Blog Description Copyright @AnthonyDotNet http://www.jigsaw.com.au Mon, 11 March 2019 09:00:00 Mon, 11 March 2019 09:00:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2019/march/11/important-announcement.aspx We are pleased to announce that Jigsaw Technology has reached an agreement with MicroChannel to transition the servicing and support of Jigsaw customers to MicroChannel with effect from Monday March 11th, 2019. MicroChannel is a leading provider of business technology solutions who are passionate about generating positive customer outcomes. MicroChannel have a diverse consulting, support and development teams and a wide range of complementary technology solutions. We are confident that joining forces represents a great opportunity moving forward with MicroChannel who are committed to delivering superior solutions and services. For all enquiries please call 1300 440 444 or email info@microchannel.com.au http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2019/march/11/important-announcement.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2019/march/11/important-announcement.aspx Mon, 11 March 2019 09:00:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/december/24/nav-gdt-where-used-tool.aspx Please see http://www.g-d-t.de/download.htm We have used this successfully with NAV2015 as well. This is a great free tool http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/december/24/nav-gdt-where-used-tool.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/december/24/nav-gdt-where-used-tool.aspx Thu, 24 December 2015 16:07:00 2161 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/07/the-necessity-of-a-high-quality-antivirus-product.aspx Given the numerous online threats, viruses and sophisticated malware, it is critical that individuals and businesses protect themselves with the best antivirus. ESET Smart Security is a market leader and is recommended by us. Have you taken the time recently to consider if you or your business are adequately protected? Speak to Jigsaw Technology to arrange a security audit. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/07/the-necessity-of-a-high-quality-antivirus-product.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/07/the-necessity-of-a-high-quality-antivirus-product.aspx Fri, 07 August 2015 11:25:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/04/modify-default-role-ribbon-in-nav2015.aspx You need to create a new shortcut to open NAV. So ist for the BOOKKEEPER role use "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\80\RoleTailored Client\Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Client.exe" -Configure -profile:"bookkeeper" http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/04/modify-default-role-ribbon-in-nav2015.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/04/modify-default-role-ribbon-in-nav2015.aspx Tue, 04 August 2015 14:09:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/03/connect-to-ssrs-and-run-report-cant-authenticate.aspx Log Name: System Source: LSA (LsaSrv) Event ID: 6037 Level: Warning Detail: The program ReportingServicesService.exe, with the assigned process ID 13432, could not authenticate locally by using the target name HTTP/myserver.mydomain.edu. The target name used is not valid. A target name should refer to one of the local computer names, for example, the DNS host name. Try a different target name. Go to REGEDIT and open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0 Right click MSV1_0 –> New -> Multi-String Value Type BackConnectionHostNames and click Enter. Right click on newly created value and select Modify. Enter the hostname of the site: WEBSITENAME (and on a new line enter the FQDN, WEBSITENAME.domain.com) Restart IIS http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/03/connect-to-ssrs-and-run-report-cant-authenticate.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/august/03/connect-to-ssrs-and-run-report-cant-authenticate.aspx Mon, 03 August 2015 14:37:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/july/30/xlcubed-81-update.aspx Version 8.1 contains 3 main additions, as well as several general improvements. The following link contains a detailed list of all the improvements in XLCubed 8.1. The three main additions are: Viewpoints, Commentary and Collaboration, and SAP HANA. Viewports Viewports offer a new paradigm for the handling of dynamic data volumes in formatted Excel reporting and dashboards. They are a dynamic, scrollable and interactive view onto another part of the workbook which gives great flexibility in report design where the size of the data can vary while allowing the designer to keep control of the overall layout. Viewports let users rethink what's achievable in Excel developed reporting while retaining the full flexibility and formatting capability of Excel and XLCubed. See Viewports for more detail. Commentary and Collaboration In today's socially networked, always online world it's increasingly important to streamline communication and share insight on reporting quickly and efficiently. Reports can now be enabled for commentary either at a datapoint level, or at higher levels such as the filter selections. Users can enter comments explaining or questioning the reported numbers quickly and easily, preventing multiple discussion threads on already answered questions and broadening overall understanding. Commentary options are configured in the Excel client and available in both Excel and Web deployed reporting. Comments are stored in the context of the data, and so potentially visible across multiple reports depending on configuration. See commentary for more detail. SAP HANA Many of our customers use HANA alongside Analysis Services and were keen to use XLCubed to extend their HANA reporting capabilities. We are pleased to announce platform support for SAP HANA with the release of version 8.1. To enable the HANA connector in your environment please contact XLCubed support support@xlcubed.com. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/july/30/xlcubed-81-update.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/july/30/xlcubed-81-update.aspx Thu, 30 July 2015 10:00:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/may/15/setup-xlcubedweb-edition-with-windows-authentication.aspx You have run the install. All looks good but you are unable to connect via a browser to the http://your.server.com/xclubedweb site - you are prompted for and enter a valid username and password. Checking in the  Event log you can see Event 4625 Errors: An account failed to log on.Subject:    Security ID:        NULL SID    Account Name:        -    Account Domain:        -    Logon ID:        0x0Logon Type:            3Account For Which Logon Failed:    Security ID:        NULL SID    Account Name:        <login name>    Account Domain:       <domain name>Failure Information:    Failure Reason:        An Error occured during Logon.    Status:            0xc000006d    Sub Status:        0x0 The issue for me was fixed by adding the following registry entry. Specify host names (Preferred method if NTLM authentication is desired) To specify the host names that are mapped to the loopback address and can connect to Web sites on your computer, follow these steps: Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0 Right-click MSV1_0, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value. Type BackConnectionHostNames, and then press ENTER. Right-click BackConnectionHostNames, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type the host name or the host names for the sites that are on the local computer, and then clickOK. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the IISAdmin service. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/may/15/setup-xlcubedweb-edition-with-windows-authentication.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/may/15/setup-xlcubedweb-edition-with-windows-authentication.aspx Fri, 15 May 2015 09:47:00 2078 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/april/29/source-code-must-have-a-value-in-gen-journal-line.aspx Error posting Customer opening balances generated by “Create Customer Journal Lines” report: This error occurs under the following conditions: Running the “Create Customer Journal Lines” report to create a journal for customer opening balancesBalances are populated directly in the Journal Line Amount fieldThe Journal is posted Under these conditions, the “SetupNewLine” function on the Gen. Journal Line table is not triggered to populate the Source Code. The report itself doesn’t default it either, so the above error will occur on posting. There are several options to solve this problem: Copy the journal out to Excel, delete the journal, enter the balances in Excel and paste back into NAV Setup a “Standard Journal” with a blank line suiting your needs, and specify this when running the report Modify the report to pull the Source Code from the Journal Template (source below). The first two options should suit most scenarios, but, where they can’t be used the following minor code change can be added to the report to populate the Source Code as required:   New Function “GetSoureCode” created to lookup the General Journal Template used, and return the Source Code.   In the Customer – OnAfterGetRecord() trigger, in the section of code run if “GetStandardJournalLine” returns FALSE, enter a line to validate the Source Code using the new function created. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/april/29/source-code-must-have-a-value-in-gen-journal-line.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/april/29/source-code-must-have-a-value-in-gen-journal-line.aspx Wed, 29 April 2015 18:21:00 2078 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/april/13/nav-20132015-delete-finish-prod-order.aspx It seems Microsoft have removed a check on Item Ledger Entries existing when deleting Finished Production Orders in 2013. Not sure if you deal with any MFG clients, but might be worth putting this back in to prevent accidental deletion of Finished orders. All related Ledger entries still exist if you delete the order, it’s just the order, related lines etc. that are deleted. I can’t find any explanation for this either in forums or on Partnersource, would be interested to know if there is a legitimate reason for it. Code in NAV 5.0 on deleting Production Order – checks for related item ledger entries on Finished orders:   But in NAV 2013/2015 the code is http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/april/13/nav-20132015-delete-finish-prod-order.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/april/13/nav-20132015-delete-finish-prod-order.aspx Mon, 13 April 2015 09:05:00 2161 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/february/06/study-of-erp-buyers.aspx Software Advice, an ERP software consultancy recently conducted a study, which investigated ERP system purchasers. The study analysed a random sample of prospective ERP buyers, the findings give insight to the decisions and motivation of other ERP buyers. Key Findings: 1. Two-thirds of buyers do not currently use an ERP system, and 44 percent rely on a combination of disparate systems to execute ERP processes. Microsoft Dynamics NAV hosted in the cloud is the solution we generally recommend to businesses looking to purchase their first ERP system. This is due to the reduced upfront costs (because investment in hardware is not required) and increased accessibility (you are able to access your ERP solution from anywhere and any device). 2. Fifty-nine percent of buyers cite the need to improve the integration of data between different business processes as a top reason for seeking an ERP system. Microsoft Dynamics NAV will significantly improve the integration of your business data. From Business Intelligence, EDI, Web based Purchase Order Systems, Web based Expense Claim System, Bonded Warehouse tracking and reporting and many more Jigsaw developed NAV Addins. 3. Forty-seven percent of all buyers cite the need to improve their customer relationship management (CRM) database as a reason for wanting to purchase an ERP system. It’s no surprise that such a high proportion of ERP buyers want to improve their CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM can integrated with Microsoft Dynamics NAV.   4. Among buyers currently using ERP systems, 24 percent cite lack of support and 19 percent cite cost as their primary reasons for wanting to switch to a new system. Jigsaw Technology has grown mainly through word of mouth. We believe that this is because of our commitment to total customer satisfaction. Jigsaw has been trusted by customers throughout the Sydney Metropolitan area and in numerous industries, for over 20 years. If cost is your primary concern, we recommend looking at Microsoft Dynamics NAV hosted in the cloud. Additionally Jigsaw can help you get the technology you need with the budget you have through Microsoft Finance. 