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Great Plains Software Dexterity platform was designed in earlier 1990th to be afoundation for Great Plains Dynamics and Dynamics S/C+. Dex was built on theprinciples of operating system independence (C programming language was in timebelieved to provide shell recompilation, including graphical components) anddatabase platform independence (nobody could say which DB platform will win: MS SQLServer, Sybase, Btrieve, Oracle, IBM DB2). When Microsoft acquired Great PlainsSoftware and formed ERP subdivision, Microsoft Business Solutions, these principleslost their initial focus, as you can suppose, Microsoft turned Great Plains to getadvantages of Microsoft Windows OS source code and MS SQL Server as Microsoftdatabase. Every action or decision obviously has pluses and minuses. Dex lostplatform independence, but it gained the potential to increase its performance. Let s take a look at these potentials closer:1. SQL Aggregation as performance boost. In Dexterity we see Dex native cursors,these constructions allow you to abstract Dexterity sanscript code from low level DBquery, but we know that cursors are similar to for statement in proceduralprogramming languages (C, C++, C#, VB, Fortran, etc.). When the fate of GP databasewas determined, and Microsoft SQL Server was chosen to be the platform for thefuture, Dexterity programmers were encouraged to use select statement and call SQLstored procedures from Dexterity code. You can argue, that this option wasavailable in the past, however if you think about GP ISV partners, they had tobalance SQL and non-SQL Server platforms, such as Pervasive SQL and Ctree andsupporting multiple platforms were easier in native Dexterity cursors. If you areDexterity developer and you work for the company, deploying Great Plains as ERP,please feel free to review your Dex modifications and switch Dex cursors to SQLstored procedures2. eConnect horizons. eConnect was specially designed for e-commerce applicationdevelopers, allowing them to create, delete and modify GP master records and worktransactions. Initially these options were only available to Dexterity programmer,and with eConnect MS Visual Studio.Net developers got some control over GP logic. If you have legacy Dexterity custom dictionary, please think about eConnect first asan option to upgrade your custom logic and port it into eConnect application. Dexhas advantages of being seamlessly integrated with GP user interface and securitymodel, however eConnect enables web applications to have some GP business logic3. COM Objects and Web Services. In 1990th Dynamics had just a few compromises fromOS independence principle VBA would be one of theses. With acquisition byMicrosoft, Dexterity gained new MS and Windows features: COM objects support, forexample (Great Plains Dexterity 7.0 and later versions)
Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group: http://www.albaspectrum.comhe lp@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving Microsoft Dynamics GPGreat Plains customers in USA/Canada nationwide. Local service is available inHouston, TX: Richmond, Sugar Land, Katy, Rosenberg, Missouri City, Pearland,Friendswood, Meadows, Mission Bend, Jersey Village; Chicago, IL: Naperville, Aurora,Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet, Wheaton, Lisle, Downers Grove, Schaumburg, ElkGrove, Lombard, Woodridge, Darien, Westmont, Batavia, St. Charles, Elgin, CrystalLake. Service is also available in Houston and Dallas metros, plus internationallyin Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Oceania and UK. USA nationwide weserve all the states via remote support: CA, NY, WA, PA, FL, IN, MI, MA, MN, GA, AZ,WI, AL, HA, CO, NV, NM, NC, SC, LA
