Navision 2009 service pack1 released

Navision 2009 sp1 VPC released in partner source it is so many features like office integration like infopath,excel integration and some web services.

Handling Sales Orders from Page based Web Services – in NAV 2009SP1 (and RTM)

First of all, there isn’t going to be a new post on every single record type on how to handle them from Web Services – but Sales Orders are special and the reason for the “(and SP1)” in the titel refers to the fact, that there are changes between RTM and SP1 or maybe a better way to state it is, that the way you could do it in RTM (that might lead to errors) is no longer possible – so you have to do it right.
Secondly, please read the post about the Web Service Changes in SP1 before reading this post – you can find that post here.


Working with the Sales Orders Page from Web Services in NAV 2009SP1

Just to recap a couple of facts about Page based Web Services – we are using the pages and the code on the pages to work with sales orders, this means that we need to mimic the way the RoleTailored Client works, and the RoleTailored Client doesn’t create the order header and all the lines in one go before writing anything to the database. Instead what really happens is that once you leave the primary key field (the Order No) it creates the Order Header in the table. The same with the lines, they are created and then you type data into them, after which they are updated.
So what we need to do is to create the sales order in 4 steps:

1. Create the Order Header
2. Update the Order Header
3. Create an Order Line
4. Update an Order Line (repeat steps 3-4)


Now this doesn’t mean that you have to do 2 + (no of Orderlines)*2 roundtrips to the server (fortunately) – but you always need 3 roundtrips.

1. Create the Order Header
2. Update the Order Header and
3.Create all Order Lines
4. Update all Order Lines


meaning that you can create all order lines in one go (together with updating header info) and you can update them all in one go.
a code sample for doing this:

var service = new SalesOrder_Service();
service.UseDefaultCredentials = true;

// Create the Order header var newOrder = new SalesOrder(); service.Create(ref newOrder);
// Update Order header newOrder.Sell_to_Customer_No = "10000"; // Create Order lines newOrder.SalesLines = new Sales_Order_Line[2];
for (int idx = 0; idx < 2; idx++)
newOrder.SalesLines[idx] = new Sales_Order_Line();
service.Update(ref newOrder);
// Update Order lines var line1 = newOrder.SalesLines[0];
line1.Type = SalesOrderRef.Type.Item;
line1.No = "LS-75"; line1.Quantity = 3;
var line2 = newOrder.SalesLines[1];
line2.Type = NewSalesOrderRef.Type.Item;
line2.No = "LS-100"; line2.Quantity = 3;
service.Update(ref newOrder);


After invoking Create(ref newOrder) or Update(ref newOrder) we get the updated sales order back from NAV, and we know that all the Specified properties are set to true and all strings which has a value are not null – so we can just update the fields we want to update and call update(ref newOrder) again and utilize that SP1 only updates the fields that actually have changed.
This behavior is pretty different from NAV 2009 RTM web services, where it will write all fields to the database if you don’t set strings fields to NULL or set the Specified to false (as described in my previous post).



Making the above code run in NAV 2009RTM

What we really want to do here, is to mimic the behavior of NAV 2009 SP1 in RTM – without having to change the logic.
So I went ahead and wrote two functions. One for making a copy of a record (to be invoked right after your Create(ref xx) or Update(ref xx)) – so we now have a copy of the object coming from NAV. Another function for preparing our object for Update (to be invoked right before calling Update(ref xx)) – to compare our object with the old copy and set all the unchanged fields Specified to false and all unchanged string fields to null.
The two functions are listed towards the end of this post.
Our code from above would then look like:

// Create Service Reference var service = new SalesOrder_Service(); service.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
// Create the Order header var newOrder = new SalesOrder();
service.Create(ref newOrder);
SalesOrder copy = (SalesOrder)GetCopy(newOrder);
// Update Order header newOrder.Sell_to_Customer_No = "10000";
// Create Order lines newOrder.SalesLines = new Sales_Order_Line[2];
for (int idx = 0; idx < 2; idx++)
newOrder.SalesLines[idx] = new Sales_Order_Line();
PrepareForUpdate(newOrder, copy);
service.Update(ref newOrder);
copy = (SalesOrder)GetCopy(newOrder);
// Update Order lines var line1 = newOrder.SalesLines[0];
line1.Type = SalesOrderRef.Type.Item;
line1.No = "LS-75"; line1.Quantity = 3;
var line2 = newOrder.SalesLines[1];
line2.Type = SalesOrderRef.Type.Item;
line2.No = "LS-100"; line2.Quantity = 3;
PrepareForUpdate(newOrder, copy);
service.Update(ref newOrder);


and this code would actually run on SP1 as well – and cause smaller packages to be sent over the wire (not that I think that is an issue).