5. Twenty-seven percent of buyers who do not currently use an ERP system cite company growth as their reason for wanting to implement one. Microsoft Dynamics NAV can be geared for growing businesses, so you can start with what you need and upgrade easily and affordably as your business grows. 6. Most Buyers Want to Deploy an ERP System Within Six Months Contact Jigsaw Technology today about implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV hosted in the cloud or on premises. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/february/06/study-of-erp-buyers.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/february/06/study-of-erp-buyers.aspx Fri, 06 February 2015 15:53:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/22/crystaldecisionscrystalreportsengineinternalexception-failed-to-retrieve-data-from-the-database.aspx Suddenly started to receive the errorCrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.InternalException: Failed to retrieve data from the database. Details:[Database Vendor Code: 242 ] Failed to retrieve data from the database. Situation:asp.net framework 45. web siterunning a crystal report and exporting to MS WordThe backend server was changed from SQL2005 to SQL2012The export to word stopped working after the move.Error:CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.InternalException: Failed to retrieve data from the database. Details:[Database Vendor Code: 242 ] Failed to retrieve data from the database.The issue is not Crystal.We are using Microsoft SQL Server. The key is to look at the section[Database Vendor Code: 242 ]The Database is MS SQL Server, Code 242 means a type conversion error.Fix:The report was using a stored procedure with many parameters.One of the paramters was a date but was being passed as a string with format dd/MM/yyyy.The user connecting to SQL had the wrong language specified - English. We corrected this it British and all was good again. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/22/crystaldecisionscrystalreportsengineinternalexception-failed-to-retrieve-data-from-the-database.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/22/crystaldecisionscrystalreportsengineinternalexception-failed-to-retrieve-data-from-the-database.aspx Thu, 22 January 2015 08:07:00 2078 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/14/au-state-not-transferred-during-nav2015-upgrade.aspx It seems the NAV 2009 to 2015 upgrade routine misses transferring the “County” (state) data into the new field.In NAV2009 the field number is 28000 and in NAV2015 it becomes 5 The data migration step 1 is there, the data is copied into a temp copy of the Post Code, just it’s not copied back. Add in the following code in for to work properly // >> JIGIF TempPostCode.FINDSET THEN    REPEAT        IF PostCode.GET(TempPostCode.Code, TempPostCode.City) THEN BEGIN            PostCode.County := TempPostCode.County;            PostCode.MODIFY;        END;                TempPostCode.DELETE;    UNTIL TemPostCode.NEXT;// << JIG http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/14/au-state-not-transferred-during-nav2015-upgrade.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/14/au-state-not-transferred-during-nav2015-upgrade.aspx Wed, 14 January 2015 11:29:00 2078 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/14/upgrade-to-nav2015-when-company-name-has-a-in-it.aspx The NAV Code that performs the dimension upgrade can't handle a ‘-‘ in the company name. This caused me a bit of grief because that step uses C/AL code to call SQL queries directly on the sever, which was a pain to debug. So rename the company to remove the - before upgrading http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/14/upgrade-to-nav2015-when-company-name-has-a-in-it.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2015/january/14/upgrade-to-nav2015-when-company-name-has-a-in-it.aspx Wed, 14 January 2015 11:25:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/august/22/crm-2013-technical-requirements.aspx Hardware Component *Minimum *Recommended Processor x64 architecture or compatible dual-core 1.5 GHz processor Quad-core x64 architecture 2 GHz CPU or higher such as AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon systems Memory 2-GB RAM 8-GB RAM or more Hard disk 10 GB of available hard disk space Note Computers with more than 16GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files. 40 GB or more of available hard disk space Note Computers with more than 16GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files.   Supported Windows Server 2012 editions The following editions of the Windows Server 2012 operating system are supported for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013: · Windows Server 2012 Datacenter · Windows Server 2012 Standard Supported Windows Server 2008 editions The following editions of the Windows Server 2008 operating system are supported for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013: · Windows Server 2008 Standard SP2 (x64 versions) or Windows Server 2008 Standard R2 SP1 · Windows Server 2008 Enterprise SP2 (x64 versions) or Windows Server 2008 Enterprise R2 SP1 · Windows Server 2008 Datacenter SP2 (x64 versions) or Windows Server 2008 Datacenter R2 SP1 · Windows Web Server 2008 SP2 (x64 versions) or Windows Web Server 2008 R2 SP1 Important · Windows Server 2008 installed by using the Server Core installation option is not supported for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Server. · Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based systems isn't supported for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013. Important · The Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems aren't supported for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013. · Microsoft Windows Small Business Server editions aren't supported for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013.   Active Directory modes The computer that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013 is running on must be a member in a domain that is running in one of the following Active Directory service forest and domain functional levels: · Windows Server 2003 Interim · Windows Server 2003 Native · Windows Server 2008 Interim · Windows Server 2008 Native · Windows Server 2012   Internet Information Services (IIS) Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013 supports Internet Information Services (IIS) versions 7, 7.5, and 8.0.   SQL Server editions Any one of the following Microsoft SQL Server editions is required and must be installed on Windows Server 2008 (x64 SP2 or R2) versions or Windows Server 2012 64-bit-based computers, running, and available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM: · Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Standard Edition, x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 · Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Enterprise Edition, x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 · Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Datacenter x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 · Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 (for non-production environments only) · Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Enterprise, 64-bit SP1 · Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Business Intelligence, 64-bit SP1 · Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Standard, 64-bit SP1   SQL Server Reporting Services Specific Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services editions are used for reporting functionality. Any one of the following Microsoft SQL Server editions is required and must be installed on Windows Server 2008 (x64 SP2 or R2) versions or Windows Server 2012 64-bit-based computers, running and available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM: · Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Standard Edition, x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 · Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Enterprise Edition, x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 · Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Datacenter x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 · Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer x64 SP3 or R2 SP2 (for non-production environments only) · Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Enterprise, 64-bit SP1 · Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Business Intelligence, 64-bit SP1 · Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Standard, 64-bit SP1   Software component prerequisites The following components must be installed and running on the computer where Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Server will be installed: · Services · Indexing Service (Windows Server 2008)\ Windows Search (Windows Server 2012) · IIS Admin · World Wide Web Publishing · Windows Data Access Components (MDAC) 6.0 (This is the default version of MDAC with Windows Server 2008.) · Microsoft ASP.NET (Must be registered, but does not have to be running.) Note: If not installed, they are installed for a Full Server during Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server Setup. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/august/22/crm-2013-technical-requirements.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/august/22/crm-2013-technical-requirements.aspx Fri, 22 August 2014 16:23:00 2078 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/august/20/dynamics-nav-with-amyuni-on-a-64bit-server-.aspx We recently had to move a client from Windows 2003 (32bit) terminal servers to Windows 2008R2 (or 2012). They were using Amyuni v3 for pdf creation. The client is not utilising the Role Tailored Client so could not use the built in SAVETOPDF function. When trying to launch the process that creates and emails a pdf we received this error message.   Not really helpful but we knew it was related to Amyuni. Here is the fix: 1. Install Version 3.0 of the PDF Convert (Note: it asks if you want to check for and install a new version, but you should say no to this prompt) 2. Make sure the port is a COM and not Serial (as per notes in license file anyway) 3. Update the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{4856F147-7516-11D3-BBE5-D53DCBD65107}\3.0\FLAGS to have a value of zero (it was originally 2) 4. Open NAV Development environment. Find the variable of type Amyuni COM in the relevant code, then save and re-compile the object 5. Update the permission on the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\0001\Software\Navision PDF Converter to allow all users full control. In Server 2008 and later it didn’t allow full control but in 2003 it did. 6. (Optional) Celebrate with a beer. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/august/20/dynamics-nav-with-amyuni-on-a-64bit-server-.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/august/20/dynamics-nav-with-amyuni-on-a-64bit-server-.aspx Wed, 20 August 2014 13:08:00 2078 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/april/04/which-image-type-to-use-with-nav-2013.aspx When printing/exporting you might be surprised to learn that not all image types are the same. We recently had to modify some documents to include a colour logo. We found that while you can use jpeg or png image types. The jpeg did not print properly when sent to PDF. It did not resize and it lost its colour. The fix is to use a png file. Four options but only png works correctly for all of them. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/april/04/which-image-type-to-use-with-nav-2013.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/april/04/which-image-type-to-use-with-nav-2013.aspx Fri, 04 April 2014 15:37:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/march/12/why-should-you-choose-xlcubed.aspx What are some reasons for you to choose XLCubed as your Business Intelligence Solution? XLCubed conducted some research and found a number of reasons, which included: Managed self-service reporting and analytics for the business. Self-service, best practice dashboards. Agile deployment of web dashboards and reports. Mobile delivery. Existing Analysis services users upgrading from Pivot tables due to Frustration with pivot table 'pain points' Additional functionality or flexibility. Performance problems with Pivot tables. Upgrading from competitive or legacy reporting tools Looking for a stronger in-excel environment. Trading up from ‘sunsetted’ products such as ProClarity or Intelligent Apps. Data Warehouse migrations from other platforms to Microsoft SQL Server Many organisations are migrating across to Analysis Services from other platforms to realise cost savings, and need a stronger in-Excel offering to take to their users. Value XLCubed doesn't require a high initial investment. The entry level is a 5-pack of XLCubed Excel edition for $3,900 which includes the first year's support and maintenance, and the unit price falls through additional volume bands. For more information on Excel or Web pricing please contact us at sales@jigsaw.com.au http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/march/12/why-should-you-choose-xlcubed.