BOMConsistOf Report different in AX 2009 from 4.0

There was an issue where a customer upgraded from AX 4.0 to 2009 and reported a problem with the BOMConsistOf (Lines) report which prints items that the bills of materials are composed of, or versions used by the items.

Figure 1 (AX 4.0) and 2 (AX 2009) below are the same X++ report and have the same code (even modified the XPO file to import the code from one to the other to assure that they are equal) but they still look different when run under the same data.

The strange thing is that this is coming from the same AX system (AX 2009) with the same code and data set.  The only difference is in name.  I exported the 4.0 report into a new report in AX with a new name to verify the differences, exported this XPO once the report matched the old one, then modified the XPO contents so it would import into the base report but still no success.

Thought I would note this on here if anyone is curious.  I fixed this issue by importing the 4.0 report to a new custom report in AX 2009 called 'BOMConsistOf_version40' and point the security key to the new report.  Works like a charm. Still don't know why this incongruency exists...

Figure 1 - BOMConsistOf report from AX 4.0

Figure 2 - BOMConsistOf report from AX 2009

Error: CLR object cannot be marshaled to Microsoft Dynamics anytype

I was hitting a problem with marshaling a string from System.String to str datatype (X++). The error was 'CLR object cannot be marshaled to Microsoft Dynamics anytype' when I tried to convert them using the code below.  This is how I fixed it. Hope it helps you out...

System.String clrString;
str                  axString
;

clrString = Microsoft.Win32.Registry::GetValue(XXXX, XXXX, XXXX);

// This way does not work in AX 2009 despite what you read online
// axString = clrString;

// This is the way the marshaling needs to occur
regValue = System.Convert::ToString(clrString);

Consume AIF Inventory On Hand web service in AX PART 2 - WSDL request

This is the second part of the consuming AX 2009 AIF On Hand Inventory web service via C#. The first part was consuming an AIF web service using SOAP. This one is using WSDL

DocumentContext context;
WebReference.InventoryOnhandService ws;

// Populate Document Context
context = new DocumentContext();
context.SourceEndpoint = "DAT";
context.DestinationEndpoint = "DAT";
context.SourceEndpointUser = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables("DOMAIN\\WEBSERVICEUSER");
// Invoke the Web Service
ws = new WebReference.InventoryOnhandService();
ws.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("WEBSERVICEUSER", "PASSWORD", "DOMAIN"); // System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials; // Use the current user to authenticate in IIS
ws.Url = "http://99.999.99.99/inventoryonhandservice.asmx";

// Create new Guid
context.MessageId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();

//Create Query Criteria
CriteriaElement myCriteria = new CriteriaElement();
myCriteria.FieldName = "ItemId";
myCriteria.Operator = Operator.Equal;
myCriteria.Value1 = "AX_ITEM";
myCriteria.DataSourceName = "InventSum";

QueryCriteria myQueryCriteria = new QueryCriteria();
myQueryCriteria.CriteriaElement = new CriteriaElement[1];
myQueryCriteria.CriteriaElement[0] = myCriteria;

// Call find list
WebReference.AxdInventoryOnhand ioh = ws.findListInventoryOnhand(context, myQueryCriteria);

// Display the result
Console.WriteLine(ioh.InventSum[1].ItemId);
Console.Read();

Consume AIF Inventory On Hand web service in AX PART 1 - SOAP request

Sample XML consumption in C# code to AIF Inventory On Hand. This is from AX 4.0 but I think it's the same in AX 2009.
try
{
     string strSoapEnvelope = "";
     string responseString = "";

     // Build SOAP envelope
     strSoapEnvelope = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<soap12:Envelope xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" xmlns:soap12=\"http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope\">";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<soap12:Body>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<findListInventoryOnhand xmlns=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/dynamics/2006/02/documents/InventoryOnhand\">";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<DocumentContext>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<MessageId>" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString() + "</MessageId>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<SourceEndpointUser> DOMAIN \\WEBSERVICESUSER</SourceEndpointUser>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<SourceEndpoint>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</SourceEndpoint>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<DestinationEndpoint>ENDPOINT NAME</DestinationEndpoint>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "</DocumentContext>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<QueryCriteria xmlns=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/dynamics/2006/02/documents/QueryCriteria\">";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<CriteriaElement>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<DataSourceName>InventSum</DataSourceName>"; strSoapEnvelope += "<FieldName>ItemId</FieldName>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<Operator>Equal</Operator>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "<Value1>YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY</Value1>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "</CriteriaElement>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "</QueryCriteria>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "</findListInventoryOnhand>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "</soap12:Body>";
     strSoapEnvelope += "</soap12:Envelope>";
     MSXML2.XMLHTTP xmlHTTP = new XMLHTTP();
     xmlHTTP.open("Post", "http://ZZZ.ZZ.ZZ.ZZZ:ZZZZ/inventoryonhandservice.asmx", false, @"DOMAIN\WEBSERVICESUSER", " PASSWORD");
     xmlHTTP.setRequestHeader("Host", "99.999.99.99");
     xmlHTTP.setRequestHeader("Content-Length", strSoapEnvelope.Length.ToString());
     xmlHTTP.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8");
     xmlHTTP.send(strSoapEnvelope.ToString());

     responseString = xmlHTTP.responseText.ToString();
     MessageBox.Show(string.Format("XML: {0}", responseString.ToString()));

     WebClient webby = new WebClient();
     webby.Encoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8;
     webby.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("WEBSERVICESUSER ", "PASSWORD", " DOMAIN");
     webby.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "text/xml;");
     string stuff = webby.UploadString("http://99.999.99.999/inventoryonhandservice.asmx", "POST", strSoapEnvelope.ToString());

     MessageBox.Show(stuff);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
     MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
}

AIF Integration Differences: .NET BC vs XML integration to AX 2009 web service

I've received a question from a customer: 'We have two vendors who are integrating into AX using the same AIF web service except that one integration has the failed XMLs in the AX Queue Manager (Basic -> Periodic -> Application Integration Framework -> 'Queue Manager') but the other doesn't have a record in there. Both integrations, when they have transaction errors, show up in the Exceptions form (Basic -> Periodic -> Application Integration Framework -> 'Exceptions'). What gives?'

