With custom services, anything and everything in AX can be exposed as Windows Communication Framework (WCF) service. This article concentrates on helping you create your first custom service.

For creating and exposing custom service, following steps are involved:

1. Create a DataContract class (If required. In this example we will skip this step. I will include this in next article)
2. Create a custom service class that utilizes the DataContract class and contains the required Business Logic
3. Create a new Service utilizing service class
4. Add the Service to service group
5. Deploy the service group
6. Verify the deployment ports
7. Consume in Visual Studio (C#)

Let us see how we can achieve this.

Simple Scenario: The scenario we will take in this examples is customers. We will write a service to fetch all customers from default company. Add these customers to a list. Now select a subset of customers, pass it back to Ax and get their names. With this we can see how we can set and get an array of values.

Create Custom Service Class

Do the following:

• In AOT –> Classes node, right click and create new class
• Name it as SamCustomServiceTest

/// <summary>

/// Custom service class to demonstrate the creation and consumption of WCF services from AX

/// </summary>

/// <remarks>

/// This is the custom service class for fetching customer ids and customer names

/// </remarks>

class SamCustomServiceTest

{

}

• Add a service operation method to retrieve customer ids as shown below

/// <summary>

/// Gets a list of customer ids from the specified company

/// </summary>

/// <returns>

///  List of customer Ids

/// </returns>

/// <remarks>

/// AifCollectionTypeAttribute is used to define strongly typed containers for data

/// </remarks>

[AifCollectionTypeAttribute('return', Types::String), SysEntryPointAttribute(true)]

public List retrieveCustomerIds()

{

    List resultSet = new List(Types::String);

    CustTable   custTable;

    while select custTable

    {

        resultSet.addEnd(custTable.AccountNum);

    }

    return resultSet;

}

• Add a service operation method to retrieve a combination of “Customer Ids and names” for the supplied list of customers as shown below

/// <summary>

/// Gets a list of customer ids from the specified company

/// </summary>

/// <param name=”_custList”>

/// The list of customer ids; Mandatory

/// </param>

/// <returns>

///  List of customer Ids

/// </returns>

/// <remarks>

/// AifCollectionTypeAttribute is used to define strongly typed containers for data

/// </remarks>

[SysEntryPointAttribute(true),

 AifCollectionTypeAttribute('return', Types::String),

 AifCollectionTypeAttribute('_custList', Types::String)]

public List retrieveCustomerNames(List _custList)

{

    ListEnumerator  listEnum = _custList.getEnumerator();

    List resultSet = new List(Types::String);

    CustTable   custTable;

    while (listEnum.moveNext())

    {

        select firstOnly custTable

            where custTable.AccountNum == listEnum.current();

        if (custTable)

        {

            resultSet.addEnd(custTable.AccountNum + “: “+ custTable.name());

        }

        else

        {

            resultSet.addEnd(listEnum.current() + “: Customer not found”);

        }

    }

    return resultSet;

}

Note: There are many metadata attributes specifed here. The first one is the AifCollectionTypeAttribute. This class has been developed to create strongly typed collections for data that you need to communicate. Here the return type if List (A collection object). AifCollectionTypeAttribute defines the type of data the list holds. When this service operation is exposed, the return type for the operation will be corresponding data type array (in this case a string array). The SysEntryPointAttribute indicates what authorization checks are performed for a method that is called on the server. This attribute must be set for all service operations. Value ‘true’ indicates authorization checks are performed on the calling user for all tables accessed by the method. Value ‘false’ indicates authorization checks are not performed on any tables accessed by the method. (You may have noticed that processReport method for any Data Provider class has this value set to false).

The service operations should not be named as create, read, update delete, find etc. These names are exclusively reserved for methods on AIF Service classes. If you use these method names in your custom service, you will face errors while deploying them.

Create Custom Service

• In AOT –> Services Right click and add new service
• Name the service as SamCustomService, ExternalName = SamCustomService and specify Class = SamCustomServiceTest

This concludes the session on creating custom services. To conclude, this is something really cool that MS has introduced in AX. Happy servicing the AX guys . Next stop Data Contracts in Services.

Solugenix Corporation is involved in developing some easy to use mobile applications for AX. For more details, check this link out:

http://sandeepchaudhury.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/mobile-applications-from-solugenix-for-microsoft-dynamics-ax/

MS has provided a drop-down ImageLocation and added an option “AOT Resource”. Once we select this option, we can specify the resource name that needs to be used.

Check this out

Nice little change MS.

