Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Integration and Development with .NET FrameworkOffice Business Applications for Microsoft Dynamics AX

Agenda

• Introduction to Office Business Applications (OBA) for Microsoft Dynamics– Business Problem– Introducing Office Business Applications– Deployment

• Development Side of Office Business Applications– Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office– Microsoft Dynamics AX .NET Business Connector

Introduction to Office Business Applications

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Integration and Development with .NET Framework

Business Problem

• Recent research studies showed:– 85% of employees in an organization are not

licensed for business management systems– Of the 15% that are, just over half of them

actually use it• About 93% of employees have no direct

access to data regarding their business• The systems meant to enhance workflow

and decision-making throughout the organization are left to a small group of power users, dramatically diminishing ROI

Introducing Office Business ApplicationsOBAs:• Bring together front office and

back office• Make ERP systems more

accessible• Make information actionable

by information workers through the familiar, powerful, and ubiquitous Microsoft Office System

• Built on the Office Business Application Platform

Line-of-business

Applications

Microsoft Office

System

What are OBAs for Microsoft Dynamics?Office Business Applications for Microsoft

Dynamics are designed to connect information workers with Microsoft Dynamics information from within the Microsoft Office Suite

OBA

Microsoft Dynamics Snap

Microsoft Dynamics Snap applications are OBAs designed to connect Line of Business (LOB) systems with the people that use them through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office.

MicrosoftDynamic

s MicrosoftOfficeSuite

SNAP

Snap Applications Available TodaySnap Allows you to… From

within:

Business Data Search

Search for unstructured data across ERP, CRM and SharePoint sites

Outlook

Business Data Lookup

Search for and insert Dynamics data into the document, spreadsheet or email you are working on

Word, Excel, Outlook

Custom Report Generator

Export and analyze Dynamics data in Excel, upload changes back to the system

Excel

Timesheet Management

Report your time directly from your Outlook calendar

Outlook

Vacation Management

Create, submit, approve/reject, and track status and history of vacation requests

Outlook

Expense Management

Create, submit and approve/reject expense reports

Excel, SharePoint

Customer Journal

Capture customer data for offline meetings then upload any relevant changes

InfoPath

OBA Deployment Architecture

Server Side

Client Side

SQL ServerSQL Server

Microsoft Dynamics AX AOSMicrosoft Dynamics AX AOS

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 .NET Business ConnectorMicrosoft Dynamics AX 2009 .NET Business Connector

Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft Office

VS

TO

2008

VS

TO

2008

Office Add-Ins

OBA Deployment Options

Office Client-based add-ins:

- Work with Outlook, Word, Excel, and InfoPath- Deployed via SMS or Group Policy- Versions specific to the Microsoft Office 2007

system and the 2003 Microsoft Office system

- ClickOnce deployment technology Office SharePoint Server-based add-ins:

- Built for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007- Support a single SharePoint Server deployment

DemoRetrieve Customer Information to Excel

Development Side of OBA for Microsoft Dynamics AX

OBA Development: Client Platform Investments

TaskPane

Ribbon

CoreFeatures

Microsoft Dynamics AX

Application add-in

• Open XML File Format• Enhanced add-in model• Customizable User Interface

• Custom ribbon, ribbon designer• Custom task panes

• Word• Custom XML, data binding

• Excel• BI functions, server support

• Outlook• Unified object model

.NET Business Connector

Application Integration Framework

OBA Development: Server Platform Investments

• Office SharePoint Server 2007• Excel Services• InfoPath Forms Services• Business Data catalog• Content management

• Windows SharePoint Services• ASP.NET integration• Workflow support• Content types and meta data• Feature and solution deployment

Office SharePoint Server

Windows SharePoint

Services

ASP.NETSQL

Client + Server = Powerful Solutions Platform

Microsoft Dynamics AX .NET Business Connector

Micro

soft V

isual S

tud

io To

ols fo

r Office

…

2007 Office system clients

Office SharePoint Server 2007

Office Business

Applications

MicrosoftOffice

System

Dynamics AX

Content Management

Unified Communication &

Collaboration

Business Intelligence

Exch

an

ge

Serv

er 2

00

7

Offi

ce

Com

mu

nic

atio

ns S

erv

er 2

00

7

Dynamics AX ISV OBAs Custom OBAs

• Search• Workflow

• Business Data Catalog• Website & Security Framework

• Excel Services

Open XML File Formats and Extensible Fluent Interface

Microsoft Dynamics AX Application Integration Framework

Common OBA Patterns

2007 Microsoft

Office System

OBA Apps as

a Reach Channel

DocumentIntegration

Composite User

InterfaceComple-mentary

Document Workflow

DiscoveryNavigation

Collaborative

Site

Application Generated

Tasks & Notification

s

Cu

sto

mers

an

d

ISV

sR

eal-W

orld

Cases

Technologies

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008• Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office 2007• New InfoPath form or Project/Excel/Word

Add-Ins• Add controls in forms, write event handlers

• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 AIF or Business Connector• Used to interface with Microsoft Dynamics

AX 2009

What is VSTO?

