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Checking the number of SQL Server connections for SQL connection "Timeout period elapsed" error

August 14, 2014, 5:06 pm
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By Steve Endow

 I recently had to troubleshoot an issue with a Dynamics GP third party product that would hang with the error:
Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to obtaining a connection from the pool.  This may have occurred because all pooled connections were in use and max pool size was reached.



Please note the phrase "prior to obtaining a connection from the pool".  This is not a command timeout, it is a connection timeout due to a lack of available connections in the application's connection pool.

To confirm this problem, I ran the following SQL query that I found on some helpful forum post (don't recall where):

SELECT
    DB_NAME(dbid)asDBName,
    COUNT(dbid)asNumberOfConnections,
    loginameasLoginName
FROM
    sys.sysprocesses
WHERE
    dbid>0
GROUPBY
    dbid,loginame

This query produces a very nice result set that allows you to quickly and easily see active SQL connections.

In my case, the third party application was opening 100 connections to its database, so if you tried to process more than 100 records, it would hang and display the connection timeout error above.

This problem occurred because the application was not properly closing its connection as it looped through hundreds of records.

The query helped me quickly confirm the issue and point the developers to the source of the error.

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter





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Leveraging Extended Pricing For Multiple "Percent Of" Methods

August 20, 2014, 1:56 pm
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For me, extended pricing is normally brought in to the conversation when there is a need for date specific/promotion based pricing.  However, I had a co-worker ask about a scenario recently that made me consider extended pricing in a new way.

In the scenario, the client needed the following price structure:
  • Flat Retail Price
  • Flat Wholesale Price
  • Discounts based on Wholesale Price (% Off)
They did not want to maintain all three of these items as flat amounts (which would be needed if using standard Dynamics GP pricing, since you can only have on price "method" per item price list).

So, to accomplish this in Extended Pricing, here is what we did...
  • Establish the Base Price Book to contain the Wholesale Prices of items
  • The Price Type in this case would be Net Price since it is a fixed dollar amount
  • This will allow it to be treated as the List Price of the item
  • Establish a Wholesale Price Sheet
  • The Price Type in this case would be Percent of List as 100%, and it would be set to Base Adjusted Price on- Base Price Book
  • This may seem redundant, but I thought it would make for better visibility in terms of what is assigned to customers and items in terms of pricing
  • Establish a Retail Price Sheet
  • The Price Type in this case would be Net Price, with the fixed dollar amount
  • Establish a Discount Price Sheet(s)
  • The Price Type in this case would be Percent of List, with Base Adjusted Price On Base Price Book
In this case, the client could update the Base Price Book and automatically update any number of discount price sheets automatically. 

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.



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The difficulties of synchronous integrations with Dynamics GP

August 20, 2014, 3:09 pm
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By Steve Endow

Let's say that you have a custom "operational" system that runs much of your business.  Let's say it's a transactional system that is specific to your industry--suppose it's an Auto Insurance Policy management system.

So this system manages all of the crazy rules and regulations and requirements for quoting and issuing and managing auto insurance in multiple states, and it also issues invoices.  You have hundreds of insurance agents that sell your insurance in multiple states, so the agents are your customers, and you may invoice them for hundreds or thousands of customer policies per month.

When you issue invoices from the auto insurance system, you want the invoices automatically created in Dynamics GP.  So after you prepare the invoices for the agent in Atlanta, you want to be able to click a button in your operational system that sends all of his invoices to GP.

Your operational system was developed using a non-Microsoft development platform, so you can't directly invoke eConnect, and it can't communicate via web services.  But it can call a COM component.  So great, you create a COM visible .NET assembly that reads data from a database and imports transactions into Dynamics GP via eConnect.  Works great, and you are happy!  You click a button and an invoice magically appears in GP, instantly!  Yay!

This sounds good, except when you use it with real data.  What if that agent in Atlanta has 2,000 invoices?  The import into Dynamics GP will certainly take more than 30 seconds, and could take a few minutes.  So if you click on that magic button, your operational system may hang for several minutes as it waits for a response from the COM component.  Not a good experience for users.

And what if there is an error with 10 invoices and they fail to import into Dynamics GP?  Now you have 1,990 invoices in GP, but you are missing 10.  How do you handle that?  Do you then route the user to some additional window where they can review and potentially correct the issues?  Do you add some additional code to re-import the 10 that failed?  What if the error is due to a missing GL account or Class ID or Item in GP that will take some time to setup?  Is your operational system really the place for users to deal with the integration issues directly?

What if GP is offline or there is an issue that prevents the import from running?  You then get an error when you click on the magic button.

In short, it can get messy.

This scenario is what I call a "synchronous" system integration--sometimes people call it a "real time" integration.  The operational system is attempting to 'directly' import data into Dynamics GP and is waiting for the import to finish so that it can receive a response.  For some simple situations, this might work well--say creating customers or vendors or inventory items.  But for transaction imports, and especially high volume imports, it can become problematic.

I therefore recommend "asynchronous" system integrations.  Usually, this involves some type of data repository that acts as a queue.  The operational system might export a CSV file every hour, or perhaps a CSV file for each batch of invoices, or a file for each customer that needs to be invoiced.  The operational system could also write records to a staging table in SQL Server.

A separate process is then run to import the operational data into Dynamics GP.  It can be scheduled using Task Scheduler, or can be triggered via command line, or it could be user initiated through an EXE or GP AddIn.

