Microsoft Dynamics AX

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Microsoft Dynamics AX

Microsoft Dynamics AX managing complex data
Developer:	Microsoft
Latest release:	4.0 / 2006-06-09
Use:	enterprise resource planning
Website:	http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/ax/default.mspx

Microsoft Dynamics AX is Microsoft’s flagship enterprise resource planning software system. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family.

It was originally developed by Damgaard Data A/S as Axapta in Denmark before Damgaard was merged with Navision Software A/S in 2000. The combined company, initially NavisionDamgaard, later Navision A/S, was then ultimately acquired by the Microsoft Corporation in the summer of 2002. Before the merge, Axapta was initially released in March, 1998 in the Danish and U.S. markets. Today, it is available and supported in forty-five languages in most of the world.

Custom Ax development and modification is done with its own IDE MorphX that contains various tools such as a debugger, code analyzer, and query interface. This development environment resides in the same client application that a normal day-to-day user would access thus allowing development to take place on any instance of the client. The development language used in Axapta is X++.

On June 9, 2006, Microsoft completed developing the latest version (4.0) in facilities spanning the globe and including sites in Vedbæk, Denmark; Kiev, Ukraine; Fargo, North Dakota, USA; and Redmond, Washington, USA.

[edit] MorphX and X++

MorphX is an integrated development environment in Microsoft Dynamics AX that allows developers to graphically design datatypes, base enumerations, tables, queries, forms, menus and reports. MorphX supports drag and drop and is very intuitive. It also allows access to any application classes that are available in the application, by launching the X++ code editor.

Because MorphX uses referencing to link objects together, changes in for example datatypes of fieldnames will automatically be reflected in places they are used (such as forms or reports). Furthermore, changes made through MorphX will be reflected in the application immediately after compilation.

Microsoft Dynamics AX also offer support for version control systems (VCS) integrated with the IDE, allowing collaboration in development. There is also a tool for reverse-engineering table structures and class structures to Visio.