Creating Dialogs

Dialogs are a way to present users with a simple input form. They are commonly used for
small user tasks like filling in report values, running batch jobs, presenting only the most
important fields to the user when creating a new record, etc. Dialogs are normally created
from X++ code without storing actual layout in AOT.
The application class Dialog is used to build dialogs. Other application classes like
DialogField, DialogGroup, DialogTabPage, and so on, are used to create dialog
controls. One of the common ways is to use dialogs within RunBase framework classes that
need user input.


In this example, we will see how to build a dialog from code using the RunBase framework
class. The dialog will contain customer table fields shown in different groups and tabs for
creating a new record. There will be two tab pages, General and Details. The first page will
have Customer account and Name input controls. The second page will be divided into two
groups, Setup and Payment, with relevant fields. The actual record will not be created, as it is
out of scope of this example. However, for demonstration purposes, the information specified
by the user will be displayed in the Infolog.
How to do it…
1. Open AOT, and create a new class CustCreate with the following code:
class CustCreate extends RunBase
{
DialogField fieldAccount;
DialogField fieldName;
DialogField fieldGroup;
DialogField fieldCurrency;
DialogField fieldPaymTermId;
DialogField fieldPaymMode;
CustAccount custAccount;
CustName custName;
CustGroupId custGroupId;
CurrencyCode currencyCode;
CustPaymTermId paymTermId;

CustPaymMode paymMode;
}
public container pack()
{
return connull();
}
public boolean unpack(container packedClass)
{
return true;
}
protected Object dialog()
{
Dialog dialog;
DialogTabPage tabGeneral;
DialogTabPage tabDetails;
DialogGroup groupCustomer;
DialogGroup groupPayment;
;
dialog = super();
dialog.caption(“Customer information”);
tabGeneral = dialog.addTabPage(“General”);
fieldAccount = dialog.addField(
typeid(CustVendAC),
“Customer account”);
fieldName = dialog.addField(typeid(CustName));
tabDetails = dialog.addTabPage(“Details”);
groupCustomer = dialog.addGroup(“Setup”);
fieldGroup = dialog.addField(typeid(CustGroupId));
fieldCurrency = dialog.addField(typeid(CurrencyCode));
groupPayment = dialog.addGroup(“Payment”);
fieldPaymTermId = dialog.addField(typeid(CustPaymTermId));
fieldPaymMode = dialog.addField(typeid(CustPaymMode));
return dialog;
}
public boolean getFromDialog()
{;
custAccount = fieldAccount.value();
custName = fieldName.value();
custGroupId = fieldGroup.value();
currencyCode = fieldCurrency.value();
paymTermId = fieldPaymTermId.value();
paymMode = fieldPaymMode.value();
return true;

}
public void run()
{;
info(“You have entered customer information:”);
info(strfmt(“Account: %1″, custAccount));
info(strfmt(“Name: %1″, custName));
info(strfmt(“Group: %1″, custGroupId));
info(strfmt(“Currency: %1″, currencyCode));
info(strfmt(“Terms of payment: %1″, paymTermId));
info(strfmt(“Method of payment: %1″, paymMode));
}
static void main(Args _args)
{
CustCreate custCreate = new CustCreate();
;
if (custCreate.prompt())
{
custCreate.run();
}
}
2. To test the dialog, run the class. The following form should appear with the General
tab page open initially:

When you click on the Details tab page, you will see the following screen:
4. Enter some information into the fields, and click OK. The results are displayed
in the Infolog:

How it works…
Firstly, we create a new class CustCreate. By extending it from RunBase, we utilize the
standard approach of running such kinds of dialogs. RunBase will also automatically add the
required buttons to the dialog. Then we declare class member variables, which will be used
later. DialogField type variables are actual user input fields. The rest are used to store the
values returned from user input.
The pack() and unpack() methods are normally used to convert an object to a container,
which is a format to store an object in the user cache (SysLastValue) or to transfer it
between Server and Client tiers. RunBase requires those two methods to be present in all
its subclasses. In this example, we are not using any of the pack()/unpack() features,
but because those methods are mandatory, we return an empty container from pack() and
true from unpack().
The layout of the actual dialog is constructed in the dialog() member method. Here, we
define local variables for the dialog itself, tab pages, and groups. Those variables, as opposed
to the dialog fields, do not store any value to be processed further.
The super() of the RunBase framework creates the initial dialog object for us. The object
is created using the Dialog application class. The class actually uses the Dynamics AX form
as a base, automatically adds the relevant controls, including OK and Cancel buttons, and
presents it to the user as a dialog.
Additional dialog controls are added to the dialog by using the addField(), addGroup(),
and addTabPage() methods. There are more methods to add different types of controls
like addText(), addImage(), addMenuItemButton(), and others. All controls have to be
added to the dialog object directly. Adding an input control to groups or tabs is done by calling
addField() right after addGroup() or addTabPage(). In the example above, we add tab
pages, groups, and fields in logical sequence, so every control appears in the right position.
The method returns a prepared dialog object for further processing.
Values from the dialog controls are assigned to variables by calling the value() member
method of DialogField. If a dialog is used within the RunBase framework, as in this
example, the best place to assign dialog control values to variables is the getFormDialog()
member method. RunBase calls this method right after the user clicks OK.
The main processing is done in run(). For demonstration purposes, this example contains
only variable output to Infolog.
In order to make this class runable, the static method main() has to be created. Here, we
create a new CustCreate object, invoke user dialog by calling prompt(), and once the user
finishes entering customer details by clicking OK, we call run() to process the data.

Source :Micorsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Development Cookbook

 
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