Deleting a line from an existing Sales Order

Now we have seen how to create a Sales Order with a number of lines – but what if you want to delete a line after having saved the Sales Order. On the Service object you will find a method called Delete_SalesLines, which takes a key and delete that Sales Line.
service.Delete_SalesLines(line.Key);
The only caveat to this is, that if you want to do any more work on the Sales Order, you will have to re-read the Sales Order, else you will get an information that somebody changed the record (and that would be you).
So deleting all lines from a Sales Order could be done by:
foreach (Sales_Order_Line line in so.SalesLines) service.Delete_SalesLines(line.Key);
and then you would typically re-read the Sales Order with the following line:
so = service.Read(so.No);
That wasn’t so bad.
My personal opinion is that we should change the Delete_SalesLines to be:

service.Delete_SalesLines(ref so, line);

Which is why I created a function that does exactly that:

void Delete_SalesLines(SalesOrder_Service service, ref SalesOrder so, Sales_Order_Line line) {

Debug.Assert(so.SalesLines.Contains(line));
service.Delete_SalesLines(line.Key); so = service.Read(so.No);

}

Note, that Í just re-read the order, loosing any changes you have made to the order or order lines. Another approach here could be to remove the line deleted from the lines collection, but things becomes utterly complicated when we try to mimic a behavior in the consumer that IMO should be on the Server side.
A different approach would be to create a codeunit for deleting lines and expose this as an extension to the page (functions added to the page), but we would gain anything, since we still would have to re-read the order afterwards.

Adding a line to an existing Sales Order


More complicated is it, when we want to add a line to an existing Sales Order through the Sales Order Page.
Actually it isn’t complicated to add the line – but it is complicated to locate the newly added line after the fact to do modifications, because it is still true that you need to add the line first and then modify the line afterwards (and update the order).
Adding the line is:


// Create a new Lines array with only the new line and update (meaning create the line) so.SalesLines = so.SalesLines.Concat(new [] { new Sales_Order_Line() }).ToArray(); service.Update(ref so);

This add’s a new line to the array of lines and update the order.
After invoking update the newly added line is the last in the array (unless somebody messed around in the app-code and made this assumption false).
My personal opinion is that we should add another method to the service called

service.Add_SalesLines(ref so, ref line);

so that we would have the newly added line available to modify and the so available for service.Update(ref so), which is why I created a function that does exactly that:

Sales_Order_Line AddLine(SalesOrder_Service service, ref SalesOrder so)
{
// Create a new Lines array with only the new line and update (meaning create the line) so.SalesLines = so.SalesLines.Concat(new [] { new Sales_Order_Line() }).ToArray(); service.Update(ref so);
return so.SalesLines[so.SalesLines.Length-1];

}

Again – If this method existed server side, automatically added by NAV WS, it would be able to do the right thing even though people had mangled in the application logic and change the line numbering sequence or whatever.
A different approach would be to create a codeunit for adding lines and expose this as an extension to the page (functions added to the page). It wouldn’t make the consumers job much easier since we would still have to have any updates to the SalesOrder written before calling the function AND we would have to re-read the sales order after calling the function.
Remember, that if you are using this function from NAV 2009 RTM you might want to consider using PrepareForUpdate before AddLine and GetCopy after AddLine, just as you would do with Update. You could even add another parameter and have that done by the function itself.


Working with other Header/Line objects

Although the samples in this post are using the Sales Orders, the same pattern can be reused for other occurrences of the Header/Line pattern. Just remember that the Header needs to be created first, then you can update the header and create the lines – and last (but not least) you can update the lines.

GetCopy and PrepareForUpdate

Here is a code-listing of GetCopy and PrepareForUpdate – I have tested these functions on a number of different record types and they should work generically

///

/// Get a copy of a record for comparison use afterwards ///

/// the record to copy
/// a copy of the record

object GetCopy(object obj)
{
Type type = obj.GetType();
object copy = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
foreach (PropertyInfo pi in type.GetProperties())
{
if (pi.PropertyType.IsArray)
{
// Copy each object in an array of objects
Array arr = (Array)pi.GetValue(obj, null);
Array arrCopy = Array.CreateInstance(arr.GetType().GetElementType(), arr.Length); for (int arrIdx = 0; arrIdx < arr.Length; arrIdx++)
arrCopy.SetValue(GetCopy(arr.GetValue(arrIdx)), arrIdx);
pi.SetValue(copy, arrCopy, null);

}
else

{
// Copy each field
pi.SetValue(copy, pi.GetValue(obj, null), null);
}
}
return copy;
}


