#GPPT Beginner’s Guide to Adding Custom Fields – Publishing the project

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Clik here to view.Welcome to the seventh article in the series of articles that explain in detail the steps to add a user defined custom field to a window using Modifier, Report Writer and GP Power Tools to add the business logic.

The series should be read in order starting with the introduction article:

• #GPPT Beginner’s Guide to Adding Custom Fields – Introduction

In this article we will adjust security and GP Power Tools settings to publish the customization to all users.

For the business example we are working through, we need to add an internet URL field to the Item Maintenance window which can be opened in an internet browser.

The process to do this can be broken down into 6 Steps:

1. Modifying the Window; Use Modifier to add the URL field to the Item Maintenance window with a hyperlinked prompt.
2. Saving the Data; The data will be stored in the DUOS (Dynamic User Object Store) SY90000 table and business logic will be added to handle saving the URL field.
3. Using the Data; Make the hyperlink open the URL in a browser window.
4. Creating the Report Writer Function; Use Power Tools to create a Report Writer Function to allow the data to be pulled into reports.
5. Modifying the Report; Use Report Writer to add a calculated field to call the Report Writer Function.
6. Publishing the Project; Change settings to make the project available to all users.

Follow the steps below to complete Step 6: Publishing the Project. Up to this stage the project has been limited to only work for the current user ID while we perform the development work. Now that the development stage is complete we can publish the customization to all users. (Click on images to see full sized versions and the exported files for the project are listed at the end of the article.)

Note: The instructions below have optional steps depending on the type of environment you have been developing on.

Developing on Live System

1. During the development phase of this project, we limited the triggers to only run for the current User ID. Now that the project is complete and ready to deploy, we can remove that restriction. Open the Project Setup window.
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2. Double click on each of the Triggers to open the Trigger Setup window.
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3. Click the Users Button and click on All Users and Companies to remove the user restriction and click OK.
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4. Click Save on the Trigger Setup window to save the change. Return to the Project Setup window to repeat these step for each of the triggers in the project.
5. The other settings we need to adjust are the Alternate/Modified Form and Report Settings to let all users access the modified versions of the Item Maintenance Form and Detailed Item List Report. Let’s start by removing the Dynamic Product Selection settings we used while in Development. Open the Dynamic Product Selection window (GP Power Tools Area Page >> Setup >> Dynamic Product Selection).
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6. Use the lookup to select the Modified/Alternate ID used by the User ID during development. Expand the left hand tree to find the Item Maintenance window and uncheck it.
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7. Change the Resource Type to Reports and find the Detailed Item List report and uncheck it. Then click Save and close the window.
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8. Now that Dynamic Product Selection is disabled, the steps to grant access to the customization are below. You can also use the steps below to export the customization for backup purposes.

Developing on Development System

1. If your Development System is completely independent of your Live System, the steps to limit the triggers to a specific user were optional. If you did apply the restriction you can remove it using the steps in the previous section. Alternatively, you can remove the restrictions using the solution described below.
2. To move the project from the Development System to the Live System you will need to export the components from the Development System so they can then be imported into the Live System. On the Development System, open Project Setup (GP Power Tools Area Page >> Cards >> Project Setup) to your project.
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3. Make sure the Transfer User and Company details is unchecked. This way even if the triggers are limited to a specific User ID on your Development system, those settings will not be exported. Click the Export button to export the project and all its components to an XML configuration settings file using the name specified on the window.
4. We also need to export package files for the modified form and report. From the Tools menu on any window select Tools >> Customize >> Customization Maintenance.
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5. Select the Detailed Item List Modified Report and click Export. Locate the same path as used for the export of the project, set the file name to Item Detail List Report.Package and click OK.
6. Select the IV_Item_Maintenance Modified Form and click Export. The path should be correct already. Set the file name to IV_Item_Maintenance Form.Package and click OK.
7. If required, copy the three exported files to a location that can be accessed from your Live System.
8. Now, on your live system, go to Configuration Export/Import (GP Power Tools Area Page >> Routines >> Configuration Export/Import).
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9. Use the path button to locate the Configuration Settings file previously exported from the Development System and click Import.
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10. Leave all components selected and click OK to import them into the Live System.
11. From the Tools menu of any window, select Tools >> Customize >> Customization Maintenance. Click Import and use the Browse button to select the IV_Item_Maintenance Form.Package file.
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12. Click OK and then import the Detailed Item List Report.Package file as well.

Granting Access to the Customisation

1. Now that Dynamic Product Selection is disabled, we need to change the Modified/Alternate ID itself to grant access to the modified form and report. Open the Alternate/Modified Forms and Reports window (Administration Area Page >> Setup >> System >> Alternate/Modified Forms and Reports). Select the ID you want to change.
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2. Select the Product as Microsoft Dynamics GP and  Series as Inventory. Then select Type as Windows. Selecting the Product and Series first speeds up the process. Locate and expand the Item Maintenance node and select the Microsoft Dynamics GP (Modified) version.
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3. Change the Type to Reports. Locate and expand the Detailed Item List node and select the Microsoft Dynamics GP (Modified) version.
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4. Click Save and repeat for other Alternate/Modified IDs if required.

Updating the Project

1. If you make further changes to the project on the Development System, you can export it again from the Development System using Project Setup and import it into the Live System also using Project Setup. Once the project exists in a system you can use the Project Setup window to export and import rather than the Configuration Export/Import window.
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2. Adjust the Configuration File Path if needed and then click the Import Button.
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3. If you have removed objects from the project on the Development System and wish them to also be removed from the Live System, select the Remove Project objects checkbox at the bottom of the window. Then click OK.
4. If you have made changes to the modified form or report, use the Customization Maintenance window to export it from the Development system and import it again into the Live system.

You will now have the project working in the live system. If a user was already logged in, they will need to select the company again or logout and login again to enable the triggers which have set to start automatically on login.

Note: As long as GP Power Tools is already installed on all workstations in the system (as per the recommended configuration) and you are either using a shared location for the custom forms and reports dictionaries, or have an automatic synchronisation method (see links below), then you do not need to visit each workstation in your system to deploy the customization.

• Automating Distribution of Customizations Part 1
• Automating Distribution of Customizations Part 2
• #GPPT: Updating GP Power Tools

Here are the project files if you wish to download them:

• GP Power Tools Settings Item Url.dbg.zip

In the final article of this series I will record a video of all the steps put together.

Hope you find this series useful.

David

17-Feb-2020: Updated zip file with correct package files.

This article was originally posted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.