New Role Center in AX

How to Create a New Role Centre in Dynamics AX 2009

One of the most talked about features of AX 2009 is Role Centres... I thought Microsoft did a phenomenal job bypackaging Sharepoint and ax in one box... which resulted in really cool technology.

As complex as they might seem role centres are actually very simple to use.. and its actually even simpler to create newone..

This is a step by step guide to help users/developers to create and deploy new role centres.. In this example weare going to create a Merchandiser Role Centre

Step 1:

Log in as an Admin and open up EP in internet explorer..

Well you actually dont need to be an admin.. but you need site creation rights in sharepoint and also access to theAOT in ax.

Then click on ‘Site Actions’ and select the ‘Create’ option

Step 2: select Basic Page..

Note: you might be better of select ‘Web Part Page’.. as a basic page would not have any web parts on it... all the standardrole centre pages are Web part pages... I will show you both examples in this article .. hence I started with the basic page.(see the Additional info section below)

Also I like the basic page because it loads up a lot faster J

Step 3: in the next page, type in the Name of the Page (please use good Naming Convention

Standard)... also make sure that the Document Library is set to Enterprise Portal

Step 4:  as I choose to create a Basic Page a Text editor will pop up..  if I would choose the Web

Part pages option then this editor would not appear.

Simply type something and click Save... now you would be directed to the new page.

Step 5: open the AOT in AX and browse down to the Web Menu Item Node .. right click and

select New URL.

Step 6:  Give the URL a name and a Label (please follow std naming conventions) and then click

on the brose icon on the URL Property (the browse icon is represented by 3 dots).. as shown in picture

Then expand the Enterprise Portal folder and find the new Page you created. Select and click OK

Step 7:  make sure that you set the Home Page Property to Yes..

If you dont set this to yes, then the page will not be available is the role canter page list on the

User profile form (next step)

Save and close the AOT.

Step 8: in AX browse to Administration > Setup > User profiles

Create a new record, set the Profile name and description and then select the new Page as the role centre page

Assign users to the role and your done.

Additional Info:

   You can also export the role centre (user Profile > Export and Export AOT).. the export AOT optionsmake the role centre a part of the AOT resource node.. this is helpful if you want to migrate the role centrefrom say a dev environment to a Test Environment.

To create a Web Part Role centre

Rather than selecting the Basic page option ..select the Web Part page option

Then give a name and select EP as the Document Library

Notice  I choose to overwrite the role page .. this way I dint have to change my url to point to the Web part page.

References:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc558235.aspx

SQL Server 2005 - Unattended installation

Server and Client Components using .ini File

Step 1

Place the installation DVD in the DVD drive or copy the entire DVD on to a network shared drive and share that network drive.

Step2

Create the following folders. Refer Fig 1.0.

MKDIR  C:\Binaries

MKDIR C:\DSDEVICE

MKDIR C:\ASDEVICE

MKDIR C:\INSTALL

 Fig 1.0

Step 3

Create C:\install\setup.ini file with the following information. Refer Fig 1.1.

[Options]

ADDLOCAL=SQL_Engine,Analysis_Server, AnalysisSharedTools,Client_Components, Connectivity,SQL_Documentation,SQL_Tools90

INSTALLSQLDIR=C:\Binaries

INSTALLSQLSHAREDDIR=C:\Binaries

INSTALLSQLDATADIR=C:\DSDEVICE

INSTALLASDATADIR=C:\ASDEVICE

INSTANCENAME=JANE

SECURITYMODE=SQL

SAPWD= KuR0Z@w@

SQLACCOUNT=kurozawa\SQLServer

SQLPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct

AGTACCOUNT=kurozawa\SQLServer

AGTPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct

ASACCOUNT=kurozawa\SQLServer

ASPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct

SQLBROWSERACCOUNT=kurozawa\SQLServer

SQLBROWSERPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct

SQLCOLLATION=Latin1_General_CI_AS

ASCOLLATION=Latin1_General_CI_AS

DISABLENETWORKPROTOCOLS=0

 Fig 1.1

Step 4

Note: Please update the information like Instance name, collation, login and passwords in C:\Install\setup.ini according to your requirements.