This approach decouples the two systems and allows them to operate completely independently, with the integration being a discrete system and process that allows the operational system to interface with Dynamics GP.

One downside to asynchronous integrations is that they aren't "real time".  If you schedule the integration to run every 5 minutes, there is a 5 minute delay between the invoices being created in the operational system and them being imported into GP.  In my experience, there are very few customers that need integrations to run more frequently than every few minutes. (A common exception is with inventory--some customers need receipts and transfers processed immediately to complete a subsequent transaction with that inventory)  And even if you think you need something imported into GP every 30 seconds, don't forget that you have to post transaction batches in GP--so that has to be done manually or using a batch posting tool like Post Master Enterprise, another process which takes some time depending on the batch size.  So "real time" is a misnomer at best.

Yes, you still have to deal with errors and reprocessing failed transactions with asynchronous integrations, but they no longer hold up your operational system, and you have to deal with those errors in either case.

I recently when down this path with a customer, but they had to experience it themselves to understand the complications and caveats of the synchronous approach.  I am now providing a new version of the integration that will allow them to trigger the GP import, which will run asynchronously.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter



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If you give a Dynamics GP consultant a new NAS...

August 29, 2014, 4:44 pm
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By Steve Endow

There was once a Dynamics GP consultant who had a file server in his Global Data Center of his Global Corporate Headquarters.  It was a fine file server, but having worked hard for many years, it started to show warning signs of imminent failure.  Since the file server stored several terabytes of virtual machine backups, file backups, machine backups, and over a decade worth of MSDN and Dynamics GP software, it was pretty important.

So the consultant ordered a Synology DS1813+ NAS with six 4 TB drives to replace it.  And so the tale begins...

When the new Synology arrived, the consultant had to get it unboxed and install the drives.

He then had to make room in his server cabinet in the aforementioned Global Data Center for the new NAS and get it plugged in.

After getting the NAS configured and the drive array initialized, he wanted to enable the link aggregation on a few of the four network ports.  But his gigabit network switch didn't support link aggregation.

So he had to order a new switch.  When the switch arrived, he discovered that it was a previously returned product and someone had put a refurbished switch, of a completely different model, in the new switch box. (People seriously do that kind of thing??)  So he had to return the switch to Amazon and get a replacement.

When the new, proper, switch arrived two days later (Go Prime!), he swapped out the switch in his server cabinet and got everything re-wired.

Now that the new switch was hooked up, he had to configure it.  Late on a weeknight, with the useless switch documentation, he spent several hours trying to figure out how to enable link aggregation.  After losing all network connectivity a few times, he finally found a friendly blog post that explained how to properly configure the switch to use link aggregation with the Synology NAS.  Victory.

With link aggregation enabled, he then had to push the terabytes of data from the old file server, move a few more terabytes of files from his desktop, reconfigure robocopy scripts, and change backup software to all point to the new NAS.  He briefly considered deleting a few terabytes of old files to make his life easier, but what fun would that be?

He was thrilled to do all of this fun stuff.  During his free time.  After 11pm on weekdays.

Though everything worked great, and since he had link aggregation on the NAS, he figured he might as well setup NIC teaming on his HyperV server to speed up VHD backups and file transfers.

So he then had to shop for a second server network card.  When it arrived two days later (Bam! Prime!), in between developing Dynamics GP integrations, he went to install it in the HyperV server.  While installing the network card, he noticed that the inside of the server had a nice blanket of dust.

Since the machine was pulled out and opened up, he figured he might as well clean out the dust.  So he rolled out his air compressor and fired it up.

After unplugging the server, setting it outside, and donning a P100 respirator, he blew out the dust, creating an epic dust storm that contributed noticeably to the Los Angeles air pollution index.

With that done, he put the server back and plugged in all of the cables, crossing his fingers that nothing had been fried in the process (been there, done that).  He gave thanks to the computer gods when the server booted up just fine.

Now that the second NIC is installed, he still has to configure NIC teaming and setup another link aggregation "LAG" on the switch.

Once that is done, he should be able to sit back, watch data fly across his network, and...

...actually get some REAL work done.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter


 

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Dynamics GP PM transaction with BCHSOURC = XXPM_Trxent and BACHNUMB = sa

August 29, 2014, 9:42 pm
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By Steve Endow

A customer received an error when trying to use my AP Payment Apply Library to apply a manual payment to an open vendor invoice.  My library said that the invoice was not found, but the customer sent me a screen shot of the invoice listed in the Payables Transaction Inquiry window.

It looked like this:


That seemed odd.  The invoice was obviously present.  We had the right vendor and the right invoice number.  But my apply library couldn't apply a manual payment to the invoice.

I asked the client to query the invoice record in PM20000, with a query like this.

SELECT * FROM PM20000 WHERE DOCTYPE = 1 AND VENDORID = 'ALLENSON0001' AND DOCNUMBR = 'C100'


Sure enough, the record was there and looked normal.  But I looked again at the data, and found two odd values.


Notice that the batch number is "sa", and the batch source is XXPM_Trxent.

What in the world does that mean?

I Googled "XXPM_Trxent", but only found the DynDeveloper reference on PM10300, which only said "Real time", which doesn't mean anything to me.

So I then searched the TWO database on my development server and behold, I had one Payables invoice with the same symptoms.

I then inquired on that open invoice in GP and saw the issue.  The invoice was in a foreign currency.