Good question! Here are two ways to integrate into AX's AIF: 1) .NET BC or 2) XML (eg SOAP, WSDL). From the scenario above, it sounds like the vendors are each using a different integration type. The one with failed XMLs in the AX Queue Manager is using the XML hitting the web service method while the other that is just showing errors in the Exceptions form is using the .NET BC.

When using the .NET BC integration method, the AX Queue Manager is not used as this feature is used for XMLs and parsing the data from them into the AIF web service AX components.  The .NET BC way is not using XMLs, but instead, writes the data directly to the AIF web service AX components completely bypassing the XML step (hence no record in the Queue).

Both methods are using the AIF framework objects which is why the errors relating to AX data are all showing up in the Exceptions form.

The XML integration way handles resubmitting failed data through the AX Queue Manager. Without AX modifications, the .NET BC will need to have an external way of resubmitting failed data to the web service.

With this in mind, depending on the application, both ways have their pros and cons. Hope this helps explain the issue my customer saw above.

For an example of the XML Consumption of the Inventory On Hand service in C#, check my other blog posts on here somewhere with some name (descriptive right??).

AX Error: Cannot execute a data definition language command on (). The SQL database has issued an error

If you are seeing the error 'Cannot execute a data definition language command on (). The SQL database has issued an error', this is how you can resolve it.





Step 1 – Synchronize the SQL database

1. Navigate to Administration module -> Periodic -> 'SQL Administration'
2. Select the table and click table actions check/synchronise
   1. Sometimes you will not be able to determine which tables are causing the error so just do this for all
3. Click 'Start' with the default options.
    

Step 2 – Step 1 with 'Remove unknown indexes' in the check/synchronise step

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 from step 1

Step 3 – Check the Event Viewer (SQL and AOS box)

1. This should give you a good indication on where to go for the issue going forward as there could be index violations.

AX 2009 AIF Common Errors

Hello. You may be looking at this posting because you are going bald over dealing with the AIF. This blog post will be growing as I add more. I don't want to have it accumulate in my ToDo bin waiting to remember all of the errors.

Common errors in the AIF: 

1. On the AIF Queue Manager form (Basic -> Periodic -> Application Integration Framework -> 'Queue Manager')
   'The user is not authorized to perform this action'
   You will want to check the XML node <SourceEndpointUser> on the XML that failed to make sure that a few things are true:

• The user is valid in AX
• The valid AX user is added to the endpoint
• The domain is included in on the user (eg the source endpoint text would look like this: TEST_DOMAIN\PeeWee.Herman)
• Make sure the '\' in the name is facing the correct direction

Good Quotes

Here are some good quotes/philosophies that I feel teach great lessons in business that I've collected through the years. 

I'll keep updating these as this blog is my meant to be my personal file folder that just so happens to be public. Feel free to add more in the comments section.  Enjoy!

• "It's not what you do, but it's what you do about it" ~my dad
• "Be Prepared!" ~Boys Scouts of America
• "Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand." ~Chinese proverb
• "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." ~Donald Trump
• "A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people." ~Will Rogers
• "A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." ~Mohandas Gandhi
• "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." ~Will Rogers
• "A boo is a lot louder than a cheer. If you have 10 people cheering and one person booing, all you hear is the booing. " ~Lance Armstrong

And now, a quote about quotes: "I never said most of the things I said." ~Yogi Berra

UPDATE: There are such things as Chinese Proverbs.  They are not some cop-out way to pretend you are quoting something smart. http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Chinese_Proverb/  There actually a lot of them and they are legit and official.  

AX Carriage Return - Address field

In AX, a field that is an address will likely show up on multiple lines with the street name, city, state, etc on different lines. In previous versions of AX, carriage returns were seen in the AX database and table browser with a '□' value. In AX 2009, you will just see a string value with these squares absent. The spacing is determined some other way.

Since there are no square carriage returns in the strings in AX 2009, how we determine when the values will return to a new line? I've seen an error where there is a magical break in an address with no explanation as to why it would be this way. In the image below, the string in the SalesTable.DeliveryAddress field would look like '272 E ASHE DRASHEBORO, NC 27203US'. Why is there this big blank thing?

The Extended Data Type (EDT)'s DisplayHeight property value specifies the number of lines to be displayed simultaneously when the EDT is displayed in a form.

If the value is NOT equal to 1 (Figure 3), the value will be displayed in a single line like it appears in the DB (eg '272 E ASHE DRASHEBORO, NC 27203US'). If the value is not 1 (Figure 2), it will add the spaces and split up the line into multiple lines. This DOES NOT mean that it will be split into 2 lines. It will split the exact same way it does with 5 but instead show the field in the form with 2 lines and give you a scrolly bar for the field (Yuck!).



Figure 2 – The 'DisplayHeight' value dictates the size of the display



Figure 3 – The 'DisplayHeight' value dictates the size of the display. NOTE: on one line.

This makes me wonder, what happens when this DisplayHeight value is not 1? Using the all of the powers of the internets and the Bing/Google, I didn't get anything. L Looks like it is something that is hidden in the kernel now.

Still can't find anything on this but I solved the issue: On the street, there was a process somewhere that was putting an enter in after the string. This made it look like there was a blank space in it. This blank space would not show up in the address field string but the string could somehow put that in there between the street and the city while not showing the value in a string.

Interesting mystery…