Here is the modified job:

static void replaceLedgerDimensions1(Args _args)

{

    #LedgerSHA1Hash

    DimensionSHA1Hash               hash; //To store the calculated hash for DimensionAttributeValueSet

    HashKey                         valueKeyHashArray[]; //To store the has key of dimension in question

    Map                             dimAttrIdx, dimAttrRecId; //to store the dimension index and backing entity type

    DimensionAttributeSetItem       dimAttrSetItem; // Contains the number of dimensions active for a account structure ledger   

    DimensionAttribute              dimAttr; // Contains the financial dimensions records

    DimAttributeHcmWorker           dimAttrWorker; //Backing entity view for Employee type dimension

    DimensionAttributeValue         dimAttrValue; // Contains used financial dimension values

    DimensionAttributeValueSet      dimAttrValueSet; //Contains default dimension records

    DimensionAttributeValueSetItem  dimAttrValueSetItem; //Contains individual records for default dimensions

    LedgerDimensionAccount          sourceDimension = 5637145829, targetDimension; //Record Id DimensionAttributeValueCombination table in which attribute value is to be replaced

    DimensionDefault                sourceDefDimension, targetDefDimension; //To hold the default dimension combination from a Ledger dimension

    LedgerDimensionDefaultAccount   defaultLedgerAccount;

    DimensionEnumeration            dimensionSetId; //Record id for table that contains active dimensions for current ledger

    int     dimAttrCount, i;

    int     emplBackEntityType; //Stores the backing entity type for Employee type dimension

    ;

    //The employee backing entity will be the view DimAttributeHcmWorker

    emplBackEntityType = tableNum(DimAttributeHcmWorker);

    //Initialize the map to store the backing entity types

    dimAttrIdx = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Integer);

    dimAttrRecId = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Int64);

    //Get the record Id (dimension set id) for current ledger to find active dimensions

    dimensionSetId = DimensionCache::getDimensionAttributeSetForLedger();

    //Find all the active dimensions for current ledger except main account and store there

    //backing entity type in the map

    while select * from dimAttr

            order by Name

            where dimAttr.Type != DimensionAttributeType::MainAccount

        join RecId from dimAttrSetItem

            where dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttribute == dimAttr.RecId &&

                dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttributeSet == dimensionSetId

    {

        dimAttrCount++;

        dimAttrIdx.insert(dimAttr.BackingEntityType, dimAttrCount);

    }

    //initialize hash key array to null

    for (i = 1; i<= dimAttrCount; i++)

    {

        valueKeyHashArray[i] = emptyGuid();

    }

    // Get the default dimensions from Ledger dimensions

    sourceDefDimension      = DimensionStorage::getDefaultDimensionFromLedgerDimension(sourceDimension);

    //Get the default account from Ledger dimensions

    defaultLedgerAccount    = DimensionStorage::getLedgerDefaultAccountFromLedgerDim(sourceDimension);

    //Find the Dimension attribute record for the dimension to work on, in our case it is HcmWorker

    dimAttr.clear();

    select firstOnly dimAttr

        where dimAttr.BackingEntityType == emplBackEntityType

           && dimAttr.Type  != DimensionAttributeType::DynamicAccount;

    //Get the backing entity type for the dimension value to process

    select firstOnly dimAttrWorker

        where dimAttrWorker.Value == "51011";

    //Find the required Dimension Attribute Value record

    //Create if necessary

    dimAttrValue = DimensionAttributeValue::findByDimensionAttributeAndEntityInst(dimAttr.RecId, dimAttrWorker.RecId, false, true);

    //Store the required combination hash keys

    valueKeyHashArray[dimAttrIdx.lookup(emplBackEntityType)] = dimAttrValue.HashKey;

    //Calculate the hash for the current values

    hash = DimensionAttributeValueSetStorage::getHashFromArray(valueKeyHashArray, dimAttrCount);

    //Null hash indicates no values exist, which may occur if the user entered an invalid value for one dimension attribute

    if (hash == conNull())

    {

        throw error("Wrong value for Employee Dimension");

    }

    // Search for existing value set

    dimAttrValueSet = DimensionAttributeValueSet::findByHash(hash);

    // This value set does not exist, so it must be persisted

    if (!dimAttrValueSet)

    {

        ttsbegin;

        // Insert the value set with appropriate hash

        dimAttrValueSet.Hash = hash;

        dimAttrValueSet.insert();

        //Insert Employee dimension set item

        dimAttrValueSetItem.clear();

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValueSet = dimAttrValueSet.RecId;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValue = dimAttrValue.RecId;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DisplayValue = dimAttrWorker.Value;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.insert();

        ttscommit;