It would seem that those two field values indicate a multi-currency transaction.  I don't know the details of why those values are set differently, but this is relevant to applying AP payments because Dynamics GP does not allow you to apply an unposted AP payment to an open invoice if multi-currency is involved.

If you attempt to apply an AP payment to an invoice with a different currency, you get this message.


You have to first post the payment, and you can then apply the open payment to the open invoice, and the multi-currency calculations and related transactions can be processed by GP.

So it appears that I need to add an additional validation rule to my AP Apply Library to check for this situation and provide a specific message for it.

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter





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Dealing with 1/1/1900 with GP and SQL Reports

September 4, 2014, 10:47 am
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If you have created reports with SQL Reporting Services for GP, you have inevitably encountered 1/1/1900 showing up on your reports.  Maybe as the inactive date for an employee?  Or the due date on a  payables transaction?

In some cases, you may not mind that the dates display that way.  However, eventually, a client will ask...why do those dates show that way?  Can you hide them if they are blank?  Well, sadly, they aren't actually blank so it's not that easy.  Right?
But is actually pretty easy using an expression for the field, like this...

=IIF(Fields!THISISYOURDATE.value="1/1/1900 12:00:00AM","",Fields!THISISYOURDATE.Value)

So, in this example when my field THISISYOURDATE is 1/1/1900 the field will display as blank, otherwise it will show the date.

Easy easy :)

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.
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RUN FOR THE HILLS! Christina is trying to write code!

September 4, 2014, 1:51 pm
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Well, not really.   But I did borrow the following post from the venerable David Musgrave, in order to set a trigger to default the project accounting Change Order Entry window to make changes to the Forecast budget (rather than the default of Baseline budget).

http://dynamicsgphelp.com/2011/05/setting-default-values-in-gp-windows/

So, if you are familiar with Project Accounting, when you access Cards-Project-Change Order Entry it defaults to Track Changes To: Baseline.  Well, this is a bummer since most folks want to track changes to Forecast and preserve the Baseline as the original budget.  So user error can cause the change orders to be applied to the wrong budget.

So to set the field to default to Forecast instead, I used the Support Debugger option in David's awesome post, and used the following script...

out boolean OUT_Condition;
OUT_Condition = false;
if isopen(form PA_Change_Order_Entry) then
 OUT_Condition = true;
'PA GB Track Changes' of window 'PA_Change_Order_Entry' of form
'PA_Change_Order_Entry' = 1;
end if;

Pretty cool if you ask me!

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.
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The kinder, gentler BSOD

September 5, 2014, 1:16 pm
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By Steve Endow

I just finished testing a new release of a Dynamics GP integration.  I was in the middle of updating my documentation, working in Word, something I've done for a few years on my desktop computer.

After typing a word, blam-o, both monitors go black and then one turns blue.


Lovely.

This is the first time I've seen a BSOD on Windows 8 / 8.1.  While less obnoxious than the old Windows NT-style blue screens, it is no more comforting.

My hardware hasn't changed, and I haven't done anything crazy with new software, so hopefully this isn't a sign of my desktop jumping off a cliff like my file server did a few weeks ago.

Thankfully Word recovered my document, so I didn't lose any work.  And Windows 8.1 with an SSD boots up lightning fast, so I was back up and working quickly, but a BSOD is not what I wanted to see today.

Is it possible to actually get work done without interruption?


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter


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Dynamics GP BCHSOURC values

September 8, 2014, 12:08 pm
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By Steve Endow

I was recently asked if there was a list of values and descriptions for the BCHSOURC field in GP.  I didn't find one during a quick search, so here is a list from the core GP modules.

BCHSOURCSERIESDescription
ASMENT5Assembly Entry
GL_Clearing2Clearing Entry
GL_Normal2General Entry
InTransit-1In Transit
Invoice Entry3Invoice Entry
IV_Trans5Transfer Entry
IV_Trxent5Transaction Entry
PM_Payment4Payment Entry
PM_Trxent4Payables Trx Entry
Rcvg Trx Entry4Receivings Trx Entry
Rcvg Trx Ivc4Purchasing Invoice Entry
RM_Cash3Receivables Cash Receipts
RM_Sales3Receivables Sales Entry
Sales Entry3Sales Transaction Entry


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter



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Setting distributions for a Integration Manager single file SOP Invoice import using VB Script

September 10, 2014, 3:37 pm
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By Steve Endow

Let's say you want to import some SOP Invoices into Dynamics GP using Integration Manager.  And let's say that you have a single data file that contains the invoice lines.

Setting up a standard integration with separate Header and Line data sources is fairly straightforward.

But then you realize that you need to set the distributions for each invoice.  You need to assign different AR accounts and different Sales accounts to the invoices.  The customer does not have any default accounts for their GP customers, and you need to setup 3 different integrations, each of which will post to a different AR and sales account.  Fortunately, all invoices for each integration will be assigned to the same AR and sales account--so that was some consolation.

I'm actually a little rusty with this type of IM challenge.  Maybe there is a better way to accomplish this, but the last time I had to do this, about 9 or 10  years ago, I wrote a Before Integration VB Script that read the invoice data file and generated a Distribution file.

Not wanting to dig through 10 year old client files to find my ancient script, and not really wanting to have to add a Distribution data source to this integration, I thought of a hack.

What if we were able to use the customer default accounts so that IM would use those accounts for the invoice distributions?  That would allow us to avoid touching the distributions in the IM integration.  How would we do that?

