Great Plains Dexterity Development: FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is Dexterity-written application and currently we see increased interest for Great Plains customers to do in-house Dexterity development and customization. Dexterity itself is written on C programming language and its initial architecture was based on the Graphical and Database platform independence, which C programming language was believed to provide. Initially back in 1994 Great Plains Software Dynamics and Dynamics C/S+ were realized for Macintosh and Windows and pretty similar Dexterity DYNAMICS.DIC dictionary worked for Ctree/Faircomm and Microsoft SQL Server 6.5. In our days Microsoft Great Plains is available for Windows and MS SQL Server only (since version 8.0). In this small article we would like to give you highlights on the most typical entry level Dexterity development questions

? How do I install Dexterity. If you have Microsoft Great Plains Standard or Professional license, you Great Plains CD #2 has Dexterity installation files. However you need license from Microsoft Business Solutions if you plan to do in-house software development. If you have Small Business Manager / Small Business Financials ? your distributive doesn't have Dexterity ? you need to call your MBS partner and have them to do the job.

? DYNAMICS.DIC. This is your core dictionary which should be used for your customization.

? New Custom forms vs. Alternate Forms. If you are beginner, please try to stick to new Great Plains Forms. Do not customize existing forms. If you open existing form in Dexterity ? you should be aware that field scripts are stripped off and if you place your own script over the original one ? you will destroy the field logic

? Dexterity Triggers. You register them in Startup script ? look Dexterity manual. If you have to deal with existing fields logic alteration you register before or after original script trigger. Please see the examples.

? SQL Stored Procs. Latest version of Microsoft Great Plains is available for MS SQL Sevrer/MSDE only and you should consider combination of Dexterity and Stored procs. Try to avoid using old Dexterity cursors, statements, like: start range. Hint ? ranges were the instrument of database platform independence and it seems to be not the case anymore.

? Dexterity Chunk. You should be aware that Dexterity reserves certain range of the resources for MBS internal developers, you can not modify and use these resources, all the custom resources you create in your customization will use the numbers outside of the proprietary range. Your new resources will be packed into so called chunk. Please refer to the manual on how to create the chunk.

? Customization Upgrade. The most challenging portion of upgrade is Alternate Great Plains forms. If you place custom fields and logic on the existing forms then, you should know that Great Plains can change the form for the new version and you will have to review and redo the custom logic.

? Localization. Dexterity has string resources ? this is where you can translate the strings and have Great Plains work with your native language. However your native language code should be single byte, not Unicode. If you need Dex to work with Chinese, Japanese or Korean ? there is special utility to enable this feature.

Happy customizing! You can always appeal to us to help you with your system. Give as a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Navision, Microsoft RMS, Microsoft Business Portal customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Boston, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Toronto, Montreal, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Australia, Canada, UK, Europe, Russia an having small offices in multiple states and internationally.

---

Theres Gold in Your Websites Server Log

Many Webmasters have never bothered to view their website's server... Read More

Imagine if Everyone Working In Your Office Was In Synch?

Microsoft-Outlook is a pretty amazing program. So much more than... Read More

Introduction To ISDN, Part III: PAP

Introduction To ISDN, Part III: Configuring PPP PAP AuthenticationNow we... Read More

Groupware: What Works the Way Businesses Do?

GroupwareThe internet is full of 1.5 million to 7 million... Read More

Business Planning Software

Once a business idea is selected, it is highly recommended... Read More

How To Avoid Getting Hooked By Pfishing

"Pfishing", sometimes spelled "Phishing", is a word that's used to... Read More

Windows Screensavers Explained

In this article you will find some background information about... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Security Setup - Overview For Consultant

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More

Mozilla Vs. Firefox

For those who are unclear on the differences between the... Read More

Lotus Notes Domino and Microsoft CRM Integration

Well, even if the combination might look very unusual, we... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Project Accounting ? Overview For IT Director/Controller

Microsoft Business Solutions is now in process of creating so... Read More

netstat - Linux Command to Display Networking Information

In linux, one of great commands for finding out information... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Customization Recovery & Upgrade for Large Corporation

At the end of XX century, in the late 1990th... Read More

Reporting for Microsoft Great Plains/Dynamics/eEnterprise: RW ? ReportWriter ? Tips for Developer

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is written in Great Plains... Read More

What is Shareware?

Shareware is software that you can try before you buy;... Read More

Daffodil DB: Web Database

What is a Web Database?A web database is a database... Read More

Instant Messaging is a Sweet Way to Communicate

MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm... Read More

Brief Notes About Mainframe Software Pricing

We don't think about mainframe software pricing anymore, we just... Read More

Mapping Software: Putting Data Visualization on the Map

Mapping Software Improves Data VisualizationFrom the outset, it is important... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Integration with Legacy Systems ? Overview For Developer

Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular,... Read More

Microsoft CRM Conversation Gateway: VoIP - Implementation & Customization

Microsoft CRM is winning market share step-by-step from such the... Read More

Adware, What Is It?

Adware is a type of Spyware program that displays some... Read More

Getting Patched with Windows Service Pack

Are you one of those people that keeps track of... Read More

Microsoft Office Selecting Secrets

Stop the Runaway MouseWhat's the "runaway mouse?" You've seen it...you... Read More

Editing Your Photos Using Microsoft Picture It Publishing Platinum 2002 - A Great Dinosaur

I started using PIP (Picture It Publishing) Platinum 2002 right... Read More

Introduction To ISDN, Part II

In the previous ISDN article, we looked at how and... Read More

How to Evaluate Staffing Software

If you are in the market for new staffing software,... Read More

Cisco CCNA Certification: Becoming A Truly Valuable CCNA.

I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: If You are Orphan Client ? What to Do and FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software eEnterprise,... Read More

Lotus Notes Domino and Web: Application Development ? Tips for Programmers

Beginning with Domino version R4 it has integration with the... Read More

Great Plains Bill of Materials Setup & Customization for Process Manufacturing ? Overview

Microsoft Great Plains has full-featured Manufacturing suite of modules: Capacity... Read More

Kick-Ass Performance For Your PC? Its Easy

Is your PC is slow and wimpy? Then you need... Read More

Great Plains Customization Upgrade? Overview For CIO/IT Director

Around the same time Microsoft made its move with .Net... Read More