    }

    //Replace the value in default dimension

    targetDefDimension = DimensionDefaultingService::serviceReplaceAttributeValue(sourceDefDimension, dimAttrValueSet.RecId, dimAttr.RecId);

    //Combine the target default dimension, default ledger account to get the resultant ledger dimension

    targetDimension = DimensionDefaultingService::serviceCreateLedgerDimension(defaultLedgerAccount, targetDefDimension);

    info(strFmt("Before: %1", DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(sourceDimension).DisplayValue));

    info(strFmt("Before: %1", DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(targetDimension).DisplayValue));

}

1. Get the target ledger dimension
2. Break it into its component parts (Main account and active dimensions)
3. Prepare the hash key array for each of them except main account (for only financial dimensions)
4. In this hash key array replace the hash key of the required financial dimension with the hash key of attribute value to be replaced
5. Find or create the DimensionAttributeValueSet table
6. Then use the “serviceCreateLedgerDimension” method of DimensionDefaultingService to get the new ledger dimension and use it

If anybody finds a better solution, please share.

Here is the job that does the steps explained above:

static void replaceLedgerDimensions(Args _args)

{

    #LedgerSHA1Hash

    DimensionSHA1Hash               hash; //To store the calculated hash for DimensionAttributeValueSet

    HashKey                         valueKeyHashArray[]; //To store the has key of dimension in question

    Map                             dimAttrIdx, dimAttrRecId; //to store the dimension index and backing entity type

    DimensionAttributeSetItem       dimAttrSetItem; // Contains the number of dimensions active for a account structure ledger

    DimensionAttribute              dimAttr; // Contains the financial dimensions records

    DimensionAttributeValue         dimAttrValue; // Contains used financial dimension values

    DimensionAttributeValueSet      dimAttrValueSet; //Contains default dimension records

    DimensionAttributeValueSetItem  dimAttrValueSetItem; //Contains individual records for default dimensions

    DimAttributeHcmWorker           dimAttrWorker; //Backing entity view for Employee type dimension

    DimensionEnumeration            dimensionSetId; //Record id for table that contains active dimensions for current ledger

    LedgerDimensionAccount          targetDimension = 5637145829; //Record Id DimensionAttributeValueCombination table in which attribute value is to be replaced

    LedgerDimensionAccount          ledgerDimension; // To hold the resultant DimensionAttributeValueCombination record id

    LedgerDimensionAccount          mainAccDimension; // Record id for LedgerDimension(DimensionAttributeValueCombination) containing default account for main account RecId

    DimensionStorage                dimensionStorage; // Class Dimension storage is used to store and manipulate the values of combination

    DimensionStorageSegment         segment; // Class DimensionStorageSegment will get specfic segments based on hierarchies

    int     segmentCount, segmentIndex;

    int     hierarchyCount, hierarchyIndex;

    SysDim  segmentValue, mainAccountValue;

    int     dimAttrCount, i;

    int     emplBackEntityType; //Stores the backing entity type for Employee type dimension

    str     valueStrArray[]; //To store the dimension attribute values

    int64   valueKeyArray[]; //To store the record ids of DimensionAtrributeValue table

    int     backingEntityInstance;

    ;

    //The employee backing entity will be the view DimAttributeHcmWorker

    emplBackEntityType = tableNum(DimAttributeHcmWorker);

    //Initialize the map to store the backing entity types

    dimAttrIdx = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Integer);

    dimAttrRecId = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Int64);

    //Get the record Id (dimension set id) for current ledger to find active dimensions

    dimensionSetId = DimensionCache::getDimensionAttributeSetForLedger();

    //Find all the active dimensions for current ledger except main account and store there

    //backing entity type in the map

    while select * from dimAttr

            order by Name

            where dimAttr.Type != DimensionAttributeType::MainAccount

        join RecId from dimAttrSetItem

            where dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttribute == dimAttr.RecId &&

                dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttributeSet == dimensionSetId

    {

        dimAttrCount++;

        dimAttrIdx.insert(dimAttr.BackingEntityType, dimAttrCount);

        dimAttrRecId.insert(dimAttr.BackingEntityType, dimAttr.RecId);

    }

    //initialize hash key array to null

    for (i = 1; i<= dimAttrCount; i++)

    {

        valueKeyHashArray[i] = emptyGuid();

        valueStrArray[i] = ”;

        valueKeyArray[i] = 0;

    }

    // Default hash key array with required dimension value

    // Get dimension storage

    dimensionStorage = DimensionStorage::findById(targetDimension);

    if (dimensionStorage == null)

    {

        throw error("@SYS83964");

    }

    // Get hierarchy count

    hierarchyCount = dimensionStorage.hierarchyCount();