• Makes Office a valuable, first-class project type in VS

• Enables developers to create and extend OBA• Enables developers to leverage key Office UI

features and support collaboration and workflow• Provides Office developers with advantages of the

VS professional development environment • Allows developers to leverage existing

programming skills• Developers can leverage their company’s current

investment in Office 2003 Pro and new investment in 2007 Office system

Some Examples

Basic Features of VSTO

• Visual designers for key UI features

• Workflow and Microsoft SharePoint support

• Data-bound Word Content Controls

• App-level add-ins for most client programs

• Doc-level add-ins for Excel and Word 2007

• ClickOnce deployment and security

Basic Features of VSTO

Ribbon Designer

Property Grid

Ribbon Control Toolbox

Ribbon Editor

VSTO Runtime Components

AppDomain #2

VSTO Runtime

DefaultDomainOffice Host Unmanage

d Runtime Loaders

Managed Runtime

• Check security• Fetch updates

• Create appdomain• Connect Office

host

• Host item controls• Managed controls

Usercode Add-in/

Doc customizati

on

AppDomain #3Usercode

Add-in/Doc

customization

Building Task Panes

• Deliver additional data to the user to act upon or integrate within Office documents

• OBA Intelligent Document Pattern• Two types of panes:

– Actions Pane• Associated with a specific

Word or Excel document– Custom Task Pane:

• The same general idea as Actions Pane, only on the application add-in level, not an individual document

Task Pane Persistence Models

• Actions Pane

• Custom Task Pane

How to Program Ribbon and Task Pane Interaction

• Implement a custom task pane • Declare global variable which will indicate state of your

task pane visibility in ThisAddin class• Implement methods which will manipulate your task pane

in ThisAddin class:

• Implement Ribbon callbacks in your Ribbon class– Toggle task pane visibility inside “Click” handler of

RibbonToggleButton control

AddTaskPane method:ctpCustTaskPane = this.CustomTaskPanes.Add(new CustTaskPane(), "Caption");ctpCustTaskPane.VisibleChanged += new EventHandler(CustTaskPane_VisibleChanged);ctpCustTaskPane.Visible = true;

RemoveTaskPane method:this.CustomTaskPanes.Remove(ctpCustTaskPane);

Outlook Form Regions

• Additive UI enhances Outlook’s built-in

forms

• Adjoining and Separate Regions for both

custom and built-in forms

• Regions are created in Outlook Forms

Designer

• Forms solution implemented via Add-in

• Deployment via Windows registry

Outlook Form Regions• VSTO 3.0 simplifies and speeds up Outlook form

region design and configuration process with a visual designer and a wizard– Achieve maximum form region design flexibility with VS visual

designer– Configure your form region with a simple, intuitive wizard– Run and debug your form region right from VS (F5)– No need to manually handle manifest XML, OFS files, registry

entries, etc. – Option to import Outlook-created OFS file

VSTO Deployment

The deployment process involves the following considerations:

• Office solution requirements• Deploying an Office solution• Installing an Office solution• Updating an Office solution• ClickOnce cache

What is .NET Business Connector?

• Standalone Microsoft Dynamics AX component

• Set of managed classes that provide easy access to X++ functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Characteristics

• Requires Microsoft® Windows® authentication

• Automatically registered during installation

• Can be used to implement and deploy both client-based applications, such as Microsoft Office add-ins and server-based applications

• Has a Business Connector Proxy user, which "acts-on-behalf-of“ Microsoft Dynamics AX users who cannot be fully authenticated

Business Connector Architecture

Managed classes

Transition layer

Interpreter layer

The Business Connector run-time interactions

Managed Classes

The following managed classes are provided by the .NET Business Connector:

• Axapta• AxaptaBuffer• AxaptaContainer• AxaptaObject• AxaptaRecord• VariantWrapper

All these classes are found in the namespace:Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet, and assemblyMicrosoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet (inmicrosoft.dynamics.businessconnectornet.dll which islocated in the Bin directory in the Microsoft Dynamics AX Client directory)

Examples of Usage

AxaptaRecord axRecord = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("InventTable");axRecord.ExecuteStmt("select * from %1 where %1.ItemGroupId == 'RawMat'");

Axapta ax = new Axapta();ax.Logon(CompanyName, Language ,ObjectServerName,Configuration);

ax.Logoff();

Declare variable instance of Axapta class

Call Logon() method. Parameters are: name of company, language, ApplciationObject Server name, and path to configuration file. For default values pass null

Logoff method disconnects from AOS

Declare variable instance of AxRecord class

ExecuteStmp receives x++ statement and executes it

Example of Realization…using Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet;…Axapta ax;String invItemNameField = "ItemName";Object invItemName;String invItemIdField = "ItemId";Object invItemId;// Log on.ax = new Axapta();try{ ax.Logon(null, null, null, null);}catch (Exception){ Console.WriteLine("Exception occurred");}Console.WriteLine("*** List inventory item records");AxaptaRecord axRecord = axCreateAxaptaRecord("InventTable");// Execute a query.axRecord.ExecuteStmt("select * from %1 where %1.ItemGroupId == 'RawMat'");// Loop through matching Dynamics AX records.while (axRecord.Found){ invItemName = axRecord.get_Field(invItemNameField); invItemId = axRecord.get_FieldinvItemIdField); Console.WriteLine(invItemId + "\t“ + invItemName); axRecord.Next();}axRecord.Dispose();// Log off of Dynamics AX.ax.Logoff();

Sources of Additional Information• Office Business Applications Developer Portalhttp://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905528.aspx

• Office Solution Development Overviewhttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=60064

• Office Solution Architecture Overviewhttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=60065

• .NET Business connectorhttp://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa834438.aspx

DemoDevelop OBA for Microsoft Dynamics

AX

Q&A

Introducing the Lab

• In this lab you will:- Create a new VSTO project based on Excel 2007

add-in template- Create custom task pane- Create connector class for Microsoft Dynamics AX

and Excel integration- Create new Excel template

© 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.