///

/// Prepare record for update
/// Set to null if a string field hasn't been updated
/// Set Specified to false if a non-string field hasn't been updated
///

/// record to prepare for update
/// copy of the record (a result of GetCopy)


void PrepareForUpdate(object obj, object copy)
{
Debug.Assert(obj.GetType() == copy.GetType());
Type type = obj.GetType();
PropertyInfo[] properties = type.GetProperties();
for(int idx=0; idx
{
PropertyInfo pi = properties[idx];
if (pi.Name != "Key" && pi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnoreAttribute), false).Length == 0)

{
if (pi.PropertyType.IsArray)
{ // Compare an array of objects - recursively
Array objArr = (Array)pi.GetValue(obj, null);
Array copyArr = (Array)pi.GetValue(copy, null);
for (int objArrIdx = 0; objArrIdx < objArr.Length; objArrIdx++)
{
object arrObj = objArr.GetValue(objArrIdx);

PropertyInfo keyPi = arrObj.GetType().GetProperty("Key");
string objKey = (string)keyPi.GetValue(arrObj, null);
for (int copyArrIdx = 0; copyArrIdx < copyArr.Length; copyArrIdx++)
{
object arrCopy = copyArr.GetValue(copyArrIdx);
if (objKey == (string)keyPi.GetValue(arrCopy, null))
PrepareForUpdate(arrObj, arrCopy);
}
}
}
else
{
object objValue = pi.GetValue(obj, null);
if (objValue != null && objValue.Equals(pi.GetValue(copy, null)))
{
// Values are the same – signal no change
if (pi.PropertyType == typeof(string))
{ // Strings doesn’t have a Specified property – set the field to null pi.SetValue(obj, null, null);
}
else
{ // The Specified is autogenerated by Visual Studio as the next property
idx++;
PropertyInfo specifiedPi = properties[idx];
// Exception if this assumption for some reason isn’t true
Debug.Assert(specifiedPi.Name == pi.Name + "Specified"); specifiedPi.SetValue(obj, false, null);
}
}
}
}
}

}




Obsorbed from


http://blogs.msdn.com/freddyk/archive/2009/05/28/handling-sales-orders-from-page-based-web-services-in-nav-2009sp1-and-rtm.aspx

Dynamic references to NAV Page Web Services in C#

http://blogs.msdn.com/freddyk/archive/2009/04/27/dynamic-references-to-nav-page-web-services-in-c.aspx

very good reference for how to create web service for navision

Available NAV Hotfixes download using KB article #

You know you need fix for KB article 961430 - The filter values are not populated automatically into the page fields as expected in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 RTC client.
You go to https://mbs.microsoft.com/knowledgebase/search.aspx and search for KB article.
You got link to KB article https://mbs.microsoft.com/knowledgebase/KBDisplay.aspx?WTNTZSMNWUKNTMMYSZRRNOTTUKOOSTLLTRLKPPTYWTYUNZOUTRWWRTKOLTWNKYSZ
In the upper left corner is link to "View and request hotfix download". It opens http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=961430&kbln=en-us
You enter your email and confirm picture and receive email to download fix.
One more trick: if you know KB article No# you can add it directly to link http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=968411&kbln=en-us and you can download fix.

How to read from NAV xml document using Microsoft XMLDOM automation

Usually i meet questions about "How to read from NAV xml documents without xmlports?"It is because xml ports have some limitations and sometimes don't allow us to use it. There is sample codeunit which reads xml nodes from file. It is just example and no more....:)
OBJECT Codeunit 50050 xml read
{
OBJECT-PROPERTIES
{
Date=05.08.12;
Time=15:13:32;
Modified=Yes;
Version List=;
}
PROPERTIES
{
OnRun=BEGIN
ffile.OPEN('C:\XmlFile.xml'); //this must be your file name ffile.CREATEINSTREAM(strInStream);
IF ISCLEAR(xmldomDoc) THEN CREATE(xmldomDoc);
xmldomDoc.load(strInStream);
xmlNodeList1:= xmldomDoc.childNodes();
FOR i:=1 TO xmlNodeList1.length()-1 DO BEGIN
xmldomElem1:= xmlNodeList1.item(i);
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomElem1) THEN
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem1.getAttributeNode('ID');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtid:=xmldomAttrib.value();
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem1.getAttributeNode('Type');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txttype:=xmldomAttrib.value();
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem1.getAttributeNode('Version');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtVer:=xmldomAttrib.value()
;
//>>Find Node next level
xmldomElem2:=xmldomElem1.firstChild(); xmldomElem3:=xmldomElem2.firstChild();
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem3.getAttributeNode('Author');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtAut:=xmldomAttrib.value();
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem3.getAttributeNode('TimeStamp');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtTS:=xmldomAttrib.value();