Well, what if we had a Before Document script that set the default AR and Sales distributions for the customer?  We know which AR and Sales account should be used for each integration, and all invoices in that integration will use the same accounts, so we should be able to set the default account for each customer right before each invoice is imported.

But after we set the default AR and Sales account for the customer, and after the invoice is imported, then that customer has default accounts that we actually don't want as the defaults.  So why not create a similar After Document script to clear the default accounts?  Since this customer does not have any default customer accounts, we just wipe out the AR and Sales accounts for the customer.


So here is the script that I came up with.  I pulled it together and handed it off to a partner to test, so there might be a few bugs or rough edges, but you should get the drift.

Here is the Before Document script, which sets the default account for the customer.  You would change the account numbers and the source field for the Customer ID.

If your customer records have default accounts that you want to preserve, you could query those, store them in integration variables, and then set them back in the After Document script rather than clearing them.


'9/10/2014
'IM Before Document Script to set AR and Sales accounts for customer prior to IM invoice import

strIntercoID = GPConnection.GPConnInterCompanyID

'Get a connection object.
Set objConn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
objConn.ConnectionString = "database=" & strIntercoID
GPConnection.Open(objConn)

'Create an ADO command object.
Set objCmd= CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
objConn.CursorLocation = 3

'set the database to the currently logged in db.
objConn.DefaultDatabase = strIntercoID
objCmd.ActiveConnection = objConn

objCmd.CommandType = 1

strARAccount = "000-1200-00"
strSalesAccount = "000-4100-00"

'Read customer ID
strCustomerID = Trim(SourceFields("InvoiceData.Customer ID"))

strSQL1 = "UPDATE RM00101 SET RMARACC = (SELECT ACTINDX FROM GL00105 WHERE ACTNUMST = '" & strARAccount & "') WHERE CUSTNMBR = '" & strCustomerID & "'"
strSQL2 = "UPDATE RM00101 SET RMSLSACC = (SELECT ACTINDX FROM GL00105 WHERE ACTNUMST = ' & strSalesAccount & "') WHERE CUSTNMBR = '" & strCustomerID & "'"

'Set and execute the queries
objCmd.CommandType = 1 '1 = Text

objCmd.CommandText = strSQL1
objCmd.Execute

objCmd.CommandText = strSQL2
objCmd.Execute



And here is the After Document script which clears the accounts for the customer.


'9/10/2014
'IM Aftwer Document Script to clear AR and Sales accounts for customer after IM invoice import

strIntercoID = GPConnection.GPConnInterCompanyID

'Get a connection object.
Set objConn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
objConn.ConnectionString = "database=" & strIntercoID
GPConnection.Open(objConn)

'Create an ADO command object.
Set objCmd= CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
objConn.CursorLocation = 3

'set the database to the currently logged in db.
objConn.DefaultDatabase = strIntercoID
objCmd.ActiveConnection = objConn

objCmd.CommandType = 1

'Read customer ID
strCustomerID = Trim(SourceFields("InvoiceData.Customer ID"))

strSQL = "UPDATE RM00101 SET RMARACC = 0, RMSLSACC = 0 WHERE CUSTNMBR = '" & strCustomerID & "'"

'Set and execute the queries
objCmd.CommandType = 1 '1 = Text

objCmd.CommandText = strSQL
objCmd.Execute


The partner is going to test it to confirm that it works for the customer, but if it does the trick, I think it's a pretty clever workaround to bothering with distributions for an Integration Manager import.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter




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Importing Dynamics GP Vendors with Temporary Vendor IDs

September 10, 2014, 7:26 pm
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By Steve Endow

In the last 10 years, I've only had one situation where a client considered temporary vendor IDs.  I remember looking into them, but don't know that the client ever used them.

Last week I was asked to develop an eConnect integration that would import AP Invoices, and every invoice would be issued to a temporary vendor ID.  So before each invoice was imported, I had to create a new vendor record with a temporary ID.

Dynamics GP has the slightly odd, or perhaps anachronistic, feature that allows you to delete temporary vendor records while retaining any transactions related to that temporary vendor.

My initial guess is that the feature may have been motivated by database size concerns of ye olde days.  Today, vendor records are usually a trivial concern relative to database size and server storage capacity, so that isn't a terribly compelling reason to use temporary vendors.

I say the feature is odd primarily because there is no corresponding Temporary Customer.  Why not?  I know of quite a few businesses that have thousands and thousands of one time customers, but relatively few one time vendors.

But in this client's situation, each vendor will always be paid once, for a small amount, and the client has indicated that it is highly unlikely that any of these particular vendors will ever be paid again--if so, it would be very infrequent.  In this case, the vendors are "one time" vendors, so it makes sense to utilize the Temporary vendor feature.

So what makes importing temporary vendors different than normal vendors?  As the title of this post hints, it has to due with temporary vendor IDs.  In the Payables Setup Options window, there is a "Next Temp. Vendor ID" value, that allows you to specify a vendor ID series just for temp vendors.


 This number is utilized when you press CTRL + T on the vendor ID field of the Payables Transaction Entry window, and causes GP to automatically populate the temp vendor ID into the Transaction Entry window and the Vendor Maintenance window.


So that's neat and all, but how would you import temporary vendors?

Well, just like normal vendors, except that you have to grab the next temporary vendor ID.  Which, of course, is something eConnect does not support.  And as far as I can tell, Dynamics GP gets the next vendor ID using code, and not a stored procedure.

