look is the Entity Store and the Data Import Export Framework that drives it, it was intended to feed PowerBI without stressing the AX database directly. Here is my quick summary on it:

https://www.daxrunbase.com/2017/06/07/working-with-entity-store-and-dixf-in-ax/

Also kindly mark helpful answers next to each post.

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TrevorG on at

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Thank you Vilmos!

> What you might want to take a look is the Entity Store and the Data Import Export Framework that drives it, it was intended to feed PowerBI without stressing the AX database directly. Here is my quick summary on it: www.daxrunbase.com/.../working-with-entity-store-and-dixf-in-ax

I will give that a read for sure. A recurring question I have though is: is there any sort of official documentation one can refer to? I constantly get this feeling that AX knowledge is learned through experience.

> Also kindly mark helpful answers next to each post.

If I select "Yes" under "Did this answer your question?" for a given question, is that essentially an indication that the question is fully answered/closed? On one hand I can appreciate the value of "closure", but then on the other hand it seems to me there is value (for myself and those who find this thread via a search) in the possibility someone with useful knowledge happening upon this thread and adding some additional information.

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