    //Loop through hierarchies to get individual segments

    for(hierarchyIndex = 1; hierarchyIndex <= hierarchyCount; hierarchyIndex++)

    {

        //Get segment count for hierarchy

        segmentCount = dimensionStorage.segmentCountForHierarchy(hierarchyIndex);

        //Loop through segments and display required values

        for (segmentIndex = 1; segmentIndex <= segmentCount; segmentIndex++)

        {

            // Get segment

            segment = dimensionStorage.getSegmentForHierarchy(hierarchyIndex, segmentIndex);

            // Get the segment information

            if (segment.parmDimensionAttributeValueId() != 0)

            {

                //Get the backing entity type;

                backingEntityInstance = DimensionAttribute::find(DimensionAttributeValue::find(segment.parmDimensionAttributeValueId()).DimensionAttribute).BackingEntityType;

                if (backingEntityInstance == tableNum(DimAttributeMainAccount))

                    mainAccountValue = segment.parmDisplayValue();

                //Default the required arrays

                if (dimAttrIdx.exists(backingEntityInstance))

                {

                    i = dimAttrIdx.lookup(backingEntityInstance);

                    valueKeyHashArray[i]    = segment.parmHashKey();

                    valueKeyArray[i]        = segment.parmDimensionAttributeValueId();

                    valueStrArray[i]        = segment.parmDisplayValue();

                }

            }

        }

    }

    //Find the Dimension attribute record for the dimension to work on, in our case it is HcmWorker

    dimAttr.clear();

    dimAttr = DimensionAttribute::find(dimAttrRecId.lookup(emplBackEntityType));

    //Get the backing entity type for the dimension value to process

    select firstOnly dimAttrWorker

        where dimAttrWorker.Value == "51011";

    //Find the required Dimension Attribute Value record

    //Create if necessary

    dimAttrValue = DimensionAttributeValue::findByDimensionAttributeAndEntityInst(dimAttr.RecId, dimAttrWorker.RecId, false, true);

    //Replace the required combination hash keys and other value arrays

    i = dimAttrIdx.lookup(emplBackEntityType);

    valueKeyHashArray[i]    = dimAttrValue.HashKey;

    valueStrArray[i]        = dimAttrWorker.Value;

    valueKeyArray[i]        = dimAttrValue.RecId;

    //Calculate the hash for the current values

    hash = DimensionAttributeValueSetStorage::getHashFromArray(valueKeyHashArray, dimAttrCount);

    //Null hash indicates no values exist, which may occur if the user entered an invalid value for one dimension attribute

    if (hash == conNull())

    {

        throw error("Wrong value for Employee Dimension");

    }

    // Search for existing value set

    dimAttrValueSet = DimensionAttributeValueSet::findByHash(hash);

    // This value set does not exist, so it must be persisted

    if (!dimAttrValueSet)

    {

        ttsbegin;

        // Insert the value set with appropriate hash

        dimAttrValueSet.Hash = hash;

        dimAttrValueSet.insert();

        // Insert only specified set items use this

        for (i = 1; i <= dimAttrCount; i++)

        {

            if (valueKeyArray[i] != 0)

            {

                dimAttrValueSetItem.clear();

                dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValueSet = dimAttrValueSet.RecId;

                dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValue = valueKeyArray[i];

                dimAttrValueSetItem.DisplayValue = valueStrArray[i];

                dimAttrValueSetItem.insert();

            }

        }

        ttscommit;

    }

    // Get the default account for main account

    mainAccDimension = DimensionStorage::getDefaultAccountForMainAccountNum(mainAccountValue);

    //Find or create the LedgerDimension record for required combination

    ledgerDimension = DimensionDefaultingService::serviceCreateLedgerDimension(

                                                            mainAccDimension,

                                                            dimAttrValueSet.RecId);

    info(strFmt("Original %1: %2", targetDimension, DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(targetDimension).DisplayValue));

    info(strFmt("Replaced %1: %2", ledgerDimension, DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(ledgerDimension).DisplayValue));

}

Here is the output:

The class that we can use is the DimensionDefaultingService and method to use is “serviceReplaceAttributeValue”.

For this purpose, we will use the following combination taken from a customer record.

In this financial dimensions, we will replace value if worker from “114” to “51011”.