Click on the Start button on the task bar, click run, type the command CMD.exe, which opens the MS-DOS shell command prompt.

Step 5

Type the following command if you are using the shared drive. Refer Figure 1.2.

H:\Servers\Setup.exe /settings C:\install\setup.ini /qb

 Fig 1.2

Note: H:\ is the drive letter of my computer's DVD drive.

Note: If you are using UNC path the command should be:

\\Fileserver\sharedrive\Servers\Setup.exe /settings C:\Install\setup.ini /qb

\\Fileserver should be replaced with your file server name and shared drive should be replaced with your actual shared drive name.

You would see the following screen. [Fig 1.3, Fig 1.4, Fig 1.5, Fig 1.6 and Fig 1.7]

 Fig 1.3

 Fig 1.4

 Fig 1.5

 Fig 1.6

 Fig 1.7

You would see the following items in the Add/Remove programs under control panel. [Fig 1.8]

 Fig 1.8

Verify the log, "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\summary.txt," after the installation. The log looks similar to the text shown below.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06

==============================

OS Version      : Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family, Enterprise Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 3790)

Time            : Mon Jun 26 19:13:34 2006

KUROZAWA : Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is either not installed or is disabled. IIS is required by some SQL Server features. 

Without IIS, some SQL Server features will not be available for installation. To install all SQL Server features, install IIS from Add or Remove

Programs in Control Panel or enable the IIS service through the Control Panel if it is already installed, and then run SQL Server Setup again. For a

list of features that depend on IIS, see Features Supported by Editions of SQL Server in Books Online.

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SQLSupport_1.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft Office 2003 Web Components

Product Version : 11.0.6558.0

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_OWC11_1.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward compatibility

Product Version : 8.05.1054

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_BackwardsCompat_1.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : MSXML 6.0 Parser

Product Version : 6.00.3883.8

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_MSXML6_1.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SQLSupport_2.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SQLNCLI_1.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft Office 2003 Web Components

Product Version : 11.0.6558.0

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_OWC11_2.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SqlWriter_1.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward compatibility

Product Version : 8.05.1054

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_BackwardsCompat_2.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : MSXML 6.0 Parser

Product Version : 6.00.3883.8

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_MSXML6_2.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SQLSupport_3.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SQLNCLI_2.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft Office 2003 Web Components

Product Version : 11.0.6558.0

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_OWC11_3.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward compatibility

Product Version : 8.05.1054

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_BackwardsCompat_3.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : MSXML 6.0 Parser

Product Version : 6.00.3883.8

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_MSXML6_3.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_SQL.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_AS.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine         : KUROZAWA

Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Tools

Product Version : 9.00.1399.06

Install         : Successful

Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_KUROZAWA_Tools.log

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Setup succeeded with the installation; inspect the log file completely for the status on all the components.

Time            : Mon Jun 26 19:19:22 2006

You can verify all the log files for installation status and history details in:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files"

Please refer Fig 1.9.

 Fig 1.9

Now let us look at the services. Click start, click Run and type services.msc and you could see the following services. Refer Figure 2.0.

 Fig 2.0

In addition, you could see the following programs under program files. Refer Fig 2.1.

 Fig 2.1

You could also see new folders and files are created under C:\Binaries C:\ASDEVICE C:\DSDEVICE. Refer Fig 2.2.

 Fig 2.2

Click on Configuration manager and make sure protocols are enabled. Fig 2.3.

 Fig 2.3

Try to connect to the database Engine instance, "JANE." Refer fig 2.4.

 Fig 2.4

Try to connect to the Analysis Services instance, "JANE." Refer Fig 2.5.

 Fig 2.5

If you use /qn as the switch, instead of /qb, then setup suppresses all Setup dialog boxes and error messages. If the /qn switch is specified, all Setup messages, including error messages, are written to Setup log files.

Delete the folder c:\install.

Empty the recycle bin.

Conclusion

SQL Server 2005 can be installed using the GUI, the .ini file or just run setup.exe with a bunch of parameters.