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2014/march/12/why-should-you-choose-xlcubed.aspx Wed, 12 March 2014 11:31:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/december/18/how-to-delete-saved-passwords-in-windows.aspx Windows can remember how you authenticate to a server or resource.Sometimes you want to remove this or setup one manually. f you saved a password for a network drive in windows and want to remove it, press the keys [Windows] + [R] to open the windows command line. Then enter control keymgr.dll and click on “OK” to open the windows credential manager which allows you to manage and delete passwords saved in Windows. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/december/18/how-to-delete-saved-passwords-in-windows.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/december/18/how-to-delete-saved-passwords-in-windows.aspx Wed, 18 December 2013 12:50:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/november/26/recent-xlcubed-updates.aspx XLCubed have been busy in the past few months and have released both XLCubed 7.5 and 7.6. We go through the new features released in both of the most recent XLCubed updates. 7.5 Update In the XLCubed 7.5 update we saw significant additions including: web and mobile analytics, interactive charting, publication and sharing of PowerPivot and more. We'll now explore some of the big additions in some more detail. Web and Mobile Analytics The 7.5 update delivers cube browsing, reporting and analytics to web and mobile users. For a rundown of web analytics in the 7.5 update check out Web Analytics Intro. Full analytic functionality is available on through the mobile apps for iOS and Android. Interactive Charting Reports in XLCubed can now include interactive (clickable) charts thanks to the 7.5 update. You'll be able to click or touch a point of interest to update the report in-context. You will also be able to drill down to different levels of the report. Publication and sharing of PowerPivot A great addition in version 7.5 is the publication and sharing of PowerPivot models. By publishing PowerPivot reports to XLCubed Web Edition they are upscaled into server based Analysis services. 7.6 Update The XLCubed 7.6 update contains incremental changes rather than the game changing new additions, but there are a few highlights which we will go through. Flex Reporting Flex Reporting is a new feature that allows you to define custom drill paths for reports. Flex Reporting makes what used to be a complex procedure, simple, interactive and flexible. For more information have a look at the video. Seamless SharePoint Integration It has been possible to push XLCubed reports to SharePoint for some time. However with the 7.6 update the process becomes seamless. It is as simple as connecting to the SharePoint server and publishing your XLCubed report, dashboard or piece of analysis. Mobile With the 7.6 update comes a new application for Windows 8 phones. This adds to the iOS and Android applications released with version 7.5. Follow the link to download the Windows 8 XLCubed app.  Sources: http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/251139/2ea02214d6/ARCHIVE http://www.xlcubed.com/products/mobile http://www.xlcubed.com/products/version7-6 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/november/26/recent-xlcubed-updates.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/november/26/recent-xlcubed-updates.aspx Tue, 26 November 2013 11:57:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/november/20/browser-hangs-when-programatically-streaming-pdf-to-client.aspx The client installed a new internal universal access gateway (UAG) and reports which previously streamed back as PDF to the browser stopped working - the browser seemed to hang waiting for the report to arrive. The was to add the bold line below. It seemed the UAG was waiting for the end of the stream and once we added the header for Content-length all was good.                     Response.Clear();                    Response.ContentType = "application/" + strMimeType;                    Response.AddHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment;filename=" + strFileName);                    Response.AddHeader("Content-length", bytes.Length.ToString());                    Response.OutputStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);                    Response.OutputStream.Flush();                    Response.OutputStream.Close();                    Response.Flush();                    Response.Close(); http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/november/20/browser-hangs-when-programatically-streaming-pdf-to-client.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/november/20/browser-hangs-when-programatically-streaming-pdf-to-client.aspx Wed, 20 November 2013 08:35:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/28/downsizing-dangers.aspx Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp, recently told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland there is no hiding from the current global economic crisis. He stressed the need for quick and "drastic action" to turn the tide.The list of businesses - locals to major multinationals - being forced to adopt such extreme defensive tactics to combat this ever-worsening financial catastrophe grows daily. In economic downturns, many otherwise conservatives shoot from the hip. Spending is savaged. Operating costs slashed. Staff pruned to the bone. All done with little or no consideration for the disastrous consequences these measures may have on a company’s long-term strategic planning and future prosperity.Losing experienced sales and marketing employees who have strong relationships with clients ranks high on the list of ‘disasters in the making’. So, too, does an enforced exodus of trained and experienced staff in areas such as finance, production and those with specialist computer or IT skills. “Will employees with comparable skills and abilities be readily available when the business climate improves again, as it most certainly will? I wonder,” says Steve McGrath, Jigsaw’s founder and MD;Usually forgotten are the survivors of a downsized operation. Those remaining employees left with feelings of guilt … fear … depression … anger; emotions brought on by losing workmates and having to take up the slack. More often than not they are forced to learn new tasks. Even take on extra duties for the same or less money. As history would have it, more companies suffer - rather than prosper - from downsizing. Why is this so? Simply because more business managers fail to concentrate on the big picture. They see the need for cutbacks in outgoings and finance. Yet pay greater attention to the people they let go than the ones they keep. For instance, they provide retrenched workers with services such as outplacement counselling, resume writing assistance and other sources for potential job leads. Some organisations even offer early retirement incentives; give severance packages. But, where's the generosity for those who remain behind to do the work? The blow of staying with a company that has downsized needs to be softened, too. Employees often feel threatened their own jobs may be in jeopardy. They may have a growing mistrust of the company. They invariably have little understanding of what management is doing. Or what their role will be in the company's future. Managers must pay attention to the survivors, too.The simple truth is that, unless an organisation was designed expressly for the purpose, it is not in business to provide employment. Jobs are the by-product of successful organisational endeavours, not their intended output. The biggest danger in all this, however, is losing sight of a long-term corporate strategy. It's important to remember that, no matter what state the economy is in, there are always windows of opportunity for those who constantly remind themselves what their core business is all about.This is particularly true in economic down phases which often open up fresh opportunities because nervous competitors spend their time and energy look inward. They become defensive. Often so traumatised they fail to act positively; concentrating instead on cost cutting and freezing investment. These are ideal times to move ahead of such competition.Ask yourself, what is the unique value you deliver to your market? Perhaps it's a particular business or technology expertise? Maybe it's fast delivery, personal service, inexpensive pricing or a combination of strengths. Whatever your value offering is, find it. Stick to it. Above all, don't be like the proverbial hunter who goes after two rabbits at the same time and ends up with none. Concentrate entirely on your core strengths regardless of the economy. This way you'll stand a much greater chance of succeeding.Instead of halting growth and focusing inwardly, find new ways to streamline your business by collaborating with your customers and partners. This may involve investing in new technology which, if it supports your strategy and streamlines operating procedures, you will usually find your return on investment can be fast and favourable.For example, ever-increasing numbers of companies are using MS Dynamics NAV and SunSystems Accounting to help smooth the integration and flow of core business information such as production, accounting, distribution, supply chain, human resources. “We know from long experience, these applications are lowering the cost of doing business. Perhaps, even helping save a few jobs”, says SteveFinally, in these financially perilous times, perhaps a lesson can be learned from a company in the UK during World War 11. In those dark days margarine was strictly rationed and could not be labelled or branded. Despite this, STORK, continued to advertise and plaster its name on billboards all over the country for the entire duration … plus a couple of years afterwards. When branded margarine hit the shelves again, guess which was the biggest seller?We’re now in a different kind of war. Let’s hope it’s a much shorter one. Above all, keep fighting. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/28/downsizing-dangers.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/28/downsizing-dangers.aspx Mon, 28 October 2013 11:44:00 http://www.jigsaw.com.au# http://www.jigsaw.com.au# http://www.jigsaw.com.au# Tue, 22 October 2013 15:33:53 1922 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/18/dynamics-nav-nasjob-queue-excel-saveas-method-failed.aspx Yesterday I came across a really strange issue with one of our clients. An automated routine is generating reports in Excel format and sends those out via email. The job queue entry is now reporting an error when executing the job. “This message is for C/AL programmers: The call to member SaveAs failed. Microsoft Excel returned the following message: SaveAs method of Workbook class failed”   Background: They migrated to new server environment and the Dynamics NAV Application Server (NAS) is now running on a Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64). One of the job queue entries that are executed via the NAS is creating Excel files that will be sent as an Email attachment. The Excel version is Excel 2013. The generation of the Excel file is based on the Excel Buffer in NAV. To use it as an automation without user interaction a function was added to the Excel Buffer table to assist. This is also the place where the last interaction with Excel happens before the error is generated. CloseBook(WorkBookPath : Text[250])//+++JIG1.10IF NOT EXISTS(WorkBookPath) THEN BEGIN  XlWrkBk.SaveAs(WorkBookPath);  XlWrkBk.Close(FALSE);  XlApp.Quit;END;CLEAR(XlApp);//---JIG1.10 Before the migration the job was running fine. Even executing the job manually is working as expected on the new server. The problem occurs only if the NAS comes into play and executes the Job Queue entry. This Issue is not related to permissions on the server or in NAV itself. I compared the details with the user I was using for routine the job manually and tested it out. After a while of research I came across a change in the folder structure of windows server operating system. It seems that Excel is looking for specific folder when it is executed without a User Interface. The folder name is simply ‘Desktop’. For 64 bit environments the folder path is: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop For 32 bit it is: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop   Creating this empty folder prevents NAS/Excel from generating the error. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/18/dynamics-nav-nasjob-queue-excel-saveas-method-failed.