Plataan

Are you also annoyed by the Beep in Dynamics-NAV ?

Whenever a message (dialog box) is shown in Dynamics-NAV or an error occurs then you hear a beep sound. When giving a demo to a prospect or when working in Dynamics-NAV this can become very anoying. Especially when working with a Virtual PC this happens a lot.

A couple of weeks ago one of the students in a training I was delivering asked if it was possible to stop Dynamics-NAV from beeping. And yes, it is possible.

What you should know is that the beeping is in fact a service that can be stopped. There are 3 ways to achieve this.

1) Turn off the beep sound on a particular virtual machine:

• On the virtual machine, click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
• Locate, and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Beep
• In the right pane, right-click Start, and then click Modify.
• In the Value data box, type 4 to turn off the beep sound, and then click OK.
• Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the virtual machine.

2) Turn off the Beep service:

• Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
  sc config beep start= disabled
• To turn the beep sound back on, type the sc config beep start= command together with one of the following startup types: boot, system, auto, demand

3) Stop the Beep service:

You can stop the Beep service by using the Net command. However, in this scenario, the service automatically restarts when you restart the virtual machine or when you restart the host computer.

• To stop the Beep service, type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER: net stop beep
• To start the Beep service, type the following command, and then press ENTER: net start beep

Repair status setup in service management

You probably know this screen: "Repair Status Setup" in  Service Management in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Then you know these 4 parameters as well:

- "pending status allowed"

- "In proces status allowed"

- " finished status allowed"

- "on hold status allowed"

What is the meaning of these parameters?
The online help is telling us:

What do we learn from this?:
- it is about changing the "Service Order Setup"
- When a checkmark in this parameter for a specific repair status occurs, then you can change a service order status to this status when this service order contains a service item line with the specific repair status

Is it that simple?
- YES, When you keep with default demo parameters, you will not notice any difficulties
- NO, when you alter the default setting, you can get into some troubles

STEP 1: Lets assume we have following parameter settings:

 

STEP2: And we make a new service order like this:

2 service item lines: both with Repair status: Initial
Service order status: pending

STEP3: We change the repair status on the lines to In Process

"you cannot change status to in process in service header ..."

Time for a first conclusion:
- the above mentionned parameters do not only have impact on "manually changing the service order status". It is clear that they also have impact on changing the repair status on the lines!

This error was caused because of the parameter setup:
- for the repair status initial, only the "pending status allowed" was checkmarked

This means that no other service order status is allowed then "pending". But off course, Dynamics NAV is also changing the status automatically depending on the priority of service order status connected with the repair status.

 

So his means, that no further transition of the status is possible.

STEP 4: Lets, assume that we want it to be possible that repair status can only change to "in process".
Then we need to change the parameter setup.
For the repair status initial, we need to add a checkmark also in " in process".

Time for a second conclusion:
- With these parameters you can manage which steps in repair status can be made.

EMEA MCT Community Summit

Dedicated to bring the best possible training for our customers Plataan will be attending the EMEA MCT Community Summit (Berlin, Germany, January 14 - 16, 2008).

To bring the best possible training we need to have the latest information on Microsoft technology. One thing is sure, lots of information during the EMEA MCT Community summit :-)

Look at the breakout sessions:

Breakout Sessions January 15, 2008

IT Pro - Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 Active Directory – The secret session!

Running virtualization on Windows Server 2008

Train-the-Trainer on Windows Server 2008 Active Directory courseware (ILT)

Train the Trainer on Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure and Security courseware (ILT)

IT Pro - Office Communication Server 2007

Introduction to implementation and architecture of Office Communication Server 2007

Train-the-Trainer on Office Communication Server 2007 courseware (ILT)

IT Pro – Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

How to incorporate the SharePoint SDK into your classes (TTT)

IT Pro – SQL Server 2008

Train-the-Trainer on SQL Server 2008 courseware (ILT)

What’s new for Database Administrators

IT Pro – System Center Configuration Manager and Virtual Machine Manager

TBD

Developer – Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Adding Silverlight to your SharePoint Implementation

Building Web Services for your MOSS 2007 implementation

Developer – SQL Server 2008

What’s new in SQL Server 2008 for Database Developers

What’s new in SQL Server 2008 for Business Intelligence Developers

Developer - Visual Studio 2008

What’s new in Visual Studio 2008

Microsoft Business Solutions

Microsoft Business Solutions – Dynamics

Both audiences – Soft Skills

So you want to be a SQL MCT…

Breakout Sessions January 16, 2008

IT Pro - Windows Server 2008

Hack to the Future! – The Ultimate Windows Server 2008 Networking Vs Security Guide!

The Windows Server 2008 Application Platform – Technical Drilldown!