The job below will be helpful for you to see how this can be achieved.

static void replaceDefaultDimensions(Args _args)

{

    CustTable                       custTable = CustTable::find(‘CUS-00004′); //Customer Record containing Financial Dimension

    DimensionSHA1Hash               hash; //To store the calculated hash for DimensionAttributeValueSet

    DimensionAttribute              dimAttr; // Contains the financial dimensions records

    DimAttributeHcmWorker           dimAttrWorker; //Backing entity view for Employee type dimension

    DimensionDefault                defaultDimension;

    DimensionEnumeration            dimensionSetId; //Record id for table that contains active dimensions for current ledger

    DimensionAttributeValue         dimAttrValue; // Contains used financial dimension values

    DimensionAttributeValueSet      dimAttrValueSet; //Contains default dimension records

    DimensionAttributeValueSetItem  dimAttrValueSetItem; //Contains individual records for default dimensions

    DimensionAttributeSetItem       dimAttrSetItem; // Contains the number of dimensions active for a account structure ledger

    HashKey valueKeyHashArray[]; //To store the has key of dimension in question

    Map     dimAttrIdx, dimAttrRecId; //to store the dimension index and backing entity type

    int     dimAttrCount, i;

    int     emplBackEntityType; //Stores the backing entity type for Employee type dimension

    //The employee backing entity will be the view DimAttributeHcmWorker

    emplBackEntityType = tableNum(DimAttributeHcmWorker);

    //Initialize the map to store the backing entity types

    dimAttrIdx = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Integer);

    dimAttrRecId = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Int64);

    //Get the record Id (dimension set id) for current ledger to find active dimensions

    dimensionSetId = DimensionCache::getDimensionAttributeSetForLedger();

    //Find all the active dimensions for current ledger except main account and store there

    //backing entity type in the map

    while select * from dimAttr

            order by Name

            where dimAttr.Type != DimensionAttributeType::MainAccount

        join RecId from dimAttrSetItem

            where dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttribute == dimAttr.RecId &&

                dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttributeSet == dimensionSetId

    {

        dimAttrCount++;

        dimAttrIdx.insert(dimAttr.BackingEntityType, dimAttrCount);

        dimAttrRecId.insert(dimAttr.BackingEntityType, dimAttr.RecId);

    }

    //Get the backing entity type for the dimension value to process

    select firstOnly dimAttrWorker

        where dimAttrWorker.Value == "51011";

    //initialize hash key array to null

    for (i = 1; i<= dimAttrCount; i++)

        valueKeyHashArray[i] = emptyGuid();

    //Find the Dimension attribute record for the dimension to work on, in our case it is HcmWorker

    dimAttr.clear();

    dimAttr = DimensionAttribute::find(dimAttrRecId.lookup(emplBackEntityType));

    //Get the backing entity type for the dimension value to process

    select firstOnly dimAttrWorker

        where dimAttrWorker.Value == "51011";

    //Find the required Dimension Attribute Value record

    //Create if necessary

    dimAttrValue = DimensionAttributeValue::findByDimensionAttributeAndEntityInst(dimAttr.RecId, dimAttrWorker.RecId, false, true);

    //Replace the required combination hash keys and other value arrays

    i = dimAttrIdx.lookup(emplBackEntityType);

    valueKeyHashArray[i]    = dimAttrValue.HashKey;

    //Calculate the hash for the current values

    hash = DimensionAttributeValueSetStorage::getHashFromArray(valueKeyHashArray, dimAttrCount);

    //Null hash indicates no values exist, which may occur if the user entered an invalid value for one dimension attribute

    if (hash == conNull())

    {

        throw error("Wrong value for Employee Dimension");

    }

    // Search for existing value set

    dimAttrValueSet = DimensionAttributeValueSet::findByHash(hash);

    // This value set does not exist, so it must be persisted

    if (!dimAttrValueSet)

    {

        ttsbegin;

        // Insert the value set with appropriate hash

        dimAttrValueSet.Hash = hash;

        dimAttrValueSet.insert();

        // Insert only specified set items use this

        dimAttrValueSetItem.clear();

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValueSet = dimAttrValueSet.RecId;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValue = dimAttrValue.RecId;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DisplayValue = dimAttrWorker.Value;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.insert();

        ttscommit;

    }

    defaultDimension = DimensionDefaultingService::serviceReplaceAttributeValue(custTable.DefaultDimension, dimAttrValueSet.RecId, dimAttr.RecId);

    ttsBegin;

    custTable.selectForUpdate(true);

    custTable.DefaultDimension = defaultDimension;

    custTable.doUpdate();

    ttsCommit;

}

This is the output after running this job.

We have seen how we can fetch the values from a dimension combination in my post here. But what if we have to default them using code.

Say you are creating a general journal and want to default the Account and Offset account fields. These fields have been changed to segmented controls and now store RecIds for DimensionAttributeValueCombination table.

The job below will help you in doing that.

