Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (“SRS” or “SSRS”) have been around for the better part of two decades, first hitting the streets in early 2004. Over the past 16+ years, many articles and blog posts have been written about passing multi-value parameters between reports using a combination of the JOIN and SPLIT functions. These work … Read more
Posts by William
Automate Repetitive Desktop Tasks With Power Automate Desktop
Good news! If you are an existing Windows 10 user, you can now download Microsoft Power Automate Desktop for free! Microsoft made this download available on March 2nd, 2021. Why Power Automate Desktop? Power Automate Desktop (formerly Microsoft Flow) will allow you to automate repetitive tasks such as mouse clicks and keyboard taps in much … Read more
Moving from Crystal Reports and SSRS to Power BI
We have been asked by many clients about moving their existing business intelligence solutions to the modern Microsoft Power BI platform, and most of those inquiries involve some combination of Crystal Reports and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports. One question we are often asked in those discussions is, “how do we migrate our existing … Read more
How to Connect Business Central to External Systems (API Set Up)
The icing on the cake of a great ERP system lies in its customizability. APIs allow users to connect Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to external services, eliminating the need for constant back-and-forth between systems. With Dynamics 365 Business Central, users are able to connect Web Services using a point-to-point connection between their ERP and … Read more
You NEED Power Platform… and Here’s Why! (Webinar Recording)
Did you miss the Power Platform webinar? Have no fear, we recorded it. Click the button below to watch now! Watch Recording Here If you have a computer (and I suspect you do!) you may have heard about Power Platform. Then you may have scrolled by, thinking you don’t have a use for it. … Read more
Dynamics GP Error: Journal Printing Interrupted
A “Journal Printing Interrupted” error while posting sub ledger (AP, AP, Inventory, et cetera) transaction batches in Microsoft Dynamics GP can be among the most frustrating and cryptic error messages an ERP system can generate. This error only occurs during the posting process and generally is not manifested when a batch edit report is generated, … Read more
Power BI Report Server or Power BI SaaS: which is right for me?
Recently, Crestwood was asked three questions that pertain to Power BI in the cloud (the Microsoft SaaS offering) and how it compares to the on-premise (or cloud-hosted) Power BI Report Server solution. Both solutions enable Power BI reports and visualization construction by leveraging the power of Microsoft’s Power BI services, but there are notable differences … Read more
Running Dexterity Applications in Debug Mode (Dynamics GP)
Recently, I was asked by a client to list out the steps to run a Dexterity-based customization in Test or Debug mode. The client had indicated that he “has never been able to run” his customizations in Test mode and asked for my help. Since I have not had issues running the client’s GP2016 R2 … Read more
Dynamics GP Scribe Online Connector Setup
Many people use Scribe to connect their Microsoft Dynamics GP system to other business systems. With Scribe’s Dynamics GP Connector, you can build simple or complex integrations with Dynamics GP, whether that be through the standard business objects, or going directly to the tables and stored procedures. We have built many of these types of … Read more
Dynamics GP Modifier Unable to Access Dictionary Resources
The Error: While trying to access Dynamics GP2016 modified forms in the FORMS.DIC file, we were repeatedly denied access to the forms dictionary with the error message, “The modifier is currently unavailable because another user is editing resources in the forms dictionary.” We knew for a fact that no one else was editing the dictionary … Read more
Better Grouping with Easy SQL Functions
Here are some easy SQL commands you can use for better grouping options. Quite often, I run into situations where I need to combine multiple values or descriptions into a column when it comes to reporting. Examples: There are a few SQL functions you can use to do this: CONCAT – allows you to concatenate … Read more
COM Interoperability on x64 Systems
The .Net framework gives developers the powerful option of compiling assemblies targeted for the now-standard x64 platforms or legacy x32 platforms. This is not an issue for most modern software since the typical machine is based on 64-bit architecture and most assemblies are compatible with 64-bit systems. However, the challenge arises when compiling 64-bit assemblies … Read more
Locking in SQL Server
Locking is a part of every SQL Server database. It’s critical functionality and without it, we could not have multiple people working in the same database, at the same time. It ensures data integrity, but can also cause some errors. Example: I was assisting a customer who found their Dynamics GP system was locked up … Read more
How to Change an Inventory Site in Dynamics GP
Included in Microsoft Dynamics GP is the Professional Services Toolkit Library (PSTL). This adds a lot of powerful functionality to help you solve common business problems. One of the tools is the Inventory Site Combiner. It allows you to combine site/location codes without losing any data. Let’s say you created an inventory location and you … Read more
Dexterity Developer Tip of the Day
Which dictionary do I use if I have multiple versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP? If you are a Dexterity developer with many alternate Dynamics GP forms in your development dictionary, e.g., your development dictionary is Dynamics GP2013 RTM and the Dynamics GP client application dictionary is GP2013 SP1, which dictionary do you use? If the … Read more
Hiding a Blank Row in a SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Report
Did you know you could hide a row on a SSRS report if all the fields on that row are blank? I found a lot of documentation on how to hide a text box, or even a row based a condition or calculation, such as blank, zero or null values. However, I didn’t see much … Read more
Setting a Datetime Value in Dynamics CRM 2016 Using C#
The below C# pseudocode will set a “Date and Time” attribute to a provided value using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK framework. This part is very straightforward and can, in fact, be simplified by performing the type casting in one line rather than parsing via multiple lines. string sSourceValue = “12/01/2016”; string sDestField = <DateTime_Attribute>; … Read more
Nothing Happens When I Click on the Dynamics GP Menu
Recently, I came across an issue at a long time Microsoft Dynamics GP client. When they tried to go to the Receivings / Transaction Entry window via Transactions > Purchasing menu, nothing would happen. It would not open, even though the option was present in the menu. Additionally, there was no error message and it didn’t … Read more
Using SQL Stored Procedures as a Data Source in Scribe
Did you know that you can use SQL Stored Procedures (SP’s) as a data source in a Scribe Insight integration? You might have done something similar when you use SP’s as the data source for custom reports. Using SQL Server as a data source in Scribe lends all the power and functionality of SQL Server … Read more
PSTL Company Copy for Dynamics GP
Microsoft includes a license with Dynamics GP for their “Swiss Army Knife” set of tools called the Personal Services Tools Library (PSTL). One of these tools is Company Copy. It is used to copy the setups from one company to a new one. This is very useful for new Dynamics GP companies, implementations, or for … Read more