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/18/dynamics-nav-nasjob-queue-excel-saveas-method-failed.aspx Fri, 18 October 2013 09:23:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/16/new-in-xlcubed-75.aspx XLCubed version 7.5 is now available! It delivers key additions in the web and mobile environments alongside a number of incremental changes and improvements. Main Additions New web ad-hoc analytic and reporting capability for web based users Slice and dice analytics in Mobile apps and devices Interactive Charting Publication and sharing of PowerPivot reports Web and Mobile Analytics XLCubed 7.5 provides web and mobile users with cube browsing, reporting and analytics. Multi-view ‘analytic books’ can be created from scratch, incorporating dynamic data grids, standard charting, treemaps and small multiples. You can quickly explore their data through drilling and slice and dice, and easily add their own calculations, rankings and report slicers. All the analytic functionality can be accessed through our mobile apps for iOS and Android, giving a rich cube browsing and data exploration experience on mobile devices. Interactive Charting XLCubed reports can now incorporate interactive, clickable charts. You can click or touch a data point of interest to update the rest of the report in-context, and easily explore the data using the chart as a driver, or drill to additional levels of detail in the chart. Publication and sharing of PowerPivot PowerPivot models are seamlessly up scaled into server based Analysis Services by simply publishing the PowerPivot report to XLCubed Web Edition. Web based users can then access the XLCubed developed dashboards or analytical workbooks without the need for SharePoint, or high specification local machines. A full list of changes in XLCubed 7.5 is available on the XLCubed website. Would like to download a trial of XLCubed? http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/16/new-in-xlcubed-75.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/16/new-in-xlcubed-75.aspx Wed, 16 October 2013 10:11:00 http://www.jigsaw.com.au# http://www.jigsaw.com.au# http://www.jigsaw.com.au# Tue, 15 October 2013 14:05:09 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/15/how-to-suspend-and-resume-sql-database-mirroring.aspx There are times when you need to perform an operation that requires database mirroring to be suspended. A good example is when putting the database into single user mode. Here's how to do it. alter database [db name here] set partner suspend;  alter database [db name here] set partner resume; http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/15/how-to-suspend-and-resume-sql-database-mirroring.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/15/how-to-suspend-and-resume-sql-database-mirroring.aspx Tue, 15 October 2013 08:11:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/11/xlcubed-excel-dashboards.aspx Excel is recognised as the most widely used reporting tool in the world today. While many organisations have non-Excel core reporting applications, the final presentation layer is often Excel. “A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.” – Stephen Few, Information Dashboard Design (2006)  While there are multiple definitions of what a dashboard is, or should be, one universal theme is the concept of a single screen. When all the information is available on one screen without scrolling. In this way it's possible to see pattern and shared trend between the various aspects of the business which is not possible with traditional multi-screen layouts. To fully leverage this effect, it's vital to have granular control over the sizing and positioning of the tables and charts comprising a dashboard. Charts can be sized and positioned freely, and rows and columns can be altered in size as required. There are even techniques to allow the simulation of variable width columns and rows. Even within the Excel environment, it can be a challenge to bring all the information onto one screen, and to retain enough visualisation within the report to make it easily digestible. Here the ability to easily create multiple small charts with MicroCharts has huge advantages. This enables creation of 'Visual tables', where the headline number is shown along with graphical elements for trend, comparison to target or exceptions. The Visual table approach, is highly space efficient, and brings together huge volumes of information in a manner which can be easily assimilated. The example below was one of the winners in our 2008 Excel Dashboard Competition. It was developed by Jim Uden of Meridian Surgical Partners, on Hospital Outpatient data. Click on the image for background on the dashboard components and thought process behind the development.  Addressing Excel's Weaknesses Despite the inherent strengths, there are two primary drawbacks associated with Excel for reporting and dashboarding, and the XLCubed suite of products can address both. 1) Spreadmarts This is where data is either simply held in Excel, or copied from the central systems into Excel. Here Excel becomes a database rather than a presentation layer or calculation tool. Core data can be easily overtyped or become out of synch with the central repository. The ensuing problems are why Excel is so unpopular in many IT departments. We're huge Excel fans, but don't believe it makes for a good database. XLCubed Excel edition extends the strengths of Excel, adding advanced analytics, and mitigating the weaknesses by connecting directly to server based data. 2) Report deployment Excel is quick and nimble for report development, but is not well suited for large scale distribution. It doesn't handle multiple users especially well, and the alternative is distributing a potentially large workbook to hundreds of users each reporting cycle. For large deployments the Web browser is the ideal. No client installation is required and users access a centrally updated version of the report. With XLCubed Web edition, data-connected reports can be built in Excel, and simply published to the web. The web version of the reports retain an active connection to the data, and also the dynamic nature of the in-Excel reports where required. Example Dashboard http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/11/xlcubed-excel-dashboards.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/11/xlcubed-excel-dashboards.aspx Fri, 11 October 2013 14:45:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/10/analytical-applications-of-business-intelligence-reporting.aspx The following examples show how XLCubed is being used to provide Business Intelligence solutions to our customers. Application typically contain the following attributes: XLCubed Reports & Sample Analysis   World Class Dashboards and Visual Analysis   A series of Analytical Cube(s) A metadata repository to model the business ETL Layer to facilitate data loading The goal of these applications is to provide customers with a customizable platform which can be integrated with the customers business application to meet their needs and provide rapid implementation and a strong return on investment. OLAP (Online analytical processing) is an approach to answer multi-dimensional analytical queries. OLAP is part of the broader category of business intelligence, which also encompasses relational reporting and data mining. Typical applications of OLAP are used in business reporting for sales, marketing, management reporting, BPM (Business Process Management), budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting and similar areas. XLCubed facilitates a competitive advantage allowing it users to analyse what is important to their business not what is deemed important by the software vendor. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/10/analytical-applications-of-business-intelligence-reporting.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/10/analytical-applications-of-business-intelligence-reporting.aspx Thu, 10 October 2013 16:59:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/10/what-is-microcharts-how-can-it-clarify-data.aspx Most reports comprise one or more data tables, and as such charting has typically been via large charts above or below the numbers, or on separate sheets. Visualisation luminaries such as Edward Tufte and Stephen Few are advocates of larger numbers of smaller, more tightly focused charts to convey information. MicroCharts, implemented though fonts, and controlled via formulae lend themselves perfectly to this approach, and can readily be used to extend existing report packs.   In this case an original data-only Excel table has been enhanced to graphically depict trend and target on a row basis. Significantly more data is being conveyed, and it can be assimilated much more quickly. The revenue plummet in early 05, and strongly over target YTD profit are apparent. Each Microchart resides within an Excel cell, and as they are implemented through fonts, the user has a great degree of control over their sizing, alignment and positioning. MicroCharts can be picked up quickly by existing excel users, and used to extend existing reports or as part of custom built dashboards. The in-cell charts provided include Sparklines, Bullet Graphs, MicroColumns, MicroBars, and KPI icons. Each chart type contains rich formatting options, accessible through the intuitive user interface, and an improved colour palette. Used in addition to Excel's native charting engine, MicroCharts can turn Excel into a truly world class dashboard development environment. To avoid the pitfalls of Excel Spreadmarts, MicroCharts can be used in conjunction with XLCubed Excel Edition to connect the charts directly to the underlying server based data. Reports created in this way can be made dynamically available to a wider, browser based audience with XLCubed Web Edition.   Used in addition to Excel's native charting engine, MicroCharts can turn Excel into a truly world class dashboard development environment. MicroCharts is available to download for a 30 day trial period from here. To avoid the pitfalls of Excel Spreadmarts, MicroCharts can be used in conjunction with XLCubed Excel Edition to connect the charts directly to the underlying server based data. Reports created in this way can be made dynamically available to a wider, browser based audience with XLCubed Web Edition. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/10/what-is-microcharts-how-can-it-clarify-data.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/10/what-is-microcharts-how-can-it-clarify-data.aspx Thu, 10 October 2013 09:17:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/02/can’t-print-from-xlcubed-web-edition.aspx Can’t print from XLCubed Web Edition? For the temp folder (inetpub\wwwroot\xlcubed web\temp) – the application pool account must have write access to this folder.   If you are running in a 64-bit environment check the following setting? It changes an application pool setting to run web site in 64-bit mode:     Select View Application Pools and select the XLCubed application pool   Select Advanced Settings and set Enable 32-bit Applications to False http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/02/can’t-print-from-xlcubed-web-edition.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/october/02/can’t-print-from-xlcubed-web-edition.aspx Wed, 02 October 2013 21:47:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/september/25/olap-or-sql.aspx On the rest of the website you will have read about the Analytical Applications, the dashboards and how easy analysis enabled business users to gain benefit that XLCubed products and services are all about. The truth is that XLCubed is only useful based on data and this section attempts to explain the options available to you and briefly share the experience of 25 years of the author's experience of delivering business intelligence applications. Over the years these applications have been called Executive Information Systems, Management Reports, Performance Management but they all came down to trying to provide insight into business data. The amount of data that business now has in 2009 compared to 1984 is staggering and over those decades different technologies have emerged to cope with the volume of data and demanding needs of the end users. Today the choice for a business intelligence application is largely perceived as between a Relational and/or Multi-Dimensional databases (recently "NEW" columar style databases have been coming to market but these are outside the scope of this discussion). There are numerous flavours of each of the database styles and an ever increasing set of products to make them go faster but let's characterize them as: Relational = SQL = Tables Multi-dimensional = OLAP = Cubes In the most simplistic terms Relational databases design history were for transaction based applications (i.e. getting data in) and Multi-dimensional for reporting (getting data out). In the 90's OLAP databases were largely perceived as very expensive and only for the biggest of companies. Microsoft started to change that when they provided an OLAP database for free with SQLServer 7 in 1997 but I think it's fair to say that the majority of BI remains based on SQL. So what's the difference and where should you consider using each type for BI projects. Let's talk first about OLAP Cubes. A Cube consists of Dimensions and Measures. Dimensions are descriptive elements about business organised into hierarchies e.g. Geography. These examples show the XLCubed Excel member selector and hierarchy examples.   