So, I had to roll my own.


Below are my C# routines to get the next temporary vendor ID.  A few small details make it tricky.  Once you retrieve the next temp ID, I check to make sure that the ID hasn't been used already.  There is no logic in GP that prevents a Temp ID from being manually entered, and it is possible for the next temp ID to be changed.

Next, you have to increment the ID and store the new "next" value back to the database.  Because the temp vendor ID is an alphanumeric string, you need to retain the prefix and increment the numeric suffix.  And I couldn't assume that the vendor's Temp ID sequence prefix would be the same as my test environment.  While not rocket science, it was a bit tricky to find an elegant way to split the string, increment the numeric suffix, and then re-join the string.  I eventually found a forum post with a nice Regex implementation which worked quite well.



internal string GetNextTempVendorID()
{
    try
    {
        string records = string.Empty;
        int tries = 0;
        bool success = false;

        int digitStartIndex = 0;
        string alpha = string.Empty;
        string digits = string.Empty;
        int digitLength = 0;
        int tempVendorNumber = 0;

        Match regexMatch;

        string sqlCommand = "SELECT RTRIM(NXTVNDID) AS NextVendorID FROM PM40100 WITH (TABLOCKX HOLDLOCK)";
        string tempVendorID = DataAccess.ExecuteScalar(CommandType.Text, sqlCommand, null);

        bool vendorExists = VendorIDExists(tempVendorID);

        while (vendorExists && tries < 50)
        {
            tries++;

            regexMatch = Regex.Match(tempVendorID, "[0-9]");
            if (regexMatch.Success)
            {
                digitStartIndex = regexMatch.Index;
                alpha = tempVendorID.Substring(0, digitStartIndex);
                digits = tempVendorID.Substring(digitStartIndex);
                digitLength = digits.Length;
                tempVendorNumber = Convert.ToInt32(digits);

                tempVendorID = alpha + (tempVendorNumber + 1).ToString().PadLeft(digitLength, '0');

                vendorExists = VendorIDExists(tempVendorID);
            }
        }

        vendorExists = VendorIDExists(tempVendorID);
        if (vendorExists)
        {
            Log.Write("Failed to get next temp vendor ID");
            return string.Empty;
        }
        else
        {
            success = UpdateNextTempVendorID(tempVendorID);
            if (success)
            {
                return tempVendorID.Trim();
            }
            else
            {
                Log.Write("Failed to UpdateNextTempVendorID");
                return string.Empty;
            }
        }

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Log.Write("An unexpected error occurred in GetNextTempVendorID: " + ex.Message);
        return string.Empty;
    }

}





private bool VendorIDExists(string vendorID)
{
    try
    {
        string sqlCommand = "SELECT COUNT(*) AS Records FROM PM00200 WITH (NOLOCK) WHERE VENDORID = @VENDORID";
        SqlParameter[] sqlParameters = new SqlParameter[1];
        sqlParameters[0] = new SqlParameter("@VENDORID", System.Data.SqlDbType.VarChar, 15);
        sqlParameters[0].Value = vendorID.Trim();

        string records = DataAccess.ExecuteScalar(CommandType.Text, sqlCommand, sqlParameters);
        int vendorCount = Convert.ToInt32(records);

        if (vendorCount > 0)
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Log.Write("An unexpected error occurred in VendorIDExists: " + ex.Message);
        return false;
    }
}




private bool UpdateNextTempVendorID(string lastTempVendorID)
{
    try
    {
        int digitStartIndex = 0;
        string alpha = string.Empty;
        string digits = string.Empty;
        int digitLength = 0;
        int tempVendorNumber = 0;
        string nextTempVendorID = string.Empty;

        int recordCount = 0;

        Match regexMatch = Regex.Match(lastTempVendorID, "[0-9]");
        if (regexMatch.Success)
        {
            digitStartIndex = regexMatch.Index;
            alpha = lastTempVendorID.Substring(0, digitStartIndex);
            digits = lastTempVendorID.Substring(digitStartIndex);
            digitLength = digits.Length;
            tempVendorNumber = Convert.ToInt32(digits);

            nextTempVendorID = alpha + (tempVendorNumber + 1).ToString().PadLeft(digitLength, '0');

            string sqlCommand = "UPDATE PM40100 WITH (TABLOCKX HOLDLOCK) SET NXTVNDID = @NXTVNDID";
            SqlParameter[] sqlParameters = new SqlParameter[1];
            sqlParameters[0] = new SqlParameter("@NXTVNDID", System.Data.SqlDbType.VarChar, 15);
            sqlParameters[0].Value = nextTempVendorID.Trim();

            recordCount = DataAccess.ExecuteNonQuery(CommandType.Text, sqlCommand, sqlParameters);

        }

        if (recordCount == 1)
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Log.Write("An unexpected error occurred in UpdateNextTempVendorID: " + ex.Message);
        return false;
    }
}


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter






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Bug in GP 2013 VS Tools Window Positioning

September 12, 2014, 11:49 am
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By Steve Endow

This week I finished up a custom Dynamics GP 2013 eConnect integration that I developed as a Visual Studio Tools AddIn.  The customer wanted to have a GP menu item that would open the integration window, so I used the Menus for Visual Studio Tools library to add a custom menu item.

The integration worked great and I packaged it up for deployment at the client.