Below are the screen shots of dimensions for the two record ids used below:

static void setLedgerDimensions(Args _args)

{

    LedgerDimensionAccount  ledgerDimension; // Record id for LedgerDimension(DimensionAttributeValueCombination) containing combination of dimensions

    LedgerDimensionAccount  mainAccDimension; // Record id for LedgerDimension(DimensionAttributeValueCombination) containing default account for main account RecId

    RefRecId    emplDimAttrRecId = 5637147951; // For ex. purpose defaulting it to required DimensionAttributeValueSet RecordId

    RefRecId    dimensionRecId = 5637145941; // For ex. purpose defaulting it to required DimensionAttributeValueSet RecordId

    ;

    /*

     * For information on finding the record ids for required dimension combinations

     * Go through the following blog

     * http://sumitsaxfactor.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/defaulting-financial-dimensions-ax-2012/

     */

    // Get the default account for main account 110154

    mainAccDimension = DimensionStorage::getDefaultAccountForMainAccountNum("110154");

    //Find or create the LedgerDimension record for required combination

    //Param1 – Ledger Dimension record id, in our case Default account for main account

    //Param2 – Default Dimension Record Id for 1st Dimension Combination

    //Param3 – Default Dimension Record Id for 2nd Dimension Combination

    //Param4 – Default Dimension Record Id for 3rd Dimension Combination

    ledgerDimension = DimensionDefaultingService::serviceCreateLedgerDimension(

                                                            mainAccDimension,

                                                            dimensionRecId,

                                                            emplDimAttrRecId);

    info(strFmt("%1: %2", ledgerDimension, DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(ledgerDimension).DisplayValue));

}

This is the output

Friends I am updating the post to illustrate how we can default dimensions in case the account is  not a ledger account.

In the job above, you can use  the method getDynamicAccount instead of getDefaultAccountForMainAccount and get non-ledger account ledger dimensions. Here is a small job that shows the same.

static void getNonLedgerAccounts(Args _args)

{

    LedgerDimensionAccount  ledgerDim;

    ledgerDim = DimensionStorage::getDynamicAccount(‘VEN-00273′, LedgerJournalACType::Vend);

    info(strFmt("%1 -%2", ledgerDim, DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(ledgerDim).DisplayValue));

}

In AX 2012 dimensions are not directly attached but the combination Record Id is stored. The name generally is DefaultDimension.

This field points to a record in DimensionAttributeValueSet table. This table holds the combination of financial dimensions that a particular record is attached to. The combination is stored in DimensionAttributeValueSetItem table.

The job below will help you in defaulting a dimension: I have put in enough comments to make the job self explanatory. This job will help you find / create a dimension combination record and get the record id to set.

static void setDefaultFinancialDimension(Args _args)

{

    #LedgerSHA1Hash

    DimensionSHA1Hash               hash; //To store the calculated hash for DimensionAttributeValueSet

    HashKey                         valueKeyHashArray[]; //To store the has key of dimension in question

    Map                             dimAttrIdx; //to store the dimension index and backing entity type

    DimensionAttributeSetItem       dimAttrSetItem; // Contains the number of dimensions active for a account structure ledger

    DimensionAttribute              dimAttr; // Contains the financial dimensions records

    DimensionAttributeValue         dimAttrValue; // Contains used financial dimension values

    DimensionAttributeValueSet      dimAttrValueSet; //Contains default dimension records

    DimensionAttributeValueSetItem  dimAttrValueSetItem; //Contains individual records for default dimensions

    DimAttributeHcmWorker           dimAttrWorker; //Backing entity view for Employee type dimension

    DimensionEnumeration            dimensionSetId; //Record id for table that contains active dimensions for current ledger

    int dimAttrCount, i;

    int emplBackEntityType; //Stores the backing entity type for Employee type dimension

    ;

    //The employee backing entity will be the view DimAttributeHcmWorker

    emplBackEntityType = tableNum(DimAttributeHcmWorker);

    //Initialize the map to store the backing entity types

    dimAttrIdx = new Map(Types::Integer, Types::Integer);

    //Get the record Id (dimension set id) for current ledger to find active dimensions

    dimensionSetId = DimensionCache::getDimensionAttributeSetForLedger();

    //Find all the active dimensions for current ledger except main account and store there

    //backing entity type in the map

    while select * from dimAttr

        order by Name

            where dimAttr.Type != DimensionAttributeType::MainAccount

        join RecId from dimAttrSetItem

            where dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttribute == dimAttr.RecId &&

                dimAttrSetItem.DimensionAttributeSet == dimensionSetId

    {

        dimAttrCount++;

        dimAttrIdx.insert(dimAttr.BackingEntityType, dimAttrCount);