Measures are facts about the business - basically items that you want to know about - Sales, Revenue, Profit, Price etc and the Cube is the combination of these two such that any the Measure at any point in a combination of dimensions is known. In the vast majority of cases Cubes are sourced from relational databases so SQL remains a key part of an overall solution. A cube is constructed through an ETL - (E)xtract, (T)ransform and (L)oad process Extract - Get the data from the source systems Transform - Convert the data into a common format Load - Get it into the cube This is typically called the "Build" process and relies primarily on good relational database design, SQL skills and a perform build process is essential to a high quality BI solution. Too often we see Cube build's taking too long - hours, days even - and alarm bells ring. We also recommend adding a final step to the build process - known as the Validate Step - which basically means that you should make sure that your cube adds up to your source data as red faces ensue if they don't. The cube will also contain calculation's which can be simple Profit= Sales - Costs or extremely complex - Rolling 7 Day Volume weighted margins. These are exposed to the user as new measures or members. End Users then query the cube - rarely directly - but through a front end tool (such as XLCubed) which constructs the query and the end user is hidden from the complexity making it easy to understand. The technology behind cubes ensures that if you follow good design principles that the results of queries are blindingly fast. Navigation through the data becomes intuitive resulting in speed of thought analysis and discovery of actionable items that make a difference. Sounds just what you need for Business Intelligence - and in many cases you will be right - but there are important considerations to assess with respect to application design. Most, if not all, of the edge cases where cubes have challenges require experience, lateral thought and compromise to be successful. Our consultants and customers have examples of success in almost every case. Much of this discussion is based around our decade of experience with Microsoft Analysis Services. Your breadth of reporting needs - Cubes perform best with manageable sets of dimensions- rule of thumb 16 Dimensions - from both a manageability (human beings understanding) and performance. HyperCubes with 100's of dimensions can and are successful but require careful design and typically clarity of explanation. Data Volumes and Dimensional Rate of Change - Very high data volumes (tens of millions of dimension members), 100's of millions of facts require careful thought and design particularly with respect to dimensional hierarchies. How up to date do you need your data - The more up to date the more challenging the cube build becomes. How much hierarchical navigation do your end users need - Cubes excel where there are lots of hierarchies. If there are no real hierarchies then the benefits lessen. If people only want to report on detail data then there really is very little point. How much text data do you want to report on - Cubes do numbers great - Text not so well. What is the nature of your reporting needs - If you simply are producing list style reports which have little need for further interactive analysis then Cubes aren't for you. What is the nature of what you want to do to your measures: Adding Up the Hierarchies - Great Averaging Up the Hierarchies - Great Inception to user defined date - Care to be taken On the Fly Volume Weighting - Care to be taken Complex Triangulation calculation - Care to be taken Ultimately it comes down to how many numbers of having to be added up in the course of a query. If it's millions to billions then be careful. Weighed against the benefits of the cube analytical capabilities is the "Cost" of creating the cube environment both from a software cost and a manpower cost. There has been a perception in the market that Cube and data warehouse projects take a long time are expensive and don't deliver return. This does not have to be the case and personally I think the failure of such projects is much more to do with the definition of the business problem and design failures along the way. Unless a business knows what it wants to do with its information, understands its organization and operational infrastructure and the quality of its source data systems (of which there will be many) then a project is typically doomed. XLCubed consultants are trained to ask: First - the business question's first (The Why - where is the benefit going to come from) Second - Where does the data come from ( The how - we try very hard in this question to look at the detail of the data as I'm afraid the data never lies) Third - The technology infrastructure and environment Business Intelligence projects can be completed in days, weeks and months but without looking at projects this way a tightrope is walked. Based on this analysis the cost benefit of the approach can be taken and a decision taken. Sometimes an evolutionary approach can be taken with a key focus being realizing benefits early. XLCubed products support both OLAP & SQL and our consultants are fully versed in the costs and benefits. So in summary: OLAP = Best for interactive analysis and High Level Aggregated reporting with average latency SQL = Best for detail list style analysis and very high latency In our applications we always look at the costs vs. the benefit and more than often utilize a combination. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/september/25/olap-or-sql.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/september/25/olap-or-sql.aspx Wed, 25 September 2013 09:02:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/september/22/netix-force-manual-process.aspx If you need to pick up the outbound files or make the inbound files (BOS Batches) quicker than the 30 minutes, go to the My Connectors section on the menu list on the left had side. My Connectors – are Connections between NetIX 2 and the client External Connectors – are VAN, FTP, AS2 connections to the Trading Partners. Selecting the My Connectors item will display Highlight the “client” BOS and click the Run button – this will take the data from NetIX2 (BOS Batches) and store it in the holding area for the NETransfer service (at the client) to pick up. NETransfer will also pickup any outbound data files that have been uploaded. For uploaded files it will also kick off the translation process. If you go to the external connectors you can do the same with the VAN mailbox if you need to. Viewing Batch History and Document History and viewing the events will give you (and our Support team) a lot of information about what has happened during communication/translation – this is our first point of call for support to try and track down any issues. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/september/22/netix-force-manual-process.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/september/22/netix-force-manual-process.aspx Sun, 22 September 2013 20:17:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/june/25/the-whole-job-queue-stops-when-a-lock-time-out-occurs.aspx Running NAS with Job Queue will start a timer to process Job Queue Entries every two seconds. In the original code the Timer is disabled before checking the Job Queue Entries and then enabled again after the process. If NAS will not be able to read the Job Queue Entry then the function will exit without enabling the Timer and nothing will be processed. The original code in Codeunit 448 is HandleRequest()   JobQueueSetup.GET;   IF NOT JobQueueSetup."Job Queue Active" THEN   EXIT;   NavTimer.Enabled := FALSE;   ThisSessionIsActive := UpdateJobQueueSession(JobQueueEntry,FALSE);   ...   CleanUpJobQueue;   COMMIT;   NavTimer.Enabled := TRUE;     Its suggested you find a suitable period of time where everything in the Queue should have processed and change the behaviour. Do not disable the timer, just change the interval. Here the interval is changed to five minutes. The replacement code would then be HandleRequest()   JobQueueSetup.GET;   IF NOT JobQueueSetup."Job Queue Active" THEN   EXIT;   NavTimer.Enabled := FALSE;   NavTimer.Interval := 5 * 60 * 1000; // 5 min   NavTimer.Enabled := TRUE;   ThisSessionIsActive := UpdateJobQueueSession(JobQueueEntry,FALSE);   ...   CleanUpJobQueue;   COMMIT;   NavTimer.Enabled := FALSE;   NavTimer.Interval := 2 * 1000; // 2 sec.   NavTimer.Enabled := TRUE; This has been reproduced from a post at http://www.dynamics.is/?p=723 Its is not our idea but I have captured for our use in case the link disappears. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/june/25/the-whole-job-queue-stops-when-a-lock-time-out-occurs.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/june/25/the-whole-job-queue-stops-when-a-lock-time-out-occurs.aspx Tue, 25 June 2013 12:40:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/june/21/dynamics-nav-deadlocks-and-blocking.aspx There are a number of things to try when dealing with locking in NAV2009, NAV2009R2 and NAV5 Serialized Read If you have a specific build or later you can switch away from SERIALIZED to REPEATABLE reads. This applies to Microsoft Dynamics NAV executable versions 5.00 SP1 and later running on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP3 x64 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 x64 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 x64 UPDATE [$ndo$dbproperty] SET diagnostics = 4194304 You'll have to restart the NST, NST and clients for this to take effect   SQL Query Parallelism Reduce the degree of Parallelism Sometime a large proportion of the deadlock output is caused by intra-query parallelism deadlocking. ie. you do it to yourself To try and eliminate these you can altered that maximum degree of parallelism to 1. I don't think that too many queries should suffer because of this. sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism', 1 go reconfigure with override go If you need to back out the change just run the command below sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism', 0 go reconfigure with override go http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/june/21/dynamics-nav-deadlocks-and-blocking.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/june/21/dynamics-nav-deadlocks-and-blocking.aspx Fri, 21 June 2013 11:33:00 1922 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/february/20/missing-permissions-in-nav2009r2.aspx By default Ms Dynamics NAV 09 R2 is missing several permission records for tables that are new in R2. Even in the CRONUS database for NAV 09 R2 these permissions are not included.   Permissions for the following tables need to be added to cover the new functional areas.   DO Payment: Table No.    Table Name (Object ID)    (Object Name) 823        Name/Value Buffer 824        DO Payment Connection Details 825        Microsoft Dynamics ERP Payment Setup 826        Dynamics Online Payment Configuration 827        Dynamics Online Payment Credit Card 828        DO Payment Credit Card Number 829        DO Payment Trans. Log Entry 830        Dynamics Online Payment Card Type   RTC Center: Table No.     Table Name (Object ID)    (Object Name) 9050        Warehouse Basic Cue 9051        Warehouse WMS Cue 9052        Service Cue 9053        Sales Cue 9054        Finance Cue 9055        Purchase Cue 9056        Manufacturing Cue 9057        Job Cue 9058        Warehouse Worker WMS Cue 9059        Administration Cue 9060        SB Owner Cue 9150        My Customer 9151        My Vendor 9152        My Item   Other missing permissions: Table No.    Table Name (Object ID)    (Object Name) 7030    Campaign Target Group 28090    Post Dated Check Line   Most of these tables/objects only need read permission to allow users to work in the functional area. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/february/20/missing-permissions-in-nav2009r2.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/february/20/missing-permissions-in-nav2009r2.aspx Wed, 20 February 2013 12:35:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/january/16/xlcubed-right-click-menu-missing.aspx When you right click a cell containing an XLCubed formula, the right-click menu for XLCubed should appear. The most common causes for the menu not appearing are There may be another calculation applies like *-1 or a - in front. Remove the additional calculation. The spread sheet view needs to be in "Normal" mode. If its in Page Break View (as per image) then then menu will not appear. