Using an Index File with Dexterity Source Code Control

While many Dexterity developers are now using Source Code Control (usually with Microsoft Visual Source Safe), there are a number of developers that did not know that an index file should always be used with Source Code Control.

This post explains how Microsoft Dynamics GP developers can use an Index File with Dexterity Source Code Control to ensure that the resources they create keep the same Resource IDs between different builds and versions of code. Examples of these resources include forms, reports, tables, and fields.

Overview 

When you use the Source Code Control functionality built in to Dexterity, all resources are stored in a text representation in your source code repository (usually Microsoft Visual SourceSafe). These resources are stored with their names as the unique identifier.

In your development dictionary, the unique identifier is actually the internal Resource ID generated by Dexterity. For third-party developers (most Dexterity developers are third-party developers), these Resource IDs start at 22,000.

Each resource you add is assigned the next available Resource ID for that resource type. Therefore, your resources are numbered in the order they were created, unless you have deleted some resources, in which case the Resource ID will be reused.

When creating a new build, you make a copy of an unmodified Dynamics.dic from a client installation. Then update all your resources from the repository into this dictionary. During this process, resources are brought in to the dictionary in alphabetical order and are assigned Resource IDs as resources of each type are added.

The fact that your Resource IDs are now ordered alphabetically will cause a number of problems, including the following:

• Updates to any modified forms or reports that exist for your product will probably fail.
• Security records indicating that access to one of your forms or reports has been denied will now point to the wrong Resource ID.
• Security records indicating that access to a modified version of one of your forms or reports has been granted will now point to the wrong Resource ID.

In other words, the alphabetization of Resource IDs can make life difficult.

The solution is the Index File, which tracks the Resource IDs assigned to resources and ensures that they are maintained between each build of your Dexterity project.

Putting the Index File to work

If you have multiple developers working on a single project, you will need to assign one developer as the administrator for the project. The administrator’s role is to create the new builds and work with the Index File. The administrator should perform the following steps on his or her machine:

1. Go to the Edit menu, select Options, and then select the Source Control tab. Make sure Enable Administrative Features is checked. If you have not created an Index File before, create one now using your current development dictionary. From the Explorer menu, select Source Control, and then select Update Index File. Once created, the Index File can be found in the repository under the Admin folder.
    
2. Every time a build is completed, select Explorer, Source Control, and then Update Index File. This will create the Index File that will be used for the next build.
    
3. Every time you create a new build, select Explorer, Source Control, and then Update. On the Update from Repository window, check the Use Index File option. In the words of one Dexterity product manager, "Just because it is an option does not mean it is optional."

Following these steps will ensure that Resource IDs stay consistent between builds and between releases.

For more information, see “Part 9: Source Code Control” in the Programmers Guide, Volume 1 that ships with Dexterity as a PDF document.

This information has previously been available from the following links:

How to use an index file and the Microsoft Dynamics GP Dexterity source code control functionality to make sure that the resources that you create maintain the same resource ID in different builds and versions of your code (KB 894699) 

How to use an Index File

This Knowledge Base article describes the use of Source Code Control to upgrade a custom Dexterity application:

How to upgrade a Dexterity-based application in Microsoft Dynamics GP or in Microsoft Great Plains by using the Dexterity Source Code Control Service (KB 910527) 

 

In summary, if you are using Dexterity Source Code Control and not using an index file, please start using one.

David

Ref: KB 894699

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 02, 2009
  PingBack from http://indoorgrillsrecipes.info/story.php?id=7553

• Anonymous
  June 10, 2014
  Hi David, I'm following KB 910527 and getting the error as below while doing the Dex upgrade. After certain warning like "Field is assigned to a different resource id than what is assigned in the index file". After this I'm getting error as "Errors while resolving the index file. Update Canceled. Dictionary left unchanged." Kindly let me know your inputs to correct this. Thanks

• Anonymous
  June 12, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 14, 2014
  Thank you for the response, Patrick. I have resolved the issue by renaming the fields in the customized dictionary and upgraded the dictionary. Thanks again. Could you shed some light on how to or what is the best way to upgrade a combined customization dictionary? i.e. customized dictionary is combination of Dynamics.Dic and HR.Dic. For example: I need to upgrade a combined dic from GP10 to GP2013. As per the KB article, I have to point the Original unmodified dictionary in the Source Control. In this scenario, do I need to combine GP 10's Dynamics.Dic and HR.Dic? and also do i need to combine GP2013's Dynamics.dic and HR.dic? Please let me know. Thanks Prakash

• Anonymous
  June 16, 2014
  Thank you for the response, Patrick. I have renamed the conflicting fields and upgraded successfully. I had another issue now with upgrading the combined dictionary: This time, the development/customization dictionary is a combination of Dynamics.Dic and HR.Dic. Previous developers combined HR.Dic with Dynamics.Dic using Developer Update and did some customizations on the combined dictionary and the version is GP 10. Now, I have tried upgrading the combined customization dictionary using the KB article 910527 (using Source Code Control) and it is not upgrading the resources properly. Kindly let me know the best way to upgrade the combined dictionary or do I need to redo the customization in the new dictionary. Thanks Prakash

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2014
  Hi Prakask Creating a combined dictionary from an original Dynamics.dic and a 3rd party dictionary is covered in the KB I wrote. support.microsoft.com/.../930350 However, this dictionary should be used as a reference and not a development dictionary. See the links below for more information on KBs and Cross Dictionary Development blogs.msdn.com/.../dexterity-articles.aspx blogs.msdn.com/.../cross-dictionary-dexterity-development.aspx David