Mark Polino's Blog, page 357
May 23, 2011
Wanda's Wicked Workshop Winner
Congratulations to Jennifer Hershberger. She was the first to read all the way to the end of Wanda's Wicked Workshop and email the correct answer to the movie question. The answer was "The Private Eyes."
Jennifer used a secret code from FastPath to get a free copy of the story and now she's the proud winner of the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Cookbook: Lite Edition.
Though the prize has been won, you can still get a free code from FastPath and read a great story about Dynamics GP.
Weekly Dynamic: Find Debit or Credit Amount
Sometimes you need to find a particular amount that could be either a debit or credit. Maybe it's a rogue transaction or a posted amount that went to a wrong account and you just can't find it.
Well, this is easy to do with a SmartList. All you have to do is:
Open up the default Financial | Account Transactions SmartList Open the Search window Set Debit Amount equal to the amounts your looking for. Repeat this with Credit Amount Set the Search Type to Match 1 or More. This is an "or" setting meaning that it will find transactions where Debit Amount or Credit Amount equals the amount entered. Further refine the search limiting it to certain accounts or dates
May 22, 2011
May 20, 2011
Friday Fun
I confess. I've seen project plans like this. I think I even implemented a plan like this once.
May 19, 2011
Dynamics GP Land: Fun eConnect Bug: Check those field lengths!
Having fun in Dynamics GP Land, Steve Endow tries to exterminate an eConnect Bug: Check those field lengths!
The Dynamics GP Blogster: Microsoft Dynamics GP Database Installation and Upgrade Statuses
New at the Dynamics GP Blogster, Mariano tackles Dynamics GP Database Installation and Upgrade Statuses.
GP 12 Web Client Architecture - Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP
Jan Manley adds a some additional information around customized templates for the GP 12 Web Client Architecture , adding to Mariano's posts on that subject.
Dynamics GP Land: One Very Hairy Dynamics GP Integration
Steve Endow describes One Very Hairy Dynamics GP Integration. I've got one of these going on now too. It's not quite as bad as the one Steve describes but I've definitely got less hair because of it.
Weekly Review: SQL Snapshots and Dynamics GP
Sometimes when implementing Dynamics GP you do a lot of backing up and restoring. Large implementations can require multiple test environments, development environments, etc. Sometimes you need to push a large number of transactions through for testing over and over again, restoring the environment each time.
Well all of those backups and restores take time. A faster alternative is to use functionality in SQL Server to take a snapshot of a company. Snapshots have lots of limitations that make them unsuitable for typical backup/restore needs but for activities that require multiple reloads they are a lifesaver. Why? Snapshot restores are fast. Smoking fast. 4 second restores fast.
In a test on an old, single processor machine, the default TWO company and the Dynamics DB took 45 seconds to backup and another 45 seconds to restore. A snapshot took 6 seconds to backup and 4 seconds to restore. What's more, the snapshots don't slow down much as the db size increases. We've seen GP databases that take an hour for a full backup and restore still create a snapshot in under 10 seconds and restore in under 10 seconds.
Unfortunately Snapshots only work on the Enterprise Edition of SQL Server but if you want to know more about both the power and the limitations of snapshots, here is a great overview.
Here is the SQL Code I used to create and restore my test snapshots:
CREATE DATABASE DYNAMICS_dbss ON
( NAME = 'GPSDYNAMICSDat.mdf', FILENAME =
'c:\DYNAMICS_dbss.ss' )
AS SNAPSHOT OF DYNAMICS;
GO
CREATE DATABASE TWO_dbss ON
( NAME = 'GPSTWODat.mdf', FILENAME =
'C:\TWO_dbss.ss' )
AS SNAPSHOT OF TWO;
GO
-------------------------------------------------
RESTORE DATABASE DYNAMICS FROM DATABASE_SNAPSHOT = 'DYNAMICS_dbss'
go
RESTORE DATABASE TWO FROM DATABASE_SNAPSHOT = 'TWO_dbss'
go
[H.T. to Ross Carlson for this]
Originally Posted by Mark at 5/25/2009 09:00:00 AM 