Except as I was doing some final testing and double checking, I noticed a strange behavior with the window.  Sometimes when I opened the custom VST window, it would open "CenterScreen", which is what I wanted.  But other times, it would open in the upper left corner of my screen.

I tested it a few more times, and it seemed like the first time it opened after launching GP, it would open centered, but then subsequently it would open in the upper left corner of my screen.  I tried various settings to try and position the window in the center of the screen, like manually setting the window Location property.  But after several more tests, it would ALWAYS open in the upper left corner.  It was ignoring my manual Location setting in the code.

It drives me nuts to have windows open in random positions, and I can't stand windows that open in the upper left corner for no reason.

Baffled, I created a brand new VS Tools project with a test window.  When I opened that window from GP, it worked fine.  It was always centered.  What was going on??

I then compared every single window property in my integration project against the test VST project.  All of the window properties were the same.  Yet they behaved differently.

And then I finally noticed the difference.  In my test project, where the window would dutifully open CenterScreen every time, I saw that the icon in the upper left corner of the window was different.  It didn't have the GP window icon.  This meant that it was a standard Windows Form and not a  Dynamics GP VST Form.  Hmmm.

I then added a second window to the test project--this time a Dynamics GP Form.  I set all of the window properties exactly the same as the Windows Form.  I then launched the windows.  Sure enough, the Dynamics GP Form opened in the upper left corner of my screen, while the Windows Form opened Center Screen.



This screen shot shows how the standard Windows Form opens CenterScreen, while the Dynamics GP Form opens in the upper left corner of the screen.

And if that isn't the cutest photo ever featured in a Dynamics GP blog post, I don't know what is...

It seems that once you modify the window Startup Position or Location settings on the Dynamics GP Form, it triggers some bug that prevents the window from positioning properly, ignoring the window properties.  I tried changing the settings to different values, but none would reliably reproduce the CenterScreen equivalent.

So after dozens of tests, here is what I have found.

If you have StartPosition = CenterScreen, and if the Location value is 0, 0, the VS Tools window will always open in the upper left corner.  It may position properly the first few times, but if you change the StartPosition setting or Location setting, it seems to consistently revert to the upper left.

If you add code to set the form Location property during the OnLoad event, the window will open center screen the first time, but then subsequent opens will reposition it to the upper left.

But, if you then change the Location to some value other than zero, such as 100, 100, then setting the Location property will work every time.

However, there appears to be one additional catch.  Based on dozens of more tests, setting the Location only works if it is the first line in your Form Load event.  If you have any other code that refreshes the form, the Location setting will be ignored the second and subsequent time the window is opened.

So to summarize:

1. Set the form Location property to a value other than 0, 0, such as 100, 100

2. Add this as the very first line in your Form Load event:

this.Location = new Point((Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size.Width / 2) - (this.Size.Width / 2), (Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size.Height / 2) - (this.Size.Height / 2));


After hours of testing, I believe that these two techniques will allow you to work around the VS Tools window positioning bug.  And after another test, it looks like changing the Location property may not be necessary if the Location setting is the first line in Form Load.

I don't recall ever having this issue before, so I'm guessing it was introduced in GP 2013 or GP 2013 R2.  Given how subtle it is, I don't have high hopes that it will be fixed any time soon.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter





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Oddity in GP 2013 Home Page

September 24, 2014, 12:48 pm
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I thought I would post this out in to the blogosphere to see if anyone has been experiencing this issue, and possibly crowdsource the cause.  As I understand from Microsoft, the issue has been reported but they have been unable to reproduce the issue.  So here it is...

1.  Log in to GP
2.  Click Customize this Page on the Home Page
3.  Make changes, for example unmark or mark additional sections
4.  Save changes
5.  Changes appear

Then, at some point in the future, the user logs back in (it may be 3 times from now, or 20) and the Home Page modifications they have made are gone.  And if they try to make the changes again, the system does not save or apply them (despite the lack of an error message).  The only option at this point is to reset the user's home page role (thereby clearing the customizations and resetting the home page to the defaults for their role).  And then it functions correctly for a while once again.

There is a suspicion that it is related to a third party product, but since it doesn't recur predictably and it is not practical to disable all third party products for an indefinite period of time, there is no easy way to confirm this.  In this client's case, they have the following third parties/other products installed...
  • Binary Stream- Property Management
  • Mekorma- MICR
  • Kwiktag- GP Add In
  • Field Service
  • Support Debugger Tool
Anyone else out there have this issue? If so, what third parties/other products do you have installed?

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.

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Suppress Some Zero Lines But Not All in Management Reporter

September 24, 2014, 1:21 pm
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Most folks are familiar with how to suppress all zero lines on a report in Management Reporter.


The setting is located on the Settings tab of the Report Definition.  If "Display Rows with No Amounts" is marked, zero rows will show on the report.  But if the option is unmarked, then all zero lines will be suppressed on the report.  This is useful to avoid extraneous lines appearing on reports (for example, if you use a generic row format with a department tree, some accounts may apply to certain departments only- so this option will hide the irrelevant lines on the other departments).

But, sometimes, you want to suppress some zero lines but have other lines appear even if they are zero (for example, accounts that generally only have activity in the later part of the year, and you want to communicate that the balance is zero at this time).  To select this setting by line, you would first want to make sure that "Display Rows with No Amounts" is MARKED.  Then you will specify a print control in the row format.