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/january/16/xlcubed-right-click-menu-missing.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2013/january/16/xlcubed-right-click-menu-missing.aspx Wed, 16 January 2013 11:49:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/december/27/nav-job-queue-says-“in-process”-but-job-has-crashed.aspx If the job encounters an error the Job Queue Entries page will continue to say the job is "In Process". In fact ist not and it will never run again until the job is reset. If you are running NAV 2009SP1 or NAV2009R2 then apply the following code change to Code Unit 448 - Job Queue Dispactcher. The change is made in the Handle Request trigger Replace code WasSuccess := CODEUNIT.RUN(CODEUNIT::"Job Queue Start Codeunit",JobQueueEntry); IF WasSuccess THEN BEGIN IF JobQueueEntry."Recurring Job" THEN BEGIN JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" := 0; JobQueueEntry.Status := JobQueueEntry.Status::Ready; IF NOT JobQueueEntry.MODIFY THEN JobQueueEntry.INSERT; END; END ELSE BEGIN IF JobQueueEntry."Maximum No. of Attempts to Run" > JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" THEN BEGIN JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" := JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" + 1; JobQueueEntry.Status := JobQueueEntry.Status::Ready; IF NOT JobQueueEntry.INSERT THEN JobQueueEntry.MODIFY; END; END; With this code WasSuccess := CODEUNIT.RUN(CODEUNIT::"Job Queue Start Codeunit",JobQueueEntry); IF WasSuccess THEN BEGIN IF JobQueueEntry."Recurring Job" THEN BEGIN JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" := 0; JobQueueEntry.Status := JobQueueEntry.Status::Ready; IF NOT JobQueueEntry.MODIFY THEN JobQueueEntry.INSERT; END; END ELSE BEGIN IF JobQueueEntry."Maximum No. of Attempts to Run" > JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" THEN BEGIN JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" := JobQueueEntry."No. of Attempts to Run" + 1; JobQueueEntry.Status := JobQueueEntry.Status::Ready // Add the following lines. END ELSE JobQueueEntry.Status := JobQueueEntry.Status::Error; // End of the added lines. IF NOT JobQueueEntry.INSERT THEN JobQueueEntry.MODIFY; END; It does not fix your error but at least the job will continue to run. For more detail see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2684834/en-US http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/december/27/nav-job-queue-says-“in-process”-but-job-has-crashed.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/december/27/nav-job-queue-says-“in-process”-but-job-has-crashed.aspx Thu, 27 December 2012 09:30:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/november/12/settings-to-access-printer-are-not-valid.aspx We were trying to print from a dotnet assembly. This assembly was being used by a webserver/service running on Windows 2008R2. Tried applying the registry hack described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184291/en-us But was still receiving the error Settings to access printer "printer name" are not valid Tried writing to a log file the printers available to the impersonated user. The printer shown in the error message is listed in the log as available. The fix is to wrap the call to the printing in the statement using (System.Security.Principal.WindowsImpersonationContext wic = System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.Impersonate(IntPtr.Zero)) { } http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/november/12/settings-to-access-printer-are-not-valid.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/november/12/settings-to-access-printer-are-not-valid.aspx Mon, 12 November 2012 14:39:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/october/24/generate-xsd-from-nav-tables.aspx If you need to generate an xsd to represent a NAV table, use the following SQL command DECLARE @Schema xml SET @Schema = (SELECT top 1 * FROM [Suntory Live$Item]FOR XML AUTO, ELEMENTS, XMLSCHEMA('Item')) -- see the created schema select @Schema You'll then need to tidy up the xsd. I replaced all the _x0020_ with blank as an example http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/october/24/generate-xsd-from-nav-tables.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/october/24/generate-xsd-from-nav-tables.aspx Wed, 24 October 2012 09:45:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/march/07/manually-install-xp_ndo.aspx Sometimes you need to manually install the extended store procedures use by NAV Integrated Security. Copy the xp_ndo.dll file to the location you want store it. The file can be found under "D:\SQLDatabase\PFiles\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\Database" on the product DVD. Run the following SQL command to add the stored procedures. USE master EXEC sp_addextendedproc xp_ndo_enumusersids, 'C:\[Location of file]\xp_ndo.dll' GO GRANT EXECUTE ON [xp_ndo_enumusersids] TO PUBLIC GO USE master EXEC sp_addextendedproc xp_ndo_enumusergroups, 'C:\ [Location of file]\xp_ndo.dll' GO GRANT EXECUTE ON [xp_ndo_enumusergroups] TO PUBLIC GO http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/march/07/manually-install-xp_ndo.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2012/march/07/manually-install-xp_ndo.aspx Wed, 07 March 2012 10:39:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/november/24/enable-and-disable-service-broker.aspx How to enable and disable service broker in Microsoft Dynamics NAV ALTER DATABASE [NAV2009] SET ENABLE_BROKER --SET DISABLE_BROKER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/november/24/enable-and-disable-service-broker.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/november/24/enable-and-disable-service-broker.aspx Thu, 24 November 2011 17:00:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/august/02/nav2009-–-an-io-exception-occurred-during-the-operation-(1).aspx NAV instantiates some temp folders and files based upon the combination of User Name and NAV Service Tier (NST). These cannot be shared. So if you attempt to login from two different machines as the same Windows user on the same NST, the error following message will appear An I/O exception occurred during the operation You'll need to either Create a second NST, which is easy, and connect to it Make sure you don't share user logins across multiple machines http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/august/02/nav2009-–-an-io-exception-occurred-during-the-operation-(1).aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/august/02/nav2009-–-an-io-exception-occurred-during-the-operation-(1).aspx Tue, 02 August 2011 15:36:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/july/22/wrong-date-and-time-interpretation-when-using-dynamics-nav-web-services.aspx The client Regional settings affect date and time interpretations within Dynamics NAV. The Region is easily set when using the Classic or Role Tailored Client (RTC). When using a Web Service its also easy, if you know how (like most things in life). I have an application that takes Point-of-sale (POS) transactions from Advance Retail and passes them into Dynamics NAV. A problem arose where transactions for early one morning (say 6:00am 21st Jan 2011) where appearing in NAV with a Posting Date of the day before (20th Jan 2011). The problem was the client date time was based upon GMT +10 but the Web Service was working in UTC time. The default Time Zone is UTC. -not very helpful when I live in Sydney Australia. Settings within the client application making the Web Service call have no effect on the web service. Within the CustomSettings.config file you'll find   In my case I want to use Australian Eastern Standard time. Restart the web service and the Date and Time is now correctly interpreted. Oh, and if you need the middle-tier (NST) to operate in different Time Zones, just run up another Web service. (see another post on how to do this) http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/july/22/wrong-date-and-time-interpretation-when-using-dynamics-nav-web-services.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/july/22/wrong-date-and-time-interpretation-when-using-dynamics-nav-web-services.aspx Fri, 22 July 2011 08:48:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/july/20/cube-calculations-of-current-date,-month,-quarter-and-year.aspx If you've struggled like me to define BI reports that contain default values for the Year, Month, Date then the following cube calculations might help. Just use these calculations as the selection when the report is defined. Then each time you open the report you'll be referencing the current Year and Month and not the ones you selected when the report was defined. CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Posting Period].[Date].[All].CurrentDate AS STRTOMEMBER("[Posting Period].[Date].&[" + Format(now(), "yyyy-MM-dd")+ "T00:00:00]"), VISIBLE = 1; CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Posting Period].[Week].[All].CurrentWeek AS STRTOMEMBER("[Posting Period].[Week].&[" + CSTR(DATEPART("ww",now())) + "]"), VISIBLE = 1  ;   CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Posting Period].[Period].[All].CurrentMonth AS STRTOMEMBER("[Posting Period].[Period].&[" + Format(now(), "MM")+ "]"), VISIBLE = 1  ; CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Posting Period].[Quarter Name].[All].CurrentQuarter AS STRTOMEMBER("[Posting Period].[Quarter Name].&[Q" + CStr((int(month(now())-1)/3)+1) + "]"), VISIBLE = 1  ; CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Posting Period].[Year].[All].CurrentYear AS STRTOMEMBER("[Posting Period].[Year].&[" + Format(now(), "yyyy")+ "]"), VISIBLE = 1  ; Adjust the Hierarhcy names like [Posting Period].[Period] [to suit your installation. The above calculations assume your using a January - December time frame. If you aren't you'll need to replace now() With DateAdd("m",x,now()) Where x is the month offset you need. For example if you run a July - June year use DateAdd("m",6,now()) http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/july/20/cube-calculations-of-current-date,-month,-quarter-and-year.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/july/20/cube-calculations-of-current-date,-month,-quarter-and-year.aspx Wed, 20 July 2011 13:43:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/31/a-call-to-sspi-failed-in-nav-2009-r2.aspx It is not unusual for your network security guys to force regular password changes. What is unusual is that once you changed your password you can no longer run NAV RTC. And receive the obscure message Equally frustrating is that NAV Classic still works. You will also see Event Log errors like this one on the NAV Server Tier What's happening is your connection details have been cached (without you realising) You can remove this cache entry by running the command rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr And then deleting the connection that represents the NAV Service Tier http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/31/a-call-to-sspi-failed-in-nav-2009-r2.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/31/a-call-to-sspi-failed-in-nav-2009-r2.aspx Tue, 31 May 2011 06:34:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/23/can’t-send-biztalk-documents-from-nav2009-role-tailored-client.aspx As a regular user in NAV 2009 R2, attempting to Send a BizTalk document resulted in the error message. This message is for C/AL programmers: The call to member Send failed: The handle is invalid But I could send if the user happened to be in the network Administrators group. The solution turned out to be due to permissions to the folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys Once I added read permissions to the user group "Everyone" I could send from NAV to BizTalk. Looks like this folder is created by NAV but permissions are not inherited. I say this because other folders above and at the same level as MachineKeys had Read permissions for "Everyone" As far as I can tell. The COM object being run by the NST needs to encrypt the message before it sends to the Commerce Gateway Requestor Service. Is was the encryption that was failing during the send. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/23/can’t-send-biztalk-documents-from-nav2009-role-tailored-client.