Train-the-Trainer on Windows Server 2008 Application Platform courseware (ILT)

IT Pro – Exchange Server 2007

Integrating Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging with OCS

Integrating Exchange Server 2007 SP1 into your Exchange classes

IT Pro - SQL 2008

Advanced Admininistration of SQL Server 2008

So you want to be a SQL MCT

Developer – Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2007

Notes from the field: Migration from SPS 2003 to MOSS 2007: for both Admininstrators and Developers (Co-presentation)

Developer – Visual Studio 2008

Advanced topic on Visual Studio 2008 (TBD)

Learn about LINQ and functional programming

Both audiences – Soft Skills

New Generation Courseware – See what’s coming up from Microsoft Learning

Demos are King – How to incorporate demonstration efficiently in your course deliveries

Virtualization – Tips and tricks on managing virtual machines in Microsoft Official Curriculum deliveries

Developing Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 6.0

A very interesting whitepaper has been released on Partnersource: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 6.0.

It describes in detail the changed in Dynamics-NAV 6.0:

• Architectural changes from a two- to a three-tier architecture, including a discussion of the new RoleTailored client and Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server with Web services support.
• Development improvements and benefits for Microsoft Dynamics-NAV 6.0, including the introduction of the new Page Designer, changes in Object Designer, and enhanced reporting using SQL Server Reporting Services.
• Functionality that needs to be redesigned from a previous version to work in Microsoft Dynamics-NAV 6.0.
• Step-by-step walkthroughs that demonstrate new development features, including creating and modifying pages and creating a report.
• Appendix with a list of elements that have changed in the three-tier architecture.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Test Drive

While surfing I just found a website called
  Microsoft Dynamics NAV Test Drive

Purpose is to introduce people/prospects who are unfamiliar with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and who do not have the Microsoft Dynamics NAV software at hand, to Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

By logging on to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Test Drive using a web browser, people will be able to experience Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 first hand without the need of installing it on the computer. It allows to explore the product or to follow guided exercises and demos.

Special chapters on Improved Job Handling, Advanced Job features, Efficient Inventory Processes, Manage Prepayments and Rapid implementation.

For each chapter, you can:

- View benefits: presentation and feature demo

- View video: video on the features

- Test Drive:
   Discover Microsoft Dynamics NAV by making guided exercises in the
   testdrive console.

The Microsoft Dynamics NAV testdrive console: a virtual environment which allows to discover, play around and make guided exercises without installing the Microsoft Dynamics NAV software.

Substract values with Time datatype in Microsoft Dynamics NAV

I received a number of questions lately from students on how to substract two values in fields or variables of the dataype Time.

1. Assume you have 3 variables:
- " Start Time": Datatype = Time (09:00)
- "Ending Type": Datatype = Time (17:00)
-  "Total Hours": Datatype = DECIMAL
Solution:
"Total hours":=("End Time"-"Start Time")/3600000;
"Total hours" will be 8

2. Assume you have 3 variables:
- " Start Time": Datatype = Time (09:00)
- "Ending Type": Datatype = Time(17:00)
-  "Total Hours": Datatype = DURATION
Solution:
"Total hours":="End Time"-"Start Time";
"Total hours" will be 8 hours

Short one but I hope it helps :-)!

How to set trace flag 4616 in Sql Server ?

As from DynamicsNAV 5.0, when you want to use Sql Server you need to set trace flag 4616, otherwise an error will occur when you try to connect a Dynamics 5.0 client to a Sql Server database.

What is a trace flag in Sql Server?

Trace flags are used to enable specific properties or to change the behaviour of Sql Server.

What does trace flag 4616 do ?

Well, it makes server-level metadata visible to application roles. In SQL Server 2005, an application role cannot access metadata outside its own database because application roles are not associated with a server-level principal. This is a change of behavior from earlier versions of SQL Server. Setting this global flag disables the new restrictions, and allows for application roles to access server-level metadata.

How do you enable a trace flag in Sql Server 2005 ?

There are several ways to enable or disable a trace flag in Sql Server. Maybe the easiest way is to do it in the Sql Server Configuration Manager:

In the Configuration Manager you then go to the properties of the Sql Server service (default is MSSQLSERVER):

In the Advanced tab, select the StartUp parameters and add ;-T4616 at the end and then click on Ok:

Now we have added the trace flag. It will be enabled as soon as we restart the Sql Server service:

Employee portal now also works with Sharepoint Services 3.0 !

A few days ago Microsoft released a new version of Employee Portal for Dynamics NAV 5.0. This update is now available for you to download at PartnerSource.

Employee Portal for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 includes all the known functionality from earlier versions of Employee Portal and in addition supports Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007).

This new release of Employee Portal should also work with Dynamics-NAV 4.0SP3, but in this case should can not use compression.

On Partnersource you can find:

• Product for download
• Fact Sheet to support the sales process
• Installation Guide to support installation