    }

    //initialize hash key array to null

    for (i = 1; i<= dimAttrCount; i++)

        valueKeyHashArray[i] = emptyGuid();

    //Find the Dimension attribute record for the dimension to work on

    dimAttr.clear();

    select firstonly dimAttr

        where dimAttr.BackingEntityType == emplBackEntityType;

    //Get the backing entity type for the dimension value to process

    select firstOnly dimAttrWorker

        where dimAttrWorker.Value == ’000038′;

    //Find the required Dimension Attribute Value record

    //Create if necessary

    dimAttrValue = DimensionAttributeValue::findByDimensionAttributeAndEntityInst(dimAttr.RecId, dimAttrWorker.RecId, false, true);

    //Store the required combination hash keys

    valueKeyHashArray[dimAttrIdx.lookup(emplBackEntityType)] = dimAttrValue.HashKey;

    //Calculate the hash for the current values

    hash = DimensionAttributeValueSetStorage::getHashFromArray(valueKeyHashArray, dimAttrCount);

    //Null hash indicates no values exist, which may occur if the user entered an invalid value for one dimension attribute

    if (hash == conNull())

    {

        throw error("Wrong value for Employee Dimension");

    }

    // Search for existing value set

    dimAttrValueSet = DimensionAttributeValueSet::findByHash(hash);

    // This value set does not exist, so it must be persisted

    if (!dimAttrValueSet)

    {

        ttsbegin;

        // Insert the value set with appropriate hash

        dimAttrValueSet.Hash = hash;

        dimAttrValueSet.insert();

        /*

         * This Piece of code is only meant for better understanding hence commented

         * Use this code in case you have to handle more than one dimension

         * For our example we have only employee type dimension hence we will not use this for loop

         * Value key array would be the array of different dimension values

         */

        // Insert only specified set items use this

        /*for (i = 1; i <= dimAttrCount; i++)

        {

            if (valueKeyArray[i] != 0)

            {

                dimAttrValueSetItem.clear();

                dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValueSet = valueSet.RecId;

                dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValue = valueKeyArray[i];

                dimAttrValueSetItem.DisplayValue = valueStrArray[i];

                dimAttrValueSetItem.insert();

            }

        }*/

        //Insert Employee dimension set item

        dimAttrValueSetItem.clear();

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValueSet = dimAttrValueSet.RecId;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DimensionAttributeValue = dimAttrValue.RecId;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.DisplayValue = dimAttrWorker.Value;

        dimAttrValueSetItem.insert();

        ttscommit;

    }

    info(strFmt("%1", dimAttrValueSet.RecId));

}

Dimension combinations are stored are DimensionAttributeValueCombination class. But they are stored as a combination ex: (100010-AX-00001- – - -). How would you know the value in each combination belongs to what dimension?

The answer is through dimension storage class. This class is used to manipulate these combinations.

The job below helps you in finding out the required values. The job has lots of self explanatory comments.

static void getDimensionCombinationValues(Args _args)

{

    // DimensionAttributeValueCombination stores the combinations of dimension values

    // Any tables that uses dimension  combinations for main account and dimensions

    // Has a reference to this table’s recid

    DimensionAttributeValueCombination  dimAttrValueComb;

    //GeneralJournalAccountEntry is one such tables that refrences DimensionAttributeValueCombination

    GeneralJournalAccountEntry          gjAccEntry;

    // Class Dimension storage is used to store and manipulate the values of combination

    DimensionStorage        dimensionStorage;

    // Class DimensionStorageSegment will get specfic segments based on hierarchies

    DimensionStorageSegment segment;

    int                     segmentCount, segmentIndex;

    int                     hierarchyCount, hierarchyIndex;

    str                     segmentName, segmentDescription;

    SysDim                  segmentValue;

    ;

    //Get one record for demo purpose

    gjAccEntry = GeneralJournalAccountEntry::find(5637765403);

    setPrefix("Dimension values fetching");

    //Fetch the Value combination record

    dimAttrValueComb = DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(gjAccEntry.LedgerDimension);

    setPrefix("Breakup for " + dimAttrValueComb.DisplayValue);

    // Get dimension storage

    dimensionStorage = DimensionStorage::findById(gjAccEntry.LedgerDimension);

    if (dimensionStorage == null)

    {

        throw error("@SYS83964");

    }

    // Get hierarchy count

    hierarchyCount = dimensionStorage.hierarchyCount();

    //Loop through hierarchies to get individual segments

    for(hierarchyIndex = 1; hierarchyIndex <= hierarchyCount; hierarchyIndex++)