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/23/can’t-send-biztalk-documents-from-nav2009-role-tailored-client.aspx Mon, 23 May 2011 13:30:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/23/unique-external-document-no-on-sales-order.aspx In Dynamics NAV if you want to make sure the "External Document No." is unique for each Sell-to customer, use the following code on the OnValidate trigger of the field "External Document No." in the Sales Header table (36) SalesHeader.RESET; SalesHeader.SETRANGE(SalesHeader."External Document No.","External Document No."); SalesHeader.SETRANGE(SalesHeader."Sell-to Customer No.","Sell-to Customer No."); SalesHeader.SETFILTER(SalesHeader."No.",'<>%1', "No."); IF SalesHeader.FINDFIRST AND ("External Document No." <> '') THEN ERROR('The external document number should be unique! %2 already existent on %1', SalesHeader."No.","External Document No."); SalesInvHeader.RESET; SalesInvHeader.SETRANGE(SalesInvHeader."External Document No.","External Document No."); SalesInvHeader.SETRANGE(SalesInvHeader."Sell-to Customer No.","Sell-to Customer No."); SalesInvHeader.SETFILTER(SalesInvHeader."No.",'<>%1', "No."); IF SalesInvHeader.FINDFIRST AND ("External Document No." <> '') THEN ERROR('The external document number should be unique! %2 already existent on %1', SalesInvHeader."No.","External Document No."); SalesCrMemoHeader.RESET; SalesCrMemoHeader.SETRANGE(SalesCrMemoHeader."External Document No.","External Document No."); SalesCrMemoHeader.SETRANGE(SalesCrMemoHeader."Sell-to Customer No.","Sell-to Customer No."); SalesCrMemoHeader.SETFILTER(SalesCrMemoHeader."No.",'<>%1', "No."); IF SalesCrMemoHeader.FINDFIRST AND ("External Document No." <> '') THEN ERROR('The external document number should be unique! %2 already existent on %1', SalesCrMemoHeader."No.","External Document No."); http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/23/unique-external-document-no-on-sales-order.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/23/unique-external-document-no-on-sales-order.aspx Mon, 23 May 2011 10:42:00 1859 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/10/crm-2011-–-nav-2009-r2-synchronisation-–-tips-and-tricks.aspx The following pointers are little things we picked up while synchronising Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2, that were not well documented elsewhere. It doesn't cover everything - just the points that were poorly documented by Microsoft, or not obvious to us. Firstly, make sure you have the right version installed. An early version of connector V5 caused errors when used with CRM 2011. To make sure you have the right version, go here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2544388 CRM Users (perhaps only the integration user?) need to be set up as being in the same timezone as the NAV Server. If not, synchronisation will just never work. This needs to be done while logged in as the user, from the File>Options menu. You will need to do this for the integration user before you make it an integration user (you cant log in using that user after that). Currency codes will probably cause a problem once you try to synchronise. This is covered in the connector documentation, by changing a mapping function. What it doesn't tell you is that you cant just copy and past the function in. I had to delete the current value, then user the function builder (from clicking on the paper and pen icon) to construct the function. If you add a new field to NAV and wish to synchronise it, apart from updating config files (which is kind of straight forward), it also needs to be on the appropriate page, else it wont work. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/10/crm-2011-–-nav-2009-r2-synchronisation-–-tips-and-tricks.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/10/crm-2011-–-nav-2009-r2-synchronisation-–-tips-and-tricks.aspx Tue, 10 May 2011 09:45:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/03/manually-create-nav-service-instances.aspx In the default installation just one NAV Server Service and one NAV Business Web Service is created. I have found that in real life you need more NAV Server Services, and then you can spread users across them. In one case I created 7 different instances. Often the documentation suggests names like NAV2, NAV3.. I found it more useful to use names that identify the group of users. This also makes it easier for users to know which Instance they are using. Here is the syntax I use. Create Service NAVAdmin sc \\pandora-nav create MicrosoftDynamicsNAVServer$NAVAdmin binpath= "F:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\ServiceAdmin_WS\Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Server.exe $NAVAdmin" DisplayName= "Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Admin" start= auto type= own depend= NetTcpPortSharing Set the description of the service (otherwise it will be blank) sc description MicrosoftDynamicsNAVServer$NAVAdmin "NAV Service used by Admin" Create a Web Service SC \\pandora-nav CREATE MicrosoftDynamicsNAVWS$Admin binpath= "F:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\ServiceAdmin_WS\Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Server.exe $Admin" DisplayName= "Microsoft Dynamics NAV Business WS" type= share Set the description of the web service sc description MicrosoftDynamicsNAVWS$Admin "NAV Web Service used by WS"   Cutom.config changes <add key="ServerInstance" value="DynamicsNAVAdmin"></add> See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd301437.aspx for full details, particularly on setting up TCP Port Sharing http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/03/manually-create-nav-service-instances.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/may/03/manually-create-nav-service-instances.aspx Tue, 03 May 2011 12:34:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/april/08/don’t-forget-to-upgrade-xp_ndodll.aspx When you upgrade your Dynamics NAV - SQL system to a later version make sure you also update the xp_ndo.dll Copy this file from the installation media. You won't be able to replace the current file as it's probably in use. Copy the new version somewhere else and delete the old version later. The new version is generally found at <source>\SQLDatabase\PFiles\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\Database Copy the 64bit version if appropriate.   Change current procedures   It's easy to forget this step http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/april/08/don’t-forget-to-upgrade-xp_ndodll.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/april/08/don’t-forget-to-upgrade-xp_ndodll.aspx Fri, 08 April 2011 15:26:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/march/31/nav2009r2-dotnet-smtp-add-in.aspx NAV 2009 R2 introduced a new data type - DotNet. Sounded like a good idea but was there any practical use for it? Yes there is. We had a situation where a client wanted to email a large number reports in batch process. The most logical approach would be to use SaveAsPDF for each report the SMTP module built into Codeunit 400 - SMTP - to send each report There are a few inherit problems with using Codeunit 400 No exception handling This is a general C/Side issue - sight This was a real problem as the process would stop on an invalid email address. Validating the address will not solve this issue because while the address may be structurally correct when the SMTP client tries to send it will error if the address does not exist. Sending via an SMTP server is slow - a problem when you have thousands of emails to send The answer was to create a c# DotNet class (JigsawNAVEmail) that wraps System.Net.Mail use this class via the new DotNet data type In the JigsawNAVEmail class allows us to use additional delivery methods Via IIS drop folder Requires SMTP Mail to be setup on the IIS Server Via Specific drop folder The advantage of using delivery via IIS is that "Send" simply creates a file on the local hard drive = fast. IIS SMTP then takes over and delivers the email. (We setup IIS to deliver via a smarthost being the clients Exchange Server) There are two parts to this solution JigsawNAVEmail Class Code unit to wrap and expose the functions Both of these are provided in the zip below. Use at your own risk. Click here to download the source/example http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/march/31/nav2009r2-dotnet-smtp-add-in.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/march/31/nav2009r2-dotnet-smtp-add-in.aspx Thu, 31 March 2011 13:38:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/march/30/create-a-csv-file-via-an-xmlport-with-no-field-delimiter.aspx You are trying to create a CSV file in NAV 2009 using an XMLPort, but you want no field delimiter. When you try to enter a blank in the field "FieldDelimiter" it keeps defaulting to <"> It turns out that unlike most other NAV fields, you can validly enter text between the < > If you enter <None> it works! See below Value Description <None> There is no FieldEndDelimiter <NewLine> Any combination of CR and LF characters <CR/LF> CR followed by LF <CR> CR alone <LF> LF alone <TAB> Tabulator alone Other strings The literal string entered http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/march/30/create-a-csv-file-via-an-xmlport-with-no-field-delimiter.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/march/30/create-a-csv-file-via-an-xmlport-with-no-field-delimiter.aspx Wed, 30 March 2011 15:32:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/february/03/registering-compiled-c-sharp-dll.aspx In an earlier post I gave the command for registering a compiled C# dll. The command I gave was incorrect - the actual command is: c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\RegAsm.exe TripleDES.dll /tlb:TripleDES.tlb /codebase Please note the "/codebase" switch at the end. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/february/03/registering-compiled-c-sharp-dll.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/february/03/registering-compiled-c-sharp-dll.aspx Thu, 03 February 2011 10:37:00 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/january/31/regsvr32-on-64bit-server-–-no-error-or-message.aspx I had a problem registering a 32bit dll on a 64bit server. The dll was custom written and replied upon some registry settings. For example: HKLM\Software\Jigsaw Turns out that if it's a 32bit dll the registry settings need to be under HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Jigsaw Moved the registry settings here and regsvr32 then worked. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/january/31/regsvr32-on-64bit-server-–-no-error-or-message.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2011/january/31/regsvr32-on-64bit-server-–-no-error-or-message.aspx Mon, 31 January 2011 16:28:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/december/05/nav-rtc-development-tips.aspx Here are my Microsoft Dynamics NAV RTC development tips, enjoy. Steve. Dynamic Properties Properties of controls can now be set dynamically. (Well, more dynamically then before). For example, the cells in a column (in a grid) can have a different editable value for each row. I'll describe a quick example of how to do this. In this example, I have added a new boolean (checkbox) field to the sales line called "Faulty Item Replacement". If this checkbox is checked (true), the price fields (unit price and line amount) should be set to zero, and made not editable. The setting to zero is the same as before - I wont discuss this bit. I'll discuss the rest. To do this, I: Added a new Boolean variable to the "Sales Order Subform" page called "PriceDetailsEditable", and set the "IncludeInDataset" property of this variable to true. Made a new function called "UpdatePriceDetailsEditable". This had one line of code in it: "PriceDetailsEditable := NOT "Faulty Item Replacement";" Added call to UpdatePriceDetailsEditable function in the OnAfterGetRecord event. Added call to UpdatePriceDetailsEditable function in "Faulty Item Replacement".OnValidate event. In the "Unit Price" and "Line Amount" fields, I changed the Editable property to "PriceDetailsEditable".   Thats it. The Boolean variable "PriceDetailsEditable" is kept up to date by the calls to the UpdatePriceDetailsEditable function, and this maintains the editable property of the price fields. I don't think there are any shortcuts in doing this. You cant create a function, and call this function in the editable property. It needs a Boolean variable, which has been included in the dataset (the IncludeInDataset bit is kind of important). RunFormMode When opening a page using the properties of an "Action", you can define the RunFormMode. This can be either View, Edit or Create. This use of these should be obvious, and they change the functionality of the form/page opened quite considerably. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/december/05/nav-rtc-development-tips.