//Next node
xmlNodeList2:= xmldomElem1.childNodes();
FOR ii:=0 TO xmlNodeList2.length()-2 DO BEGIN
xmldomElem2:= xmlNodeList2.item(ii);
xmldomElem3:= xmldomElem2.firstChild();
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem3.getAttributeNode('CustomerID');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtCI:=xmldomAttrib.value();
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem3.getAttributeNode('ID');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtCID:=xmldomAttrib.value();
//go deeper
xmldomElem3:= xmldomElem3.firstChild();
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomElem3) THEN
xmldomAttrib:= xmldomElem3.getAttributeNode('OrganizationName');
IF NOT ISCLEAR(xmldomAttrib) THEN
txtON:=xmldomAttrib.value();

END;
MESSAGE('ID "%1"\Type "%2"\Version "%3"\Author "%4"\timestamp "%5"\Customer ID "%6"\Contact ID "%7"\Org Name "%8"', txtid, txttype, txtVer, txtAut, txtTS, txtCI, txtCID, txtON);
END;

ffile.CLOSE;
CLEARALL;
END;
}

CODE
{
VAR xmldomDoc@1000 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{88D969E5-F192-11D4-A65F-0040963251E5}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.DOMDocument50";

xmlNodeList1@1005 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{2933BF82-7B36-11D2-B20E-00C04F983E60}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.IXMLDOMNodeList";

xmlNodeList2@1017 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{2933BF82-7B36-11D2-B20E-00C04F983E60}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.IXMLDOMNodeList";

xmldomElem1@1007 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{2933BF86-7B36-11D2-B20E-00C04F983E60}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.IXMLDOMElement"; xmldomElem2@1010 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{2933BF86-7B36-11D2-B20E-00C04F983E60}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.IXMLDOMElement"; xmldomElem3@1011 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{2933BF86-7B36-11D2-B20E-00C04F983E60}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.IXMLDOMElement"; xmldomAttrib@1008 : Automation "{F5078F18-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221} 5.0:{2933BF85-7B36-11D2-B20E-00C04F983E60}:'Microsoft XML, v5.0'.IXMLDOMAttribute";
txtid@1001 : Text[30];
txttype@1002 : Text[30];
txtVer@1009 : Text[30];
txtAut@1012 : Text[30];
txtTS@1013 : Text[30];
txtCI@1014 : Text[30];
txtCID@1015 : Text[30];
txtON@1016 : Text[30];
ffile@1003 : File;
strInStream@1004 : InStream;
i@1006 : Integer;
ii@1018 : Integer;
EVENT xmldomDoc@1000::ondataavailable@198(); BEGIN END;
EVENT xmldomDoc@1000::onreadystatechange@-609(); BEGIN END;
BEGIN
END.
}}

Have performance/locking problems with NAV on SQL - look here

Few new articles about NAV on SQL released by experts:
Lars Lohndorf-Larsen article "Record-level locking in the SQL Server option for Microsoft Dynamics NAV"
Waldo BLOG "What impact does my C/AL have on SQL?"
And look to Jörg A. Stryk homepage for ideas and help.

Dynamics NAV 2009: Some Tips & Tricks (Part 1)

My intention with this (planned) series of blog posts, is to give you some tips and tricks regarding NAV 2009. This both on functional as development side. It's just things that I get from other people or demo's or … and I think is useful to share. Nothing more, nothing less.
TIP 1: Dynamics NAV 2009 Keyboard Shortcuts
I copy/pasted this list from a PDF you can download from the Marketing Beta page in Partnersource. So, it definitely subject to change. Some of the shortcuts are very obvious (copy, paste, …), but I left those in the list to provide you a complete one.
Key shortcut
Description
Alt
Focus on the menu bar and display key tips
Alt + Arrow Down
Open the lookup menu when focus is on a cell with a drop-down menu
Alt + Arrow Left
Accelerator to move to the previous page in the navigation travel history
Alt + Arrow Right
Accelerator to move to the next page in the navigation travel history
Alt + A
Launch the Actions menu
Alt + I
Launch the Related Information menu
Alt + M
Launch the MS Dynamics NAV menu
Alt + P
Focus on the first command in the Action pane
Alt + R
Launch the Reports menu
Alt + Tab
Switch between open items
Arrow Up
Move to the field above in the same column.
Arrow Down
Move to the field below in the same column. In Edit mode: if last row creates a new draft row
Arrow Right
In Edit mode: Move to next character position in a data field. The key has no effect if the cursor is positioned on the last character.

