The Dynamics GP Blogster

Working recently on an issue, I ran into a situation where I would get the following template processing error attempting to print a SOP Invoice - if you look at the bottom status bar, next to the user ID, you will see a Template Processing accompanied by a yellow warning triangle. Upon inspecting the Template Processing status, I ran into the following Exception Detail message: The following error occurred while processing this report: One or more templates could not be processed. View the exception log for more details. Since the error was referencing a template, I figured I would go back and check to make sure I could edit the template, which was based on the original SOP Blank Invoice Form Template. Upon attempting to modify the template, I received an error: File Not Found:"C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\Temp\SOP Blank Invoice Form Template.docx". After attempting to print the template, and after all the subsequent tell-tell sign errors, I attempted to ex...

It's been about 3 months now since working with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 in our production environment. To recap, at Intelligent Partnerships we run all our information technology infrastructure on Microsoft Azure . A big reason for this, of course, is the high degree of mobility required by our consulting staff and the ability to access demo environments and be able to enter timesheets and expenses from anywhere in the world they happen to be. In addition, we need to be able to run our business and access our financials and analytics without being constrained to a particular geographical location. As such we rely heavily on Dynamics GP's Web Client and Business Analyzer to achieve these goals. One of the issues we started noticing with Web Client recently is, when you attempt to print a report - Standard or Template - but cancel out the printing on the Report Destination window, then attempt to print the report once more, we would receive the following Silverlight error m...

Using Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Intelligence deployment utility to deploy custom SSRS reports - Part 2 In the previous installment , I outlined a technique to deploy your custom SQL Reporting Services reports using the standard Business Intelligence deployment utility provided by Microsoft Dynamics GP (Administration | Setup | System | Reporting Tools Setup). In this installment, I will provide the scripts needed to update the Microsoft Dynamics GP system database tables, sySrsReports and sySrsReportDataSources, respectively. -- Created by Mariano Gomez, MVP -- This code is licensed under the Creative Commons -- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Generic license. declare @objectId uniqueidentifier; declare @rptContent varbinary; declare @reportName varchar(255); -- custom report name information set @reportName = 'Contract Deferred Revenue Detail Report'; select @rptContent = Content from ReportServer.dbo.Catalog where Name = @reportName; -- setup a new GUID...

Using Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Intelligence deployment utility to deploy custom SSRS reports - Part 1 I was in Johannesburg, South Africa this past week visiting a customer with the distinct challenge of working with an extensive number of company databases - one for each company division. While I was there to provide Microsoft Dexterity training , undoubtedly other topics of conversations tend to surface at various points. In this occasion, I was the one doing some learning as the customer pointed me to a method they devised to deploy SQL Reporting Services Reports (SSRS) to multiple companies by using the standard Microsoft Dynamics GP Reporting Tools Setup window. The company have over 50 custom reports of all kind which can take more than a day to deploy if they were to do so manually, once a new division database is rolled out. Reporting Tools Setup window Under their current situation, the customer simply want to click the Deploy Rep...

Granted, MVP Mark Polino hates Report Writer (RW), but even he will admit he loves a good RW nugget when he sees one. Several times I've been asked "how do I visualize long Report Writer calculated field expressions?". At simple glance, it would seem that the horizontal list box control is all we have to visualize the expression, which could be far too complicated to deal with when working with large computations or even when invoking Report Writer functions. RW horizontal list box expression field As it turns out, there's a little known feature in this window that allows you to visualize long expressions. If you click on the "Calculated:" or "Conditional:" prompt - depending on the expression type - next to the horizontal list box, it will display the full calculated or conditional expression in the Calculated Expression window. Calculated Expression window It would be nice if we can get the zoom property for the prompt field and th...

Over the past two weeks, I have downloaded, installed, and been playing with my latest demo toy: Excel Dashboards for Microsoft Dynamics GP! In all fairness, this is not a new product, but rather a research being conducted by the Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Management team on the subject of Business Intelligence. However and to drive the topic, they have created a really cool dashboard using Microsoft Excel 2013, which I also happen to be running on my machine. Excel Dashboard Installation The first thing to do is to download the dashboard which you can find here . Of course, most of the settings are tailored for my friend and Microsoft Program Manager, Jared Hall 's computer, who kindly put this dashboard together for your delight, so some work is needed to make things work. Once you have downloaded the spreadsheet, you will need to follow each of the steps provided on the Instructions sheet in the workbook, including running an embedded stored p...

Codename GP "12" Preliminary Features - Part 1  This is article is part 1 of 4 from the series Codename GP "12" Preliminary Features . Some images and content reproduced with express permission from Microsoft Business Solutions, a division of Microsoft Corporation. DISCLAIMER: These features are subject to change. I am only repeating what I have heard so please don't shoot the messenger. With GP "12" to be released "sometimes next year" - and yes, December 31, 2012 is still within that time frame - there may still be features on the following list that may not make the cut. However, it was fairly clear that the boys and girls on the Microsoft Dynamics GP development team in Fargo are working their rears off to get the feature list to a state where they feel pretty comfortable, meeting the demands on the shopping list. Straight out of GPUG Summit's closing session, comes some of the top features being worked on, based on the tra...

