Menus for Visual Studio Tools - The wait is over
Some brilliant news for Microsoft Visual Studio developers who use Visual Studio Tools to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0.
Menus for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 has now been released on PartnerSource 
and CustomerSource .
While I was in Fargo, ND for the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2008 last May, I spent some time with the Dynamics GP Developer Support Team. During this time I discussed the main support topics being raised for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP (part of the Developer Toolkit). One of the biggest issues was that a Visual Studio developer was still required to create a Dexterity customization to add menu items to the application navigation menus. In many cases that was the only function that the Dexterity customization included.
After the conference I was attending a 3 day Developer Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 training course run by Steve Gray from 4penny.net. On the morning of the last day of the course I came up with a concept that would allow a Visual Studio Tools developer to call into a generic menu navigation API (Application Programming Interface) created in Dexterity. By the end of the day I had a working prototype of the Dexterity code which could provide up to 20 menu items. Thanks to Steve and Leslie for encouraging me to run with my idea.
Since then the functionality and features have been improved based on feedback from the support and development teams in Fargo and from a number of beta testers. It now includes support for 100 menu items, form level security, sub menus and much more.
For more information on the tool, please see my previous blog posting:
Menus for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0
Also, have a look at this great posting on Mariano Gomez's blog for an introductory look at the product:
First Look at Menus for Visual Studio Tools
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my colleagues on the Asia Pacific Microsoft Dynamics GP support team (Allan, Amy, Marian, Rob & Rochelle) and my Manager (Neil) for supporting me while I was developing the code.
I would also like to thank the members of the working group (from support and development) who helped with all aspects of getting the final product ready for release. They include Scott, Steve, Corey, Brian, Erik, Rob, Andrew, Alice, Dave, Patrick, Emily, Ryan, and Sally.
Finally, a thank you to the beta testers, Steve, Micheal, Mariano, Habib, Nigel, Loren, Edwin, and Vaidy.
Downloads
For downloads, please see the Menus for Visual Studio Tools Portal Page:
Menus for Visual Studio Tools Portal
Support Information
Technical support for Menus for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 can be obtained through the standard Dynamics GP Support channels. Information on contacting support can be found in the support area of the MSDN Dynamics GP Developer Center.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/gp/bb468042.aspx
For customers or partners on a Dynamics specific support plan, please use the following link from CustomerSource or PartnerSource to log a "Visual Studio Tools-Developer Toolkit" case.
https://mbs.microsoft.com/support
More Information
For more information, please see the Menus for Visual Studio Tools Portal Page:
Menus for Visual Studio Tools Portal
I hope you find Menus for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 and GP 2010 to be a useful and time saving product.
Please provide feedback on your experiences as comments on this posting.
David
13-Oct-2008: Created post on Using Menus for Visual Studio Tools from VBA.
24-Jun-2010: Added Updated Links including Menus for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.
03-Nov-2010: Added links to related articles.
16-May-2013: Changed More Information and Downloads to go to Menus for Visual Studio Tools Portal Page.
Comments
Anonymous
September 24, 2008
PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2008/07/30/visual-studio-tools-menus-for-microsoft-dynamics-gp.aspxAnonymous
September 24, 2008
Hi Congrats to Microsoft Visual Studio developersDavid. Its great achievement ,It is very useful for Non-Dex guys.... Regards VijayAnonymous
September 25, 2008
Yay! Thanks David. Brilliant work. I know I'll be using it on one project right away. Regards HabibAnonymous
September 25, 2008
Just implemented this on a client project. A real life saver. Thanks for all of the effort!Anonymous
September 25, 2008
Posting from VSToolsForum.com http://vstoolsforum.com/forums/p/563/1288.aspx#1288Anonymous
September 29, 2008
Posting from DynamicAccounting.net http://msdynamicsgp.blogspot.com/2008/09/menus-for-visual-studio-tools-for.htmlAnonymous
September 29, 2008
Posting from Vaidy's Blog http://vmdyngp.blogspot.com/2008/09/menus-for-visual-studio-tools-dyanmics.htmlAnonymous
September 29, 2008
Posting from Mark Polino on Microsoft product names http://mpolino.blogspot.com/2008/09/microsoft-product-names.htmlAnonymous
September 29, 2008
Dear David, Great Work !!! It is really a good innovation no doubt. Hope Microsoft will relase a new version by adding a LineFill event for scrolling windows in DTK soon. Kind Regards, SajeeshAnonymous
September 30, 2008
Hi Sajeesh Thanks for the feedback. I have responded to your comments about the LineFill event against the first Menus for Visual Studio Tools posting. DavidAnonymous
October 12, 2008
After the release of Menus for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 , my good friend MarianoAnonymous
October 29, 2008
Great.... I remember you briefly mentioning this at a session during Convergence in Florida... but you held off on any details. Glad to see it came to fruition.Anonymous
November 10, 2008
Any chance of a Dynamics 9.0 version?Anonymous
November 10, 2008
Hi Bob The Menus for Visual Studio Tools has only been released for v10.0. For v9.0 you will still need to create your own Dexterity dictionary. For v11.0, the plan is to have a different method built into Visual Studio Tools. DavidAnonymous
December 17, 2008
Has anyone else had a problem with an error for "microsoft.dexterity.applications.root" -- productid when attempting to deploy this solution on a client using SP3 of GP?Anonymous
December 17, 2008
Lee, We haven't run into anything like this so far and haven't heard of anyone else running into it either. It should work, there isn't anything special in 10.0 SP3 that would cause it not to work. You could try the newsgroups to see if anyone else has seen this. You would probably want to try Microsoft Dynamics GP Developer Public Discussion. Otherwise, you would need to log a support incident at https://mbs.microsoft.com/support DaveAnonymous
November 10, 2009
Is it possible to use Menus for Visual Studio Tools to add a new menu to a form, such as the PM_Transaction_Entry form?Anonymous
November 10, 2009
Jerri, You can do that natively within VSTools - you don't need this customization. From your form object, use the AddMenuHandler method <theform>.AddMenuHandler(Handler,"Menu Name Here"); This will make a "Menu Name Here" menu appear in the forms Additional menu.Anonymous
November 11, 2009
Thanks for your reply. I'm currently using the AddMenuHandler, but I really don't like the "Additional" menu. I'd like the ability to put a more professional menu on the forms for our product.Anonymous
November 11, 2009
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 11, 2009
OK, thanks for the info. One more question, is there a way to sort the items that get added to the "Additional" menu?Anonymous
November 11, 2009
No. The are listed in the order the triggers add them.Anonymous
April 07, 2010
Hi David, "Hi Bob The Menus for Visual Studio Tools has only been released for v10.0. For v9.0 you will still need to create your own Dexterity dictionary. For v11.0, the plan is to have a different method built into Visual Studio Tools. David " Could you give me an example of this? Thank you very much!!Anonymous
April 07, 2010
Hi Diego What do you need an example of? The Dexterity Integration Guide manual explains how to add menus to Dynamics using Dexterity and the sample applications have actual code. David PS: We will be creating a Menus for Visual Studio Tools for v11.0.Anonymous
April 05, 2011
Hello David, I was wondering if you can have two different addIns sharing the same menu, let's say in the Card Sales Menu? If yes, can you please give me some guidelines on how to achieve it? Thanks a lot.Anonymous
April 07, 2011
The comment has been removed