In View mode: Move to the next cell in a row until the last cell. When positioned in the last row in the dataset, pressing right arrow has no effect.
Arrow Left
In Edit mode: Move to previous character position in a data field. The key has no effect if the cursor is positioned on the first character.

In View mode: Move to the previous cell in a row until the first cell. When positioned in the first row in the dataset, pressing left arrow has no effect.
Ctrl + +
Insert new line (in a grid)
Ctrl + C
Copy
Ctrl + D
Delete
Ctrl + E
Export to Excel
Ctrl + L
Show Links
Ctrl + N
Create New/Insert
Ctrl + O
Open company
Ctrl + P
Print
Ctrl + R
Reserved for Copy previous to be implemented in R2 / v.Next)
Ctrl + U
Opens adv. Lookup; Launches AssistEdit
Ctrl + V
Paste
Ctrl + W
Export to Word
Ctrl + X
Cut
Ctrl + Z
Undo
Ctrl + Arrow Up
Move the focus up while the selected line stays selected
Ctrl + Arrow Down
Move the focus down while the selected line stays selected
Ctrl + Arrow Left
Move focus to first cell in a row
Ctrl + Arrow Right
Move focus to last cell in a row
Ctrl + Delete
Delete a filter in the filter pane
Ctrl + End
Move to the last non-draft cell of the entire grid (draft lines are not considered)
Ctrl + F10
Turn on or off key tips in the Action pane. When you press the key tip number, that action gets carried out (first key selects a group and shows key tips within that group)
Ctrl + Home
Move to the first cell of the entire grid
Ctrl + Ins
Add a filter in the filter pane
Ctrl + Shift + A
Clear all filters to show all
Ctrl + Shift + C
Open a card or a document
Ctrl + Shift + D
Show dimensions
Ctrl + Shift + E
Open a card or a document in Edit mode
Ctrl + Shift + F
Add a FlowFilter (Limit totals to) in the Filter pane
Ctrl + Shift + J
Show Statistics
Ctrl + Shift + N
Show ledger entries
Ctrl + Shift + R
Release a document
Ctrl + Shift + T
Add a Table Filter (Show results/Advanced filter) in the Filter pane
Ctrl + Shift + V
Open a card or a document in View mode or toggles in View Mode a Task Page in Read Only mode
Ctrl + Shift + W
Open a list in a new List Task page, in a new separate window, in View mode
Ctrl + Shift + Z
Reconcile
Ctrl + Shift + Y
Apply Entries
Ctrl + F1
Shows extended tooltip on a validation error
Delete
Clear selected text
End
If text is selected: Move to the last field in a row or, if already in the last field, does not move. The text in the destination field is selected. If text is not selected: Move to the last character position in the field or, if already in the last position, does not move.
Enter
Move forward to next field - like the Tab key - but skipping check mark fields and buttons
Esc
Cancel/Close the current task or window, unless it is the main window for the application
F1
Display Help
F3
Not used [reserved to unified search field in V.Next]
F4
Open a dropdown menu
F5
Refresh the active window
F6
Move forward through screen elements such as panes or FastTabs, with focus on the first part of a pane. In a lookup moves focus to the "Advanced" action, if any.
F8
Create New
F9
Post a document
F10
Focus on the menu bar and display key tips
F11
Focus on the Address bar
F12
Focus on the Navigation pane
Home
In view mode: Move to the first field in a row in focus or, if already in the first field, does not move. The text in the destination field gets selected.

In edit mode: move to the first character position in the field or, if already in the first position, does not move; selection is removed if text was all selected
PageDown
Move one screen down in a list or in lines
PageUp
Move one screen up in a list or in lines
Shift + F3
Focus on the Quick filter in filter pane
Shift + F6
Move backward through screen elements such as panes or FastTabs, with focus on the first part of a pane
Shift + F9
Post & Print a document
Shift + Tab
Move keyboard focus to the previous element in the tab sequence within a part. If the element is the last in the part, focus moves to the first element in the next part.
Tab
Move forward through elements within a part. The tab order skips the Action menu and the Collapse/Expand button on the FastTabs. If the element is the last in the part, focus moves to the first element in the next part.
Control Enter
Commits (equivalent to click the OK button) Task Pages

TIP 2: Column Header height on List Pages
As you know, the field captions can be quite large in NAV. In the classic client, many people just expanded the height of the column header to be able to see the entire caption. In NAV 2009, there is a "special function" for it: When you right click on the header of a list, you can click "Choose Header Height":

You can choose between a height of 1, 2 of 3 lines.
This is the result when you go for 3 lines ...

You don't have to do this for all lists separately. There is also an option "Apply To All Lists".