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/december/05/nav-rtc-development-tips.aspx Sun, 05 December 2010 11:31:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/december/02/nav-rtc-–-add-insdllcom.aspx Creating a control Add-in As you may know, NAV 2009 allows for "Control Add-Ins". This allows you to add any standard windows control (or 3rd party windows controls) to NAV. Not only do you have access to the controls, you have access to their events. By using this, I was able use a standard windows text box (the kind you use in visual studio), and use the "TextChanged" event, so the filters on a customer list update as the user is typing. (similar to find as you type in the classic client, only in text boxes on the grid, not a separate form). It is a bit tricky to get working. You need to compile a special NAV control dll, and this dll needs to be installed on each computer running the role tailored client. But the result is worth it I think. Compiled C# dll's In this scenario, I had built my own dll for encryption (taken from http://mibuso.com/blogs/kirtangor/2010/03/23/implementing-encryption-in-microsoft-dynamics-nav/). While building it was straight forward, registering it was another matter. The standard regsvr32 was not working. The code that ended up doing it was: c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\RegAsm.exe TripleDES.dl /tlb:TripleDES.tlb http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/december/02/nav-rtc-–-add-insdllcom.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/december/02/nav-rtc-–-add-insdllcom.aspx Thu, 02 December 2010 11:26:00 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/24/sql-maintenance-plan-wont-run,-modify-or-delete.aspx We recently replaced on SQL server with another. Ths involved server renaming and some of the Maintenance Jobs stopped running. We were unable to delete them through SQL management Studio. They can be manually "adjusted" and then can be deleted. The issue was that the Server name they referred to no longer existed. Change to the msdb Database Find the ID of the Job using the select statement select * from sysmaintplan_plans Replace the X in the statements below with the ID from Step 2 and run the delete statements delete from sysmaintplan_log where plan_id = 'X' delete from sysmaintplan_subplans where plan_id = 'X' delete from sysmaintplan_plans where id = 'X' Delete the SQL Server Jobs with the Management Studio http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/24/sql-maintenance-plan-wont-run,-modify-or-delete.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/24/sql-maintenance-plan-wont-run,-modify-or-delete.aspx Wed, 24 November 2010 13:23:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/21/miscellaneous-nav-rtc-development-tips.aspx Creating a Menusuite By default when you open up a new NAV 2009 SP1 database, there are 4 menusuite objects: ID Name Modified Version List 10 MBS No NAVW16.00 20 Region No NAVAP6.00 1010 Dept - MBS No NAVW16.00 1020 Dept - Region No NAVAP6.00.01 10 and 20 are for the classic client, 1010 and 1020 are for the role tailored client. The object we need to modify is 1090, which does not exist. If you do the normal "Navigation pane Designer" thing, it will take you to the classic client menusuite, and when you save, save it as object number 90. Not what we want. The only way I have been able to get this working, is by following these steps: Export object 1020. Renumber object 1020 to number 1090. Change the name to "Dept - Company". Import object 1020 from the file you exported in step 1.   Now when you want to modify the RTC menu, be sure to select object 1090, and then click edit.   Properties of Links The point is on the importance of how you set the properties of links/buttons in the MenuSuite. The Department (in the red box below, along with its selections) seems like only controls where abouts this menu item appears within NAV. No - it does more. It seems to also affect the behaviour of the page when it is opened. If you select "List", the page will open within the RTC (not a new window), and will be non editable. This means that even if you add a text box to the window, make it editable, make the whole page editable, that textbox will never be editable, no many how many hours you spend trying to make it so. If you change it to "Administration", it opens in a new window (not within the main RTC), and is editable. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/21/miscellaneous-nav-rtc-development-tips.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/21/miscellaneous-nav-rtc-development-tips.aspx Sun, 21 November 2010 11:20:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/18/nav-rtc-development-training-tools.aspx Some handy tools/sources for learning about development with the NAV RTC: Very comprehensive guide on how to create and maintain pages: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd338806.aspx Library of icons/images you can use for actions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd568728.aspx Walkthrough for creating and using RTC Control Add-in: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd983804.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/18/nav-rtc-development-training-tools.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/18/nav-rtc-development-training-tools.aspx Thu, 18 November 2010 11:17:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/15/microsoft-dynamics-nav-application-objects.aspx Have you ever wondered what Microsoft Dynamics NAV Application objects are include in the two flavours of Business Ready Licensing? For Business Essentials you receive: 7110 Report and Dataport Designer (includes 100 Reports and 100 Dataports) 7150 Form and Page Designer (includes 10 Forms and 10 Pages) 8100 Codeunits (includes 10) For Advance Management you receive: 7110 Report and Dataport Designer (includes 100 Reports and 100 Dataports) 7120 Form and Page Designer (includes 100 Forms and 100 Pages) 7130 Table Designer (includes 10 Tables) 7140 XML Port Designer (includes 100) 8600 Codeunits (includes 100) http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/15/microsoft-dynamics-nav-application-objects.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/15/microsoft-dynamics-nav-application-objects.aspx Mon, 15 November 2010 11:12:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/12/delete-a-rogue-conur-expense-report.aspx Concur Expense Reports Delete a rogue report Sometimes you end up with a Concur Expense Report you can't delete. The user and administrator receive an error message. So the user recreates the report and you process it. But how do you get rid of the rogue report? This is the script I have used for some clients. Use it at your own risk. Get the Employees key Get the Report Key (of the report you want to remove) Change "SET @RPT = " to reflect the report ID to remove and then run the delete statements -- (1) Get employee EMP_KEY select * from CT_EMPLOYEE where FIRST_NAME = 'Cassandra' -- (2) find report RPT_KEY select * from CT_REPORT where EMP_KEY = 125177 -- (3) delete the entries in this order DECLARE @RPT int SET @RPT = 16170 delete CT_REPORT_EXCEPTION where RPT_KEY = @RPT delete CT_REPORT_ENTRY_TAX_ALLOC where RPE_KEY in (select RPE_KEY from CT_REPORT_ENTRY where RPT_KEY = @RPT) delete CT_REPORT_ENTRY_TAX where RPE_KEY in (select RPE_KEY from CT_REPORT_ENTRY where RPT_KEY = @RPT) delete CT_ALLOCATION where RPE_KEY in (select RPE_KEY from CT_REPORT_ENTRY where RPT_KEY = @RPT) delete CT_JOURNAL where RPE_KEY in (select RPE_KEY from CT_REPORT_ENTRY where RPT_KEY = @RPT) delete CT_REPORT_ENTRY where RPT_KEY = @RPT delete CT_EXPENSE_COMMENT where RPT_KEY = @RPT delete CT_REPORT where RPT_KEY = @RPT http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/12/delete-a-rogue-conur-expense-report.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/12/delete-a-rogue-conur-expense-report.aspx Fri, 12 November 2010 11:02:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/09/crm.aspx Very scalable, argues the Dynamics CRM team, as in more than 100,000 users simultaneously. And it says it now has the tests to back up its claim. The claim takes on increasing significance as Microsoft seeks to market Dynamics CRM to ever-larger organizations. The tests, conducted with two pre-release Dell PowerEdge R910 servers equipped with Intel Xeon Processor 7500-series - more commonly referred to as Nehalem-EX processors, netted the following results for the Dynamics CRM team. It accommodated more than 100,000 users concurrently over several organizations. "This is the largest real-world business application workload that we've seen on a Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V system and it proves the scalability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM in private cloud deployments," said Givens on the Dynamics CRM Team Blog. According to Givens, they were also able to handle all that usage on just two servers. "Using virtualization we were also able to consolidate twenty servers down to just two, which means that customers or partners that deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM using this configuration can reduce the power consumption, required rack space and management overhead all while maintaining a high level of performance with the CRM system." This latest testing is an update of a similar test carried out last year. Stated Givens: "To run the tests we reused the workloads from our 50,000 user benchmark in 2009. We partitioned the workload across five environments, each with four virtual servers." Givens provides specific guidance for replicating such large usage, noting that data storage capacity is a major challenge. He concludes: "To get the full benefits of virtualization administrators will need to learn a few new tricks, but overall, enterprises deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM for multiple departments or using the xRM framework to deliver multiple applications using a private cloud approach can be confident the scale, economics and performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 when using Hyper-V." http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/09/crm.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/november/09/crm.aspx Tue, 09 November 2010 10:46:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/october/16/converting-a-site-from-gaia-35-to-36-in-5-minutes.aspx Open the website in Visual Studio Note the names of the current Gaia dll's being used. In my case these are - Gaia.WebWidgets - Gaia.WebWidgets.Extensions   Delete from the bin folder the current Gaia dll's We need to add references to the new dll's   Right-click on the Bin Folder and select "Add Reference" Select the browse tab and navigate to the Gaia 3.6 files. By default these are found in C:\Program Files\Gaia Ajax 3.6\Library Select the dll's you require and click OK. In my case I need - Gaia.WebWidgets - Gaia.WebWidgets.Extensions    The new dll's are added to the project. Any additional dll's required to support the selected ones are also added In my case you'll see Gaia.WebWidgets.Effects has also been added   Build the site, oops   Update the project code to remove ambiguous references. In my case the ambiguous references where due to Validation and GridViewRow objects that now also exist in Gaia 3.6. To fix this I simply added to my c# code using CustomValidator = System.Web.UI.WebControls.CustomValidator; or using GridViewRow = System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewRow; or using RequiredFieldValidator = System.Web.UI.WebControls.RequiredFieldValidator;   Build the site, now only have Warnings related to Effects    The way effects are used has changed from 3.5 to 3.6. To change to the new syntax we need to add a reference to Effects in our source code. (Effects are now in a different namespace)  using Gaia.WebWidgets.Effects; Now convert to the new syntax Was new Gaia.WebWidgets.Effect(pnlStatus,Gaia.WebWidgets. Effect.TypeOfEffect.Appear); new Gaia.WebWidgets.Effect(pnlStatus,Gaia.WebWidgets. Effect.TypeOfEffect.Fade, 5000); Change to pnlStatus.Effects.Add(new EffectAppear()); pnlStatus.Effects.Add(new EffectFade(5000));    Build the site..no Errors or Warnings   Done. Took 5 miuntes To complete the update I could change to the new Gaia 3.6 controls for GridViews and Validators. http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/october/16/converting-a-site-from-gaia-35-to-36-in-5-minutes.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/october/16/converting-a-site-from-gaia-35-to-36-in-5-minutes.aspx Sat, 16 October 2010 15:16:00 1761 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/september/09/manually-register-xp_ndodll.aspx USE master EXEC sp_addextendedproc xp_ndo_enumusergroups, 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\xp_ndo.dll' GO GRANT EXECUTE ON [xp_ndo_enumusergroups] TO PUBLIC GO http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/september/09/manually-register-xp_ndodll.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/september/09/manually-register-xp_ndodll.aspx Thu, 09 September 2010 10:37:00 1762 http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/february/28/welcome.aspx Hi there! , welcome to your new Jigsaw blog http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/february/28/welcome.aspx http://www.jigsaw.com.au/blog/2010/february/28/welcome.aspx Sun, 28 February 2010 11:10:00