 
 
In the row format, click to open the Print Control window.  On the lines that you WANT to suppress if zero, you would select the "Suppress Row if All Zeroes" option.  On the lines that you want to appear, even if they are zero, you would simply leave the Print Control blank.
 

Although this may be more work up front, it allows you to tailor the suppression of zeroes to your specific needs.


Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.
 

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Yikes! Missing Transaction Numbers!

September 25, 2014, 3:28 pm
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Once every few months, I will get an email from a client or coworker concerned because they have gaps in their transaction numbers in GP.  When I say "transaction numbers" I mean the automatically generated unique numbers GP assigned to transactions- like bank transfer numbers, bank transaction numbers, journal entry numbers, payables voucher numbers, receivables invoice numbers, etc.

So, first things first, DO NOT PANIC.  I repeat, DO NOT PANIC.  As a side note, my daughter loves the children's book "Dragons Love Tacos".  If you have not checked it out (even if you don't have kids), you should.  But back to the subject at hand, gaps in transaction numbers assigned by GP are to be expected because they are assigned when transactions are entered.  Like in this example...

  • Sally starts a payables invoice, is assigned voucher #1
  • Mark starts a payables invoice, is assigned voucher #2
  • Tammy starts a payables invoice, is assigned voucher #3
Now, at this point, Mark deletes his invoice instead of posting it.  The numbering will still continue forward with #4 being the next number assigned.  So there will be a gap for missing #2.

So what to do about it?  To be able to judge if something has been removed from the system at the database level?  Well, don't use transaction numbers to do that.  Use the Audit Trail Code (ATC).  The ATC is assigned when a transaction post (transactions posted in batches are assigned the same audit trail code) and follows the transaction to the GL as the originating source.  Because the ATC is assigned at posting, the only way one would be missing is if it was deleted from the database itself.  And if a subledger ATC does not exist in the GL, you know that the batch was deleted from the GL and not posted (if you are posting to, not through).

So where do you find the ATC?  It appears on the posting journals for the subledger posting, as CMTRX000002 or PMTRX000056.  For a full list of Audit Trail Codes and their meaning, refer to Tools-Setup-Posting-Audit Trail Codes in Dynamics GP.


Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.
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Getting GP data for use in .NET integrations: C# technique to populate object properties from SQL query results

September 25, 2014, 4:52 pm
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By Steve Endow

When I develop integrations, I sometimes have to retrieve a handful of data from a record in the Dynamics GP company database so that I can perform some other process.

Today, I had to create a routine that would automatically process credit card transactions.  Well, the API for the credit card software requires that I send in a bunch of customer and account info in order to process a transaction.  So I have to query a dozen or so fields from GP and then use those field values for the CC transaction.

To keep my code clean, I like to have one method to submit the transaction, and separate methods to retrieve any other data that is required.  So I might have a SubmitCCTransaction method that uses a GetGPCustomerInfo method to get data about the customer.

But if I am querying a dozen or more fields for the GP customer, I don't want to pass a dozen or more by ref parameters.  So I instead create a GPCustomer object that has a bunch of properties.  This is pretty standard.

Here is a simplified GPCustomer object with a dozen properties.


So I call GetGPCustomerInfo and send a GPCustomer object by reference.  GetGPCustomerInfo then retrieves data from GP, populates the GPCustomer properties, and sends the data back to my SubmitCCTransaction routine.

But I didn't want to write code to retrieve each field in the data table and assign it to each property of my GPCustomer object.  I wanted to essentially convert the row in my data table into a GPCustomer object.


Here's an example of how to do that.


using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Reflection;

publicbool GetGPCustomerInfo(string gpDatabase, string customerID, ref Models.GPCustomer gpCustomer, refstring message)
{
    try
    {
        //SQL query to get GP customer info
        //Field list and field names must match object properties
        string commandText = "SELECT  CUSTNMBR, CUSTNAME, CNTCPRSN, ADRSCODE, ADDRESS1, ";
        commandText += "ADDRESS2, ADDRESS3, CITY, STATE, ZIP, PHONE1, PHONE2 FROM RM00101 ";
        commandText += "WHERE CUSTNMBR = @CUSTNMBR";

        //Parameter for customer ID
        SqlParameter[] sqlParameters = newSqlParameter[1];
        sqlParameters[0] = newSqlParameter("@CUSTNMBR", System.Data.SqlDbType.VarChar, 15);
        sqlParameters[0].Value = customerID;
               
        DataTable dataTable = newDataTable();

        //Method to retrieve query results into data table
        int recordCount = DataAccess.ExecuteDataSet(ref dataTable, gpDatabase, CommandType.Text, commandText, sqlParameters);

        //We should only retrieve one row for the customer
        if (recordCount != 1)
        {
            message = recordCount + " records were retrieved for customer " + customerID + " in database " + gpDatabase;
            returnfalse;
        }

        //Get the one row
        DataRow row = dataTable.Rows[0];
        PropertyInfo prop;

        //Iterate through the columns in the data row
        foreach (DataColumn column in row.Table.Columns)
        {
            //Assign the row field values to the appropriate customer object properties
            prop = gpCustomer.GetType().GetProperty(column.ColumnName);
            prop = typeof(Models.GPCustomer).GetProperty(column.ColumnName);
            prop.SetValue(gpCustomer, row[column.ColumnName]);
        }
               
        message = string.Empty;
        returntrue;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        message = "An unexpected error occurred in GetGPCustomerInfo: " + ex.Message;
        returnfalse;
    }

}


The key part is the foreach loop that iterates through the fields (data columns) and assigns the value to the matching object property.