    {

        setPrefix(strFmt("Hierarchy: %1", DimensionHierarchy::find(dimensionStorage.getHierarchyId(hierarchyIndex)).Name));

        //Get segment count for hierarchy

        segmentCount = dimensionStorage.segmentCountForHierarchy(hierarchyIndex);

        //Loop through segments and display required values

        for (segmentIndex = 1; segmentIndex <= segmentCount; segmentIndex++)

        {

            // Get segment

            segment = dimensionStorage.getSegmentForHierarchy(hierarchyIndex, segmentIndex);

            // Get the segment information

            if (segment.parmDimensionAttributeValueId() != 0)

            {

                // Get segment name

                segmentName = DimensionAttribute::find(DimensionAttributeValue::find(segment.parmDimensionAttributeValueId()).DimensionAttribute).Name;

                //Get segment value (id of the dimension)

                segmentValue        = segment.parmDisplayValue();

                //Get segment value name (Description for dimension)

                segmentDescription  = segment.getName();

                info(strFmt("%1: %2, %3", segmentName, segmentValue, segmentDescription));

            }

        }

    }

}

Here is a sample output after running the code:

Note: Hiearchies: CEEBD_Dept-CostCenter-Purpose and CorpShared_Dept-CostCenter-Purpose are child hierarchies of “Account structure”.

Now had it been Ax 2009, it was pretty simple where you could provide a range on Dimensions[arrayIndex] field. But in Ax 2012 the dimensions on a transaction are always stored a combination value rather than a separate value.

While running the query, I found a support provided by MS where-in all the dimensions will be added as fields for a table having Ledger dimensions on run-time. Now if we were running a query manually, we will be able to specify the range manually as shown below:

For demo purpose, I am using GeneralJournalAccountEntry table that holds the amounts for transactions posted to a main account

Now try and add a range, when you select the drop-down on the Field column, you will notice new fields added to the drop-down

The concept behind is that, these fields are added at run-time and when you add a range to any of these fields, a view (DimensionAttributeLevelValueView) will be dynamically added for each field range record you create, as a child DS for GeneralJournalAccountEntry

This is what the SQL statement looks like at the backend

SELECT * FROM GeneralJournalAccountEntry(GeneralJournalAccountEntry_1) JOIN * FROM DimensionAttributeLevelValueView(DimAttCol_GeneralJournalAccountEntry_1_LedgerDimension_5637145354) ON GeneralJournalAccountEntry.LedgerDimension = DimensionAttributeLevelValueView.ValueCombinationRecId AND ((DimensionAttribute = 5637145354)) AND ((DisplayValue = N’000001′))

Now when we are running queries manually, we can specify such kind of a range, what if we have to do the same thing while running a query at a backend or through a code?

Here comes the DimensionProvider class to our rescue. This class will help us add such ranges as required. Look at the sample job below for some guidance.

static void addDimensionRange(Args _args)

{

    Query                   query = new Query();

    QueryRun                queryRun;

    QueryBuildDataSource    qbds;

    DimensionProvider       dimensionProvider = new DimensionProvider();

    GeneralJournalAccountEntry  accEntry;

    DimensionAttribute      dimAttr;

    Name    dimAttrNameEmpl, dimAttrNameCostCenter;

    int i;

    ;

    select firstOnly dimAttr where dimAttr.BackingEntityType == tableNum(DimAttributeHcmWorker);

    dimAttrNameEmpl = dimAttr.Name;

    select firstOnly dimAttr where dimAttr.BackingEntityType == tableNum(DimAttributeOMCostCenter);

    dimAttrNameCostCenter = dimAttr.Name;

    qbds = query.addDataSource(tableNum(GeneralJournalAccountEntry));

    dimensionProvider.addAttributeRangeToQuery(query, qbds.name(), fieldStr(GeneralJournalAccountEntry, LedgerDimension), DimensionComponent::DimensionAttribute, SysQuery::valueNotEmptyString(), dimAttrNameEmpl, true);

    dimensionProvider.addAttributeRangeToQuery(query, qbds.name(), fieldStr(GeneralJournalAccountEntry, LedgerDimension), DimensionComponent::DimensionAttribute, SysQuery::valueNotEmptyString(), dimAttrNameCostCenter, true);

    queryRun = new QueryRun(query);

    queryRun.prompt();

    while(queryRun.next())

    {

        accEntry = queryRun.get(tableNum(GeneralJournalAccountEntry));

        info(strFmt("%1 <–> %2", DimensionAttributeValueCombination::find(accEntry.LedgerDimension).DisplayValue, accEntry.AccountingCurrencyAmount));

    }

}

Here is the sample output log

This is how the query will be if you prompt the query