In this corner: David Musgrave In this corner: Mark Polino In case you have missed the heated debates  - all within cordiality, though there was even a call for insanity  - between David Musgrave and Mark Polino on Report Writer, I now join in to continue fueling the heat by declaring this the official Report Writer week! To make this an even more attractive proposition for you the reader, The Dynamics GP Blogster is siding  (more like ganging up against Mark :-) ) with Developing for Dynamics GP  to deliver some really cool Report Writer articles and to show some advanced techniques for developing reports... yes, with Report Writer. Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Getting used to the new Word Templates functionality can be a bit challenging at times. One of those challenges came in the form or a simple question: "How to resize the logo on the template?". One thing to keep in mind is that most objects on a Microsoft Dynamics GP Word Template document live inside of content controls. With that said, here are the steps to achieve this, taking the SOP Blank Invoice Form Template* as an example: 1. Under Report Template Maintenance , select the SOP Blank Invoice Form template from the More Reports list. 2. Click the New button to create a new template. For this example, we will create the template based on the existing template and we will call it SOP Blank Invoice Form Icon . Click Ok to continue. 3. Highlight the newly created template, then click the Modify button to open Microsoft Word. 4. Click on the Picture content control to add a logo image. Note: This image must also exist in the Image library under Template Config...

After a long hiatus from blogging, here I am again with another interesting case straight from one of my clients in Venezuela. As much as many of you dislike Report Writer, I still have to acknowledge that it still has its benefits, especially when working with tightly integrated Dynamics GP reports. Yeah, yeah, build it in SSRS, build it in Crystal, but it's always good when you don't have to build a complex report from scratch and can leverage the built-in application functionality. The client calls me up and asks, " how can I create a CASE...END CASE statement in Report Writer? " In other reporting systems and SmartList Builder for example, it is possible to enter simple formulas that support complex conditional branching logic, for example: CASE X WHEN 1 THEN 'A' WHEN 2 THEN 'B' WHEN 3 THEN 'C' END CASE While it's not as apparent in Microsoft Dynamics GP Report Writer, it is possible to support this type of conditional structures by usi...

"It didn't take long to figure out that the problem wasn't with Business Portal, but rather the way they were trying to use it and NOT using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Both tools have a place in their environment, but one is not a substitute for another" My friend Michael Johnson , a.k.a. "The MBS Guru" has finally come out of hiding and has decided to publish a really clever solution for filtering salesperson-specific data in GP using SSRS over at MSDynamicsWorld. The good thing about Michael's solution is, you can apply it to pretty much any report that requires such type of access and filtering capabilities. They don't call this guy the MBS Guru for nothing! Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

After spending a week in Costa Rica enjoying the spectacular beaches and the fabulous weather in San Jose (although my purpose in San Jose was to deliver Microsoft Dexterity training), I thought it was just appropriate to blog about the international features sported by Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 . The bottom line, there are quite a bit of enhancements for the international community, so let's get right to them: 1. VAT Daybook . You will be pleased to know that the VAT daybook has become a feature available for installation to all countries. Since value added taxes are very common across the globe with most countries requiring pretty much the same tracking and reporting capabilities, the good folks at MS have decided to make it available to everyone. For you folks up in Canada, the VAT Daybook can be used to generate the Canadian GST/HST return in electronic format. You can set up the reporting periods for the return as specified by the tax Canada Revenue Agency . You can assign t...

A few days aback I came across a Partner Forum question where the partner was attempting to add an Extender field to a Report Writer report, not without his share set of challenges. In their infinite wisdom, the folks at eOne added a trigger to the rw_TableHeaderString Report Writer function which allows them to expose data to Report Writer without having to create alternate versions of a report in their application. In turn, with a few steps outlined in the Extender manual, users can invoke the rw_TableHeaderString as a user-defined function in a string calculated field to retrieve the piece of data needed from an Extender table by passing in the Window ID, the key fields, and the position of the field to retrieve on the Extender window. This is an example from such call: Calculated Field: EXTENDER_KEY Expression Type: Calculated Result Type: String Expression: STRIP( SOP_HDR_WORK.SOP Number ) Calculated Field: (C) AdditionalShippingInfo Expression Type: Calculated Result Type: Strin...

"2010 will be a milestone year for Microsoft Dynamics GP..." Microsoft Dynamics GP has a new Nostradamus in MVP Mark Polino . Mark looks into his crystal ball and predicts the fortune of Microsoft Dynamics GP 11, BI, Management Reporter and FRx, and the Microsoft Dynamics GP Community as a whole in his latest MSDynamicsWorld article ... heck, the guy even talks politics! Don't miss out on this great article. Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

The Postal Numeric Encoding Technique (POSTNET) is a barcoding system developed by the United States Postal Service to assist with automatic mail sorting and routing. The POSTNET barcode uses a combination of half-bars and full-bars to encode the zip code that appears on a mail piece. The barcode starts and ends with a full bar (often called a guard rail or frame bar and represented as the letter "S" in the USPS TrueType Font). In the United States, zip codes can be of 5 digits, 9 digits (also known as Zip+4), or 11 digits in the case of a specific delivery point. Each digit in the zip code is represented by 5 bars. Therefore a 5-digit zip code is represented by 25 bars. In addition, to ensurePOSTNET accuracy during mail processing, a check digit, which is five bars, is calculated and added to the zip code. Hence a 5-digit zip code would render a total of 32 bars: 25 bars for the 5-digit zip code + 5 bars for the check digit + the 2 enclosing guard rail bars. Hence, Zip+4...