Development process

The development process for an integration begins by creating your application directly in the main product dictionary (Dynamics.dic). This allows you to add new resources, such as new forms and reports, use existing resources in the main product dictionary, such as data types and fields, and customize existing forms and reports. Once you’ve completed your application development, you’ll package your application using Dexterity Utilities, then deliver the application to customers.

The following illustration provides an overview of this process:

This checklist provides the steps required to develop an application that integrates in a multidictionary environment. Each step describes a phase in your application’s development, and provides instructions for finding additional information about each phase.

1. Develop your application in the main product dictionary.

Install the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics GP you will be integrating with, then develop your application directly in the main product dictionary (Dynamics.dic). The main product dictionary that contains the product you’re developing is called the development dictionary. As you add your application’s forms and reports, Dexterity flags each with resource IDs starting at 22,000. This allows Dexterity, Dexterity Utilities, and the runtime engine to differentiate between third-party and main product resources.

As you create your application in the development dictionary, you can:

• Create new forms and reports
• Open main product forms from within your application
• Call procedures and functions in the main product
• Use main product fields on your forms, reports and in tables
• Customize main product forms and reports

Refer to Integration Components, for additional information about creating or modifying forms, reports and tables, or calling main product procedures and functions.

2. Test your integrating application.

Use Dexterity test mode to run the development dictionary. Although test mode does not reflect actual multidictionary operation, new forms and reports you add to the main product dictionary will work the same in test mode as they will in a multidictionary environment.

3. Package your integrating application.

You don’t ship a development dictionary to your customers. Instead, you’ll use Dexterity Utilities to do the following:

• Extract your application dictionary from the development dictionary.
• Transfer any forms or reports you’ve customized to the extracted application dictionary.
• Set product information for the extracted dictionary. This is information that’s added to the launch file when you install your application.
• Prepare the extracted dictionary for installation with your customer’s installation.

Refer to Packaging Your Application, for information about extracting your application dictionary, setting product information and creating an installation file.

4. Update your application.

Subsequent versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP delivered to your customers may include changes that have an effect on the integration with your application. Therefore, you’ll need to deliver an update for your application that corresponds to each core product update. Refer to Updating an Application for information about creating an update chunk.

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