AX 2012: All About Lookups!
- 1. Dynamics AX Lookups Muhammad Anas Khan
- 2. Muhammad Anas Khan Overview • A lookup is a small form we use to select a value for a control • A lookup can list the values in a grid or a form • Often shows several fields that help us find and select the correct record • For example, lookup for customer account number will also show customer name • We can bind a lookup form to a field in the form datasource or a control in the form design
- 3. Muhammad Anas Khan3 Controls • Following are the controls which can be bound to a lookup form: – DateEdit – GuidEdit – Int64Edit – IntEdit – RealEdit – ReferenceGroup – StringEdit – TimeEdit
- 4. Muhammad Anas Khan4 Types of Lookup Forms • Standard Lookup Forms • EDT Lookup Forms • Runtime Lookup Forms • Enum Lookup (Not exactly a lookup form)
- 5. Standard Lookup Forms Example, Insight, Lab Activity, Demo
- 7. Muhammad Anas Khan Insight • A standard lookup form is a system generated form • To add a standard lookup form: – you bind a control to a field – from the main table of the form data source – that references the ID of a record in related table • It uses a grid to list the records • Field displayed in the control is dictated by the AutoIdentification field group of the related table
- 8. Muhammad Anas Khan Insight • Fields appearing in the lookup form are specified by a field group or another set of fields from the related table – Lookup bound to surrogate/natural foreign key • shows fields in the AutoLookup field group by default • shows fields used in TitleField1, TitleField2 properties of the table if AutoLookup is empty • shows the first natural key of the table if AutoLookup, TitleField1, TitleField2 all are empty • Use it whenever possible because: – Consistent experience across forms – Easier to maintain as lookup forms get synced with field groups changes
- 9. Muhammad Anas Khan Lab Activity • In AOT, navigate to – Forms>>Form>>Data Sources>>Table>>Fields • Open Fields node in a new window • In the AOT that shows the form, navigate to – Designs>>Design • Drag the field1 from the Fields list to the Design node of the form • As a consequence, a control will be added to the Design node • Check the properties of the newly added control • Following above steps you will successfully build a standard lookup form
- 10. Muhammad Anas Khan Lab Activity ReferenceGroup control • Name • DataSource – Should be the intended table from the form data source • Label • ReferenceField – Should be the intended surrogate foreign key field from the DataSource table you want to bind the control to Other controls • Name • DataField – Should be the intended foreign key field in the DataSource table • DataSource – Should be the intended table from the form data source • Label • LookupButton – Should be set to Auto After finishing lab activity, make sure the following fields have been set correctly
- 11. Muhammad Anas Khan DEMO Standard Lookup Form
- 12. EDT Lookup Forms Example, Insight, Lab Activity, Demo
- 14. Muhammad Anas Khan Insight • EDT can be used to bind a lookup form, from the AOT, to – A field in a form data source table – A control in a form design. The control can be unbound • Style property, of the AOT form to be used as a lookup form, should be set to Lookup1 • Code must be added to the form that updates the value of the control when you select a record. For example, onClose method may be returning a record • Use whenever the lookup form layout is complex
- 15. Muhammad Anas Khan Lab Activity • To add an EDT lookup form: – To a field, set the ExtendedDataType property of that field to the name of the EDT – To a control, set the ExtendedDataType property of that control to the name of the EDT – Finally, set the FormHelp property of the EDT to the name of the AOT form you want to use as a lookup
- 16. Muhammad Anas Khan DEMO EDT Lookup Form
- 17. Runtime Lookup Forms Example, Insight, API, Demo
- 19. Muhammad Anas Khan Insight • It is a custom form you create with X++ code • It can be added to a field in the form data source or a control in the form design • To add a runtime lookup form to a field, override lookup or lookupReference method • To add a runtime lookup form to a control, override lookup or lookupReference method • Difficult to maintain because changes to the lookup require updates to the X++ code. Therefore use only when you need it • Runtime lookup has higher precedence over standard and EDT lookups
- 20. Muhammad Anas Khan lookup() method
- 21. Muhammad Anas Khan lookupReference() method
- 22. Muhammad Anas Khan DEMO Runtime Lookup Form
- 23. Enum Lookup Example, Insight, API, Demo
- 25. Muhammad Anas Khan Insight • Not exactly a lookup form • Useful to know how to filter values in an enum lookup • Possible in case of unbound controls
- 27. Muhammad Anas Khan DEMO Enum Lookup
- 28. When to use what?
- 29. Muhammad Anas Khan • Consistent experience across different forms • Easier to maintain as they get auto synced with changes in field groups • Best to show fields from a field group of a related table Standard Lookups • Best to use if the lookup form layout is complex • Performance hit due to form rendering EDT Lookups • Best to leverage the power of query • Difficult to maintain because of the need to update the code in case of changesRuntime Lookups
- 31. Muhammad Anas Khan31 References • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa597861.aspx • Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – Pg#188