Read Part One of Working with Microsoft Dynamics AX and .NET: Part 1 here.

Add a reference to .NET Business Connector

In the next example, we create a new project in Visual Studio and add the reference to the project. You can skip this step if you already have a project where you would like to use the .NET Business Connector.

Open Visual Studio and create a new project as shown in the next screenshot:

When you click on OK, you will have a new C# file called Program.cs. Before we start writing any code in the file, we have to add the .NET Business Connector as a reference.

In the Solution Explorer right-click on the References node and select Add Reference.

In the form that opens select Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet.dll under the Browse tab.

The file is found in the ClientBin catalog of your AX installation. The default path is:

C:Program FilesMicrosoft Dynamics Ax50ClientBin

Click on OK and note that the reference has now been added under the References node in the Solution Explorer.

Using the .NET Business Connector in .NET classes

In the next sections of this article we will look at some examples that show how we can use methods in the .NET Business Connector to call AX methods, insert data into AX tables, and read data from AX tables.

Calling a static class method in AX

You now have to go back to AX, open the AOT and find the Global class. Add the following method to the Global class:

static str AxHelloWorld()
{
    return "HelloWorld!";
}

In the Visual Studio project we open the Program.cs file again and enter the following code that will create a connection to AX through the .NET Business Connector. We then call the method we created in the Global class before it prints the result to the console:

using System;
using Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet;
namespace GetAxInfo1
{
    class Program
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// This class connects to AX throught the
        /// .NET Business Connector and call the static method
        /// AxHelloWorld in the Global class in AX.
        /// The result is sent to the console (command prompt).
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="args"></param>
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Axapta ax;
            Object axObject;
            try
            {
                // Create a new Axapta object.
                ax = new Axapta();
                // Logon using the default settings
                // in the AX configuration for the .NET
                // Business Connector
                ax.Logon(null, null, null, null);
                // Call the static method and return the 
                // result to the axObject variable
                axObject = 
                  ax.CallStaticClassMethod("Global", "AxHelloWorld");
                // Print the result to the console
                Console.WriteLine("The message from AX is {0}", 
                  axObject.ToString());                
                ax.Logoff();
            }      
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Execute the program by pressing Ctrl + F5. You should now see the following result in the console (command prompt) that opens up:

If you get a different result it might be because you haven't set up the .NET Business Connector correctly. If so, please refer to the installation guide to set it up properly. Also, check the Windows Event Viewer to see if there are any error messages that can lead you in the right direction.

Insert data into an AX table

As mentioned earlier in this article, you can use the methods in some of the marshaled classes in the .NET Business Connector to manipulate data. However, it is better to avoid this and instead have AX handle all data selection and manipulation. It would be even better to have your .NET application call a method in AX that does the job and returns the results back to the .NET application again. However, this is not always feasible, for instance, when you would like to insert records from your .NET application to an AX table. The next section will guide you through the steps needed to achieve this.

First, you should create a new project in Visual Studio as we did earlier in this article. In this example, we will call the new project "InsertAxRecord".

Then you have to add a reference to the .NET Business Connector.

In the Program.cs file (or whatever you call your file), you write something like this:

using System;
using Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet;
namespace InsertAxRecord
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Axapta ax;
            AxaptaRecord record;
            try
            {
                // Create AX object and logon to AX
                ax = new Axapta();
                ax.Logon(null, null, null, null);
                // Create a new AxaptaRecord object with 
                // the name of the table as input parameter
                using (record = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("CarTable"))
                {
                    // Remember to clear the tablebuffer if
                    // you are inserting inside a loop
                    record.Clear();
                    record.InitValue();
                    // Set the fields in the table
                    record.set_Field("CARID", "XXX1");
                    record.set_Field("MODELYEAR", 1998);
                    record.set_Field("CARBRAND", "FORD");
                    record.set_Field("MODEL", "F1");
                    record.set_Field("MILEAGE", 89378);
                    // Insert the record
                    record.Insert();
                }
                // End the AX session
                ax.Logoff();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

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If you open the table browser and look at the contents of CarTable in AX now (find the table in the AOT and pressing Ctrl + O to open the table browser) you should see that the record has been added.

Read data from an AX table

For our next example we will repeat the procedure from the previous example, except that now we will read data from the table instead of writing to the table.

Start off by creating a new project and add the .NET Business Connector as  a reference to the solution.

Enter the following code into the Program.cs file (or whatever you call your program):

using System;
using Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet;
namespace ReadAxRecord
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Axapta ax;
            AxaptaRecord record;
            Object carId, carBrand, model, modelYear, mileage;
            try
            {
                // Create AX object and logon to AX
                ax = new Axapta();
                ax.Logon(null, null, null, null);
                // Create an AxaptaRecord object from the
                // table that will be used
                using (record = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("CarTable"))
                {
                    // Execute the statement entered as parameter
                    record.ExecuteStmt("select * from %1 
                      where %1.CarBrand like 'BMW'");                     
                    // Loop through the result of the statement.
                    while (record.Found)
                    {
                        // Set our local variables to be
                        // equal to the fields in the table 
                        // for the current record.
                        carId = record.get_Field("CARID");
                        carBrand = record.get_Field("CARBRAND");
                        model = record.get_Field("MODEL");
                        modelYear = record.get_Field("MODELYEAR");
                        mileage = record.get_Field("MILEAGE");
                        // Write the result to the console
                        Console.WriteLine(carId + "t" +
                                          carBrand + "t" +
                                          model + "t" +
                                          modelYear + "t" +
                                          mileage);
                        // Go to the next record in the result set
                        record.Next();
                    }
                    // End the AX session
                    ax.Logoff();
                    // Make sure the console stays up
                    // until a key is pressed
                    Console.ReadKey();
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

Execute the program by pressing Ctrl + F5 and take a look at the result. It should look something like this:

Exception classes

The .NET Business Connector also consists of a number of exceptions that AX can raise. These exceptions are controlled by exception classes that will help you determine further actions if an exception occurs. In the previous example I have only used the standard .NET exception class, but if you would like to write solid code you should consider using the exceptions from the .NET Business Connector instead.

Summary

You should now be able to use .NET classes in AX and also use AX code in  .NET classes.

When using .NET classes in AX you had to add the reference to the .NET class first and then use the code in the .NET class from X++ code. AX makes this possible by using a bridge to the Common Language Runtime.

When you want to use AX functionality in your .NET classes you first had to add a reference to the .NET Business Connector. Then you had to use the marshalled classes that the .NET Business Connector consists of in your .NET code in order to call class methods, manipulate data or read data from AX.

For more examples on how to use the .NET Business Connector to create cool features in other programs, take a look at the Microsoft Dynamics Snap for AX:http://www.codeplex.com/axsnap

The Microsoft Dynamics Snap for AX are free applications that exemplifies how Microsoft Office applications like Excel, Word, and Outlook can be used to integrate with AX.

One of the applications is Business Data Lookup. It enables users that work in Word, Excel, and Outlook to lookup information in AX and paste data back to the Microsoft Offce application.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Programming: Getting Started

Get to grips with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 development quickly to build reliable and robust business applications with this book and eBook

Published: December 2009
eBook Price: £18.99
Book Price: £30.99
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Select your format and quantity:

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