Great Plains Dexterity History and Programming Overview

As of now - Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise is transformed/renamed into Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Business Solutions is in process of merging all its accounting applications: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta into somewhat granular: Microsoft Financials, Microsoft HR, Microsoft Distributions, Microsoft Project Accounting, etc. So the original design of Great Plains should be deemphasized. But even now - Great Plains is written on the programming language and technology, created in early 1990-th, named Great Plains Dexterity. And the graphical interface looks very user friendly and nice - these are all Dexterity forms and screens.

The original architect of Dexterity, Tim Brookins, pursued several goals, the main are these:

1. Engine, supporting graphical interface, which is computer platform independent - if you remember those days - the main competition was between Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Mac was graphical and very popular, but Windows, backed by IBM cloning/platform openness was very dangerous competitor. The new engine was targeted to work on both: Mac and Windows. On the other hand - nobody could look at the future far enough to be sure that other competitors from both Hardware and Operating Systems sides not going to take over. This is why the graphical platform independent engine was required for the new type - Graphical accounting/ERP system: Great Plains Dynamics.

2. Database platform independence - initially Great Plains used Ctree (available for both PC and Mac) and Btrieve, later on with Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Great Plains relatively easy introduced it as a new alternative: Dynamics C/S+ on SQL Server. Again - nobody could guarantee which DB will be a winner. Technically Dexterity could easy provide DB switch. Unfortunately - the necessity to support "cheap" databases, such as ctree forced Dexterity architect to use cursors or loops instead of providing aggregation, available on all SQL blends.

To resolve these goals, and following popular those days believe that C programming language is platform independent, C was chosen as the low level language to write dexterity itself.

This was the story, now to the practical side. You can install Dexterity from Great Plains 7.5 or 8.0 CD #2. Obviously it requires a lot of learning / training, but it allows your custom piece be seamlessly integrated with Great Plains interface.

1. Native Dexterity Cursors. Dexterity was designed as platform independent programming language and so if you want your code to be operable on all currently supported databases ? you use Dexterity ranges and loops to manipulate the records

2. Great Plains Dexterity with SQL Stored Procs Nowadays, most of Great Plains installations are moved to SQL Server ? so you can use Dexterity for custom forms drawing only and make the buttons run SQL stored procedures.

3. COM Objects calls. Beginning with version 7.0 Dexterity supports COM objects ? you register them as libraries in Dexterity. Refer the manual. This technique allows you to call such nice things as web services across the internet.

4. Dexterity Forms ? if you like VBA and are comfortable to do all the business logic in VBA ? you can use Dexterity as new forms creator/editor. This is OK ? but you have to purchase VBA/Modifier and Customization Site Enabler from MBS.

Some restrictions. Great Plains is actually integration of multiple dictionaries: DYNAMICS.DIC, ADVSECUR.DIC, EXP1493.DIC, etc. In your Dexterity customization you can deal with one dictionary ? DYNAMICS.DIC. If you need cross dictionaries customization ? consider using SQL Stored Procs for crossing dictionary borders and pulling data/making changes in the other dictionary.

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call!

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New York and having locations in multiple states and internationally www.albaspectrum.com, he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

akarasev@albaspectrum.com

---

Microsoft Great Plains Integrations ? Retail Management Sample

Microsoft Business Solutions is emerging as very attractive vendor for... Read More

Databases ? How We Love to Hate Them!

You've finally created databases that you can actually use to... Read More

You Can Write Microsoft Office Program in About 60 Minutes

Microsoft Office program is a programming tool called Visual Basic... Read More

Save Your Resources - Combine Your IM Clients

There are so many different programs that clutter up your... Read More

How to Make Own CMS

Every day millions of new web documents emerge on the... Read More

Exactly What Does FTP Stand for and What Can it do for Me?

FTP stands for "file transfer protocol". FTP is basically a... Read More

7 Things to Consider Before Buying Small Business Accounting Software

The world of small business accounting software can be a... Read More

Hear It in Digits

Music downloads are off the charts! We're listening to digital... Read More

Imagine if Everyone Working In Your Office Was In Synch?

Microsoft-Outlook is a pretty amazing program. So much more than... Read More

Microsoft CRM Lotus Notes Domino Connector FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino, being... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: Government & Non-Profit Organization ? Workflow Implementation

Usually workflow & messaging is realized in CRM and then... Read More

Tripwire for Linux File Integrity

What is Tripwire?Tripwire is a form intrusion detection system (IDS)... Read More

An Introduction to .NET Framework

.Net Framework is a platform or development environment to seamlessly... Read More

Microsoft CRM Customization

Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and based on... Read More

Software Review: Xsitepro Total Site Management Software

It's not very often I get excited about a software... Read More

Linux Vs. Windows

This article will not attempt to advocate the use of... Read More

How To Develop Software For Your Business

Software development is a risky business.Many software developers are barely... Read More

An Easy Way to Develop JAVA Enterprise Applications

Research bears that less than 70 percent of development projects... Read More

C++ Function Templates

C++ Function templates are those functions which can handle different... Read More

Hubris - Definition: Microsofts Passport

Before September of 1995, Microsoft ignored the Internet because their... Read More

Device Driver Basics

Most people understand that the "hardware" part of their computer... Read More

Why Java RDBMS?

It is a well known fact that Java as a... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager ? Advanced Techniques

Great Plains Integration Manager scripting and translation - overview for... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Multicurrency ? Overview For Implementation Consultant

When you first think about multicurrency ? you probably have... Read More

10 Programming Tips

(1) Avoid using the same variable again and again for... Read More

Removing Incoming Email in MS Exchange, C# Example

The purpose of one of our projects was MS Exchange... Read More

Is Your Small Business Ready For A CRM Software Solution?

I have yet to see a business that, sometimes in... Read More

Know Linux

Linux essentials:It's free for download but you have to pay... Read More

Dashboard Widgets for Windows

For a windows user like me, just can watch with... Read More

Crystal Reports For Microsoft Navision - Overview For Programmer/IT Specialist

Let us give you - developer some hints in the... Read More

Downloading Spyware Removers: Think Before, not After

Just imagine: you are walking, say, towards your car, and... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains - Microsoft RMS Integration ? overview

Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS)... Read More

Screenshots Vista Windows

Features Additionally, Vista will include many other new features.Aero Vista... Read More