        PropertyInfo prop;

        //Iterate through the columns in the data row
        foreach (DataColumn column in row.Table.Columns)
        {
            //Assign the row field values to the appropriate customer object properties
            prop = gpCustomer.GetType().GetProperty(column.ColumnName);
            prop = typeof(Models.GPCustomer).GetProperty(column.ColumnName);
            prop.SetValue(gpCustomer, row[column.ColumnName]);
        }
             

The only requirement is that your object properties must match the field list in your SQL query.  Your SQL query can contain a fewer number of fields than the number of object properties, but it cannot contain more.  And the object property names must match the field names that are queried.

Anyway, it took me a little bit of digging to find the specific syntax to do this, so I wanted to post it here for future reference.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter


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The Triad of Fun- Forecaster, ExpressLink, and FRx

September 29, 2014, 2:26 pm
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ExpressLink is the piece of Forecaster that allows you to import the chart of accounts from GP to Forecaster, and also transfer balances (e.g., actuals or existing budgets) from GP to Forecaster.  This is not the same as the Forecaster Data Transfer Tool, which moves data from Forecaster back to GP.

It has become a challenge to use ExpressLink because it relies on FRx to connect to the GP databases (yes, you read that correctly).  But the tool is so handy, because users can use to to automatically add new accounts from GP to their segment list in Forecaster (rather than having to keep track and handle it manually). 

Although not supported, we have found that we can install FRx on a 64 bit box (there are plenty of blog posts on this subject), and then you can set up the companies in FRX (which is required to use ExpressLink).  Once this is done, the ExpressLink option is available in the Forecaster installation wizard (if FRx is not installed and configured, the option to install ExpressLink will not be available).  But recently, I ran in to an issue where I installed ExpressLink but two funny things happened...

1.  Although I had marked the option to install ExpressLink, and it appeared to have completed successfully, if I went back in to the install wizard to change the installation it did not appear as marked/installed
2.  Within Forecaster, Tools-Import-ExpressLink was grayed out

Now, in this case, FRx was not installed initially.  So we had installed Forecaster, then FRx, and then gone back to install ExpressLink.

After checking everything, making sure FRx was functional, etc, I found that the issue was that ExpressLink wasn't actually installing- I did not see either ExpressLink DLL in the installation directory.  If I went in to Add/Remove Programs and tried to change or repair the install, I got the same results.  I believe this was because I had added Service Pack 5 to Forecaster.  So that was the only option showing in Control Panel, but because ExpressLink was not part of the original RTM install, it was not updating properly.

To resolve the issue, I uninstalled Forecaster.  Then I reinstalled the RTM with ExpressLink marked, and then reapplied the service pack.  Then Tools-Import-ExpressLink was available!

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a senior managing consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers. This blog represents her views only, not those of her employer.
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Webcast: Microsoft Dynamics GP Integrations: Options and Strategies

October 14, 2014, 10:47 am
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By Steve Endow

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 I will be giving a 1 hour presentation on Microsoft Dynamics GP Integrations: Options and Strategies, hosted by MS Dynamics World.

I'll present several options for importing data into Dynamics GP, and I will share some techniques for exporting Dynamics GP data for use by external systems. 

I will also discuss several strategies and techniques that I've learned over the last decade to help design better, more reliable integrations with Dynamics GP.

If you are planning a Dynamics GP integration, support Dynamics GP integrations, or just want to learn more about how to import and export data from Dynamics GP, please register for the webinar.

Hope to see you there!


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter


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Webcast Presentation Slides: Dynamics GP Integrations: Options and Strategies

October 28, 2014, 11:26 am
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By Steve Endow

This morning I had a great webcast presentation session with MS Dynamics World, discussing Dynamics GP Integrations: Options and Strategies.


For those who are interested in getting a copy of the presentation slides, a PDF of the presentation can be downloaded from this OneDrive link:

http://1drv.ms/1FT1Ck1


I will be giving two presentations at the reIMAGINE 2014 conference in Fargo in November (one on SQL and one on .NET development), so if you are attending, please say hi!


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter



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Quickly navigate to the Dynamics GP application directory

October 30, 2014, 11:19 am
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By Steve Endow

When working with Microsoft Dynamics GP customers on certain types of support calls, I find that I am constantly needing to open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Dynamics GP application directory, such as:

         C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2013

While this isn't difficult, after having to do it hundreds times, those few extra seconds and several extra clicks start to get annoying.

Here are two techniques that I've found that will save several clicks and several seconds and make it much easier and convenient to jump right to the GP application directory.

The first works with the newer task bar in Win 7, Win 8, Win Server 2008, etc.

If Dynamics GP is running, or if there is a Dynamics GP icon pinned to the task bar, you can right click on the icon, then right click on "GP" on the pop up menu, and then select Properties.


Once the icon properties window opens, click on the Open File Location button.


That will open Windows Explorer and display the GP application directory.

So that is two right clicks, one left click.  But you then have to close the icon property window.


The second method, which a client showed me the other day, is much simpler and cleaner, but it requires a GP icon on the desktop.

If the GP icon is already on the desktop, just right click on that icon and select "Open file location".


So this is technique is just one right click, one left click, and you're done.  Very simple and tidy.

This technique also works from the GP icon in the "All Programs" area of the Start Menu--but not from the icons "pinned" to the Start Menu.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter




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